Friday 10th July 2020 - The Londs, No Flat Bread and The Triffid!

Overstrand is rich in history with most of the village falling within the boundaries of the Conservation Area. In the village centre, large houses, such as The Pleasuance and the Sea Marge, are interspersed with small unpretentious cottages. Some of these lie behind the walls that provide property boundaries in The Londs, which according to early maps is the oldest road in the village. As time moves on some of these cottages have been subject to sympathetic updating but nothing too drastic that would alter the area’s character. In the past, on at least two occasions, planning applications have been submitted to the District Council (NNDC) to remove sections of the cobble walls. One was to provide pedestrian access, and the other to open up a section of garden to provide a parking area. Both of these applications were refused. Those who walk down The Londs on a fairly regular basis will have seen that two sections of the wall have been demolished. I thought readers of my blog may like to know my understanding of how the situation currently stands with relation to these.

Starting with 5 The Londs; here the small low cobble wall has been removed to facilitate the building works. The application stipulates that this must be rebuilt when the works are completed. At the back of the property, where a section of cobble house wall has been taken down, this has been approved and the rebuild will feature a new cobble wall. So, although this all looks a bit drastic, there is no real problem so long as the terms of the approved plans are adhered to.

Moving on to 26 The Londs, where two planning applications have been submitted for this property. The first was for small building works which have been approved. The second is to demolish the wall and gate to facilitate the building works. This has been neither approved, nor refused but as can be seen, the wall and gate have gone, with orange mesh now across the access the gap. Without going into too much detail, this has resulted in both the Parish Council and villagers contacting various members of NNDC. I think I can safely say, all who contacted NNDC were horrified to see the loss of a section of village history, I know we were. In recent days, a report from Chris Young in the Conservation Department at NNDC has been published on their website. In short, it states that the removal of the wall was a criminal offence, the removal has weakened the continuity of this traditional enclosure and recommends the application is refused with the applicant required to reinstate the wall and gate. So, that’s how I understand things stand at the moment. We wait to see if the recommendations result in a refusal by the Planning Department. Anyone who would like to read the report in full can do so via this link.

I am pleased that a batch of French bread dough using the new strong flour and produced by my breadmaker before being kneaded, shaped, proven and baked did not result this time in flat bread! Fingers crossed I have a similar success when I use the self-raising flour when I make a cake over the weekend.

Today’s photos are of a lily and an air plant. The lily is in the greenhouse which, well what can I say, has virtually taken over the back area and almost covered cucumber plants. I have named it the Triffid – does anyone remember the film ‘The Day of the Triffids’? It certainly only grew to about half this height last year. The air plant is one of three I purchased earlier this year. They are hanging in our conservatory and much to my delight one has produced a ‘baby’, another flowers, while the third seems quite happy to sit, look healthy and do nothing. Maybe it’s pondering on how to outdo the other two!