Dark Queniborough

On May Day in Queniborough they sacrifice a teenage boy to placate the dark gods of the Wreake Valley.

For the most part it works, but it is something to remember when you see this chocolate box village in the sun a few days later.

Queniborough is ridiculously picturesque

When I got home from Queniborough I found that Pevsner says St Mary has "A superb spire. One of the finest in the county" and that "A fine broad village street leads towards the church."

But that understates things. Queniborough, though it borders industrial Leicester suburbs, is ridiculously picturesque - the sort of village that attracts chocolate box sellers or the manufactures of jigsaws.

The best description of what you will find there comes in Charnwood Borough Council's conservation area character appraisal.

But the village noticeboard gives a good indication of the pressures facing rural England today. It talks of new housing development and cuts to bus services, while the shops have almost entirely vanished from Queniborough's high street.

Queniborough dovecote

Unencumbered by any guidebooks, I reported to the Haymarket bus station in Leicester and picked the most interesting destination offered by the next few departures.

I chose Queniborough and found this dovecote, along with blossom and a bridge, in a field beyond he church.

It turns out that it originally stood in the grounds of the Hall and was moved brick by brick to its new location in the 1980s to allow development.

So not Proper then, but still a lovely thing to find - as the crows have shown.