IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Ranters Bank, KIDDERMINSTER, DY14 9DT

Whoah! A collectors paradise - the cottage driveway is home to several old cars and even better tractors, all of a most collectible vintage. An old Austin, a larger Alvis (I think) under wraps and rusty old tractors sit about surrounded by tributes of old engines, transmissions, gubbins and innards. Heaven! Good work sir.

This old tractor doesn't appear to go at the mo. But what an eyecatching old trooper - a McCormick Farmall Cub, a small but versatile and redoubtable machine. It dates from some time between the late 1940's and the mid 1960's and has sat here for some time at a guess. The Cub was aimed at the needs of the small-acreage farmer or smallholder - farms of 40 crop acres or less or as a back-up machine on larger farms that needed an extra tractor. It took seven or eight implements including a plough, disc, backblade, sickle-bar mower, belly-mower or a one-armed front-end loader for starters. The Cub was off-set to the left with the driver and steering wheel on the right and known as "CultiVision" in reference to the ability of the driver to have a perfect view of a belly-mounted cultivator. The Farmall Cub was one of the most popular small-chore tractors ever made and sold in the US and UK in huge numbers and with a production run lasting 20 years over 200,000 were built between 1947 and 1964. Even today the Cub is extremely popular and fondly recalled and has a ready supply of new after-market replacement parts. Today one of the most popular uses is mowing large lawns or golf courses with a belly mower attached. Also popular with collectors many Farmall Cubs restored and madre 'parade-ready' for shows. This one may be snapped up for £500 or so. Who knows....

A cottage set back from the road and with an old tractor out front in a slightly dilapidated condition. What an eye-catching little vignette.

Woodland caravan site in the Wyre Forest.

This area of NW Worcestershire is characterised by many steep sided valleys ultimately draining to Dowles Brook. The valley in this scene is that of Lem Brook with Wyre Forest (Cleobury Coppice) behind and Brown Clee on the skyline. The pattern of agriculture is mainly small-holdings many of which still have traditional orchards, although as "townies" take over the properties they are being grubbed up for horse paddocks - what a pity!