When we think of “heritage” in our part of the world, we often as not think of the Market Houses and black and white buildings of our town centres. But truth be told, the lanes and footpaths, woods and hedgerows surrounding our towns are as much a part of our heritage as the towns themselves: and often date back even further.
When we were thinking up a name for the Daffodil Line someone suggested we might call our service the “Market House Express”. Not a bad idea as all three towns on the Daffodil Line: Newent, Ledbury and Ross are identified by their Market Houses, beautiful ‘statement’ buildings set right in the middle of town. They were all built around 1660, what were they for? The short answer is to show off.
I met Nell Credland, sheep breeder and knitter, with her knitting friends at the Hellens Textile Fair in July this year and was excited to buy wool locally grown to knit an Icelandic Jumper. Some of you will know these cost upwards of £350, and many of us have wanted one ever since seeing Scandi Noir drama, where fearless and beautiful women detectives, solve impossible and awful crimes, wearing Icelandic jumpers.
If you trace the Gloucestershire-Herefordshire border it quickly becomes clear that no one used a ruler to draw these boundaries. But one place that seems especially in the wrong county is Preston Cross. In this article we find out why.
