Always good to catch up with people and spend time with friends and yesterday was doing just that in the delightful Letchworth Garden City - one of whose claims to fame is that it had the first roundabout in the UK.Is a little strange going there as I've connections with the area - I spent a few years growing up in Hitchin, the next door market town, where my grandparents lived for around 40 years, and an uncle and aunt were married in Letchworth.
It's a fascinating space - a development of the early 20th century it remains a charming town with a sense of its own identity and community. It has some wonderful architecture and wide grassy boulevards - there really is a sense of space. All this just 30 odd miles and a 30 minute train ride from Kings Cross.
Driving back I reflected on whether such a development could possibly happen today - I suppose the nearest is Poundbury. As I drove past Stevenage and Hatfield - two lovely Hertfordshire old towns ruined by town planning - I realised that such developments definitely weren't possible in the 1950s and 1960s.
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