Where is this?

[Brucey]

I think they are white painted stones too. The shapes do look like chunks of eroded limestone though, so limestone country narrows it down a bit?

At one time few establishments worth their salt didn't have their own collection of white-painted stones outside; whitewashing the stones was the kind of (semi-pointless) task that national servicemen were set to do, so nearly every military base entrance was so decorated, and the custom clearly passed into civilian life too.

The white paint made for better visibility at night, after all this was the age of gloworm headlights, no reversing lights and no reflexite etc.

cheers

[PDQ Mobile]

Had a good look and as pointed out there's nothing at all in hedge bottoms in the landscape behind. So limestone blocks then.

Very freshly painted and very white.
I have seen sparsely placed rocks used for such a purpose but never such a "wall".
The shapes are strange and angular.
It makes it rather unique?

[geocycle]

Is it the remnants of ploughed snow at the roadside?
Would suggest higher up. An inn on a pass?

I thought it was limestone edging the road which would suggest the dales?

Yes agreed definitely limestone blocks, is that a cliff in the background? The Singing Kettle might be thought to have been a witty name for a cafe in Kettlewell at that time???

[pwa]

Still wondering if MickF's suggestion of Lloc in N Wales might be right.

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/---s0bYrLJm8/ ... 5%2529.jpg

The area is one of gentle hills. Kind of fits the bill if the folk in the pic just got on a train for a long weekend away.

[philvantwo]

Mick F might be right........maybe he was born round there?

[pedalsheep]

No idea of the location I’m afraid but is there maybe an archived ‘recommended cafes’ CTC guidebook from the right era?

I've just had a look at the CTC handbook for 1936 but there is no Singing Kettle listed in Yorkshire. Of course it is not necessarily a CTC recommended establishment.

[geocycle]

There is a Singing Kettle in Settle, near the Naked Man but that's right in the middle of town and doesn't fit with the picture location.

Maybe ask in the Dalesman?

[pwa]

There is a Singing Kettle in Settle, near the Naked Man but that's right in the middle of town and doesn't fit with the picture location.

Maybe ask in the Dalesman?

If it was in the Dales you might expect to see dry stone walls. But there isn't a hint of that. Just fence and hedge.

[Mick F]

Mick F might be right........maybe he was born round there?

Not very far.
I was born in Rossett just inside the Welsh border at a nursing home that's no longer there. We lived in a little cottage up in the hills above Wrexham in tiny village called Gwynfryn.

Rossett to Lloc is 25miles ish.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/Rosse ... 284018!3e0
Until I Googled Singing Kettle, I'd never heard of Lloc.

[Paulatic]

Spoke to my uncle John yesterday. He had no memory of a singing kettle so that would suggest it is outwith the North East.
I think Mick could right especially if you look at other photos of that place the stones around Borders are very similar.

[Brucey]

thinking about it, there are not that many parts of the country where you are liable to find a stand of trees on top of a ridge like that. I think the OPs comment about the skyline may be about right, and maybe it'll be recognised that way.

A thought occurs to me that the white painted rocks may in fact be lumps of chalk, and we may be on a trip away, in chalk country perhaps. Beech trees would grow on the tops like that; does that make sense? Mind you they look more like scots pines in their shape.

cheers

[pwa]

That photo was taken a long time back and tree height and distribution can change quite a lot over just a decade. It would not surprise me if standing there today there might be tall trees closer up, obscuring the trees in the distance. All it takes is for a farmer to cease regular hedge cutting.

[mercalia]

That photo was taken a long time back and tree height and distribution can change quite a lot over just a decade. It would not surprise me if standing there today there might be tall trees closer up, obscuring the trees in the distance. All it takes is for a farmer to cease regular hedge cutting.

yes and become a built up area? The originnal picture, the place was knocked down and a Mcdonalds there and a petrol station I think. I can remember places where I was brought up that were open fields now covered with houses & thats just 40 years

[pwa]

If it were Lloc and the building is now replaced by McD's, you can't get Streetview in the right spot. But there are a couple of roads the cafe could have fronted onto (probably on a junction) so it could have had a garden / car park looking through where these houses now are (but prior to their construction) across to the hills behind. The trees in the photo looked like they were what was left after some felling, suggesting an area of plantation that could since have been replanted. There is a lot of that in this area.

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.273502, ... 6?hl=en-GB

[philsknees]

I think we may be heading off at a tangent here. The OP's original posting stated that the square sign mounted below the Singing Kettle sign was a United bus stop sign (though this isn't clear on my screen even at 5X magnification - perhaps the original print has better definition?).
Research here https://www.flickr.com/groups/unitedaut ... services_/ suggests that United operated mainly out of Newcastle with a secondary depot in Carlisle. East of the Pennines their bus routes covered Northumberland, Tyneside & Yorkshire reaching as far south as Filey but apparently services to the west of the Pennines didn't reach very far south. Hopefully that narrows the search area.
On that basis I think North Wales is unlikely to be the location and I fear all research on the Singing Kettle at Lloc may be wasted.
I'm no expert but the other larger sign on the post does seem familiar as a possible RAC sign of the period which suggests to me that the premises are more likely to have been a pub/hotel rather than a cafe though some hours of research have failed to turn up an establishment of that name and nature that may once have existed in the area broadly identified above. If anyone has access to old RAC motoring guides (or CTC manuals?) from the period they may be in a position to identify the spot.