I had been hoping for a thin tome.. but I am on the reserve list

In all this talk of the Big Society, there’s something missing. Energy.

AS THE people of Lush Places prepare for the annual arrival of the Seavington Hunt this morning, there are some bleary eyes after last night’s rally through the village. Roaring motorbikes, chugging classic cars and rusty old 4x4s rumbled through the night, headlights blazing, road maps-a-gazing. In a few minutes, the noise will be replaced [...]

LUSH Places is building itself up to a climactic Christmas. The air is awash with rumours about the possible identity of the ‘guests’ at the winter solstice concert in the village hall this weekend. With the leader of super folk band The Imagined Village in our midst, it could be anyone. Hell, there is even talk of one [...]

IN BRIDPORT’S Rural Lidl, there is apparently a police presence as the new store opens. Whether it is as a precaution against irate St Andrew’s Road residents or to control the crowds snapping up cut-price prawn rings, Panettone and chocolate Santas, I do not know. But it all sounds a little crazy. A day earlier and [...]

THE CLOCKS go back on Sunday. It happens every year. And every year it causes chaos in Lush Places.

A thin veil of mist hangs over Lush Places this morning, the sun low in the sky as blinded drivers attempt the ascent of the hill out of the village. Over the brow and in the valley below, Beaminster is covered in a carpet of fog, the tops of the trees and church tower poking [...]

WITH Tamara Drewe fever about to hit Bridport like a stray copy of Country Life thwacking against the windscreen of a builder’s van, the repercussions are already being felt. On a quiet country lane at East Chelborough, a car pulls up to take a look at the striking thatched house on the roadside. You can see [...]

A CRESCENT of white sand has appeared in front of the village shop. Lush Places folk haven’t stopped talking about it since the workmen appeared on Friday with their Spiderman glue resin and fine white grit. They knocked on doors to ask people to move their cars. ‘Sorry chaps,’ was the response at one door. ‘The [...]

HERE IN Lush Places, it is the day of the village flower show. Car boots are open on the hall forecourt, spilling out dahlias, leeks the length of Chile and spikes of gladioli sharp enough to impale yourself on. Gardeners, bakers, photographers and handicraft makers walk into the hall steadily, carefully, so as not to trip. [...]