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Outlook: England's secret cowboy town

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A wooden shopfront in Laredo western town. Signs read 'saddle tack and supply store' and 'harness maker'

19/04/2022 GMT

England's secret cowboy town

BBC World Service - Outlook, England's secret cowboy town

The town of Laredo is filled with cowboys and saloons in the style of the Wild West

The town of Laredo is filled with cowboys and saloons in the style of the Wild West, and it's lived in part-time by history lovers.

Laredo is a functioning Wild West town built in southern England, lived in part-time by a dedicated community. At the weekends, residents adopt full period dress, and leave the 21st century behind. It's been around for decades, but recently a devastating fire threatened to destroy Laredo for good. 

In the 1960s Tomi Fujiyama made her name singing American country music - a very rare thing for a young Japanese woman to do. She even realised the dream of country singers all over the world when, in 1964, she played alongside Johnny Cash at the famous Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. But instead of her career going from strength to strength, Tomi's success was not recognised in Japan and she ended up giving up music. But many years later she took up her guitar again and set out to realise her dream of playing the Opry one more time.

Presenter: Emily Webb

(Photo: Laredo in Kent, England. Credit: BBC)

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