AN idyllic view of a long-forgotten lane in the village of Whittington, on the edge of Worcester, could fetch up to £10,000 in a London auction.

Painted in oils by Victorian artist Benjamin Williams Leader, who lived at Whittington Lodge for 28 years, the picture shows Gypsy Lane, a tree-lined path leading towards Walkers Lane, just beyond the horizon.

Gypsy Lane has disappeared from the map of Whittington - according to art historian Ruth Wood, it was carved in two by the M5 and is now a treeless, overgrown cul-de-sac.

Thought to have been painted in the early 1860s, the picture has soared in value over the past 30 years.

In 1975, it was sold at Sotheby's, London, for just £300.

Its present owner bought it at Christie's in 1985, for £1,700 and it is expected to sell for between £7,000 and £10,000 in a Victorian Pictures sale on Tuesday, November 23.

Gypsy Lane is one of five Leader paintings tipped to fetch a total of £74,000 at the Christie's auction.

Most valuable of these is A Worcestershire Farm, which is expected to fetch up to £20,000.

The scene is thought to be a composite landscape, inspired by the many views Leader painted of the River Severn at Kempsey.

In this view, the familiar village and church have been replaced by farm outbuildings.

Leader, who lived from 1831 to 1923, painted scenes of his home county of Worcestershire throughout his career, even after he moved to Surrey in 1889.

The Christie's sale catalogue suggests it is not unusual to find unidentified landscapes in his work.

Pinpointing the exact location is considered less important than understanding the artist's primary concern - to express the changes wrought by weather and season.