This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/mar/18/freshford-bath-relics-age-elegance

The article has changed 2 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Relics of an age of elegance Relics of an age of elegance
(6 months later)
Somerset's river Frome rises near Witham Friary and flows for some 21 miles generally northward, fed by lesser streams, until it joins the Avon in a valley on the border between Somerset and Wiltshire, six miles south-east of Bath. We had often admired the look of that valley below us as we went towards Bath. Two rivers, the railway and the Kennet and Avon canal pass through it, and a majestic aqueduct carries the canal high over railway and river.Somerset's river Frome rises near Witham Friary and flows for some 21 miles generally northward, fed by lesser streams, until it joins the Avon in a valley on the border between Somerset and Wiltshire, six miles south-east of Bath. We had often admired the look of that valley below us as we went towards Bath. Two rivers, the railway and the Kennet and Avon canal pass through it, and a majestic aqueduct carries the canal high over railway and river.
What survives of the Somerset coal canal is another local monument to the ingenuity of human response to this landscape of steep hills and fast-flowing streams. It was an invitation from a Country diary reader and local historian, Alan Dodge, that brought us back for a closer look and specifically to the village of Freshford. We walked a hillside terrace with a steep wooded drop on our right and, ahead, buildings grouped around St Peter's church.What survives of the Somerset coal canal is another local monument to the ingenuity of human response to this landscape of steep hills and fast-flowing streams. It was an invitation from a Country diary reader and local historian, Alan Dodge, that brought us back for a closer look and specifically to the village of Freshford. We walked a hillside terrace with a steep wooded drop on our right and, ahead, buildings grouped around St Peter's church.
Early-spring sunshine sharpened the edges of gables, mullions and gothic arches in the pale stone of houses strung across green slopes and cottages lining steep narrow lanes. This was a prosperous cloth-making place when the river Frome drove the mills and the classical proportions of the buildings of Bath were in fashion.Early-spring sunshine sharpened the edges of gables, mullions and gothic arches in the pale stone of houses strung across green slopes and cottages lining steep narrow lanes. This was a prosperous cloth-making place when the river Frome drove the mills and the classical proportions of the buildings of Bath were in fashion.
St Peter's church stands at the top of a hill, and from the church gate we looked down on the roofs of the old rectory at the foot of the hill and, behind it, the Victorian rectory and the old brewery, its slender chimney reaching up above the skyline. Just across from the church, neatly poised towards the top of the steep incline, is a graceful Georgian house in weathered cream stone, with five tall symmetrical windows on its first floor and delicate Tuscan pilasters at the doorway, a demonstration of what can be achieved by prosperity and taste in an age of elegance.St Peter's church stands at the top of a hill, and from the church gate we looked down on the roofs of the old rectory at the foot of the hill and, behind it, the Victorian rectory and the old brewery, its slender chimney reaching up above the skyline. Just across from the church, neatly poised towards the top of the steep incline, is a graceful Georgian house in weathered cream stone, with five tall symmetrical windows on its first floor and delicate Tuscan pilasters at the doorway, a demonstration of what can be achieved by prosperity and taste in an age of elegance.
Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning.