Cheshire treats: Great Budworth

The little village of Great Budworth must be one of the most picturesque settlements I’ve ever seen.

I first visited when I was here in Cheshire in the summer of 2014. We walked down the street admiring and photographing the old houses, each one resembling a scene from a chocolate box, with an exuberance of colourful flowers creating gorgeous displays in hanging baskets and window boxes.

I often feel people neglect the impression a nice entranceway can make on visitors and passers-by. Not the folks of Great Budworth – they’ve nailed it. Their obvious pride in their village and their own homes is a pleasure to see and, even now, in mid-November, when the shorter days and cooler autumnal weather mean the summer flowers have gone, the doorways of Great Budworth are a visual delight.

Whether it's the intricate designs of the door hinges, a nice knocker, the warm red of the old bricks or the cute little outside lamps, there's something about each of these doorways that really appeals to me.

I took these photographs during an outing last weekend when, after mooching around the village for perhaps an hour, I walked the public footpaths that criss-cross farmers’ fields and circle Pickmere Lake back to Wincham. But that, as they say, is another story …

So, congratulations to the people of Great Budworth. I hope my readers also enjoy these doors and that they might inspire you to spruce up your own entranceway.

What's behind the blue door?

I’ve developed a fascination for the doorways here in Cusco. There are so many variations … in colour, in size, in decoration, in their simplicity or splendour. And the question of what’s behind each door is intriguing.

These are just some of the doorways I’ve photographed so far, plus some quotations about doorways that appealed.

“Every doorway, every intersection has a story.”  ~ Katherine Dunn

“No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit.”  ~ Helen Keller

“You must not for one instant give up the effort to build new lives for yourselves. Creativity means to push open the heavy, groaning doorway to life.”  ~ Daisaku Ikeda  

“Kind words will unlock an iron door” ~ Turkish proverb

“Men who know themselves are no longer fools. They stand on the threshold of the door of Wisdom.” ~ Havelock Ellis 

“Ideas can be life-changing. Sometimes all you need to open the door is just one more good idea.” ~ Jim Rohn

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.” ~ Helen Keller

“The world is full of people who have never, since childhood, met an open doorway with an open mind.”  ~ E. B. White

And the best quote of all ... “When having a smackerel of something with a friend, don't eat so much that you get stuck in the doorway trying to get out.” ~ Winnie the Pooh ... so these are WIDE doorways to allow fat Winnies to leave!