Welcome to the Rudloe and environs website.

Here you will find news, articles and photos of an area that straddles the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in north-west Wiltshire.

Contributions in the form of articles or photos are welcome. Even those with completely contrary views to mine!

Thanks to the website builder 1&1 and Rob Brown for the original idea.

Rudloescene now, in January 2014, has a sister, academic rather than anarchic, website about Box history here: http://www.boxpeopleandplaces.co.uk/

It contains thoroughly professional, well-researched articles about Box and its people.

Contact rudloescene through the 'Contact' page.

March 2026 and given my interest in all things railway, I thought I would take the train to Liverpool and cross to the Isle of Man as a ferry foot passenger. But could I find a crossing from Liverpool... So it was Easyjet from Gatwick at a bargain price of £77 but then another £100 for a large cabin bag (plus seat selection) so I just took a rucksack which would fit under the seat in front (one pair of pants can last four days - normal, back-to-front, inside-out and inside-out back-to front). Of course, there are issues with flying from Gatwick - the route from Reading is tortuous and takes 90 minutes (in addition to the Chippenham - Reading leg and connection time) so I decided to go through London and take the Gatwick train from Victoria. When I think of the Gatwick train I think of the Gatwick Express so I headed to the appropriate barrier where my ticket wouldn't work so I presented it to 'the man' at the barrier and he waved me through. However, the train manager's announcement about which tickets couldn't be used on the Gatwick Express took a good few minutes and I discovered why my ticket wasn't accepted by the barrier machine. Like a naughty boy, I received a lecture from the manager when she came around but I said that the ticket barrier man waved me through. And then she told a lie... she said that there must have been a Southern train (for which my ticket was valid) in the adjacent platform. But the barriers involved are dedicated to the Gatwick Express so this was a whopper. Now, on the return journey I saw from the departures board at Gatwick that I only had a few minutes to catch my train to Victoria with my 'Southern' ticket and lo and behold the train waiting at the platform was the Gatwick Express - aaaargh. But when I boarded, the train announcement said 'Welcome to this Southern service to London Victoria' - so this was a Gatwick Express (see picture below) that wasn't a Gatwick Express. Just one example of our ridiculous, privatized railway operating/ticketing systems (see the last picture and associated text for a further example of a ludicrous railway state of affairs). Title picture shows frontage of Ronaldsway Airport, Isle of Man.

On this foul day, we thought we would take refuge in the House of Manannan, an interactive museum which focuses on the Isle of Man's rich Celtic, Viking and maritime past. We arrived quite late in the day and had only about 45 minutes to take what is normally a 90-minute tour. However, could we persuade the receptionist to give us a discount - we could not, he was unyielding. The museum was grim (see pictures) and we came out somewhat the worse for wear.

Back into the real world of Peel harbour (where someone was surfing) and castle...

Across the central (mountain) range to Jurby...

The station and railway museum at Port Erin... We were there too early in the season for trains, trams and much else. However, the station buildings now housed an extensive cafe with an open fire which was much appreciated.

The netball under-17s Rising Stars Cup at the National Sports Centre, Douglas involved teams from France, Switzerland, Ireland, the Isle of Man and Gibraltar

Douglas images...

Now back to the mainland and the art of driving people crazy. The discerning, intelligent rudloescene reader will, no doubt, be aware of the 'See It, Say It, Sorted' campaign which, since its introduction in 2016, has been driving railway passengers (and staff too I would imagine - see below) round the bend. So for its tenth anniversary, the message (and associated paraphernalia like posters etc) has been updated (and the Government has provided a £17million contribution from our taxes towards this update). Various worthies have commented, for example Security Minister, Dan Jarvis, said "See it. Say it. Sorted’ has become part of the national consciousness - whether you’re commuting into work or waiting for a coffee at the station, we’re all familiar with the message" - see the Government's pile of baloney here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-look-same-message-see-it-say-it-sorted.

I had about a 90-minute wait at Paddington before I could catch my (cheap!) 19:30 train. I reckon the 'See It' messages were trumpeted about every five minutes so I heard them 18 times during my wait. During an 8-hour shift, station staff would hear these messages 96 times.