Welcome to Penchurch!
Mar 30, 2014 10:16:13 GMT -8
Post by Janet Weston on Mar 30, 2014 10:16:13 GMT -8
Penchurch is an RPG set in a present-day village situated on the southern English coast, where a new on-location television production has just set up shop. The modern world is never far away, but in Penchurch, old habits die hard, and traditions have held sway for quite some time. Still, there are surprises to be found around every corner in an otherwise apparently sleepy and serene little place, and the people of Penchurch are as given to the vagaries of human nature as anybody.
The heart of the village is a cluster of narrow, cobbled streets, some rising steeply from the sweep of the beach that sits at its foot, populated by sundry little shops and whatever businesses can eke out a living in such an out-of-the-way place, as well as tiny houses and flats. Where fishing was once the heart and soul of the village, now a boat or two caters to the local needs in season, while tourism has taken up the task of providing a livelihood for Penchurch...whether the born-and-bred 'Pennys' like the intrusion, or not.
Further afield, small cottages dot the rolling green landscape, some turned over to provide B&Bs or holiday homes for out-of-towners, while others remain family homes. Larger farmhouses here and there belong to those few who still work the land, much of which has long since been sold off piecemeal in leaner times, for various purposes. The odd manor-house stands as testament to post-Industrial barons of wealth and industry, who retired to the country and established estates, even if they never gained noble titles.
Dominating the architectural landscape, however, is Penchurch Abbey. Originally a 14th century Cistercian complex, trading in the fish and farming of the local economy, Henry VIII saw the removal of its cloistered inhabitants and turned the property over to one of his courtiers, gradually forming the elegant estate that was at its height in the 19th century. Post-war England saw a change, however, and the abbey, while remaining under the ownership of the titled family, fell into neglect. The present owner, Sir Trevor Roscoe, has recently allowed the BBC to use the building and grounds as the primary location for filming its new period drama, Bournewood; and the past months have been a frenzy of cleaning, cataloguing and general chaos, readying the property for the cast and production crew. The family have retained some private living quarters in the western wing of the abbey, while a production office has been set up in the eastern wing. While the potential influx of gawkers, city-folk, and actors trampling all over Penchurch has worried some, all but the staunchest of objectors have had to acknowledge the economic sense of it. The Abbey sits higher than the village, set back from the sea, amid the farms and fields that used to supply the order's food and trade.
The central point of the village is The Station--a defunct railway stop which has since been renovated and turned into a public house, under the ownership and management of Janet Weston, a lifetime resident of Penchurch. With rooms to let and all the latest news of Penchurch, anyone who spends any length of time in the village can hardly help ending up there. The comfortable old building looks down upon many of the winding streets, and has a splendid view of the beach from some upper windows.
Penchurch boasts a corner shop and grocer's (including a post office counter service, off-license, and ATM,) a butcher and fishmonger's rolled into one, a cafe which includes a small bakery, a book and gift shop, a tiny antique store, and a florist and garden-supply shop. A small grey stone church circled by a graveyard is St. Pirrin's, with a vicarage nearby, made much upon the same scale, and in the same stone. The village school is run in the original Victorian school-house hard by the church, where children under the age of eleven are taught across a variety of disciplines by a handful of school staff, while older children attend the school in town, a shuttle-bus ferrying them to and fro.
The nearest large town is about a thirty minute drive away, along winding country roads (though Penchurch has, at last, put in a coach parking-lot for some very busy summer days, and managed to tuck the unsightly thing in behind a row of cottages--though the inhabitants thereof were less than pleased,) and, along with the secondary school and college, contains many of the larger shops and venues that Penchurch lacks (including any kind of nightlife that isn't a drink down the pub.) Anything not found in the corner shop and grocer's must be got elsewhere, including all clothes and shoe-shopping, electronics (though the shop can generally find some batteries or hardware for those in a true pinch,) cinema and theatre, and an extant rail link. A bus service 'into town' does run twice daily through Penchurch, Sundays excepted.
'Pennys' are largely warm and welcoming people, practical-minded and kind-hearted. The local sense of humour and pride, however, maintains that outsiders may always be regarded as newcomers, whether they've been in Penchurch for twenty minutes or twenty years! Gossip spreads quickly, and everyone in Penchurch likely knows you and your business--or wants to.
In a place where 'there are no secrets', true secrets are closely and carefully guarded.
---
"Three or four families in a country village is the very thing to work on, and I hope you will do a great deal more, and make full use of them while they are so very favourably arranged." - Jane Austen
The heart of the village is a cluster of narrow, cobbled streets, some rising steeply from the sweep of the beach that sits at its foot, populated by sundry little shops and whatever businesses can eke out a living in such an out-of-the-way place, as well as tiny houses and flats. Where fishing was once the heart and soul of the village, now a boat or two caters to the local needs in season, while tourism has taken up the task of providing a livelihood for Penchurch...whether the born-and-bred 'Pennys' like the intrusion, or not.
Further afield, small cottages dot the rolling green landscape, some turned over to provide B&Bs or holiday homes for out-of-towners, while others remain family homes. Larger farmhouses here and there belong to those few who still work the land, much of which has long since been sold off piecemeal in leaner times, for various purposes. The odd manor-house stands as testament to post-Industrial barons of wealth and industry, who retired to the country and established estates, even if they never gained noble titles.
Dominating the architectural landscape, however, is Penchurch Abbey. Originally a 14th century Cistercian complex, trading in the fish and farming of the local economy, Henry VIII saw the removal of its cloistered inhabitants and turned the property over to one of his courtiers, gradually forming the elegant estate that was at its height in the 19th century. Post-war England saw a change, however, and the abbey, while remaining under the ownership of the titled family, fell into neglect. The present owner, Sir Trevor Roscoe, has recently allowed the BBC to use the building and grounds as the primary location for filming its new period drama, Bournewood; and the past months have been a frenzy of cleaning, cataloguing and general chaos, readying the property for the cast and production crew. The family have retained some private living quarters in the western wing of the abbey, while a production office has been set up in the eastern wing. While the potential influx of gawkers, city-folk, and actors trampling all over Penchurch has worried some, all but the staunchest of objectors have had to acknowledge the economic sense of it. The Abbey sits higher than the village, set back from the sea, amid the farms and fields that used to supply the order's food and trade.
The central point of the village is The Station--a defunct railway stop which has since been renovated and turned into a public house, under the ownership and management of Janet Weston, a lifetime resident of Penchurch. With rooms to let and all the latest news of Penchurch, anyone who spends any length of time in the village can hardly help ending up there. The comfortable old building looks down upon many of the winding streets, and has a splendid view of the beach from some upper windows.
Penchurch boasts a corner shop and grocer's (including a post office counter service, off-license, and ATM,) a butcher and fishmonger's rolled into one, a cafe which includes a small bakery, a book and gift shop, a tiny antique store, and a florist and garden-supply shop. A small grey stone church circled by a graveyard is St. Pirrin's, with a vicarage nearby, made much upon the same scale, and in the same stone. The village school is run in the original Victorian school-house hard by the church, where children under the age of eleven are taught across a variety of disciplines by a handful of school staff, while older children attend the school in town, a shuttle-bus ferrying them to and fro.
The nearest large town is about a thirty minute drive away, along winding country roads (though Penchurch has, at last, put in a coach parking-lot for some very busy summer days, and managed to tuck the unsightly thing in behind a row of cottages--though the inhabitants thereof were less than pleased,) and, along with the secondary school and college, contains many of the larger shops and venues that Penchurch lacks (including any kind of nightlife that isn't a drink down the pub.) Anything not found in the corner shop and grocer's must be got elsewhere, including all clothes and shoe-shopping, electronics (though the shop can generally find some batteries or hardware for those in a true pinch,) cinema and theatre, and an extant rail link. A bus service 'into town' does run twice daily through Penchurch, Sundays excepted.
'Pennys' are largely warm and welcoming people, practical-minded and kind-hearted. The local sense of humour and pride, however, maintains that outsiders may always be regarded as newcomers, whether they've been in Penchurch for twenty minutes or twenty years! Gossip spreads quickly, and everyone in Penchurch likely knows you and your business--or wants to.
In a place where 'there are no secrets', true secrets are closely and carefully guarded.
---
"Three or four families in a country village is the very thing to work on, and I hope you will do a great deal more, and make full use of them while they are so very favourably arranged." - Jane Austen
