This is where I'm was born and brought up: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincolnshire
My parents still live in a small village in the Vale of Belvoir. The posh squash is made nearby: http://www.belvoirfruitfarms.co.uk/about-us/our-history as is Stilton cheese, over the county border in Leicestershire. Most will pronounce Belvoir with a French accent 'bel-voir'. Locally it's pronounced 'beaver'. I have no idea if this was originally intentionally smutty.
Another local delicacy is Grantham gingerbread, which is made to rise and hollow using baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. I usually make a ancient, handwritten recipe of my Mum's which I don't have to hand at the moment and I haven't tried this one out, but I'm sure it's as good as any: http://greatbritishkitchen.co.uk/recipebook/index.php?option=com_rapidrecipe&page=viewrecipe&recipe_id=521&Itemid=28
When I find the family recipe, I'll post it. Grantham Gingerbread, which hasn't been made commercially for a number of years, is to be baked and sold again locally. Properly made, it melts in your mouth.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grantham Less of a delicacy to many, Margaret Thatcher was born in Grantham. We both went to the same grammar school some 50 years apart. I'm old enough to remember free school milk and was one of the few children in my class who liked it.
http://sedgebrook-village.co.uk/
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/hampson/
Although always appreciative of the beauty of the area, growing up, there was very little to do. Sedgebrook, the village in which I lived from age 11 had 4-5 buses into town and back per day, The latest being around 6pm and it was too far to walk and to expensive, as a teenager, to get a taxi. The village has neither a shop nor a pub nor a school; the next village, which did, was a cycle ride away. We were taken to school by school bus, but any after school activities involved one of my parents driving to town to pick us up.
There are currently 280 adults in Sedgebrook; as you can imagine in a village that size there weren't many children. There were probably 10-15 of the same age or within 3 years of my age. Still it was safe, pretty, crime-free (my Dad has been known to leave car windows open at night accidentally) and everyone knows everyone (and their business). Aged 14, I got the plum local job, that of collectiving weekly milk money door-to-door for the local milkman. I did that job every Monday night for four years, racing round to collect the money (which could take ages as I know everyone), racing home, putting my leotard on and being driven in for my acrobatic class). After class, I'd tot up the money, take it over the road to the milkman and have a cuppa with the family. Homework rarely got done on a Monday!
On the back of this, I also had a bit of a babysitting racket going on. I was the go-to girl in the village for that, which I was very happy about. Alarmingly for me, several of the children I babysat now have children of their own.
My first boyfriend, with whom I am still in touch, while not literally the boy next door, did live around the corner. If we wanted to 'go out' in the evening one of our parents had to take us to town and bring us back. Neither of us had much money so we didn't even do that very often. In the village, apart from the village hall, which had a bar, there was nowhere to go except each others house. We ended up agreeing to going back to being mates after a few months. A 'relationship' was pointless. I made sure my next boyfriend had a car!
In September 1992 I flew to Tel Aviv to begin my gap year. I didn't live there again until 2000 when I was working in Nottingham and applying for jobs in London. I go back three or four times a year to see my parents, but after a few days peace and quiet, this Londoner needs her metropolis!
See you on the other side
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