The 'hood

We are living in a Victorian-terraced area of Lancaster called Freehold, a 10-minute walk from the city centre. It is brimming with academics and middle-class hippies - or both (our immediate neighbour is a young Geography professor with dreadlocks down to his buttocks).

The streets are laid out on a rectangular grid, going up a hill, and are all named after places in the Lake District (Ullswater, Borrowdale, Windermere...). Big, posh houses at the top, with the best views of the castle, the sea and the Lakeland hills (well, on a clear day), smaller houses at the bottom.

But every house has a 100 foot garden (very unusual in Lancaster - small rear yards are the norm) because in the 1850s you needed a garden of at least that length to be allowed to vote - so the guy who wanted to be elected gave all his friends a 100 foot garden (or something like that - history is not my thing, innit).

Anyway, let's go on a quick walk and see what we can spot ...

An arty painted front door

a free mini 'library'

 a poster for the (bisexual) Labour MP 

and a penguin.

Two minutes round the corner is the wonderful Gregson Centre, a very relaxed, welcoming pub/place to eat or drink coffee that has all sorts of music-y and community events. It was this place that first made me and Jim think Lancaster might be a place we'd like to live. 

There's a noticeboard in the entrance advertising everything from Mindfulness courses to Babysitting. But I liked this one best today!