COUNTRY LIFE
Two cottages share the well which is close to the stream down in -the hollow. The well is deep enough to take a good-sized bucket, but only just deep enough. Its sides have been walled with limestone, and the water bubbles up and overflows across the flag that has been placed there to enable cans to be filled without making a mire of the approach. The overflow trickles into a bed of weed and cress. I have often stopped at the well to quench my thirst on a hot day, and more than once I have met the joint owners trundling a little barroW down the steep slope to renew their water-supply in the cottages. They have this task every day. The path is worn, and when it is very wet it becomes dangerously slippery, but I imagine they have long since become so .used to the chore that it is not regarded as a hardship. The experts might find fault in that the well is not covered and the water is probably " alive," but it is a sweet, fresh supply, as clear as the raindrop on the wire of the fence, and seems to do no more harmn to those who drink it than the tap-water enjoyed by more fortunate neighbours.
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