There are those, Tory backbenchers for example, who don’t believe that the British Isles are part of Europe at all. Weather forecasters, when describing what we can expect at weekends will state, “If your going to Europe this weekend” when they mean the continent. It’s quite a deep seated thing, I think we’re two tiered, a bit like the EC. Those who regularly take their holidays abroad may have quite a continental outlook. Others think Europe is nothing to do with us.
Here’s a couple of pictures that I think show that we’re closer than many people think and have been for some time. It’s the Maud Foster drain, in Boston and the windmill that goes by the same name.
The windmill was built for the Reckitt family, the bleach and household products manufacturers. The drainage all around this area, called Holland, were put in place under the supervision of Dutch engineers proving that Boston has been welcoming foreign visitors for a lot longer than people may think and strange tongues have been heard in this area for many hundreds of years.
Boston was associated with the Hanseatic league, a trading bloc based in the Baltic and Low Countries as well as Germany. Hamburg was a Hanseatic port as was nearby Kings Lynn so if you think we’ve always been in splendid isolation think again.
I visit the windmill most weeks for my flour, we bake all our own bread and buying it direct from the miller means you know what’s in it. Flour! You can find out more about it by visiting www.maudfoster.co.uk
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