Buying Unmitigated England

After photographing Tur Langton I walked across the fields to Kibworth. I was sorry to find that the cafe that used to stand a door or two from the bookshop there had closed. But I wasn't too surprised: last time I was in there new purchasers were measuring it up for some other purpose.

Anyway, it didn't matter: the owner of the bookshop made me a cup of tea instead.

Browsing the shelves I came across a book I have long been intending to acquire: Unmitigated England: A Country Lost and Found by Peter Ashley.

As readers will know, Peter's Unmitigated England blog is one of my favourites. His example encouraged me to take up photography again. His book combines the same factors as that blog: buildings, landscapes, advertisements and transport.

When I took it to the till the owner told me that Peter lives three doors away from her in a village in the Welland valley. ("The owner" sounds very formal - judging by the shop's website, her name is Debbie James.)

On a small world note, the Kibworth Bookshop had a stall at the Leicester Writers' Club last Thursday when Sally Vickers came to speak to us. Siobahn Logan has an account of that evening on her blog.