Gliding to a new perspective

Courier Countryside Column for 31 July.

Pulling up the Drawbridge

From a few thousand feet up you get a real perspective on the topography of southern England.  I was in a glider soaring over the Downs around Ringmer, and could see across to the Isle of Wight in one direction and back to Dungeness in the other.

The trial flight was a generous birthday present from a year ago and I’d been waiting for the right weather conditions to go up.  I assumed I would need a really clear day and was a bit disappointed when, on the drive over to the airfield, a few grey clouds started gathering.  But it turned out they were just what was wanted as the best thermals to lift a glider are to be found beneath them.  The only problem was that the circling round and round to keep us going up was inclined to induce airsickness.

Anyhow from that height you can see just how much of Britain is NOT built on.  Sure, in the car you can’t go far without encountering habitation.  But, from aloft, fields seem to stretch unsullied to the horizon.

Yet sometimes it feels as if those living in the country consider it their bounden duty to stop anyone else doing so.  If ever there was a case of pulling up the drawbridge this seems like it. 

An open space in our village was sold recently. It used to be the pub car park. But the Royal Oak was replaced by houses a decade ago.  Now it seems to be the newcomers who are among the most vociferous in seeking to prevent further building. Meetings were held and letters sent round raising the spectre of developers moving in or, horror of horrors, travellers taking it over (though without the slightest evidence that any might do so).

The fact remains that there is a housing crisis in the South East. Councils have to find building plots, and they should not be restricted to towns. Poor Hawkhurst has been fighting to stave off unsustainably large developments.  So arguably hamlets like ours should share the burden.  In my lifetime two shops and the pub have closed.  Surely with a few more houses locally we might be able to keep these important rural businesses going. And the old pub car park did seem an ideal site. Though I’d better not be heard to say so locally for fear of ostracism.