What does a county mean to its residents? Here in Frome we are virtually on the border between Somerset Dorset , a few minutes north the less-than-poetic acronym that is BANES (Bath Somerset DAB radio thinks BBC Wiltshire is our local station. To listen to BBC Somerset we have to go analogue. And we tuned into the Beeb’s local offering this morning - an outside broadcast from Watchet; a coastal town at the far end of the county from here that has little in common with Frome except the last line of its postal address. It set me thinking about county identity – is there such a thing for most of us? (We’ll leave Yorkshire out of the equation).
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| Reflections on identity? Nunney Castle (which is in Somerset) |
I was born in Essex and identify more with the town of my birth than the land of TOWIE. Cricket fans may feel attached to their county teams and we all have a financial stake in the administrative body via our council taxes. Maybe if you live in the geographical heart of a county, working and playing within its boundaries, it means much more. Parents with children will think carefully about which local authority runs which schools and that may well colour attitudes to the lines on the map. But generally speaking, if you’re in border country, does it really make any difference to day-to-day living and state of mind? Does anyone on this side of the divide say, “I’m not going to the new Waitrose in Warminster because it’s in Wiltshire”? I doubt it very much.
Never been to the Waitrose in Warminster to be honest, actually I've only ever driven through (not Waitrose – aka Blues Brothers style, although I would like to do that to be honest). Might check it out but I wouldn't drive to Warminster just for shopping, total waste of a weekend to my mind.
ReplyDeleteRe county. For me, after we moved out of Bristol (lived there for about 15 years), being in Somerset is like a child's dream come true. It feels different some how to anywhere else I've lived and I've lived in lots of places (here and abroad).
Here I am drawn to the landscape, the sense of adventure that I get from being in the countryside. I want to climb that hill, walk in that forest, discover the area, its secrets. It’s a feeling that I haven’t had since I was a child growing up in Camberley (not that there is a lot to discover there to be honest), its something that has been reinvigorated in my mind I just want to go out and explore... I inevitably end up in a country pub though, which isn't bad at all. hehe.
The first thing we did when we got to Frome was to take a walk up Cley Hill, and I have to say I got the binoculars out and tried to spot our house. Didn't manage it because it was too windy and I think I needed something stronger and more stable. Amazing views all round and right on our doorstep, take a wander up if you have the chance. Also explore Ebbor Gorge near Wells if you haven't already, nice bit of walking round there too.
Sorry I'm wandering off topic slightly. So re county - Somerset is great for how it makes me feel, I’m not that bothered by its shops or its radio signals or its closeness to Wiltshire. I do like that’s its near Bath though. I feel proud when I say I live in Somerset, saying BANES would be weird, it sounds like drains, and pains and trains… “you live where, in pain??” Wiltshire, well, probably too posh for me (that’s a county ism - haha). Perhaps if you’ve lived in Somerset all your life then you wouldn’t have the same feeling about it, because I suppose you never see anything new, but to be me it’s great. And living in Frome, well it never ceases to surprise me – weirdos, nutters and freaks all mingling together in once place, and that’s just in my house. God help Frome and Somerset when we’re about ‘exploring’…
Seriously though counties are just lines on a map (or not as the case may be - ok not administratively but I‘m sure you get what I am trying to say) and it doesn’t really matter if you are living on the edge or in the middle. Your heart lies where it lays and mine at the moment lives, lies and lays in Frome, which happens to be in Somerset.