I’d an idea that the “Long Drop” in Northumberland, was associated with a netty but until my visit, hadn’t appreciated what a drop it was. Parking up on a remote road, I crossed the fields to the disused steading close to Rose Bower Farm and saw for myself just how the wind would have whistled round our forefathers’ ankles when they answered a call of nature. The netty was precariously attached to the bank about 20 feet above a fast rushing stream. It’s to be hoped that the drinking water for the farm came from a well or further upstream
