53.322°N 3.047°W

I live on a pretty dull and nondescript street in a pretty dull and nondescript suburban part of Merseyside but it suits me fine because not only can I be in the centre of swinging downtown Liverpool within 10 minutes but I can be in the Clwydian hills of North Wales within 30 minutes, walking on gorgeous beaches in about 20 minutes or enjoying the bucolic charms of a 'chocolate box' country village in 15.

Thornton Hough is one such village and I made the most of another sunny morning to walk the round trip from there to the neighbouring village of Brimstage and back. It only takes an hour or so.

Thornton Hough (pronounced Huff) appeared in the Domesday Book in 1086 (under the name of Torintone) and acquired its current name when the daughter of local landowner Roger de Thorneton married another toff, Richard de Hoghe, back in the 1300s.

The village has 22 listed buildings and is a conservation area. As I set out on my walk this morning, crunching through falling leaves to the sound of a church bell tolling across the village green, I couldn't help but think of George Orwell's infamous words about "old maids bicycling to Holy Communion through the morning mist". But let's not forget that Orwell's 1941 essay England your England, from which that oft-quoted phrase is taken, listed various aspects of the massive contradiction that was and is England, including "the queues outside the Labour Exchange"... plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose! In that sense, Merseyside is a microcosm of the whole country and beyond I suppose.

I took various shots of fields, picturesque cottages and Thornton Hall (the local 'big house') but in the end my favourite picture was of this bike outside the local pub 'The Seven Stars' (dating from the 1840s) which welcomed me at the end of my walk.