Saturday 20 September 2014

Estate villages.

Around here in North Yorkshire, we have quite a few small villages which were originally Estate villages - that is where the Lord of the Manor owned the whole village, which was lived in by his workers.
Gradually these villages have been sold off so that now almost all the houses are privately owned.   Often even the 'big house' itself has changed hands.   In fact I don't know of a single Estate village which still exists intact.   I do however, know of quite a few that started off that way maybe a century or two ago.

Such a one is a lovely little village near to us called Constable Burton.   One thing it has is a really thriving Village Hall where the village hall committee put on coffee and cakes, or afternoon teas - all kind of things - and this morning a 'table top sale', to which friend W and I went.   We had a wander round - buying the odd thing and having a go on the tombola.   Then we went on to friend M's for coffee and pastries (very yummy pastries they were too) and a lovely morning's chat.  (funny isn't it, but it only seems to be women who do this - has anybody heard of a group of men sitting chatting all morning over coffee?)

The farmer meanwhile went to a Farm Sale.   Further up the Dale a farm has been sold as the farmer retired and today was the day for selling all the paraphernalia of farming, from hoes, rakes and shovels right up to tractors and muck spreaders.   There was a huge turnout apparently, most of whom had no desire to buy anything but wanted to find out how much things would make.   The farmer bought nothing but he did meet lots of friends and had lots of chats and came home with a lot of information, even if it was not gleaned over coffee and pastries.

Back to out visit to Constable Burton. The Village Green,  is so pretty, particularly at this time of the year when the leaves are turning.   At the bottom of the slope runs our beck (the same one which runs through our fields).   It runs through the Hall grounds before getting to this point.  There is a story that a century ago they used to breed trout in the grounds and a net was stretched across so that the trout could not swim back upstream to our village.   The village lads used to creep down at dead of night and remove the net so that next morning they could catch a big fat trout for breakfast.

10 comments:

John "By Stargoose And Hanglands" said...

There's an old music hall song often sung in these parts which runs thus:
Sit four young gals round a nice pot of tea,
They'll talk of more scandal than you'll ever see,
But sit four young chaps round a barrel of beer,
They'll talk of more work than they'll do in a year!

Heather said...

Constable Burton sounds like one of those lovely villages from Midsomer Murders! I mean it's name and am not suggesting weird goings on. Men can't sit and talk, they have to stand either out in the cold or inside with a pint in hand.

angryparsnip said...

I just adore the story of the trout and the village lads !
I was thinking the same thing Heathers said about Midsomers Murders.
I fact I am keeping a count of the Villages (murders) and how cute the village green is, so I can find a great house at a nice price !
hahahahahah, well I can dearm.

cheers, parsnip

Anonymous said...

Your post always facinate me! The old farmers around here actually do sit and have coffee. Usually in a feed store or one of their shops.
When I read your posts I can imagine your accent. lol :)
-Lori

jinxxxygirl said...

When i was little many,many moons ago my brother used to sneak into Doc Angins property and hide behind a rock and throw a fishing line in the water...... ONe day he had such plans only he got stuck babysitting me... poor guy... but he still wanted to go fishing so off we go ...cutting thru the woods to remain hidden...we came across a bog or you might call it a swampy area and he unwilling to go around trudged right thru it.. I wanted him to carry me on his shoulders thru the mud but he wouldn't ..OOoooo i was one upset little girl and i guess i was one to carry a grudge too because when we got to the lake i threw all his worms in the water. Boy was he mad...he stomped all the way home and thru the front door and said to our mom ' I'am NEVER taking her fishing again! ........But he did...lol Thanks so much for sharing your lovely story Weaver... Hugs! deb

JoAnn ( Scene Through My Eyes) said...

it sounds like you had a nice outing - there are such interesting things going on in your area. I wish they did things like that over here in the US.

shadypinesqltr said...

JoAnn, I was thinking the same thing would be lovely in my little village in Michigan. The retirees and farmers congregate at Jenny's Diner for coffee and gossip. The men are more prone to gossip than the women!

Cro Magnon said...

Men have to go out to work to pay for the cakes that their wives then sit around all day eating (Phew).

The Weaver of Grass said...

Love John's song!
Seems as though there is a lot of chat goes on around the world - as Churchill once said 'jaw,jaw is better than war,war' - wish governments thought of that too. Thanks for the visit.

MorningAJ said...

What I love most about Constable Burton is that there's another village called Burton Constable not that far away!