Saturday 24 July 2010

KInver is shut

We arrived in Kinver at 4.00 pm today. It was shut. How quaintly old fashionedly English to find a village whose shops (barring the Co-op) were shut or being closed up by Saturday teatime. Quite a contrast to the Liverpool of almost 24 hours a day seven days a week activity which we had just come back from.
And odd really since Kinver is the 'jewel in the crown' of the area, a pretty village nestling at the edge of the Staffs & Worcs, famous for its houses carved into the sandstone cliffs and with the celebrated 'Kinver Edge' hill rising up behind.
It attracts tourists from all over but they won't find a map or a guidebook, just a few leaflets about local walks obtainable from certain shops. When they're open.
It's rather like the pretty Essex village of Finchingfield near where we used to live. It attracted visitors on a sunny Sunday like wasps to a jam pot. But the shops remained resolutely shut.
The truth is, these places don't actually like tourists. They tolerate them - just - but welcoming them would be quite out of the question.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The children went to primary school in Rodmell, a small hamlet halfway between our house and Lewes. The school was right next door to Monks House a former home of Virginia Woolf. It was from here she left for the last time to commit suicide in the nearby River Ouse. It has become something of a shrine and Woolf devotees come in there hoardes from all over the world. The local pub, which is always closing for lack of custom, makes no effort to serve this captive audience (there is not alternative place to even buy a cup of tea) and the local B&B refuses to accommodate anyone who has not booked a suitable time in advance, not only that but proudly announces the fact in the local press on a regular basis.

Jim

Anonymous said...

Whoops, wrong there - should be their.

Jim