Creepy Small Villages

[PeteS]

I had to put my "ironic" face on recently, when the mention of that weird place "Buckshaw Village" was mentioned. (BV is actually a new town in Chorley, NW in Lancashire.) Chorley Council have bemoaned the fact that they don't want another BV -surely a bit late to moan about it now?. Apparently they have been turning down planning applications for new houses but are in a special category where the powers that be over rule the council for legal reasons. More weird "villages" are to be built despite the council's refusal and I suspect the most vociferous complaints will come from the inhabitants of BV.

 

[Eyespy]

I had already been there for a week or so and they had never given me a chance. There was one ringleader who was a right *** but happened to be in a relationship with the chef and played on that; It was subtle but calculated. After initially threatening to down tools because "nothing was organised" they would serve half a table and then start another, so food is going cold and guests getting annoyed. No help with topping up wine etc. The bride, groom and family were also not impressed by their grumpy and frumpy demeanours and being overheard slagging me off...!

For the record, this was relief hotel management whilst the actual restaurant manager was taking an extended holiday in his home country for family reasons and this was the last wedding of the season. They wanted me gone and were prepared to go to those lengths and the cowardly general manager wouldn't support me because he was afraid of upsetting them. What hurt was that I had been organising weddings for about two decades at that time and did know what I was doing, it was simply ridiculous but trust me it happened and I actually drove up the long lane away from the place with my headlights off, so desperate was I to avoid detection

Shame, as some of the other relief assignments were enjoyable and took me to places in Britain I hadn't previously visited.

Paul, my son was a relief chef who got sent to fill in gaps or provide cover , mostly pubs or small hotels ( although he did do a few more glamorous stints) > he reckoned there were some really weird almost tribal pubs where you were never comfortable or welcome no matter what the circumstances and they would nick your knives!

 

[Eyespy]

They're often like this here nowadays;

Wow- a car in a garage!

 

[catseye]

Wow- a car in a garage!

A lot of the new build houses on the estates around here have garages which are slightly too small for the big cars that people tend to drive out here in the sticks. You can park a Kia Picanto easily, but anything bigger and you can't open the doors to get out. Which is why people park their car outside and use the garage as storage - because you can't use it as a garage.

 

[Mythopoeika]

A lot of the new build houses on the estates around here have garages which are slightly too small for the big cars that people tend to drive out here in the sticks. You can park a Kia Picanto easily, but anything bigger and you can't open the doors to get out. Which is why people park their car outside and use the garage as storage - because you can't use it as a garage.

All cars have grown in size, mainly because of safety features (making the doors thicker). Even a Mini isn't such a mini car now.

 

[kesavaross]

A lot of the new build houses on the estates around here have garages which are slightly too small for the big cars that people tend to drive out here in the sticks. You can park a Kia Picanto easily, but anything bigger and you can't open the doors to get out. Which is why people park their car outside and use the garage as storage - because you can't use it as a garage.

The garages to the tower block where I live are tiny. The buildings were built in 1966. I'm 5ft 8ins and I can touch the ceiling easily asset's about a foot above my head.

I did have a Transit Connect which is the smallest Transit made and even that wouldn't fit in one. I would rent one and use it for storage except that due to fire safety rules, nothing is to be stored.

 

[catseye]

All cars have grown in size, mainly because of safety features (making the doors thicker). Even a Mini isn't such a mini car now.

A lot of the problem locally is that we're quite rural, even the local towns have very rural roads connecting them. In winter, with snow and ice, a lot of people feel safer in bigger 4x4 cars, plus if you need to drive up onto the moors in winter you need 4 wheel drive. So we are awash with bigger cars. And the garages are only designed for very small urban cars, but developers won't build garages any bigger because for every half dozen garages you can fit in another house.

 

[Spudrick68]

I read recently that cars have become one cm wider each year for the last ten years.

This is causing problems with street parking. Parking partly on a pavement may block prams and wheelchairs.

 

[Paul_Exeter]

A lot of the problem locally is that we're quite rural, even the local towns have very rural roads connecting them. In winter, with snow and ice, a lot of people feel safer in bigger 4x4 cars, plus if you need to drive up onto the moors in winter you need 4 wheel drive. So we are awash with bigger cars. And the garages are only designed for very small urban cars, but developers won't build garages any bigger because for every half dozen garages you can fit in another house.

Absolutely, also flooding can be serious problem, too. I used to drive to my home near Moretonhampstead (Dartmoor) from Exeter oil a winding B road that flooded badly where it ran through a valley and where the extra height and design of a 4x4 gets you through. I had a Land Rover Freelander and would pass cars either stuck in floodwater or not wanting to go through. A 4x4 wasn't a statement or a luxury but a sensible choice; for example, the farm vets shared a pool of them to get around.

 

[Stormkhan]

'Round our way', we see a lot of visitors with 4x4's towing their caravans. Many get stuck in our camping fields because they might have a 4x4 but they don't know how to drive them off-road. They think having a 4 wheel drive is enough.

 

[Paul_Exeter]

'Round our way', we see a lot of visitors with 4x4's towing their caravans. Many get stuck in our camping fields because they might have a 4x4 but they don't know how to drive them off-road. They think having a 4 wheel drive is enough.

You don't see many new 4x4s in the driveways of Dartmoor residents but rather a lot of older model Land Rovers and Land Cruisers etc that are showing wear and tear but conversely are driven by people who know how to get the best out of them. To be honest, the vast majority of tourists don't see the 'real' Dartmoor but rather stick to the main roads and the main tourist spots. Once you get away from those and find yourself on a single track between hedges with grass growing down the middle, mud, streams of water, blind corners and sudden steep hills you are glad of a sturdy vehicle with plenty of torque, grip and that extra visibility from being sat higher up.

 

[Stormkhan]

I recall a company in the late 1990's that offered to spray mud and dust onto parts of the 4x4's owned by Londoners in order that they look as if they've 'a place in the country'.

 

[Floyd]

There is the old story about bubble car drivers in the 1960's driving up to the wall in a garage and then not being able to get out due to a) the door opening at the front and b) having no reverse gear.

 

[catseye]

You don't see many new 4x4s in the driveways of Dartmoor residents but rather a lot of older model Land Rovers and Land Cruisers etc that are showing wear and tear but conversely are driven by people who know how to get the best out of them. To be honest, the vast majority of tourists don't see the 'real' Dartmoor but rather stick to the main roads and the main tourist spots. Once you get away from those and find yourself on a single track between hedges with grass growing down the middle, mud, streams of water, blind corners and sudden steep hills you are glad of a sturdy vehicle with plenty of torque, grip and that extra visibility from being sat higher up.

It's the same round here. Lots of utility vehicles, my neighbour has just bought a Mitsubishi Barbarian and it's the size of a small minibus. Nice and practical (we are 30 miles from the nearest city, so it's a lot of driving if you want to go to the big Tesco, or to buy something specific), but it takes up So. Much. Space. We don't have garages, which is just as well, because I don't think you'd be able to park it in any domestic garage, other than a double one.

 

[escargot]

There is the old story about bubble car drivers in the 1960's driving up to the wall in a garage and then not being able to get out due to a) the door opening at the front and b) having no reverse gear.

Can remember hearing that at the time. There was a local bubble car that we'd see around and I'd wonder about how to get out if one walled it.

I thought you'd probably open the door as far as you could and then shove hard until the car rolled backwards. Or you might get one leg out and push with the foot.
What a strange child I was.

 

[Floyd]

Can remember hearing that at the time. There was a local bubble car that we'd see around and I'd wonder about how to get out if one walled it.

I thought you'd probably open the door as far as you could and then shove hard until the car rolled backwards. Or you might get one leg out and push with the foot.
What a strange child I was.

Just for anyone who is wondering;

 

[bugmum]

You don't see many new 4x4s in the driveways of Dartmoor residents but rather a lot of older model Land Rovers and Land Cruisers etc that are showing wear and tear but conversely are driven by people who know how to get the best out of them. To be honest, the vast majority of tourists don't see the 'real' Dartmoor but rather stick to the main roads and the main tourist spots. Once you get away from those and find yourself on a single track between hedges with grass growing down the middle, mud, streams of water, blind corners and sudden steep hills you are glad of a sturdy vehicle with plenty of torque, grip and that extra visibility from being sat higher up.

We came out of Lustleigh the back way the other day - along Mill Lane, up to the Beck Falls Road, and then down to Bovey Tracey. The state of the roads, between potholes and mud, was appalling. Although we don't have an SUV, we do have 4-wheel drive, and I was glad to be in that rather than in my beloved Mini...

 

[Paul_Exeter]

We came out of Lustleigh the back way the other day - along Mill Lane, up to the Beck Falls Road, and then down to Bovey Tracey. The state of the roads, between potholes and mud, was appalling. Although we don't have an SUV, we do have 4-wheel drive, and I was glad to be in that rather than in my beloved Mini...

Such a beautiful landscape though, Lustleigh Cleave is a rare temperate rainforest that has been allowed to regenerate:

https://www.theguardian.com/environ...search-of-englands-lost-forgotten-rainforests

Also a host of Fortean goings on around there, including a time-slip or ghosts of Bronze Age people seen near a burial mound and ghostly mounted warriors etc. I was able to spend a year living on a farm further up the road near a village called Doccombe. Although the village is in a steep sided combe (as the name suggests) there was a green lane from the farm up onto Mardon Down with its stone circles, burial mounds, giant legends and stunning views out across Devon from almost 1200 feet in elevation. Weather could be sh*te though...

 

[Paul_Exeter]

Such a beautiful landscape though, Lustleigh Cleave is a rare temperate rainforest that has been allowed to regenerate:

https://www.theguardian.com/environ...search-of-englands-lost-forgotten-rainforests

Also a host of Fortean goings on around there, including a time-slip or ghosts of Bronze Age people seen near a burial mound and ghostly mounted warriors etc. I was able to spend a year living on a farm further up the road near a village called Doccombe. Although the village is in a steep sided combe (as the name suggests) there was a green lane from the farm up onto Mardon Down with its stone circles, burial mounds, giant legends and stunning views out across Devon from almost 1200 feet in elevation. Weather could be sh*te though...

Forgot to mention that I often went exploring the Cleave and whilst it has an atmosphere of being ancient and mysterious nothing remotely paranormal occurred.

Then in 2012 on a grey and bitterly cold Winter evening with sleet showers I was driving towards Lustleigh from Moretonhamsptead at dusk. Then I noticed that up on the ridge of the Cleave was single, bright flickering flame. It was still light enough to see that it was in the woods and not near any farm buildings or one of the sporadic dwellings. It was also a very consistent flame, unlike say a bonfire that flares up as more fuel is added or the wind hits it. It was that miserable and cold that I wasn't about to detour and to be honest I couldn't be certain I could get near it, even in the Land Rover. But I did drive that way again a day or so later and could see the location was indeed in woodland and not near any dwellings.

Perhaps it was just a bonfire but the weather was pretty ghastly to be outside lighting fires, so maybe some sort of Earthlight...?

 

[catseye]

Forgot to mention that I often went exploring the Cleave and whilst it has an atmosphere of being ancient and mysterious nothing remotely paranormal occurred.

Then in 2012 on a grey and bitterly cold Winter evening with sleet showers I was driving towards Lustleigh from Moretonhamsptead at dusk. Then I noticed that up on the ridge of the Cleave was single, bright flickering flame. It was still light enough to see that it was in the woods and not near any farm buildings or one of the sporadic dwellings. It was also a very consistent flame, unlike say a bonfire that flares up as more fuel is added or the wind hits it. It was that miserable and cold that I wasn't about to detour and to be honest I couldn't be certain I could get near it, even in the Land Rover. But I did drive that way again a day or so later and could see the location was indeed in woodland and not near any dwellings.

Perhaps it was just a bonfire but the weather was pretty ghastly to be outside lighting fires, so maybe some sort of Earthlight...?

If it was non-flickering, could it have been a lantern? Badger baiters?

 

[Paul_Exeter]

If it was non-flickering, could it have been a lantern? Badger baiters?

Good shout but it was a lot larger than a lantern. Badger baiting is evil to be blunt but I feel that the Cleave is too busy a place with dog walkers at all times of day and night for that sort of activity and it was only about 7pm if I recall correctly. It was at least bonfire size but unlike a bonfire it was a steady flame.