I Wandered Lost around Aldwincle, Mocked by an Alan Titchmarsh Scarecrow

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I should have known something odd was coming up when, meandering south out of Oundle in Northamptonshire, we got to the village of Stoke Doyle. Almost the only things in Stoke Doyle are a pub and a sign announcing that Stoke Doyle is twinned with Barcelona. We then hit the village of Aldwincle, where a man stepped into the road and ushered us into a car park that had been created in a field. When we were neatly slotted into a row of 30 cars, I asked why he had done this, and he explained that Aldwincle's annual Scarecrow Trail was in full swing and that he'd assumed we'd come to see it.

Aldwincle is a Saxon name meaning "little corner". The village hall is full of photographs …