Sunday, October 02, 2011

End of the line... - September 26, 2010

We were now at the end of our six week jaunt around southern England and our last campsite was in Horam, East sussex. Our London based daughter and her husband visited with us while we were in the area and, among other things, we all enjoyed dinner at the Star Inn in Waldron on our last evening. 
Although Horam is in an official AONB it has an air of neglect and decay, possibly as a long term effect of not enjoying convenient rail service to London. With around 2,500 inhabitants, its most vigorous institution appears to be the pub and even that looks to hanging by a thread. The local railway connection was closed some time ago and is now the Cuckoo Trail footpath through the village. Stripping out a rail connection may have been a boon for the quiet life half a century ago but rural bedroom communities, clustered around remaining rail lines that have since been electrified, have emerged as major growth drivers. Commercial centers, containing big box retail outlets are drawn to such burgeoning communities, in turn spurring their growth and further impoverishing backwater towns like Horam. See here for more pictures.

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