Lark Rise to Candleford

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I recently read the book ‘Lark Rise to Candleford’ by Flora Thompson. It has been on my shelf for some years and I inherited it from my Dad. It was originally published in three parts in1939 to 1943. I really enjoyed it – but then I love all those kind of memoirs of life in times past. She describes the life of ‘Laura’ growing up in the hamlet of Lark Rise in the 1880s, later moving to work in the post office at Candleford Green when she was a teenager. A TV series was made based on it in 2008, and that was very popular so that kept it in the public consciousness I guess. Anyway I knew that in real life she lived in north-east Oxfordshire, on the border with Northamptonshire; that Lark Rise was really the hamlet of Juniper Hill and Candleford was Fringford. And I thought maybe one day I might like to go there and see how different it is now. Even when she’s writing the book Flora relates that many of the houses she is writing about from her childhood are no longer there. Well a while ago I was taking Little One to an event, and as we drove along the A43, which is a busy dual carriageway road, right after the ‘Welcome to Oxfordshire’ sign there was a turning marked ‘Juniper Hill 0.5 mile’. It seemed too good an opportunity to miss, since it was so close! I turned off the main road and immediately it was like entering a different world. Just a narrow lane wide enough for one vehicle, with billowing grass verges on either side. There was no traffic; we saw some rabbits, a couple of pheasants and a hare. The hamlet of Juniper Hill was still very small and quiet, with just a few pretty houses surrounded by arable fields. I saw that the same road continued to Fringford, so I thought I would go there too. That turned out to be another very quiet and pretty place. There are roads from there in two directions, but they both join in a sort of V at one end of the village so there is no through traffic. There is still a large village green as she describes, with the church at one end, and it’s a very attractive place with many very pretty cottages. The really big difference is that there are no businesses at all these days, not even a village shop, whereas in the 1890s it had its own butcher, grocer, blacksmith, carpenter's shop, post office and milliner/dressmaker. If you want anything now you have to drive somewhere to get it, or have it delivered. Anyway I was glad I had taken the little detour and just sorry I didn’t stop to take some photos!