Tag: Footherley

April 23rd – I returned against the wind from Shenstone, just to ride through the sunlit backlanes. I hadn’t eaten all day and it was a bit of a battle, to be honest, but worth it, all the same. Everything is awake now, and the greening is well underway. At Shenstone, the ruined church tower will soon be hidden by leaves for another season, and the brook at Footherley will soon be an emerald arcadia once more. Some things are changeless, though, like the cottages and converted barns at Lower Stonnall. They look good whatever the season.

April 5th – Oh man, Friday was grim. It had not been a great week, and this day just crowned it. Coming home weary of the wind, exhausted from work and flat from life’s battle, I took solace in leaving Shenstone with the wind behind me. It was getting warmer, and there was just a hint of spring in the air. Pouring myself liquid down the backlanes, I passed Keeper’s Cottage, at Footherley. Gently collapsing into it’s own space, the barn will soon be gone, and I suspect the house will follow. Vadalised, unloved and decaying, this house has been empty for as long as I remember.

It shouldn’t be so. This would make a fine, welcoming family home. It’s a crime to let it just slip away.

February 25th – A dull, grey, chilly day. Again, I came back via Shenstone to avoid a punishing northeasterly wind, but also hoping to find some inspiration in the nascent spring. Sadly, there was none in the dull, grey, darkening lanes, but the spirit of the Footherley Brook remains.

April, come she will, but she’s a long time arriving.

November 2nd – I mentioned last week that the modern Little Aston – location of exclusive private hospital and old folks home, as well as being millionaires square mile – still shows some evidence of being a village of some antiquity. There is, however, a bit of a conundrum. Where Forge Lane crosses the Footherley Brook, adjacent to Forge Wood, there’s a peculiar kink in the lane over a hump bridge. This treacherous hairpin is overlooked by a row of homes called Forge Cottages. Yet further down towards where the main body of the village stood, opposite the primary school is another old forge, still standing, although now occupied by a design studio. I guess both must have been home to blacksmiths.

This is a lovely little village you look past the modern developments.

October 24th – The drizzle continued. If we actually had some decent light, Footherley and Shenstone would be really magical: the trees are wonderful colours right now, but it’s all masked by the murk and drizzle. Please, can whoever is doing the rain dance, please stop. It’s not big, not clever and I’m developing trench-foot and webbed feet. Thanks.

October 12th – It was a beautiful sunny, golden autumn day. It wasn’t warm, but the sun shone and made everything precious. I was glad of it – after the soaking of the day before, it was blessed recovery. The day was beautiful both in Acocks Green, which I passed through on my way to Tyseley, and back at Shenstone and Stonnall on my return. A fine day, and we don’t get many of those at the moment. I’ve included some of the best pictures on my main blog.

August 7th – I noted today with some sadness that the horse chestnut trees in St. Johns Hill in Shenstone, and the ones forming the avenue and hedges along Hollyhill Lane towards Footherley were badly affected this year by the leaf miner moth. The tree survives this new pest, but starts to look sick around late summer, and drops it’s leaves early. It’s thought to affect the conker yeild, although there’s no conclusive proof of this yet. First observed in Wimbledon, London, in 2002, this pest has spread like wildfire, and as yet, there’s no sign of a solution. Very sad. 

August 3rd – Rounding the bend at Footherley Lane, a gap in the fence around the derelict and decaying Keeper’s Cottage snagged my attention. I didn’t want to be late home, but it was nice to stand inside the grounds and get a different angle on the place.

The fact that this once proud and cosy home is now being carried to dust is a scandal. The house has been derelict for well over 30 years – certainly as long as I can remember, and childhood memories of this sad, collapsing cottage can be found in Susan Marie Ward’s recollections.

May 26th – A great ride today in blazing sunshine which I recorded in this post on my main blog. But while heading out, I noticed  that these old cottages in Footherley Lane, near Shenstone, had at last received some attention. All the surrounding scrub has been cut down. Hopefully, this is a precursor to someone actually turning them back into homes. Derelict for since I was a child, there’s no excuse for allowing good house to just crumble, unoccupied and unloved. The people who did so should hang their heads in shame.