First garden city where ghosts include Orwell, Shaw, nudists and quacks

Letchworth, a small town half an hour's train ride in the rolling hills north of London, is famous for being, it claims, the world's first garden city. It is proud to promote itself as it did a century ago when it was founded and particularly now that Whitehall says it is considering whether England should build some more like it. It has fascinated many, including George Bernard Shaw and George Orwell.

Orwell, who lived nearby, said the town attracted “every fruit juice drinker, nudist, sandal wearer, sex-maniac, Quaker, nature cure quack, pacifist and feminist in England”.

Yet from Orwell’s words and their occasional verbal pyrotechnics and from opinion among townspeople who, a shade primly, like it to be known as Letchworth Garden City, one can surely deduce that they loved and respected each other and still do. The town too was a magnet to Shaw, the notable socialist author born in Dublin in 1856 and who was drawn to the town by its pacifism. Though he had reservations about England – he announced mischievously: “Englishmen never will be slaves – they are free to do whatever the government and public opinion allow them to do” – Shaw chose to live in the nearby village of Ayot St Lawrence and died there in 1950.

Foundation garments
Orwell and Shaw still haunt Letchworth, its citizens say. The town is dominated by historic monuments and one massive century-old factory. There for decades the Spirella company employed thousands and used stout laces to produce foundation garments. Workers rallied to the cry of "Pull yourselves together, girls".

The largest employer in the town, it fell victim to an industrial prolapse after the second World War when the US parent company went out of business. It had been known as Castle Corset.

Was Orwell fair about this North Hertfordshire settlement of some 33,000 souls ?

You could just as well argue that, far from being exposed to unfair ridicule, the place bestrides English history with aplomb. Letchworth was in the Domesday Book of 1086, wasn't it? The name in that volume was Leceworde which the district council renders today as "the farm by the fence". (The council cannily leaves the ambiguous meaning of "fence" unclear. Did the handful of residents have so many cattle that they had to erect a lot of fences? Or was the trading in stolen goods from the surrounding hamlets so blatant that there was no alternative to the Norman inspectors mentioning the population's criminal propensities for stolen goods? )

Early roundabout
Letchworth contains the site at Sollershott, one of Europe's first roundabouts in the early 20th century, does it not? And didn't Letchworth bestride more than English and European history. Wasn't the town created in the 1900s by Ebenezer Howard, who lived in an architect-designed thatched house, built towns with one arm and invented silent typewriters with the other? Wasn't it a model for Canberra, the Australian capital?

Last year Chengdo – population 14 million and the capital of the Chinese province of Sechuan – agreed a suburb of 2 million should be planned on Letchworthian lines, green belt and all.

Letchworth, whose authorities remain the town’s principal landlords, still puts its citizens first, financing medical services at the day hospital for all inhabitants supplementary to those of the NHS: a centre for healthy living offers yoga and tai-chi and promotes vegetarian food.

The 36-page monthly LALG of the Letchworth Arts and Leisure Group produces details of many civic activities. The publication sprang from a book shop, David's, which publishes David's Book of Letchworth, an arresting history and guide.

David Walker, a well-reputed journalist, co-authored the book and chairs the Letchworth Arts Centre. LALG chronicles gatherings including study groups on French, Welsh, Latin, German, Dutch, Russian, Japanese, Italian and Spanish. There are groups for Wild Walks, Midweek Ambles and Rambles, Strolling Not Walking, Slower Walkers ("woodland paths... fairly flat with no stiles and one gentle incline...").

Strict temperance
There is a Malt Whisky Appreciation Group and Wine Appreciation Circle though the town grew to fame with The Skittles Inn. (Under the influence of those drunk on the ideals of strict temperance the town's first hostelry went from 1907 to 1925 as the Pub with No Beer.)

The Fox is the perfect English pub and restaurant and is popular. GBS and Orwell would surely have approved. In the town’s tolerant, caring atmosphere, no one is obliged to wear sandals, be a pacifist or go naked.