This week's theme is all about the good things in your hometown. I'm going to interpret my hometown as the place where I currently live - and am planning to live for the forseeable future. It's the town where Andrew spent all his life and he can trace bits of his family tree in the local area back to the 1850's.
This list is probably going to sound a little bit like it's all about leaving the town, but I think the location is one of the major selling points!
So firstly, it's fairly close to the seaside - you can be in Weston Super Mare in just over half an hour which is perfect for getting home from work on a gorgeous sunny evening and just jumping in the car for a walk on the beach in the evening sun.
Secondly, it's kind of in the countryside (walk 3 minutes from our house and you're on an ancient track into woodland and fields) but in 20 minutes you can be in the cities of Bath or Bristol. Obviously at rush hour this increases to 45 minutes!
Thirdly, the town has an incredible amount of history. The ancient Roman Road 'Fosseway' runs right through the local area plus if you thought the South Wales Valleys were the only place you mined coal from, well think again! The Somerset Coalfield was a rich source of employment for the local area with well over 20 mine shafts over the last couple of hundred years. And that's all before you even get started on the Somerset and Dorset vs. Great Western Railway clash-of-the-titan-style battle for the rails!
Fourthly, there's ducks! We have a small river running through the town and a couple of places where the ducks seem to congregate - right down to one bit of road where the traffic regularly has to stop for ducks waddling leisurely across the road.
And lastly, there is a real community atmosphere to the town. When I used to work in the local library, everyone seemed to know each other and there's plenty of local groups and activities to join in with. Of course, this can also be taken as a large proportion of the town are inter-related (just don't look too closely at our webbed feet or six-fingered hands...)
What's the local area like where you live?
I've driven through Midsomer Norton but never stopped to look around; it sounds like a lovely place to live. I do love a nice close-knit community. (I would argue whether WSM truly has a beach--it's so muddy! I love Burnham on Sea, though.)
ReplyDeleteIt is quite a nice place, albeit sometimes rather too cosy for comfort (my in laws realised at their wedding in 1964 that they were actually distantly related!).
DeleteYou're right about Weston though, the beach *is* muddy but a stroll along the prom can still be quite nice anyway (depending on the weather). I do like Burnham as well though :-) xx