Musings from the Merse
Monday, April 27, 2009
Council of Perfection
As a former chair of the Hutton and Paxton Community Council Huttonian keeps an eye on the proceedings of this august body via the very full minutes published in the Berwickshire News In my time the business of the council varied from the frantic (as when fighting off the Laird and his development plans or trying to keep the village school-the first a success the second a failure)to the soporific when we had little more to do than give a hearing to the local fuzz-no crime to report- and approve the minutes of the previous meeting. Accordingly I am impressed by the range of business being transacted by the present council and I am glad to note that some thing we initiated-the repairing of all the benches in both villages (13 apparently) have at last been completed. How many years? But no doubt worth the wait although I can think of a couple which have probably not supported a bum for decade or more.
Its also interesting to see that projects we ignored-indeed actively so-years ago have now come to fruition: Floral Gateways being a case in point, if only in Paxton. Me, I don't like this wee village beautification as it often results in particularly inappropriate garish flower beds and worse still, equally over stuffed baskets which require considerable maintenance-which if not done conscientiously results in a series of Hanging Jungles of Babylon.A particularily horrid example of a 'Floral Gateway' can be seen in Newtown Street Duns.
I like the idea of information boards indicating the points of interest for visitors to Paxton and Hutton-something which has been discussed before but with no outcome. A cynic might suggest that the boards would be mostly blank. But take Hutton, with the Old Manse, the less Old one, the striking village hall, the walk to the Mill and the Pheasant's pre slaughter pens, some distinctive village buildings:Old Smiddy, Old Pub, the 19th century church, a description of Hutton Castle of Burrell Collection fame (albeit not open to the public) there is a lot to see and some excitement if your visit coincides with the arrival of the 32 Bus and/or the mobile post office
As for Paxton there is also a lot to see apart from the walk to Paxton House and one hopes the connection to Robin Adair is mentioned (See reference here But I suspect most visitors will really only want to know one thing:
Where is the Pub?
And others, having been around the sights, might echo the famous line from the lyric:
You are welcome to Paxton, Sweet Robin Adair
As a former chair of the Hutton and Paxton Community Council Huttonian keeps an eye on the proceedings of this august body via the very full minutes published in the Berwickshire News In my time the business of the council varied from the frantic (as when fighting off the Laird and his development plans or trying to keep the village school-the first a success the second a failure)to the soporific when we had little more to do than give a hearing to the local fuzz-no crime to report- and approve the minutes of the previous meeting. Accordingly I am impressed by the range of business being transacted by the present council and I am glad to note that some thing we initiated-the repairing of all the benches in both villages (13 apparently) have at last been completed. How many years? But no doubt worth the wait although I can think of a couple which have probably not supported a bum for decade or more.
Its also interesting to see that projects we ignored-indeed actively so-years ago have now come to fruition: Floral Gateways being a case in point, if only in Paxton. Me, I don't like this wee village beautification as it often results in particularly inappropriate garish flower beds and worse still, equally over stuffed baskets which require considerable maintenance-which if not done conscientiously results in a series of Hanging Jungles of Babylon.A particularily horrid example of a 'Floral Gateway' can be seen in Newtown Street Duns.
I like the idea of information boards indicating the points of interest for visitors to Paxton and Hutton-something which has been discussed before but with no outcome. A cynic might suggest that the boards would be mostly blank. But take Hutton, with the Old Manse, the less Old one, the striking village hall, the walk to the Mill and the Pheasant's pre slaughter pens, some distinctive village buildings:Old Smiddy, Old Pub, the 19th century church, a description of Hutton Castle of Burrell Collection fame (albeit not open to the public) there is a lot to see and some excitement if your visit coincides with the arrival of the 32 Bus and/or the mobile post office
As for Paxton there is also a lot to see apart from the walk to Paxton House and one hopes the connection to Robin Adair is mentioned (See reference here But I suspect most visitors will really only want to know one thing:
Where is the Pub?
And others, having been around the sights, might echo the famous line from the lyric:
You are welcome to Paxton, Sweet Robin Adair
Labels: FLORAL GATEWAYS, Hutton and Paxton Community Council, Robin Adair
Comments:
I often wonder if there is a covenant in place for Foulden village enforcing maintenance of matching floral displays in all the cottages :)
Foulden has the advantage over many other wee villages (Official classification) of being in a beautiful location with some striking and unusual ( Neo-Flemish) buildings. It also has a very go ahead community with a well organised and enterprising village hall management (as has Hutton and Paxton it should be said) but there has been some bitter infighting as to precisely where the speed limit signs should be placed ( self important people want to have the lower limit)and some of this may spill over into the floral gateway business
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