The Little Big Village of Cottingham

The village of Cottingham, arguably the largest village in modern day England, lies within the boundaries of the East Riding of Yorkshire. Its next door neighbour is the City of Kingston upon Hull who has been trying desperately hard over the past several years to change the rather unsavoury reputation it had gained over the years. While deprivation and joblessness may have been the story of Hull, its cute little neighbour can hardly be put in the same bag.

Cottingham, I would describe as a stately old lady, whose demeanor is so soft and inviting.Cottingham makes you feel at home, both its people and its streets. Its lovely treelined streets and flowery tributes in spring makes the heart sing.




It has a very busy and 'everything there' kind of village center. The lovely little library had everything one would need and was a hub of useful information. It stood quite next to the council offices on market green if I remember correctly. A very handy postoffice across the street and buses to take you anywhere to anywhere.

A walk along the back lanes of Cottingham invariably brings you across a horse and its rider. Needless to say horseriding is a very enjoyable pursuit to many of its residents. With ample wide open spaces and clean air, its a lovely place to live.

 Cottingham also proudly boasts of numerous churches.St. Marys was the oldest and grandest Anglican church. The most remarkable memory that I have of the Catholic church was suprisingly not about the church itself but the priest. Fr. Pat Day. He was so friendly and welcoming. There was a seperate section in church where parents with little kids could sit. We had our own musical instruments to play along with the hymns.I bet the parents enjoyed it more than the kids.

 Another thing that I fondly remember is the walk about--cant remember what it was actually called--walk of witness I guess , that took place on Good Friday every year. Parishioners from the different churches used to come together and walk the streets.Prayers were said and hymns sung. It was a wonderful mark of ecumenism.

Now an account of Cottingham  however small would never be complete without the mention of Castle Hill Hospital. Though it started off as the small sister to Hull Royal, over the years Castle Hill Hospital has grown by leaps and bounds. It now plays host to a worldclass center  for Cancer and Cardiology among many other things.CHH is said to be located on the grounds of the old Cottingham Castle. I can fondly remember walking on the grounds of the hospital with my baby daughter - it hardly had a hospital feel to it, felt more like home. We used to watch the rabbits hurry past and play hide and seek in the bushes. Squirrels scurrying up tree trunks.

My first experience of  that wonderful substance called snow was whilst living in Cottingham.

This picture  is one of the first I captured of it on my lenses and shows some buildings of Castle Hill Hospital in the background.

Come spring or winter, Cottingham is a lovely, magical place to live.