It dawned on me recently that there are many ways to give directions to people regarding the complexities of finding one's way on Sandy Lane.
There are and have been for a very long time some landmarks that are obvious...The Water Tower, The Notice Board, The Orange Elephant and The Entrance Sign for example. However, once you get past the entrance sign, giving directions either means via a chalet to chalet route, OK if in the light but difficult to see names in the dark! Various bear left or right at the fork are a little ambiguous....which fork...is that a fork???
With the increasing demand for our now Internationally known Gower Bird Hospital a new development has taken place. The wooden Bird Signs, showing the route to the Gower Bird Hospital from the start of the lane to the bottom field. Now we direct people with 'follow the bird signs' 'turn right at the owl' . Common place enough for us 'laners but imagine my surprise to see Simpson's Estate Agent's property pamphlet with directions to 'Sundowne' (Mrs Goldbourne's old place) given like this 'Upon entering Sandy Lane proceed for a few hundred yards, turning right at the sparrow sign and shortly after bear right at the duck sign, Sundowne can be found a little way down on the right hand side'
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| Sundowne (rear view) |
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| Sundowne March 2012 |
It really made me laugh and then of course I saw the asking price of £200,000 for the plot as the chalet is condemned...that wiped the smile off my face, it is a sad fact that the lane has become so expensive now that the people who were born and raised here cannot afford to own a property here anymore ..only the rich can shell out that sort of dosh for a plot to build on...a far cry from the days when they changed hands for a few quid or even swapped for a guitar!!
But that's another story in itself.....
