STROLLING across the picturesque landscape of rural England, with its rolling hills and healthy fresh air, it is easy to see why so many people enjoy life in this area.

Citizen reader Alf Troop, 88, of Langton Close, Leyland, can recall many happy days on a farm near Longmeanygate, in Leyland, where his father ploughed fields for several years.

He was just a lad of 12 when the family moved to the premises, off Dunkirk Lane and Cocker Barr Lane.

Later, after his father died, Alf acquired the building which he transformed into Woodlands Poultry Farm -- a thriving business which he owned for many years before retirement.

But before moving to rural Leyland Alf lived with his parents in Gregson Lane, Higher Walton, where his father owned a shop.

Alf said: "In the 1920s Gregson Lane was a thriving little village with two working mills. I think they were weaving mills, one was in Bournes Row and the other was in Gregson Lane. "My dad James had a local store combined with a post office, off licence, groceries, sweets and tobacco.

"We used to sell Woodbines in a paper packet. They cost two-and-a-half pence for five.

"I remember when I was a lad I used to buy a nice Walls ice-cream. The sellers used to ride three-wheeled bikes signed 'Stop Me and Buy One'.

"A man used to come into the shop called Major Hickmott with his friend Major Flintoff. They were real characters and started the Pilot bus service, stationed at the Castle Inn, in Gregson Lane. This later became The Ribble Bus Company.

"I have many happy memories of life in the old days. I laugh when I think of the crystal radio sets, nicknamed cats whiskers. My school master was one of the first people to own a set and I can recall that they were barely audible."

Alf is pictured left, on the farm in Higher Walton, with two of his children who are now grown up.