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The New Frontier - A Realistic, Natural Growth MD

Started by M4346, April 15, 2014, 09:42:48 PM

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Swordmaster

Sharp suit! I'd be a troublemaker as well if they messed with it ;D  Also, very good to hear you're settling for a retirement plan that includes SC4. I'd better start saving up for a more comfortable chair here. :thumbsup:

Nice imagery as well; apparently they do have a mosque BAT. . .


Cheers
Willy

M4346

#121
Hi everyone! Just a quick one before this MD gets put on the shelf...  :P

It's an update on Benhurst, which we last saw about 90 game years ago  :D It has taken 107 game years to get Church Square and surrounds to look the way I want it to!  :'( I wanted W2W buildings around Church Square, and as an almost non-negotiable personal rule, they all have to grow 'naturally'. So, here it is!





Today's visit takes us back to the heart of Benhurst, a small, largely agricultural town on the North Coast with 3 167 inhabitants at the last count.


Church Square, which takes its name after the Benhurst Reformed Church at the eastern end of the square (in the image above), has been a hub of activity since the founding of the town. It is also the site of the Benhurst Town Hall (on the western end), home to the town council and mayor's office, and most of the local and regional administration. The remainder of the town and regional administration, as well as offices of the provincial and national administration (notably the Department of Home Affairs), as well as the Benhurst Magistrates Court, is housed in the red brick building with the cupola to the north of the Church.


The Square has transformed from a dusty patch of land traversed by wagons carrying off agricultural produce to the neighbouring Georgetown and beyond, into a sandstone paved area with tree-lined avenues and shops and other businesses along it.

Open air markets still dominate the Square and its surroundings, which includes the old Weigh House north of the Town Hall. This prime property has largely been preserved and saved from development due to its historic significance.


The Town Council, with support from the North Coast Heritage Agency, has imposed strict conditions for development around the Square, the urgency of these measures was compounded by the development of the first, arguably, modern office building that popped up diagonally across the road from the Ben Hurst Post Office (next to the Fire Station, which is next to the Town Hall).

Our visit to Benhurst today, however, is for the Easter Market, a huge annual attraction to the town.  We disembark from the train station east of the town and board a bus to the Square as the sun starts setting over the region.


After the Easter Service we leave the Church to join in the festivities on and around the Square.


We take some time to admire the obelisk in the middle of the Square. A plaque notes that it was erected with the generous donation of Mr Grant Weston, a local Freemason and businessman, to commemorate those who lost their lives in the Great War (the contemporary name for the First World War).


The next morning we set out to explore the rest of the town, starting at the Old Wagon House, which is now a small museum and a micro-brewery. We indulge in the craft beer, yes it's 9:00 (which means it is morning ::) ), but it is for educational purposes, it being a museum and all...

The Wagon House has been replaced by more modern logistics and warehousing companies to the south of 'downtown', that provide jobs for the residents of Benhurst as the freight industry modernised with the times.


There was initially some opposition to the Nokia factory setting up shop in town, but strict conditions of local beneficiation swayed residents. "Manufacturing Mile", as it has since become known, is also home to other warehouses and an older textile mill, as well as more modern office complexes.

Although not as visible, there is also a Pizza Hut and a KFC.


We head east along "Manufacturing Mile" and back to the train station. We are needed back in Georgetown...
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art128

That's a really neat looking town. Always love how green what you build is.
I'll take a quiet life... A handshake of carbon monoxide.

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