Nether Alderley

In Nether Alderley churchyard I met a woman who was sweeping her own grave. She hadn't been in it yet, but she'd reserved the spot and put down a little square stone as a marker. The stone was incised with the family name. There were other stones round it- most of them covering properly dead people. The stones were in the shadow of the tower and nest-building birds had been dropping twigs on them. Most of the properly dead people had been her friends. " They were a sociable lot," she said. "They liked parties. My husband and I joke about them coming out in the middle of the night to have cocktails." 

Marton Church

St James and St Paul, Marton

Marton is a little village in Cheshire, on the road between Wilmslow and Congleton. The church is 14th century and is claimed to be the oldest half-timbered church still in use anywhere in Europe. It has medieval glass, a couple of battered stone knights and a mural of the Last Judgement. It is the setting for a crucial scene in Alan Garner's novel Strandloper.

Errwood Reservoir

Errwood Reservoir, Derbyshire