IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Mountbatten Way, BOURNE, PE10 9YA

In the background can be seen Dyke Village. To the left of the picture and just out of view in this shot is The Car Dyke

As the demand for new houses increased, Bourne started to extend out into the fen where developers were given permission in 1989 to build 300 new homes on thirty acres of agricultural land on the eastern end of Mill Drove, the streets being named after Second World War locations including the Battle of Arnhem in 1944 and the Burma campaign. The buyers have included a large number of retired people from the south east anxious to escape from escalating property prices in the London area.

Mill drove is an old road and there was a level crossing here on the Bourne to Billingborough railway. The whitewashed house was the crossing keeper's home.

Whitewashed cottages were a feature of the Bourne to Sleaford railway line which opened in 1872 where gatekeepers lived with their families which enabled them maintain a continuous duty opening the level crossing gates whenever a train approached and closing them when it had passed. Most survived after the line closed in 1965 and were sold as private homes such as this one here in Mill Drove which has since been considerably extended.

The red house is built were the trackbed of the Bourne to Sleaford railway ran. The road upon which I am standing is called, therefore, "Stephenson way" although there is little direct connection with the railway pioneer.

Speed bumps were installed in Mill Drove and Beech Avenue about 10 years ago to stop them being used as rat-runs. There are lots of them.

Opened on a small strip of land between Northfields and Stephenson Way when the estate was built forty years ago this play area is now infrequently used and poorly maintained yet the gaily painted railings and recreational equipment remain as a reminder of the demands of local authorities and the good intentions of developers to provide for home buyers.

In past times scrumping was one of the lesser crimes of boyhood because taking the odd apple from an abundant tree was not regarded as theft. It is a less frequent occurrence today when fast food such as pizzas, crisps and chips takes precedence to fruit and so these ripe and juicy apples hanging over the pavement from a front garden tree in Stephenson Way are safe from young marauders and even the windfalls lie untouched on the ground, save for the odd peck from a passing blackbird.

The South Lincolnshire fens are one of the best places in England to see a rainbow because of the wide open skies and an uninterrupted view of the skyline. An autumn appearance of this multi-coloured meteorological phenomenon lights up the farmland to the north of Bourne with the whitewashed cottages of Dyke village on the horizon and the ancient stone tower of Morton parish church at the rainbow's end. See also Image