IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Wood Lane, SWINDON, SN5 0AH

The unimproved cottage pictured by Roger Cornfoot in early 2007 http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/314826 has now been renovated. The last time it changed hands was in December 2007 when it made £250,000. It is on the market again at a whisker under half a million*. This seems rather a lot for what was probably a worker's cottage built using the cost-cutting 'brick on edge' construction technique http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1221869 *In the event it sold for £435,000 in May 2010.

This is a closer view of the gable end seen in this image http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1221846 The wall has been re-pointed as part of the renovation but it is still a 'brick on edge' or 'rat-trap' bond wall. This technique was used in years past to save money on both time and bricks. Instead of being laid flat the bricks were placed on their edges. Since standard bricks then were 4.5 inches wide and 3 inches high, the builder could build a nine-inch thick wall to a given height using only two-thirds of the bricks that would have been needed had they been laid in the proper manner. There would have been a concomitant reduction in the time needed to build the wall. The result was a wall that was neither fish nor fowl since it was neither a proper cavity wall with an unbroken cavity between the inner and outer leaves, as is standard practice today, nor a solid nine-inch wall used by good builders in the days before cavity walls became the norm. 'Rat-trap' walls were thus neither as strong nor as weather-proof as they could have been.

A delightfully bucolic scene. 'Unimproved' cottages, farms and barns are fast disappearing from the Wiltshire countryside, as the demand for smart country homes grows apace.

Park View Farm is the group of buildings seen beyond the fields.

The bridleway surface is rather damp at its entrance into the wood from Wood Lane. It is used for its proper purpose by horse-riders.

The tractor is fitted with a spring tine cultivator. These implements are used for light cultivations, primarily to stir the top couple of inches of soil especially in the spring when the surface is dry but wet underneath. Many thanks to Michael Trolove for the technical advice.

Located on the minor road to Somerford Common, immediately north of Webb's wood.

The trees in the wood are mainly young beeches.

The wood is access land. In a few weeks the woodland floor should be awash with bluebells.

The wood contains predominantly young beech trees. It's not looking at its best at present. Another month and it should be quite spectacular http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/410494