A literary festival in Nottinghamshire…. Reblogged from Graeme Cumming:

Like most of us when we reflect on our childhoods, I have some very happy memories, although I didn’t always appreciate how good it was at the time. Even so, I didn’t particularly like where I lived and couldn’t wait to move away and leave it behind – again, I look back now and think how lucky I was to live in a village surrounded by lovely countryside. I did get away from it, but I’d be lying if I said I travelled extensively. From a South Nottinghamshire village, I spent time living over the border in Leicestershire, had a brief dalliance with Oxford, and suffered a slightly longer interlude in Northampton.

But Nottinghamshire called me back and, for reasons too complicated to relate here, I ended up living in a small market town in the north of the county.

As it happened, that market town was where my parents had originally met. They married in a village church close by, and I’d been travelling there regularly since the day I was born, visiting grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins. Instead of racing away from what I’d considered to be my roots, I’d ended up finding some different ones.

That was 1990, and I’ve lived in that same town, Retford, ever since. It’s a place that’s grown on me over the years. More like a big village than a town, it’s a rare occasion when I go into the centre and don’t bump into someone I know.

A big advantage the town has is where it’s based. Not only is it close to the edge of Sherwood Forest, and forms part of Pilgrim Fathers territory, but if you want to travel to other parts of the country, it’s very handy for the A1 and M1, as well as being on the East Coast Mainline. And if that means it’s easy for me to travel elsewhere, it also means you guys can easily get to me as well!

Continue reading at Graeme Cumming