1970
HOUSES AND ALE
From Ushers Guide To The West
WHITE HORSES
Wiltshire is the best place in Britain for those fascinating hill figures cut in the chalk. The king of them all is the Westbury horse, best seen on the B road from Westbury to Bratton. These hills are the northern ramparts of Salisbury Plain, a countryside well worth exploring. Its particular feature is that its rolling character gives an impression of endless vastness, yet the villages that cluster in the hollows have a great intimacy and charm. Usher houses abound on these roads.
PINK AND WHITE DELIGHT
Over the past few years a minor revolution has taken place in the outward appearance of Usher houses. The aim has been to give them all a recognisable family likeness, without robbing them of individuality. The Red Barrel, for instance, is now almost universal, as is the standard form of sign writing, and pink colour wash also crops up frequently.
The village of Edington, some distance east of the Westbury horse, is famous for its 14th-century Priory Church, which has the Plough as a very near neighbour. This small village also supports the Lamb, whose pink and white charm invariably calls forth exclamations of delight, and the George, which will be found in old-world surroundings down the Steeple Ashton turning. The George is a wonderful period piece, especially popular in the summer when the old English lawn comes into its own.
Text by Bill Bawden, circa 1970.