Sunday 21st April 2024
Danny Howell writes:
Part of my childhood was in the 1960s and a name I recall from that time was a place called the YB Gardens. It was situated on the south side of the A36 road, just as the road levels out after climbing the winding bends on leaving Knook. Alongside the road there was a parish boundary marker (made by Carson and Miller) indicating the boundary between Knook and Upton Lovell. A footpath, with the name Guernsey Path, connects the north-western end of Ash Walk, Upton Lovell, with the A36, and the YB Gardens were in close proximity to where Guernsey Path met the A36.
I know little about what was the YB Gardens and have always presumed it may have been a plant nursery or had some gardening or horticultural connection. The last person I heard mention it was Bert Legg, the agricultural contractor. It must have been about 1980, when I was working freelance for him, that Bert instructed me and a couple of other tractor drivers about where we had to go to do a job near Upton Lovell. His directions as to where we had to go mentioned we had to find a field just past the former YB Gardens. The other tractor drivers had never heard of the YB Gardens and hadn’t a clue as to where he meant. When I said I knew where the site of the YB Gardens was, Bert suggested I go first and the others follow me.
The thing is, before the name is completely lost and forgotten, can any readers of this blog shed any light on the YB Gardens? Do you remember it? Do you know who owned it or who might have worked there? Was it a plant nursery or something else? And what did the ‘YB’ stand for? It would be good to discover what we can and make some record of it. If you have info or recollections please contact us by emailing dannyhowellnet@gmail.com Thank you.