To me, there are few things more charming than the English countryside.
I want to live in Maisie Dobbs' charming dower house on the grounds of Chelstone Manor. I want to tootle around in a roadster driven by one of the Cawleys - not the one who crashed himself to dead - and motor o'er hill and dale to arrive at Downton Abbey. And sign me up for a quaint cottage next door to the veterinarians' dispensary in Yorkshire in that fabulous little fake town in All Creatures Great and Small.
Oh, I know all these quaint towns are full of cottages and pubs that are heavy on the quaint and light on the creature comfort. Low ceilings, damp walls. Not to mention that the residents of said quaint towns aren't all kind, generous, and personable.
But the charming look? Hard to beat - and I'm not even that big a fan of Merry Old England.
So I would have loved stopping with Maisie Dobbs for a ploughman's lunch at the Punch Bowl Inn in Hurst Green.
For centuries, the sandstone walls of the Punch Bowl Inn greeted passersby on a quiet English country road. Tour guides in Hurst Green pointed out the pub to village visitors: Legend had it that a notorious robber operated out of the pub in the 18th century before he was caught and executed. His ghost still haunts the place, they’d say. (Source: Washington Post)
Apparently assuming it was easier to ask forgiveness than permission, the owner brought out the wrecking ball. Reduced the Punch Bowl Inn to rubble. Smashed it to smithereens.
This came as a surprise - and more than an annoyance or mild disagreement - to the borough council. After all, the building was protected. Not to mention both a sentimental favorite to the locals, and a big selling point when it came to the town's tourist appeal. So:
The Ribble Valley borough council, which oversees Hurst Green, took legal action against the pub’s owner, Andrew Donelan, whose company demolished the building. In early March, authorities rejected an appeal from Donelan’s company and ordered them to rebuild the Punch Bowl Inn within 12 months — using the very stones from the pub’s rubble.
For his part, Donelan claims that the buildings, which haven't been in active use since he bought them a few years back, were too far gone to repair. Unstable, verging on collapse.
Not good enough!
Donelan and company were found guilty last December of flouting the law to destroy the pub.
In March, an inspector denied an appeal from Donelan and confirmed several penalties, including a fine of about $83,000 and a strict rebuilding assignment.
There are plenty of existing plans that show the layout, so the buildings will be able to be set back to right. This is, of course, a smaller scale operation than than the rebuild of the cathedral in Dresden that was destroyed in the fire bombing during World War II. Or the repair of all the destruction to Notre Dame in Paris caused by the devastating fire there a few years back. But it definitely shows that these rebuilds can be done.
You can rebuild using as much as you can of the rubble. And recreate that missing bits, using the plans.
The Ribble Valley Council wants to set a precedent that says that, if a property is historically protected, you can't just go ahead and destroy it.
“It’s encouraging when heritage crime, like the demolition of the Punch Bowl Inn, is taken seriously,” a Historic England spokesperson said in a statement to The Post. “Demolishing our cherished listed buildings without consent is a crime that impacts the whole community and we hope that this case serves as a deterrent.”
I'm all for it being a deterrent to any future Demolition Derbies in the works, if only so I can keep my fantasy of the English countryside going.
No plans to go there and enjoy it anytime soon. I just like the idea of it.
Cheerio, and all that!
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