City and Suburban
By JOHN BETJEMAN
Mos-r people who know Oxford know that unexpected stretch of country between Godstow and Botley. It is a land of meadows, willows, poplars and small streams under the shades of Wytham woods. In the middle of it is the hamlet of Binsey with its lonely little lime- stone church and wishing-well of St. Margaret. The Thames divides this peaceful country from the flat expanse of Port Meadow which stretches away to the east like a Cuyp landscape with Oxford a sort of Dordrecht in the distance. It is a much better walk for the citizens of Oxford than any park could ever be because it is real country.
Where is the girl, who, by the boatman's door, Above the locks, above the boating throng, Unmoor'd our skiff, when, through the Wytham flats,
Red loosestrife and blond meadowswcet among, And darting swallows, and light water-gnats, We track'd the shy Thames shore?
The girl is gone and in her place we are soon to have a by-pass which may or may not relieve the congestion in Oxford. Now I read in the Oxford Times we are also to have a reservoir of seventy-five acres surrounded with an em- bankment not less than twenty feet high be- tween Godstow Nunnery and Binsey. To make the embankment look nice it will be 'planted with shrubs,' and one already sees in the mind's eye the prunus, privet, forsythia and dwarf cherries beloved by municipal gardeners supplanting the loosestrife and the meadowsweet. Some hostile and remote official of the Ministry of Transport has decreed that the gravel and earth for build- ing the by-pass is to be obtained from here and not from South Hinksey where it would do less harm to the landscape. Thus the Minister of Transport has forced the Oxford Council to make a reservoir in the last bit of country Oxford possesses. The City Council has passed the plan for this reservoir without even seeing a model of what it will look like. If there is a protest I suppose there will be a public inquiry, and if there is a public inquiry I suppose it will be a mere formality such as seem to be those con- ducted on behalf of the atomic energy and elec- tricity or, indeed, any other scheme where powers behind the scene have made up their minds whatever you or I may wish to think.
A NEW SATELLITE?
The Birmingham Corporation, having been foiled in the past, is making another attempt to persuade the Minister of Housing to turn Lud- low into a satellite town. It seems odd that the Corporation should have selected this town of all places, for it is not only one of the most beautiful old towns in England but prosperous and self- contained among its steeps hills and trees. I .sup- pose if the Corporation fails there it will trY Chipping Campden, which is not so far away as Ludlow. Or there is Weobley, in Herefordshire-- it is- small and attractive and just right for spoliation, disruption and extension.
RESTED . . . RELAXED . . .
Those who travel on the main road from Hungerford to Newbury will be sad to hear that the Halfway Toll House, that little castellated Georgian building, is to be pulled down by its owner who does not want to turn it, at, I dare say' considerable cost, into a good dwelling-house. The main roads of England become increasingly hideous, so that prominent, attractive buildings on them such as this become increasingly im" portant. Perhaps we will be wise always to travel by train. Yet an advertisement of Sir Brian's fat British Railways which a friend sends me from an American paper seems rather to overstate the case for the railways : From this front seat cathedrals, castles, mountains and lakes unfold in everchanging scenes while you're enjoying, the comfort of 0 roomy compartment and the company of gellWl fellow travellers. The meals are delightful an" even the prices add to the joie de vivre—dinner for just a little more than a dollar ! arrive rested, relaxed, and in good spirits when you travel this luxury way.
I advise all Americans to try the 5.5 p.m. frail Paddington to Weston-super-Mare or some of those midday expresses from Euston to North' ampton (Castle). And how refreshed they Will feel as they arrive in Fenchurch Street from Southend !
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