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Village Story by Ruth CobbI bought this delightful book at a charity shop. It is second edition 1946. It has pencil drawings of various types of buildings and discusses the history of villages. It bemoans the changes that have altrered the character of villages such as cheap and ugly cottages built for workers and concrete buildings in amongst the old and quaint in the village centre. She bemoans the city folk who buy up cottages for their weekend retreats. She would turn in her grave to see how cars have changed her beloved village.
I like this quote.
"in the minds of many people, an English village stands for something definite...They imagine a green , a pond, geese walking in a line across the grass, cottages and gardens full of flowers, an inn, a school and a village shop, an ancient church and its vicarage....it even makes people born and living in far off colonies....have a desire and longing to see for themselves..."
So true and what amazes me I have seen some villages just like the ideal (apart from the traffic that flows though them.)
The author sees WW2 as a time of great change for the countryside and not much of it good. Interesting read as a snapshot in time.
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