Yes.

I remember Adlestrop-
The name, because one afternoon
Of heat the express-train drew up there
Unwontedly. It was late June.

The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat.
No one left and no one came
On the bare platform. What I saw
Was Adlestrop-only the name

And willows, willow-herb, and grass,
And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry,
No whit less still and lonely fair
Than the high cloudlets in the sky.

And for that minute a blackbird sang
Close by, and round him, mistier,
Farther and farther, all the birds
Of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire

Edward Thomas

+++

A good twelve mile walk from Kingham to Moreton-in-Marsh, via the Doom at St Nicholas', Oddington - painted over by puritans but restored about a hundred years ago from under the whitewash. Thence to Adlestrop where the station has vanished since closure in 1966: the sign is in a bus stop on the other side of the village. On to the Jacobean topiary garden at Chastleton House and then via Evenlode to Tilly's Tea Rooms in Moreton-in-Marsh where the toasted teacakes are admirable.

In good company with a translator, an aromatherapist and a national trail designer.

All organised through the Malvern Book Co-op.

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