DG24013 Charm of the Cotswolds Book 1999 V01 290324

The Cotswolds was named an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) but it was renamed by the Government as a National Landscape in November 2023 in a rebranding exercise. There are 46 National Landscape areas in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Cotswolds is the nearest National Landscape to my home in Redditch, Worcestershire so it has become a regular go to location to experience a change in landscape, culture and charm. The word “charm” well describes why the Cotswolds is such an attractive destination. In my case it always provided such a different upland setting in contrast to the lowlands of Worcestershire and Warwickshire. With it only one hour away you could instantly transform yourself into a different world. As a family we always look to make such a visit every Spring just as the daffodils are blooming. For special family celebrations we always looked to head to the Cotswolds. Oddly enough our destination is normally Broadway which is not  located on the Cotswold escarpment but at the foot of Broadway Hill (sometimes called Fish Hill) just beneath the escarpment edge. Although Broadway, in fact in  the Vale of Evesham,  is entirely Cotswold in character with its many honey coloured stone buildings. The village has Tudor, Stuart and Georgian houses, farm labourer’s cottages, hotels. inns, and shops. Just a visit to Broadway can give you a spiritual uplift with it being so different.

Now to the book “Charm of the Cotswolds” which was published by Readers Digest Association in 1999. The Readers Digest Association invested enormous effort into publishing these amazing books. It is difficult to appreciate that this book creation activity, upon which the publishing industry was based, has now passed with the arrival of the internet. Factual books have overnight lost their commercial value with the justification for investing in their publication now in most cases gone. Consumers now want their information screen based not paper based. This book was £1.50 in a Charity Shop with it likely if not purchased to end up in landfill. Somehow the digital substitutes for books like this will never offer the same depth of experience you get reading it in a book format. Screen based information these days is so fragmented and the effort to produce such book masterpieces is no longer justified since no return can be made on the investment. Factual books are disappearing from our society in a mass exodus and in 10 years’ time they will be considered a rarity with those that do get published very expensive to purchase. You can already witness the rarer ones in perfect condition selling for hundreds if not thousands of pounds. So let us enjoy them whilst we can still read them all be it in a PDF format here.

So what appealed to me about this book was it had within it essentially another book which Readers Digest had syndicated which was originally published as “A Year in the Cotswolds” by John Hudson. John lives in the Cotswolds and based the book on looking at Cotswold life through the seasons. He manages to convey in a unique style what living life in the Cotswolds feels like in fact embedding emotions into his writings in a subtle way. Upon reading his words you are going to fall in love with life in the Cotswolds. To write like this on a factual subject requires the author to have a particular gift as well experiencing Cotswold life on a day to day basis.

The Original John Hudson Book called "A Year in the Cotswolds" 

included in the "Charm of the Cotswolds Book".

 

The Charm of the Cotswolds is linked to below for you to read. It is likely that LinkedIn will block it because of its size so to read it you will need to go directly to my adigitalgeography.blogspot.com site and launch this post DG24013 dated 290324. So by removing LinkedIn from the software stack it should allow you to download it successfully. Read and enjoy it.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DzBkD3Y3X8dN2rfSfn9yQGeZ7UlPPvy7/view?usp=sharing

The one venue in Broadway we always enjoy for a meal or for an overnight stay is the Broadway Hotel.

 

 Broadway Hotel. Sit by the log fire on a dark Winter's Night. 

You will usually end up talking to some American Guests.  

Another popular Cotswold village we visit is Chipping Campden which although a lot less commercial than Broadway is sited on the top of the escarpment with the open sided Market Hall the starting point for the 102 mile Cotswold Way. 

 Chipping Camden High Street

For my 50^th Wedding Anniversary we splashed out hiring a £1m property in Chipping Campden high street called Singer House for a Friday and Saturday night in 2019. This property looks so insignificant from the high street but in fact it was fabulous inside with our main bedroom used as a ballroom when it had access to much larger property sited to its left called Bedfont House.

The Google Street View Geotag for Singer House is included below this Street View photograph for you to use.

Google Street View of Singer House entrance grey door on the right.

http://www.google.com/search?q=52.0516291,-1.7790429

 

Also subject to you having a TikToc Account take a look inside Singer House using the link below.

https://www.tiktok.com/@hannahfelicity2/video/7342566165715242272?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc

Some more history on Bedfont House and Singer House

https://www.chippingcampdenhistory.org.uk/content/activities/projects/bedfont-house-and-the-griffiths-family/why-bedfont-house

Publisher Copyright of "The Charm of the Cotswolds" is acknowledged as the Readers Digest Association.  DMB Publishing the Digital Publisher of this digitised copy operates on a strictly non for profit basis, whilst it is shared here strictly under a Creative Commons 4.0 Licence defined by a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Deed. The Copyright owner is acknowledged and if there is any objection to this digitised copy the content will be immediately removed from the internet. The sole objective of its publication on the internet is to raise public awareness of the loss of such valuable books and to extend their time being read. Similarly the Copyright of the author of "A Year in the Cotswolds"  John Hudson is acknowledged and the same criteria defined above applies to his Copyright ownership. 

DG24012 Churchdown Hill , Gloucestershire V01 240324

There is an old expression applicable to both storytelling and writing that if you want to make a subject popular you must make it local. We are all guilty of having, in particular, our main historical and geographical interests confined to areas near where we live. It is amazing that with Social Media this enthusiasm for local interests has generated so many popular Local Groups with dedicated Administrators and Followers all willing to contribute their photos and stories. So in my case living in Redditch, Worcestershire my focus is upon South Worcestershire and South Warwickshire. But I owned a flat in Gloucester Docks for 17 years (2006-2023) so my focus was changed to this area of Gloucestershire. Being honest both historically and geographically the area around Gloucester had far more to offer than the areas around my home in Redditch. One of the outstanding geographical features was the Cotswold Escarpment and its outliers of Bredon Hill, Churchdown Hill and Robin’s Wood Hill. I have made it to the top of all three being taken back by the views. 

This post is focussed upon Churchdown Hill sometimes to confuse matters it is called Chosen Hill. Being an aviation enthusiast spending long periods at the Gloucester and Cheltenham Airfield at Staverton, Gloucestershire it offered a clear view of Churchdown Hill and you could even see St Bartholomews Church on top of it. It has a distinctive conical shape and rises to 607 feet (185 metres). So my initial objective was to climb it to view the airfield from a different perspective. Fortunately no climbing was involved since there is a narrow tarmac road that takes you right to the top with parking spaces. Once there the views are truly fantastic with all photographs failing to convey how high up you feel as you overlook the countryside. Inevitably it has become my go to destination especially if you want a setting to do some thinking and reflection.

Now whilst appreciating that geology inclusive of all the rock names makes the subject less attractive to most of the public it does account for the existence of many of the most striking geographical features with geology books highlighting these features. For many years I have owned “Geology Explained in the Severn Vale and Cotswolds” (1973) by William Dreghorn (1908-2001).The outstanding feature of this book is the inclusion of many sketches by William Dreghorn where they illustrate the subject of geology in a unique way with many oblique sectioned drawings of rock formations.

William Dreghorn's Book

Some sketches by William Dreghorn below out of this book.

Over the years I have viewed many maps showing the Cotswold Escarpment that the Cotswold Way runs along as a 102 mile walk from Chipping Camden to Bath but this map by William Dreghorn (1908-2001) is my favourite because of its simplicity and it shows clearly the Bredon Hill, Churchdown Hill and Robin's Wood Hill Outliers. With the Malvern Hills to May Hill being the other significant hills on the West side of the River Severn leading into the mysterious Forest of Dean.  

   

A simple sketch showing the rock formation below St Bartholomews

 Church on the top of Churchdown Hill. 

 

 

Some photographs taken by St Batholomews Church, Churchdown Hill, Gloucestershire.

 

A Google Geotag to a Steet View of St. Batholomews Church, Churchdown Hill, Gloucestershire.

http://www.google.com/search?q=51.8693188,-2.1730058

The Wikipedia link is below

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chosen_Hill,_Gloucestershire

William Dreghorn (1908-2001) spent his later years living in Cyprus where he contributed enormously to his new “local” setting. It once again emphasises the point that what is local to you most interests you. Although if you as a writer or artist document things as you progress through your life you can always go back to review and reflect on them.

View his bio on the link below.

https://cyprusscene.com/2016/07/17/william-dreghorn-exhibition-artrooms-girne-until-9th-september/

 With the constant danger of web resources you link to just disappearing I have copied some of the contents of this link below.

By Heidi Trautmann……

William Dreghorn (1908-2001)

Many friends and contemporaries of William Dreghorn had come together on the opening evening at the ArtRooms in Girne, Turkish Cypriot friends as well as British friends. He died in 2001, that was when we started building the house, and he was one of ‘the important things’ one learnt about Cyprus. I have never met him but have later written about some activities around his work initiated by the Dept of Antiquity, i.e. Prof. Dr. Müge Şefketoglu who knew him from childhood years and followed him – literally – with sketchbook and pen, and it is also her to whom I directed my questions when I was approached by collectors – the one in South Africa, the other in Los Angeles on the basis of my articles on my website; thus we received information of sketches and paintings which were not in the Cyprus collection. Internet the great communicator.

Dr. Sibel Siber said at the opening ….it is to honour William Dreghorn who has done so much for this country; she also wrote the introduction in the English and Turkish catalogue of his work which is a common effort of governmental and private initiatives.

Many buildings, images of streets and archaeological details would no longer be available to us if it was not for William Dreghorn. Also Erbil Arkin of the Arkin Group shared some private memories with us. Among the distinguished guests was also his 

doctor who sat by his side at the very end; even then he was asking for paper and pen to draw some things from memory, he told me.

To see some of the articles I have written about the work of William Dreghorn please click on the links below:

Castle Sketch Book by William Dreghorn – click here

A painting of St Hilarion by William Dreghorn – click here

William Dreghorn in Bellapais – click here

The exhibition  itself was beautifully prepared by Oya Silbery, the director of the gallery; she had welcomed the guests on the lower terrace of ‘The House’.  It was one of those melting tropical nights under a Mediterranean sky when you don’t want to go home and as I was moving from one group to another I heard all the stories people brought up from times when places like Girne and Famagusta were deserted and a man sitting for hours and sketching and painting away – Bill Dreghorn loved the Old Harbour  in Girne – would catch everyone’s eye.

There is a permanent exhibition in the castle – and what would Bill Dreghorn say if he could see Girne today – he would turn in his grave.  Yes, things have changed, especially these last ten years. We have somehow lost the patience to observe the details, and this is a good occasion to call that into our minds, with the beautifully drawn pictures of so many parts of our island, an old alley in the Old City, a fountain, a door or the stone works on a building, they are drawn not only for the love of detail but with his heart; you immediately feel at home when looking at them closely and you want to go and find them in reality.

DG24011 Aerofilms Archived Aerial Photographs (1919-2006) V01 200324

If you are a history or geography enthusiast that posts on Social Media sites like the popular “Then and Now” here is your opportunity to use a free site to get your historical black and white aerial photographs. You can now use the Aerofilms photographic archive to locate your "Then" photographs which has now been taken over by Historic England. A link to their website is included below in this post.

Whilst I the have always been a mapping enthusiast the maps that have always most appealed to me either drawn or photographed are the oblique genre where you can visually see buildings and geographic features laid out on the map but in a three-dimensional format. The classic purely vertical maps either drawn or satellite generated although interesting do not carry the aesthetic appeal of oblique maps. It is about maps being considered by me as artwork rather than purely having a scientific cartographical purpose. See a good example of Vertical verse Oblique Photographic Views on Page 6 of the Aerofilms Library Index Book linked to below in this post. It’s the use of oblique views in older historical maps that are  appealing to me. Whilst thanks to them now being very saleable over the internet that this genre is starting to appeal to our young contemporary artists.

It was not so long ago that Black and White Aerial Photographs were considered the most technically advanced way of viewing geography and history from the above. Back in 1962 I sent off for the 7/6d Library of Aerial Photographs produced by Aerofilms and Aero Pictorial Limited and proceeded to purchase some of their interesting photographs.

Here is the Leaflet advertising the booklet from which I decided to order their booklet.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iSiZcmSeJ6JU5PXT9QI-Y0iH23SNKdXW/view?usp=sharing 

Here is the Library of Aerial Photographs Booklet (1962) itself. It is 62 years old and has been on my bookshelf all of those years. I still enjoy looking through the photographs and appreciating how many exist covering a huge variety of subjects. It is the way they have structured content in the booklet by adopting a classic attempt at Library Classification that appeals to my data centric mind along with this also applied to the Appendices. No Google search in those days. (1962).

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vGgXXE8pnf58Ao5QhSYTtn36tRww_FiO/view?usp=sharing 

 

It has to be acknowledged that although Google Maps and Google Street View have using GPS (Global Positioning System) satellite capabilities brought mapping into the 21^st Century they cannot achieve the splendid oblique views that can be obtained from an aircraft. Now the advent of drones  can exceed all these oblique capabilities and once they are organised both nationally and internationally we will have the perfect oblique visual resources. These capabilities will be inclusive of both still and moving photographs (video) eventually extending into full 3D and virtual reality functionality. I am personally looking forward to “flying” down a river from its source to the sea under and over all the bridges from a drone perspective.

Its important to acknowledge the part played by Aerofilms Limited in both originally creating this archive and now handing it over to Historic England. In 1995 The Times reported that Aerofilms had 1.2 million photographs between 1919 and 2006 spanning over 75 years.

Read the Wikipedia link below on Aerofilms history.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerofilms

To use the Aerofilms Archive use the Historic England link below

https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/archive/collections/aerial-photos/

 

By a strange coincidence in a recent old map book I purchased it had stored inside it the cover part of a Hunting Group Review dated February 1981 (Original owners of Aerofilms) with a cutting of an article on the so called Rampton Map Tapestry inside of it.

Link to part of the Hunting Group Review (1981) found in an old map book with the article on the Rampton Map Tapestry.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Eap-kXzeuugIrLbwAJsWUNtRqXWu0IRQ/view?usp=sharing

 

Link to details about the Rampton Map Tapestry on a European History Site.

https://www.europeana.eu/en/item/2064107/Museu_ProvidedCHO_Nottingham_City_Museums_and_Galleries_BLDIDCT166793

 

Oblique View of the Tower of London (Aerofilms)

DG24010 The Appearance of Bridges 1996 V01 170324

Everyday you are travelling over or under bridges with most people just taking their appearance for granted. Back in 1964 the Department of Transport started to look at improving the visual excellence of bridges whatever their method of structural construction. This Appearance of Bridges Book produced in 1996 includes both bridges in the United Kingdom as well as those abroad. Although I would have preferred it to be the bridges of the United Kingdom only. But it has to be acknowledged that some of the most advanced aesthetic designs are to be found internationally.

This 192 page book (186.2 MB) will take some time to download so be patient. Likely to be 60 to 80 seconds. Click the three consecutive  Download displayed options and wait.  Once loaded adjust your PDF zoom as required by pinching open your fingers over a page. 

  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cZyVar6SDu4hMCz4iFZ1fblKsYelqTQx/view?usp=sharing

Although it originally cost £35 it was purchased for £3.56 to save it from landfill and to preserve it for use by yourself and future generations.

Publisher Copyright is acknowledged as the Government Stationery Office. DMB Publishing the Digital Publisher of this digitised copy operates on a strictly non for profit basis, whilst it is shared here strictly under a Creative Commons 4.0 Licence defined by a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Deed. The Copyright owner is acknowledged and if there is any objection to this digitised copy the content will be immediately removed from the internet. The sole objective of its publication on the internet is to raise public awareness of the importance of good bridge design and to highlight the excellent work undertaken by the Department of Transport.

If you take the time to look at this book even if you only look at the photographs you will never drive under or over a bridge again without observing its design. The United Kingdom modern classics for me remain the Clifton Suspension Bridge, Bristol (Page 9), the Avon Bridge M40 Warwick (Page 31) and the Bridgenorth Severn Bridge (Page 86).

Bristol Suspension Bridge

DG24009 The Root's of Tolkien's Middle Earth 2006 V01 100324

Use the link below to read but note due to Copyright Law only part of “The Root’s of Tolkien’s Middle Earth by Robert S. Blackham written in 2006 can be displayed. Only Chapters 3, 7 and 8 are displayed in the PDF below.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_me1Es7yWZWC5R7E-mFmzZnkVkUD4Scc/view?usp=sharing

In writing my geography posts I like them to be linked to a common theme with it normally being a geographical feature. So a river, hill range, county, parish or town wall in fact  anything that connects things together in some logical spatial way. Therefore it is quite unusual to have a playwright or author as a theme. So living near Stratford upon Avon, Shakespeare as a playwright is perfect to link spatially places he has lived or visited in Warwickshire together. Whilst here J.R.R. Tolkien’s (1892-1973) the famous author of Lord of the Rings links together some very unusual places in the south Birmingham area in the United Kingdom. In the Tolkien book the locations identified support the settings created in the Lord of the Rings along with meeting some of the character types. Whilst Shakespeare supports a large tourist influx into Stratford Upon Avon Tolkien does not support such an influx to visit Sarehole Mill near Kings Heath, South Birmingham, United Kingdom along with the other less publicised locations.

Living very near all these places they have all played some part in my life. Kings Heath, Edgbaston Reservoir, the River Cole, the Forge at Claverdon, Moseley Village, Chamberlain Tower at Birmingham University, the Lickey Hills and Rednal. Although it is more difficult when viewed these days to fully appreciate how these things inspired him to write Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. But there is nothing as powerful as human imagination.

Growing up my father’s parents lived in Alton Road, Bournbrook overlooking the Chamberlain Tower at Birmingham University. The view from this steep road is stunning with it having a major impact on my imagination as a child. The Bourne Brook flows at the bottom of this road into the River Blythe at Cannon Hill Park and then joins the River Cole then joins the River Tame and then the River Trent. This is significant since these tributaries flow north into the River Trent whilst all the water courses south of these flow into the River Avon and then the River Severn. The River Cole powers the Sarenhole Mill which plays such a significant part in Tolkien’s writings particularly in respect of the life of the Hobbits. With everything so culverted underground these days it is difficult to appreciate how these tributaries supported the boggy wooded areas depicted in Tolkien’s book.

Tolkien lived for a short spell in Rednal in the Lickey Hills just south of Birmingham. My school friend, Stuart Fairfoul’s father owned Cofton Cottage dated 1853 built in a Tudor style  sited near where Tolkien lived and this traded in the summer many years ago as a local café. Stuart still lives there and it retains much of its original charm. He also still makes a fine cup of tea. It is rumoured that the road called Groveley Lane in front of the cottage lead to a pathway going over the Cofton Park but no trace of it exists.

To comply with Copyright Laws I have only published a small part of the “The Roots of Tolkien’s Middle Earth” book by Robert S. Blackham since it is still available for purchase from Amazon. This is intended to encourage you to purchase the book for yourself. The link to Amazon is below.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Roots-Tolkiens-Middle-Earth/dp/0752438565

So as the writer, Robert S. Blackham (2006) Copyright is acknowledged as he still owns copyright over his written words. Publisher Copyright owned by the History Press is acknowledged. So as a DMB Publishing the Digital Publisher of part of the “The Roots of Tolkien’s Middle Earth” this is on a strictly non for profit basis, whilst it is shared here strictly under a Creative Commons 4.0 Licence defined by a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Deed for the sole purpose of encouraging the sale of the published book whilst generating reader interest in the subject matter. If any objection is communicated to me by any of the current Copyright owners the content will be immediately removed from the internet.

For something completely different view the first animated film made of the Hobbit you can view on this YouTube link below.

https://youtu.be/UBnVL1Y2src?feature=shared

  

DG24008 Midland Red Gazetteer of the Midlands Circa 1961 V01 040324

Use the link below to read the Midland Red Gazetteer of the Midlands Circa 1961. It has a 148 Midland Locations many of which would not feature in any tourist books these days.

(It is a big book (220 pp) so allow time for it to load.) 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1E6rmPXCeRCEcSGeUNdpaznHzhjeQcz6Y/view?usp=sharing

Did you spot the error ? Abergele is not in the Midlands. (Page 19)

Growing up in Kings Norton, Birmingham the nearest main road to my house was the Pershore Road (A441) which named as such you would think it would link to the town of Pershore sited between Evesham on the River Avon and Worcester sited on the River Severn. If you drew a straight radial line from Birmingham City Centre to Pershore it would pass by my home but the road south of there would struggle to follow such a line although Alvechurch and Redditch would initially not be too far from the direct line. But modern road developments have tended to avoid sticking to such simple radial logic preferring to meet the needs of population centres of concentration by wandering accordingly. With the American’s liking their grid road designs at least you would have thought we could have adhered to some radial logic for the main routes.

Importantly this Pershore Road was regularly served by the Cream and Blue Birmingham Corporation buses running up to the Birmingham City boundary but no further. Less frequently but more strikingly the bright red Midland Red buses, both single decker and double decker, would be allowed to strike out beyond the Birmingham boundary heading for distant places like Alvechurch (6 miles) or Redditch (9 miles). Sometimes a rare Midland Red might be seen headed for Stratford Upon Avon (21 miles) although these more commonly would be on the Alcester Road (A435) radial road out of Birmingham to Alcester then on to Stratford upon Avon. These Midland Bus Routes were advertised in the Midland Red Gazettee designed to encourage people to travel around the Midlands and beyond.

So the Midland Red Gazettee of the Midlands especially with its Supplement of Inland and Seaside Pleasure Resorts in 1961 was as significant “bucket list” brochure as the World Wide Flight Schedules and Timetables would be to the travelling public these days. Reading it today (2024) its simplicity and conciseness makes for excellent reading combined with the rare colour photographs, black and white photographs and the odd pen and ink sketch. The dated advertisements make for just as interesting reading taking you back to the bye gone days of 60 years ago.

Strangely enough an amazing Transport Museum at Wythall is the perfect place to see both the Birmingham Corporation Buses and the Midland Red Buses.

Take a look at their website below.

https://www.wythall.org.uk

Midland Red Bus at the Wythall Transport Museum