Country diary: Everything about the old onion barn is out of reach

Sandy, Bedfordshire: This collapsing structure is fenced off and offers tantalising glimpses of the area's onion-growing heydayEvery derelict farm building houses tangible memories of lost lives or livelihoods. A chipped teacup from the last cuppa, a key without a lock, a horseshoe on the floor of a Hebridean blackhouse. Abandoned, discarded and forgotten objects spark my imagination with stories that can become more real than the buildings themselves.Ever since the pandemic began, I have puzzled over one such object in a tumbledown ruin a 10-minute walk from my house. Before then, the onion barn - a two-storey weatherboarded wooden structure - had rarely received more than a sideways glance from the wheel of my car, for it was marooned on the shoulder of a dual carriageway. But when the rivers of traffic ran dry during the first lockdown, the A1 reverted in character to the old Great North Road, and the approach of a vehicle became an event. My daily exercise sometimes took me along the verge to the fence around this barn, a rare survivor out of dozens that sprang up in the 19th century, during Sandy's onion-growing heyday. Continue reading...