I seem to have broken through a psychological barrier in coming to terms with my new status as a retired person. I am now beginning to sleep through to a sensible time in the morning without feeling the need to stir at an ungodly hour to catch a train and, generally, I have emancipated myself from the slavery of time. Whereas previously my life had been ruled by those artificial divisions of minutes and hours, nowadays they don’t seem to matter a jot. It is a wonderful feeling.

What has also become very apparent is how little I know about the surroundings in which I live. Hitherto I have jumped into the car for even the shortest of journeys, to the newsagent or the local shops, oblivious to what was around me, just focussed on getting from A to B in the shortest possible time. Now, of course, accomplishing the most as quickly as possible is not the prime concern. In short, I have discovered the joys of Shanks’ pony.

TOWT and I went for a walk recently to sample the delights of the recently refurbished Olde White Hart which is at the top of Frimley High Street. I had always found the pub depressingly gloomy and, truth be told, a bit grubby but the alterations have made it seem considerably lighter. The furniture is that mish-mash of styles and shapes which seems to be all the rage at the moment and the pictures on the walls, on the whole, added to the ambience. Disappointingly, two of the four ales were not available but the fruity Greene King’s London Glory was very acceptable and the food well presented and edible.

On the way back to Blogger Towers we diverted down that part of Field Lane which runs along the perimeter of St Peter’s cemetery. In my two decades of living in Frimley I had never been down this lane. Almost as soon as I had stepped foot in the lane it seemed as if I was in the heart of the countryside, a rough stony lane surrounded on both sides by hedgerow. As we walked down the lane on the right hand side there was a row of cottages and one, number eight, particularly caught my eye.

It has a very distinctive weather vane attached to the chimney stack featuring a monkey with a drum. The signage above the front door of the cottage bears testimony to the fact that this was once a public house which was known as the Drum and Monkey. It appears, however, in the census of 1841 as the Queen’s Head, a beer house, and probably did a good trade from the mourners who used the side gate from the cemetery after burying their next of kin. It is possible that it was built on the site of the old church’s brewhouse. So there was a pub within two hundred yards of Blogger Towers and I knew nothing about it. Shame on me!

Field Lane today cuts a rather eccentric path between the church and St Katherine’s Way, joining the end of Frimley Grove Gardens and the start of Buckingham Way for a hundred yards or so before shooting off as an unmade lane again. Before the agricultural land was sold off and developed into a housing estate – where Blogger Towers is was once a mushroom farm which may explain why every now and again clumps of mushrooms appear on my pride and joy which is the lawn – Field Lane was the only thoroughfare. This discovery has encouraged me to find out more about where I live.

Filed under: Culture, History Tagged: Field Lane Frimley, Greene King's London Glory, Olde White Hart in Frimley, retirement, St Peter's church in Frimley, the Drum and Monkey in Field Lane Frimley, the Queen's Head in Frimley