The word 'estate' suffers bad press. In the urban environment there's a whole bunch of assumptions that folks who don't live on estates carry around. Folks who do live on estates carry a few too - but there's nothing like living in a place to get a clearer view. In the country the word 'estate' brings another set of notions - beauty, nature, harmony and National Trust Gift Shops.
Both uses carry the sense of estate as relating to an area, a territory in which 'this is how things are'. When I'm cycling home and I get to the river I always feel a sense of relief as I pedal into South London. And I get the same feeling when I arrive on The Estate.
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