Dotted throughout the town are areas of green land, not large enough to be parks, that appear to be common land…

until, that is, a fence is put up. This fence is a ‘contentious issue’ on the Ladygrove Estate.

A comment in the Abingdon Herald recently said:

“I visited Abingdon a couple of weeks ago, for the first time and had thoughts of a nice affluent rural English village, wow what a change when visiting the place for real. I found Abingdon to be derelict, depressing and covered in CCTV. What has this country come to when small towns are in this sort of mess?”

Not sure if the comment is for real. But I do know that when I’ve put upbeat comments about Abingdon in the Herald web comments I’ve had people say “Are you for real?”

Here a coot is bringing up her chick on the River Thames near Abingdon town centre: complete with upended drink bottle, apple core, litter including bread wrapper, and lots of uneaten bread. Two sides to every story.

This lorry from Canterbury in Kent is practising tight cornering in the centre of Abingdon. The juggernaut has just come across the 15th Century Abingdon Bridge, and can next practise clutch control round the town centre traffic system. Abingdon is a favourite place for (L)earner lorry drivers.

Some early work has begun on the Almshouses. The Herald said late last year £1M needed spending on them to put them back in order.

Work has also begun on renovating the grapes. A couple of years ago, this pub was a lively place where bands played on Sunday nights, but it changed hands and didn’t look to be doing so well. So I guess it is looking for another fresh start.