Friday 2 September 2011

Lesser spotted Britain


I'm well aware of a fairly local signpost that points to Ham (half a mile) and Sandwich (3 miles).  As you can imagine, it is a very popular place to take a photo.

These signposts, though, I thought were made up but in fact all the places do exist.  Fryup is a hamlet in North Yorkshire near Great Fryup Dale.  Stove was a small community in Shetland but now consists of a single occupied dwelling.  Cow Roast is a hamlet near Tring in Hertfordshire.  Its name is thought to come from Cow Rest, being a stopping place with pens and grazing for cattle drovers.  Chipshop though, I really did think was made up, but I was wrong.  It does exist and is a village in Devon.

So, I stand corrected.  These are real signposts, or so it seems.

This is a post for Postcard Friendship Friday hosted on Beth Niquette's blog The Best Hearts are Crunchy.



13 comments:

  1. What an imaginative card. Somebody might be disappointed following the chipshop sign, or maybe not.

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  2. I can vouch for Fryup as I live in North Yorkshire too.

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  3. brilliant! reminds me of the urban legend of the old woman who thought "loose chippings" was the name of a town as she drove through it...

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  4. I love that card! I collect all types of signs on postcards.

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  5. @Joy, I still find it hard to believe the Chipshop sign.

    @Bob, really? I bet they make the most of that name. :)

    @Debs, that also brings to mind a story I was told by an Australian living in Paris, before the days of GPS systems. I don't know whether it was true but she said some visiting friends were hours and hours late arriving because they said the signposting was dreadful. All the signs gave directions to Toutes or Autres and almost nowhere else. And they had no idea where Toutes or Autres were.

    @Postcardy, it's yours if you'd like it!

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  6. What fun! Who knew?!!!!! Now how did they get those names? Thanks for the suggestion for Cow Roast! Happy PFF!

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  7. I'd love to be from one of those places; it would make introductions so interesting.

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  8. The Cow Roast is really silly for a name, but quite interesting in how they came to be, and I hadn't heard of Ham and Sandwich, also quite charming!

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  9. I came across your blog through CMF. It's pretty awesome. I also love your white motif.

    I was wondering if those signs were real. I just finished reading the article below the pictures.

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  10. NC has some unique names as well. One is Lickskillet.

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  11. I love these signs. Up in California gold country, there is a street called Pig Turd Alley. I think the sign has been stolen so many times, they quit putting up a new one. The post office knows where it is.

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  12. That is brilliant! I love the quirky place names you find around England.

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Welcome to my postcard collection! I love hearing what you think of the cards - but spam WILL be deleted.

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