Thoughts on Frome...

A weekend spent at home, here in Frome, listening to Glastonbury coverage and considering my priorities for the three festivals that I am attending this summer. It has led me to some other considerations and one is that, several times recently, I have been asked something along the lines of "What is it like to live in Frome?"
I suppose that now I have lived here for over fifteen years I might have some ideas about that. 
I had recently changed jobs and was looking to move out of Bristol and buy a place of my own. One lunchtime I needed to visit a branch of the Halifax Building Society (as it then still was) and decided to use the branch the phone book told me was in Frome.
That worked out just fine for two reasons: I found the branch in the Market Place without any problems.  In to the bargain I found the town I just knew I wanted to live in. I can't really explain why but is just seemed right and what is more property was still affordable (unlike Bath, for example).

In summary it is big enough to have most things that are an everyday requirement, has a thriving and eclectic selection of independent shops and businesses, and yet it remains small enough never to overwhelm. If you have visited this blog you will already know that it has a thriving arts scene including live music. It is also one of the most remarkable architectural survivors of all English country market towns.
Yes, I am doubtless writing while wearing rose-tinted spectacles - of course it has flaws and a few architectural faux-pas - but more than a few gems.  Cheap Street is just one of them.

Cheap Street at 10:30 this Sunday Morning, June 26.

If I can I intend to expand on this theme in the coming weeks and months with pictures of the town and immediate surroundings.  If I succeed in that ambition, and there is interest, I might spin it off onto a page of its own.