You won't find the village of Loddon in most guidebooks. This seems a shame, as it offers a delightful glimpse into English country life. A wooden butcher sign advertises cuts of meat at a grassy intersection. Homes sport unique architectural features and colorful gardens. The locals play lawn bowling every afternoon.
Boats tour the inland waterways, and their occupants disembark to walk the town, and see its treasures. Why not? Loddon won a prestigious Village of the Year award for its region. Mariners like the village so much they tie up their ships in the harbor, or moor along the riverbank, so they can visit the pubs in the evening.
As the daylight waned one evening during our stay, the church bells called to me. So I left our room in the pub, and walked along the cobbled streets. I wandered among the gravestones, while the bells signaled the coming of darkness.
Like the village, Science Fiction and Fantasy author Roger Zelazny won many prestigious awards for his stories. Although best known for his Amber series, October is a good time to read his book A Night in the Lonesome October. Each day of the month gets a chapter, and the novel contains whimsical illustrations by Gahan Wilson. Together, they tell the story of a group of strangers who have taken residence outside a quiet English village.
Who are these strangers, and what are they up to? There's a man named Jack, who keeps a number of spirits captive in his house. There's a woman named Jill, who takes to the air in the evening. There's a Count who speaks with an East European accent, and someone known as the Good Doctor, who conducts experiments involving lighting and a shrouded figure. Observing all this is the Great Detective, who smokes a pipe, and seems adept at disguise.
We view this village and its environs through Jack's dog Snuff. He regularly chats with Greymalk, Jill's cat. He's on sociable terms with other animals who have accompanied these strangers to the village, such as a rat, a bat, and a snake. He helps Jack prevent his trapped spirits from escaping, and protects the house from outside threat, such as a crossbow-wielding vicar. When he has a moment to himself, Snuff often walks between the houses in which the strangers reside, and draws lines of power between them in his mind. It seems as though a game is afoot, but what that game is exactly, well...you'll have to read the novel to discover.
Unlike Jack and the other newcomers to the village, I didn't dig up any graves that evening in Loddon. But I did take time to enjoy the music of the bell ringers, and do a little sketching before the light ebbed away. Some may sense spirits there. Some may associate danger with the graveyard. For myself, I enjoyed the restful spirit of a peaceful English village, and the sense of history and community that the churchyard represented.
Roger Zelazny may never have visited Loddon, but you can discover its quiet wonders. Once you visit there, you can always return in your mind. Like Snuff, you can draw the lines of power between the river harbor and the lawn bowlers' green, revisit the charity shops, or walk the cobbled streets. The bells can call to you again. Their siren-like song will call to you, and draw you toward the church yard: a place of serenity and power.
Dragon Dave
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