This is one of England's most photographed villages. But almost never from this angle. That's because, as you can see, the sun's in the wrong place to give the traditional chocolate box kind of view. Which is why I like it. We stayed here once with my parents and our Border Collie called Newky, much loved by my father who would stand at the cottage gate every morning with her chatting to passers-by. (That's my dad talking, not the dog. Although in our family...) "Newky?" I hear you say over your Weetabix. For some unfathomable reason us young uns in the mid 1970s named our pets after the beer we drank in our respective villages. There were dogs called Barnsley (a defunct northern bitter taken over by Courage I think), Guinness, Ruddles and Newcastle Brown, which was a hopelessly impractical name for a dog that quickly got edited down to its bar room shorthand. I think there was an Adnam somewhere.
Gosh, you have to be up early these days! - yes I agree with Diplo, Lower Slaughter. On the bus front, Guide Friday used to run a nice tour around these parts using an ex Maidstone & District 1946 open top AEC Regal HKL 836.
Lower Slaughter also features prominently in the Ealingesque 1944film 'Tawny Pipit', which is very hard to find but, while no masterpiece, certainly worth the search. It's a comedy-thriller-romance (as Polonius might have said) about bird-watching, made in the same year as the in many ways similar 'A Canterbury Tale', which is of course an undisputed masterpiece.
Hello Sue. Welcome to Unmitigated England! Thankyou for buying my books, that's very kind of you. And I wholeheartedly agree with you about A Canterbury Tale, which is very high on my list too.
It's interesting to compare Tawny Pipit and A Canterbury Tale, as they are quite similar in several ways. But TP does look very pedestrian against the masterpiece that is A Canterbury Tale - no magic.
I am a designer, writer and photographer who spends all his time looking at England, particularly buildings and the countryside. But I have a leaning towards the slightly odd and neglected, the unsung elements that make England such an interesting place to live in. I am the author and photographer of over 25 books, in particular Unmitigated England (Adelphi 2006), More from Unmitigated England (Adelphi 2007), Cross Country (Wiley 2011), The Cigarette Papers (Frances Lincoln 2012), Preposterous Erections (Frances Lincoln 2012) and English Allsorts (Adelphi 2015)
"Open this book with reverence. It is a hymn to England". Clive Aslet
Preposterous Erections
"Enchanting...delightful". The Bookseller "Cheekily named" We Love This Book
The Cigarette Papers
"Unexpectedly pleasing and engrossing...beautifully illustrated". The Bookseller
Cross Country
"Until the happy advent of Peter Ashley's Cross Country it has, ironically, been foreigners who have been best at celebrating Englishness". Christina Hardyment / The Independent
More from Unmitigated England
"Give this book to someone you know- if not everyone you know." Simon Heffer, Country Life. "When it comes to spotting the small but telling details of Englishness, Peter Ashley has no equal." Michael Prodger, Sunday Telegraph
8 comments:
Quick response to beat the rush would be one of the Slaughters, possibly Lower - can't remember.............
Gosh, you have to be up early these days! - yes I agree with Diplo, Lower Slaughter. On the bus front, Guide Friday used to run a nice tour around these parts using an ex Maidstone & District 1946 open top AEC Regal HKL 836.
Champion Diplo. It is indeed Lower Slaughter. For Panavision views of Upper Slaughter see Tony Richardson's 1977 film Joseph Andrews.
Majorwheels, you have sent me into silent reverie thinking about the AEC Regal. Commentator Combo must be having a cold shower, if he's up yet.
Lower Slaughter also features prominently in the Ealingesque 1944film 'Tawny Pipit', which is very hard to find but, while no masterpiece, certainly worth the search. It's a comedy-thriller-romance (as Polonius might have said) about bird-watching, made in the same year as the in many ways similar 'A Canterbury Tale', which is of course an undisputed masterpiece.
That's me spent.
'Theakston' would be a perfect name for a dog.
Hello Sue. Welcome to Unmitigated England! Thankyou for buying my books, that's very kind of you. And I wholeheartedly agree with you about A Canterbury Tale, which is very high on my list too.
It's interesting to compare Tawny Pipit and A Canterbury Tale, as they are quite similar in several ways. But TP does look very pedestrian against the masterpiece that is A Canterbury Tale - no magic.
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