Country diary: a new use for my old stomping ground

Sandy, Bedfordshire: Returning to where I used to live, I did not know which garden marked where I last saw a skylark’s ascent, or which factory blocked the flightpath of partridgesBack in the 1980s, we moved into a new estate tacked on to the north end of town. For the resettling Londoners who occupied most of the houses, it must have been a strange country. Tiny dragons roamed by day and pinpricks of lunar light lit the embankment beyond our gardens on summer nights.Within a few years, t