If you want to understand Surrey, look at the house names. Keepers’ Copse, Meadow View, Weavers, Highfields…
What do all these names have in common? They describe something rural that used to be there before it was destroyed to make way for the house named after it.
Surrey is where London will one day join Guildford and Woking, making the outer banlieues of our capital city very nice indeed, but obviously destroying the countryside that makes Surrey nice in the process. So not all that nice, in fact.
For now, it amuses me to drive along the lanes of chintzy villages in prime commuter belt, grimacing at the names of the houses.
It is as if the ghost of rural south-east England is laughing from the slate plaques of small mansions, over-extended bungalows and mock Georgian flats, with their over-manicured gardens and grass verges mowed flat.
The inhabitants of Meadow View were unperturbed by living on the graveyard of a meadow
No doubt the people who first inhabited these homes were proud of their names.
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in