For those of you who are not aware, our cottage is next door to the fantastic village pub, separated only by a short garden. Indeed, previous owners of The Granary even installed steps over our garden wall as a short-cut.
On Monday as we had breakfast we noticed a fire engine in the road and then saw smoke coming from the thatched roof of The Bell. The situation developed swiftly over the next few hours and soon there were 13 fire engines and 80 firemen on the scene. Thankfully the family who run the pub escaped along with their pets however, their home and business was quickly destroyed. As we left Parkham two days later fire engines were still in attendance and thatch that had fallen into the building was still smouldering.
It has been very sad to see a procession of people walking up the road to stand and stare at what is left of the 700 year-old building that was The Bell. The whole village is in a state of shock at the loss of the pub, the heart of village life but at the same time thankful that no-one was hurt and keen to provide all the support they can do to Rachel and Mike at this difficult time.
We have witnessed many acts of kindness and support from the village community and we ourselves were very grateful for the phone calls we received to check on our well-being as neighbours of The Bell. Whilst re-construction will take many months we are sure that The Bell will be back and we look forward to it re-gaining its rightful place in the village.
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