Village wants to bring back the donkey

By Georgina Cooper

LONDON (Reuters) - What does one do when modern transport just can't get the shopping to the front door?

The village of Chalford has decided to take a page from its past by employing donkeys to haul groceries to homes atop a slope so steep that cars can't get to them.

"There's about 30 houses that don't have car access so everyone who lives there has this long, winding, torturous path to climb," resident Anna Usborne told Reuters describing the 328-foot hill.

Usborne is now raising money to buy village donkeys, plans to keep them on her land and to organise volunteers who will guide them up the hill when locals have heavy loads to carry.

Older residents may find the sight conjures up distant memories of the past when donkeys delivering coal and provisions to remote hillside cottages were a common sight.

"They were very much a part of village life," said Usborne of Chalford's donkey past. "It's touching a note with people, bringing back traditions of the past."

The village has already purchased special panniers in anticipation of the arrival of the donkeys.

Usborne said she needed to raise enough money to buy two donkeys -- as one would get lonely -- and says they can cost up to 600 pounds each.