Photo 1 of 84, The village of Aston le Walls

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The village of Aston le Walls

The village of Aston le Walls in Northamptonshire, UK, resting gently almost midway between the conurbations of Banbury and Daventry on the A361. The M40 is within easy reach if required!

My wife and I moved here in September 2007 and found that the village community is quite unique.

Why, because it stll retains that special community relationship that was present in English villages when I was a boy, but by general concensus has disappeared or at least diminished throughout the UK.

There are numerous evening entertainments, I know virtually everyone who lives here, if not by name, at least as nodding aquaintances and friendly greeters.

There is neither shop nor pub and a bus might come through now and then! It is of no consequence because almost all you need can be found within a 10 mile radius.

In the first few weeks of living here we frequently found vegetables left by our back door. When I was incapacitated after 2 major operations, a neighbour mowed the lawn without being asked and the offer of help, if needed, is only a stones throw away.

This is an ongoing project as far as I can see, there will always be new things to add.

Please feel free to make comments, I would welcome the opportunity to read of others impressions, good or bad!

Album by Peter Charles Fagg. Photos by Peter Charles Fagg. 1 - 84 of 84 Total. 3954 Visits.

Aston le Walls With thanks to Google Earth!	Welcome to the village.	Main Street first thing! Old broken road sign!	Main Street in the afternoon. Wondrous things, we have a NEW roadsign!	Bottom of Main Street Looking towards the A361
Up Main Street	Entrance to Plowden Close First thing in the morning. This morning, doesn't matter which morning but it is spring. I stood quietly listening to the countryside waking up and smelling the wonderful scents of various flowering shrubs all intermingled. A heady mixture!	Entrance to Plowden Close Aftrnoon sun! Looking up Welsh Road towards the A361. Today 1st. of May (7 a.m.) I stood here listening to a Blackbird sitting atop a telegraph pole singing in a new day! Somewhere along the line he had picked up the trill from a mobile 'phone!	Towards the A361 on Welsh Road	Welsh Road This is on the other side of the A361 towards Culworth.
Wheat field before the bad weather! This field is the large field in the main picture on the immediate right hand side. This was the Wheat before the horrendous weather (Summer 2008) beat it down and ruined most of the crop.	Main Street looking down.	Main Street looking up towards St. Leonards Church.. On the left is the RC school.	Garden to the right This picture, taken a month after the one to the left on Mainstreet, shows one of the gardens full of blooms.	The Catholic School
RC School flower beds. The Parent Teachers Association constructed the surrounds and the children have already sown seeds and onion sets.	May 09 things are moving!	May 09 things are moving!	24th. May The childrens vegetable patches are blossoming and now they have a scarecrow as well! In the far distance the children also have a chicken house.	Dicentra or Bleeding Hearts In the garden of one of the houses further down Mainstreet, this attractive plant was found.
A basket of happy faces A hanging basket of miniature Pansies brightens up what was a dismal morning!	The church Seen from the entrance driveway to the Manor.	Manor House first thing!	Manor House in afternoon.	Manor House frosty!
Another view of the manor	Spring at the Manor	Rural Idyll near The Manor May 09.	Sheep may safely graze June 28/09	Behind the Manor house. Autumnal sunshine bathes the trees behind the Manor House as you approach the village along one of the footpaths.
Haymaking behind the Manor June 09.	Haymaking behind the Manor	2nd. World War Remnant During the 2nd. World War there was an aerodrome at Aston le Walls (Chipping Warden) where reputedly Lancasters were based and patched up to return to the fray. This one of the old concrete access roads that lead to the perimeter road..	The road bridge over the now extinct railway. Another of Dr. Beechings decisions meant the loss of the line that connected with Woodford Halse. All that remains are the bridge, the trackbed and a small section of platform. If looking at the main image, the railway was in the top left hand corner as a double row of trees.	Railway Track Looking in the opposite direction towards Byfield and Woodford Halse.
Lumpy Lane This lane goes from the A361 down to the village. On main picture it enters from top right and ends opposite the Main Street.	Lumpy Lane from the bottom		Entrance to Catholic Church	The Old Schoolhouse, now The Presbytery Now the home of the Catholic Priest
Aston Farmhouse A considerable building with many out houses. It must have been quite a hive of industry when it was still a farm and most of the land around was still under cultivation. Outside this gateway is our telephone box.	Telephone & Post boxes Not every village can boast having a floral display around their telephone box!	St. Leonards Church 13th. Century Originally a Catholic church but with the reformation changed to Anglicanism. Records show the year 1259 for the first rector & Baptisms & Burials in 1540 & the Marriage register in 1558.	Looking down Blacksmiths Lane	St. Leonards Church. The tower is now in desperate need of renovation, it never ends! The piers , Nave, Font and Tower Arch are Norman & ironwork on the Ambrey door is about 600 years old.
Tower collapsed In 1910 the tower was hit by lightning and partly collapsed. It is lovely to hear the hour bell across the village and the surrounding fields. It was a little disconcerting the other day when something went wrong with the mechanism, it was 8 in the morning but we received 13 chimes	Back towards Appletree Lane Main Street to the left. Taking this lane leads to my favourite walk.	Favourite walk with the dog	Hugo on one of his favourite walks!	Looking back towards the village
Can you identify this caterpillar? Found eating the leaves of a Mullien near the old aerodrome. (PS. The Mullien Moth, or so I'm told!)	Another unidentified caterpillar! Found on Stinging nettles behind the Manor.	Signpost at the junction	Appletree Lane after the wind! Blossom carpets the ground.	Survival Plants with tiny flowers 2-3mm survive in cracks in the old wall behind the Old Vicarage
Survival	In Blacksmiths Lane Tulips and their shadows adorn a garden in the lane.	Church from Blacksmiths Lane	180 degrees These beautiful Tulips are in the garden immediately behind me where I stood on the garden path to take the previous image, on Blacksmiths Lane.	Sempervivems in flower Same garden as 180 Degrees, in Blacksmiths Lane.
Manor House from Blacksmiths Lane It was at this point that today I stood and listened to 2 Woodpeckers exchanging staccato hammerings in the trees. The bleating of hundreds of lambs and sheep drifted across the meadows and the sound of a tractor working in the far distance drifted on the breeze. The wonderful scent of freshly turned earth signalled the start of another of agricultures seasons.	Blacksmiths Lane towards Welsh Road In these trees the Woodpeckers hammer every day.	Spring arrives in Sutton Close A Magnolia tree bursts forth in a plethora of blossom.	Another Magnolia blossoms forth
Just a week later! We have had 2 days of light rain which have knocked the blooms for six!	Looking down into Sutton Close	View from Butlers Close Sutton Close on the left.	Up Butlers Close	Butlers Close cul-de-sac
Top of Butlers Close	Cherry tree on the corner of Butlers Close near number 22	Same Cherry tree.	Close up of Cherry flowers A really wonderful show of natures wonders!
7 days, what a difference!	May First the Cherry now the Lilac.	In Butlers Close Just a week of wonderful blooms and now sadly gone!	Welsh Road towards Plowden Close and Main Street	Down Plowden Close Looking towards Welsh Road
Up Plowden Close cul-de-sac	Up Plowden Close	Welsh Road towards Lower Boddington	View from Welsh Road (Early Spring)

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