VILLAGE TALES - and other stories.

Written and read by Barkley Johnson
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  • Fiction
  • Updated Semiweekly

Moving to a village from a large town, or in this case a city, isn't always easy. When a retired antiques dealer moved into the village from Bristol he didn’t know what to expect and arrived with warnings ringing in his ears. It would take many years before he was accepted, if ever. Country folk were suspicious, he was told, and had strange customs that's if he could understand them. But he wasn’t the first in-comer and like others, he has survived.

  1. 66 - The Cottage at Blackdown - Part 2

    08/15/2025

    66 - The Cottage at Blackdown - Part 2

    When every possibility has been explored and nothing changes we have, eventually, to accept that we don’t know and frustratingly, we may never know. That’s not in human nature, the unknown has always be a challenge, so long as there is an unanswered question, someone will seek to answer it.

    17 min
  2. 65 - The Cottage on Blackdown - Part 1

    08/12/2025

    65 - The Cottage on Blackdown - Part 1

    Finding a neglected cottage in the countryside might appear to some as idyllic. But the past is always with us and disturbing it may raise more than we bargained for.

    21 min
  3. 64 - The Abbey Lane Robbery - Part 2

    08/06/2025

    64 - The Abbey Lane Robbery - Part 2

    It may seem a vain hope, or naive optimism, but it’s surprising how often,  if you want it to, something turns up.

    12 min
  4. 63 - The Abbey Lane Robbery - Part 1

    08/06/2025

    63 - The Abbey Lane Robbery - Part 1

    A story is seldom encountered at the beginning. What eventually revealed this story  was not its opening scene, but its final act, and that’s after wondering if there was a story at all.

    10 min
  5. 62. Local Knowledge

    09/17/2021

    62. Local Knowledge

    Local knowledge consists of rumour and invention, but at its centre may be a nugget of truth. If a quizmaster is going to ask questions, they have to be verifiable and unambiguous, so the truth has to be found. In the search for truth, there may be other discoveries along the way.

    9 min
  6. 61. Quiz Night

    09/06/2021

    61. Quiz Night

    What is it about Pub quizzes that makes normally placid people so competitive? If the questions have debatable answers all hell can let loose, and it will be the quiz master that gets the blame. So called ‘Professionals’ stalk the nights and one way to confound them is to have a round of ‘Local Knowledge’, but who do you believe when there are so many versions?

    10 min
  7. 60. Dotty Wyndham

    08/27/2021

    60. Dotty Wyndham

    Dotty was an eccentric every village would be proud to have. Her theatrical fantasies, her imagining she appeared in silent films and on the stage, and her relationships with the stars she claimed were friends were fanciful beyond belief. What did it matter if none of it was true. Except . . .

    10 min
  8. 59. Penny's Heaven

    08/20/2021

    59. Penny's Heaven

    Taking up an interest can not only be a way of filling one’s spare time and be a change from our daily routine, but sometimes a way of finding ourselves and even a liberation.

    10 min
See All (66)

About

Moving to a village from a large town, or in this case a city, isn't always easy. When a retired antiques dealer moved into the village from Bristol he didn’t know what to expect and arrived with warnings ringing in his ears. It would take many years before he was accepted, if ever. Country folk were suspicious, he was told, and had strange customs that's if he could understand them. But he wasn’t the first in-comer and like others, he has survived.

Information

  • Creator
    Written and read by Barkley Johnson
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2025
  • Episodes
    66
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Written and read by Barkley Johnson
  • Show Website
    VILLAGE TALES - and other stories.