Monsters on the turnpike

Horsington, Somerset The former turnpike road, winding as it does between hedgerows and through narrow village streets, must cope, not with curricles and landaus, but with huge intercontinental freight carriers, tankers, cars and vans, coaches, giant tractors and agricultural machinery

We were surprised the other day to see, at the farm gate, a new notice saying: "Sorry, no eggs - visit of fox". This was the farm where we had for years regularly picked up our freshly gathered eggs. It lies just off a little cul-de-sac that once formed part of the old east-west trunk route to Devon, which used to pass through the heart of Wincanton with its once fine coaching inns.

For many years now, traffic has skirted the town on the modern A303, and travellers seeking refreshment stop at the out of town supermarket cafi(C) rather than at the former Greyhound Inn, where the future Queen Victoria was a guest in 1825.