Brimscombe and Thrupp

The world's first lawn mower was invented in Thrupp in 1830, which is a bold thing to come up with in a valley where most gardens are on a slope steep enough to need a rope. Brimscombe and Thrupp is two mill villages squeezed into the bottom of the Frome Valley, and it was once the hub of a canal linking the Severn to the Thames, which locals bring up the way other people mention a relative who played for England. The mills that made cloth, iron and walking sticks have since found other jobs, and the people who move into them now talk about industrial heritage with the glow most buyers save for a log burner. Stroud gets the reputation, and this end of the valley gets the gradients.