Gumley's cricket field

At the top of Gumley village the road curves around the mysterious mound and then takes you to one of my favourite cricket grounds.

It stands in open country with a single farmhouse in sight and merges into the surrounding fields. The fence most in evidence is the electric one keeping livestock off the square. That, as I remarked to a member of the family group who were playing on the outfield as he stepped gingerly over it to retrieve the ball, is not something you see on many cricket grounds.

To the south are open views across the Welland valley to the Northamptonshire Uplands. It reminds me very much of David Inshaw's "Cricket Match III", but I gather that print shows Little Bredy in Dorset.

From the picture above you have probably concluded that Gumley is a pleasant rural ground and a rather better appointed one than most villages boast because it has sightscreens. But there is more to it than that.

Gumley's cricket field shares the top of the hill with the village war memorial. And there is a road across the outfield, cutting off the square from the pavilion. I gather it is the done thing to wait until the end of an over if you want to use it.

It struck me that the ground at Bonkers Hall must be very like this.

And then I wished that a car would come along to allow me to take a photograph to show the road and the wicket. When it turned up, I felt very close to Bonkers Hall indeed.