On 'Broadway'

When treasure hunting a couple of weeks ago, Vanessa at Vanilla Lavender took me to a quirky cottagey house sitting at the side of a busy highway. Piled up in the yards - front, side and back - was more 'junque' than you can imagine. Seated on the rickety porch was 'the gentleman owner' along with visiting cohorts, elderly blokes obviously spending jolly retirement hours just hanging out on a hot humid, nothing else to do, Summer in the South day.

Vanessa and I rummaged through the stifling rooms while my granddaughter Jasmin serenaded us from several untuned pianos. Vanessa's little daughter stood nearby pounding the ivories wearing the biggest smile, proud as punch that she too was a pianist in the making. The kindly owner offered Jasmin a piano to take home, for free! Viewing it involved clambering over an obstacle course, through the junk piles and rear garden, using that term loosely, to a somewhat spooky basement which would drive the Fire Marshall to have a heart attack! The huge old, very old, piano, did not come home with us but apparently can sit there with her name on it until someone else gives it a home. Pretty young gals get all the perks!

In the mix of true antiques and piles of junk, I did discover a treasure. Slipped down at an angle inside a really sad broken frame, this beautiful, slightly age-stained print of the famous golden stone cottages in the village of Broadway in the Cotswolds of England. The artist (appears to be Alan Stuttle or Skittle) titled and signed the print in pencil - there is no date. For $5.00 a true bargain.

Broadway, The Cotswolds, England

I immediately recognized this view as it's one often photographed and used to promote Broadway village, often referred to as the 'Jewel of the Cotswolds'. The 'broad way' is the wide grass-fringed main street, centered around The Green, which is lined with red chestnut trees and honey-colored Cotswold limestone buildings, many dating from the 16th century.

Fieldwork by British archaeologists, besides finding evidence of Roman and Medieval occupation, has determined that Broadway's history dates back 5,000 years and may have been one of the first partially settled sites in the United Kingdom.

Why do I feel a closeness to this lovely village? It has been home to many a British artist, musician and writer, including Sir. Edward Elgar, John Singer Sargent, Vaughan Williams, William Morris and J.M. Barrie, all whose work I love. Also, when driving through it many years ago, my mother told me that my father was billeted there during WWII while serving in the Royal Air Force. Well now, can you image being in a lovelier place, especially in wartime? Perhaps he even stayed in one of these delightful historic cottages.