Cropwell Butler, where I live is a very quiet village, in rural Nottinghamshire. Although it is only 6 miles from the edge of Nottingham it still retains much of it's historic charm although it has to be said that it is suffering from 'creeping urbanisation', in other words the gentrification of old cottages and the construction of newer property on 'infill' sites which were formerly open spaces, small paddocks or gardens of large properties.

Having said that we live in a house built in 1982 on the grounds of a former agricultural 'crew yard' where barns and pigsties once stood.

The chestnut tree in our garden displays signs of pig damage although it is several feet off the ground. I'm forever digging up bones, presumably mixed in with pig fodder from the early part of the 20th century, in the garden.

This is my sketch of part of the main road which runs through the centre of the village. It is called 'Main Street' which almost implies a main shopping street function but in fact there is just the pub and chapel to mark it out as different from the other snall roads in the village