The countryside northeast of Bettiscombe. Photograph by Derek Harper, reused under Creative Commons Licence.
BELOW IS a list put together from answers to a questionnaire sent round the West Dorset villages of Marshwood, Bettiscombe, Pilsdon and Stoke Abbott.
The survey was done to help a team of councillors and volunteers prepare the Upper Marshwood Vale Parish Plan, which is an absorbing piece of work.
The plan is being discussed at a public meeting in Bettiscombe Village Hall at 7.30pm on November 11.
There’ll be more on this site about the plan.
To begin with, this list is reproduced because it is a curiously compelling snapshot – “Unemployment, Heavy clay, Some older men” – of life in rural Dorset in 2010.
Every phrase suggests a story, and taken together they can form unsettling combinations…
What do you like least about living here?
22 Condition of roads and lanes.
16 Lack of public transport.
12 Main road, Marshwood.
9 Traffic speed, Too many second homes.
7 Need to drive for everything,
Incomers who want changes, Low flying aircraft.
6 Large Farm equipment.
5 Local council officials, Mud & floods.
4 Poor Broadband.
3 Technological disadvantages, Poor facilities,
Rural Crime,
Monoculturalism,
Too many new buildings & people,
Tractors,
Local councils.
2 Lack of mains gas, Parking, Speed of farm vehicles,
Isolation in winter, Lack of security,
Caravans, Incomers from SE England,
Road drains, Emergency response times, Power cuts,
Excessive signposting of footpaths,
Incomers ought to be involved in village.
1 Nosy ramblers peering in window, Lack of mains drainage,
Elderly who don’t welcome young families,
Narrow lanes untended verges,
Difficult to get emergency help,
Neighbours who steal your land, My neighbour (past),
Low cloud,
Pub because it is a restaurant,
Unemployment, Heavy clay, Some older men,
Litter, Increasing population, Dampness,
Incomer cliques, Silage collection,
Son can’t afford to live here, Walking & cycling dangerous,
No pub to walk to,
No bus service,
No local store / Post Office,
Changing values,
Lack of housing,
The rats.
Those rats at the end… Where do they live? How big are they?
Are they seen or heard?
What do they portend?
An old English black rat
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