The Field Estate, Churchfield Road

Today I went to a talk at the museum about the Field Estate, an area of about 80 acres that covers the eastern edge of Stroud and was designed to be a rather posh new suburb in the 1800s. The earlier Arundel estate was bought by one William Cowle and enlarged. Plots of varying sizes were sold, with convenants and conditions attached to those living there. Nothing too common was allowed to go on there: running a pub or renting out fields to the circus was beyond the pale! Our 1930s council estate is just beyond the boundaries of the Field, and occasionally it feels like a circus here sometimes, only without the elephants.... As for the local pub, it truly is the heart of the community, no matter which side of the Fieldline it lies.

I have blipped the house called The Field before, here. William Cowle, the entrepreneur who bought the estate, lived here for a while, and also at Park house in nearby Park road, which is now a mental health centre. Must go there sometime.

Talking of health, I have failed to produce a normal blood pressure reading at the doctor's for two weeks running, so have to go back next week for another go. Can't believe I might actually have high blood pressure, unless worrying about my future has anything to do with it! I think it's more of a white coat syndrome. let's hope so.

PS I don't live in a house like this, but have a great fondness for Victorian or Edwardian terraced houses in England. This may be because it's the template for the 'normal family house' in the Ladybird books I imbibed as a child. I liked the orange brickwork against the blue sky. Back in February, I blipped quite few houses such as these, but not identical