[Hometown] Follifoot, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England

We moved to Follifoot in April 2001.

Prior to that we lived in the main town of Harrogate http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrogate

Our house was very 1970’s décor when we moved in, and had it had to be completely gutted, rewired, re plumbed the whole way though. The windows rattled when it was windy and for quite a majority of the first year we thought oh my gosh, what the heck have we done!

Follifoot, has a population of approx 450 people, Harrogate our nearest town has a current population of 152,832. Harrogate became famous in Victorian times as a spa town and people came from all over the country to drink the spa water as they thought it had medicinal properties. You can still go and drink the water, but it is really awful and tastes like rotten eggs ewwww. Harrogate is now a large conference town, which holds a flower show each year, plus the Great Yorkshire Show each July.

Follifoot was not listed in the doomsday book but was first recognised in around 1186, but was more populated with the building of Rudding House in 1805.

The stocks are still in the village High Street, stocks were used to put criminals in or anyone who had been very naughty and people used to throw rotten fruit at them, nice hey!

Follifoot is 4 miles from the main town and between that it’s just farm land. We have one shop in the village, and two pubs. Which do yumm traditional english fare.
This is the village shop

The cricket club is a big part of the village, my husband’s family have played there since 1846 so we are about to celebrate the 160th year!

The church is tiny and only seats 40 people so weddings and big celebrations generally mean we are standing outside with speakers so you can hear what’s going on. The churches interior is all oak and as our grandfather was a master crafts man he made all the pews and the font. He carved a Yorkshire rose on each piece he worked on.

The school has 58 pupils. The playground still has hop scotch painted on it which always makes me smile and reminds me of my childhood.

Internet here was dial up until about a year ago, but now I have broadband via my local phone company. It can be a bit temperamental at times if the weather is bad and the signal to town is low, but on the whole its not so bad. If on IM I have always used yahoo messenger, but never at work. (That would end up with a telling off! :0)

Follifoot is surrounded by streams and it is not uncommon for us to get fog, as you drive out near the beck’s. http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/5day.shtml?id=2107

I best part of village life to me is the feeling of community we have. Everyone says hello as they pass by. If someone is ill, we all rally round. I also feel it has been a very safe environment for my boys to grow up in. All the kids seem to stick together, and look out after one another. Oh and yes everyone does know everyone else’s business but there is nothing wrong with a good ole gossip! :0)

More information about Follifoot
http://www.follifoot.org.uk/
http://www.ruddingpark.com/
http://www.greatyorkshireshow.com/