BUSTLING and industrious are words which well describe Kelly Bray – a village offering the best of both worlds.

It is near enough to Callington for town life, but also has extensive rural views, and pockets of quiet countryside which seem to have remained untouched for long decades.

In Cornish Kelly Bray means 'Wood in the Hill', the hill in question being Kit Hill, which rises behind the A388 road running along the spine of the village, linking the south coast with the north. The fact Kelly Bray lies at high altitude means there is panoramic scenery to be enjoyed on either side of this road.

Current Callington portreeve, Kath Pascoe, and her husband Bill, live overlooking Kit Hill, and say the village is an ideal place to settle, being both friendly and neighbourly. They remember a time when there were two butchers, a grocers, a hairdressers and a corner shop. Sadly these have closed, but the Post Office and shop remains, as does a shop at Isacombe Garage.

Opposite them lies the WI hall where the WI naturally meets, and where dog training classes and whist drives are regularly held, while the Pascoes' next door neighbour is rugby player, Dean Shipton, who led Cornwall to county championship glory at Twickenham.

Close to the WI Hall is also the Working Men's club with its snooker table.

Bill originates from the Callington area, but Kath is a Mousehole girl. She said she misses the sea at times, but having lived in the Kelly Bray and Callington area for over 40 years says she is very happy there. She highlighted the local walks, which the couple's spaniel Lizzie enjoys, many through nearby woodland. Kath, who is a Caradon councillor, is the only woman on the council's Cabinet and so has a very busy life, although one she said she very much enjoys. She also finds time to be a governor at Callington school and community college, vice chairman of the board of directors of Leader 11 at Liskeard, and a member of the Callington 2000 regeneration committee. This is the third occasion she has been portreeve.

Bill is pleased to support her. He is equally happy with Kelly Bray life, although he has seen changes over the years, such as the building of a number of small estates, and the prospect of a larger one on the horizon. He remembers when Archie Dingle used to run a sawmills in the village, and when 'Butcher' Rundle built a slaughterhouse.

The Swingletree pub, run by Cliff and Delia Wickett, is situated in the middle of the village. They have been landlord and lady there for 11 years this Tuesday, and in that time the welcome they have given to customers has ensured the pub has become a meeting place for a great many members of the community, as well as students of Duchy college, located about four miles up the road. The pub has a netball team, two darts teams, and a petanque area - and recently raised £300 through a sponsored walk by their regulars for the Children's Hospice South West.

Beer

Apart from good beer and satisfying bar meals the Swingletree has also gained renown for its Sunday lunches - and for its floral displays. Even in February, thanks to Delia and the firm Blooming Baskets, a bright display of pansies on the front of the pub makes it all the more welcoming.

Bizarrely 12 special Swingletree sweatshirts are now to be found in Andorra. The sweatshirts were especially ordered for the pub, but were sent from the manufacturers reading 'Kelly Bary' rather than 'Kelly Bray'. A group of regulars, who went skiing together in Andorra, took the wrongly spelt sweatshirts with them, and left them behind - as correctly spelt replacements had been sent by then.

Despite trying to delve into the Swingletree's history Delia and Cliff are not sure how old the building is. They have a picture of it in l906, and know it was extended at one time, but have not yet discovered where the deeds are which might solve some of the mysteries.

The WI meets on the first Tuesday of every month at their hall, and past president Isabelle Ramage said new members will always be welcomed. The group held their annual meeting, attended by president Pam Kennaught, on Tuesday. In the past they have organised annual outings for the local over 70s, who were taken on a coach trip in the afternoon, and then returned for tea and entertainment in the hall. It is hoped, with support, to hold such events again in the future.

Isabelle and her husband Eric moved to Kelly Bray 15 years ago. They chose the area because they moved from the dockyard at Rosyth to be near Devonport, but decided on their home because it offered them the chance to run a smallholding on which they have sheep, goats, chickens and ducks, as well as polytunnels. Isabelle said: 'It's a lovely place to live. We would never think of moving away.' She pointed out that it is in the country but only 'nine-ish miles' from Tavistock, Launceston, Liskeard and Saltash.

Farms

In their contribution to the Cornwall Village Book the ladies of Kelly Bray WI explained how smallholdings dotted the land before the middle of the l9th century - although there remain a number of local farms, and Kelly Bray is also the home of a branch of Cornwall Farmers Ltd. Three mines also operated nearby, that of Redmoor re-opened during the Second World War for the excavation of minerals to use for the war effort. The remains of one mine can still be found, overgrown with ivy and home to jackdaws, in rural Windsor Lane, where one side of the lane is in Caradon district, and the other in North Cornwall.

The railway came to Kelly Bray in l908, although the terminus was known as Callington Road station. This brought with it extensive freight trade serving coal, agricultural and transport businesses based nearby. Tales are told of how station staff would sometimes telephone to check if regular passengers were on their way, if they had not arrived in time for their usual train. Sadly, due to Beeching's axe in l966, the last train ran in that year, the final engine leaving the station with a wreath placed upon it.

The site of the old railway goods yard as now the ironically called 'Beeching Park', named as such by joint owners of Downderry Construction Group, Ernie Marshall and Brian Richardson. The company was formed in Cornwall in l970, and moved to Kelly Bray in September l988. There they set up their own unit, and rented others to a number of other thriving firms including shopfitters, a launderette, electrical contractors, sauna specialists and flooring experts etc. The coalyard itself has been let out to British Fuels. Downderry Construction are now much more than builders, their successfully expanding business, which is moving with the times, encompassing gravel pits, recycling and landfill. The company employs about 60 people, the new general manager at Kelly Bray, responsible for taking on contracts being Graham Huggins.

There are a number of garages at Kelly Bray offering great expertise in the form of MoTs, spares and repairs. One of these is father and son firm, Jim Miller and son. Jim, who is now helped by his son Douglas, has been based in Kelly Bray since l982. He carries out mechanical work, general repairs, and MoT preparation on cars and light vans. Douglas, who recently left Callington college, has now joined the firm, and is also undertaking a NVQ course at Plymouth which he attends once a week. He is sponsored for this by Plymouth city council. Jim, who has built up a regular clientele, described Kelly Bray as a 'really pleasant place to work.'

Activity

For a small village Kelly Bray is, in fact, an absolute hive of activity. It is the location of the welcoming Appleby Lodge residential home, and also home to picture framers, a window firm, a printers, a firm of distributors, and a range of other companies, many based on the Florence Road Industrial estate.

Apart from the railway station another casualty over the years has, however, been the Methodist church, built with adjoining schoolroom and classrooms above in l908. A dwindling congregation and the fact the building had become unsafe meant it was taken down about a year ago. It was sited near where Kath Pascoe lives, and she said: 'They took it down in a week, with no disruption at all. One minute it was there, and the next it was gone, and you wouldn't have known it had been the site of a chapel.' The area has now been grassed, and is part of the cemetery.

The Post Office is still thriving, though. This has been run during the past six and a half years by Tricia Stephenson. Tricia moved from South Wales with her husband Ron, who works shifts at Gatwick airport. She joked that upon arriving in Kelly Bray she became pregnant, and the couple now have five-year-old James, who attends Stoke Climsland primary school, as well as daughter Vicki who works at the St Therese Nursing Home in Callington. When Tricia and Ron went looking for a business to buy they had initially had a boarding kennels in mind, but instead they settled for the Post Office, which also sells stationery and gifts.

Helping Tricia out behind the counter is Susan Palmer, a local girl from nearby Maders, who said the area was a marvellous place in which to grow up.

A warm welcome is also given to customers by family dogs, Monty and Sky, who are spoilt by a number of regulars who come in bearing gifts for them.