‘A place that impressed me’

There were reeds that give home to many other forms of wildlife such as dragonflies and kingfishers and below the surface of the fast flowing water lived many trout that could be seen darting in and out of weeds any time.

The only way of crossing the river for miles was via an old wooden footbridge. The bridge was alive with moss and you could lie on it and it would be like lying on the most comfortable of beds.

Birds would sing in the trees and every quarter of an hour the church, which also sat on the banks, would toll, capping off the magical atmosphere.

But I would be lying if I said that this place was entirely deserted of humans. A merry band of fishermen, who obviously loved the river as much as I did, waddled past my house almost everyday to try and outwit the trout. Very rarely were they successful, due to the fact that the fish darted so fast and that they were regularly pestered by a small boy wielding a jam-jar attached to a piece of string.

Undeterred however, those fishermen used to brave the coldest of winter days, so keen they were to bring home a prize catch.

I used to have competitions with them, I never won of course, but to spend a day by the side of this river trying to catch fish is the most perfect way of spending a day I can think of. It really was paradise.

The river was great for swimming as well. The water was so clear I could open my eyes under the water and see everything from the fish to the pebbles. Once I found an old coin dated 1709 by a rock in the middle of the water. This perfectly illustrates how untouched this section of the river was. It literally hadn't changed since the middle ages.

It's funny how when you're young, you take things for granted. I thought then that I would live there forever and it would never change. How wrong I was.

Just before my ninth birthday, my family moved to a suburb of Guildford. What a shock! The sound of cars racing past my bedroom window was really strange and quite disturbing to say the least. There was never any peace and tranquillity; all there was was pollution and noise...

There were times when I used to just sit and think of all the happy times I had had by the banks of this river. I suppose the fishermen were thankful of the opportunity to fish undisturbed!

I was passing that very same village about a year ago and decided I would go and see the beauty all over again, as I hadn't been back since I moved house all those years ago.

As I walked down the bumpy, stony road, an unfamiliar sound met my ears; it was the sound of cars...

A rather large bypass had been built just 200 yards the other side of the river. The atmosphere had been completely destroyed as the only thing you are likely to find in the river now is an exhaust pipe or similar.

No fishermen sat there now, there was no peace and there was certainly no magic.

The only place I ever really loved, had been destroyed. What a shame...