RK by the old canal

[Robin Oldfield]

OK Here's the true story.  The bits about mining, railway and ropeway are true.  Those about the French lady (Madame Fool of April), the marmite and the whole canal story are false, though the Bog Mine did have something called the boat level and ore was floated out on small boats.  I had a couple of old canal gate bits and had always wanted to build a garden feature having seen examples at Chelsea Flower Show and elsewhere.  The opportunity came when we hosted a picnic for a local old car club which had been started by the late Peter Relph.  I had owned for some time the RK barn-find VF 8653 so managed to drag it through the undergrowth to complete the feature.  Quite a few people were convinced.  The car was too far gone for me to restore it so I sold it back to someone who had owned it in the 1980s.  I believe it is now being restored.  The spoof lock gate is still there and when we open our garden under the RHS National Gardens Scheme each year it continues to fool many visitors.