The village that's bloomin' marvellous

HISTORIC TEXTILE SPOT 'HAS BEST VIEWS IN HUDDERSFIELD'

- By ANDREW ROBINSON

View from Longwood Tower, aka Nab End Tower, Huddersfield

WHEN Lesley Crawshaw first set eyes on Longwood, her first thought was “blooming heck”

“It's like I had died and gone to heaven.

“It was so lovely,’ she recalled, 40 years after she arrived in the Huddersfield village from Southport in Merseyside.

She was impressed by the incredible views down the Colne Valley and the big houses dotted around the former textile village. She was intrigued by the history of the village that was once known for mills, among them Joseph Hoyle & Sons which is now just a memory.

Lesley settled in Longwood and has loved the place ever since. She says the village is pretty and people's gardens are well-tended. But she warns that there are some seriously steep hills and the gradients get tougher over the years.