Looking Back

I've been looking back at photos taken last year and realised that there are quite a few places that I took photos of whilst on my travels that I haven't shared with you so I though that whilst I'm not going out very far I would look back on some of these places.  But first, before we step back in time,  I'd like to say thank you to all of you who stopped by and left such lovely and thoughtful comments on my last post, normally I try to reply to each one but I find sitting at the computer for too long is still a bit uncomfortable but getting better every day, so I hope you'll forgive me for not replying this time.

In June last year we visited the childhood home of the Romantic poet William Wordsworth.  It was a stop off point on our way back from Scotland.  It is a lovely Georgian House which is easily found on the main street in Cockermouth in Cumbria.  There were road works all the way up the main street which were to do with the installation of flood defences after the town was seriously flooded in November 2009.

William Wordsworth  his sister Dorothy and their three other siblings Richard, John and Christopher  spent their early years in this house.  It was a house of great happiness and of great sorrow too.

In 1765 William's father John Wordsworth who was a lawyer moved into this house as tied, rent free accommodation because of his job as land agent to local landowner Sir James Lowther.  In 1766 he married Anne Cookson, daughter of a wealthy draper of nearby Penrith and the couple lived there in contentment until 1778 when Anne died followed by John in 1783.  The children had now lost both their parents

The children had to leave their happy, childhood home to live with relatives.  William and Richard were sent to boarding school and Dorothy to live with relatives in Halifax.  It would be nine years before William and Dorothy met again.

The garden was a small town garden full of beautiful flowers and vegetables. 

The house itself is delightful inside and even after such tragic events doesn't feel sad at all.

Below are more photos

I loved this blue cupboard I found in one of the bedrooms and could quite happily live with it here at home

Did you know that the scarecrow above, known as Fletch the perchcrow has his own blog?  Here is a - link

I've really enjoyed visiting Wordsworth House again

I hope you have enjoyed looking back with me

Lately......

I've been feeling low and rather fragile.  I'm putting it down to the January blues.  They were bound to hit some time or other.  

 

I've also done something to my back which isn't helping things.  My fault for helping to move a piece of rather heavy furniture.

The garden, like the weather, is looking grey and gloomy although there are some little, precious shoots appearing here and there - precursors of the season just around the corner.

I haven't been feeling very much like writing anything on here or elsewhere for that matter but I have been reading your blogs and commenting on your posts where I can.  I have been reading a lot immersing myself in the novels of Mapp and Lucia by E F Benson and in contrast the Roger the Chapman Medieval mystery novels, set in the 15th century, by Kate Sedley.  I have been watching a little television and have been enjoying the return of Spiral on Saturdays, Foyle's War on Sundays plus Broadchurch, Last Tango in Halifax and Silent Witness.  

The photos on here bear no relation to the words, they are just photos I've taken recently.  We went for a walk along the Monsal Trail on Friday (which I needed to do for the exercise but it did aggravate my back) and a short walk around Trentham lake this morning - the days in between I haven't left the house. 

I'll still be around but not as much as usual.  Take care everyone.

Five on Friday

It's time for my week of 'Five on Friday' and this time I've chosen garden birds as a topic.  Towards the end of this month we will be participating, as we have done for several years now,  in the RSPB's Big Garden Bird Watch. 

 We feed the birds all year and as we have hedges on two sides of the garden we have lots of sparrows - consequently we also have visits from their grim reaper aka the Sparrowhawk.  We have regular visits from blackbirds, great tits, robins, blue tits, coal tits, goldfinch, chaffinch and the occasional green finch and wren. Also in the colder weather we have visits every morning from a pair of thrushes who wait for their breakfast around 9a.m. and come looking for it close to the conservatory if we are late serving them.

At this time of year we sometimes top up the feeders in the afternoon as the sunflower hearts and suet nibbles are especially popular and can quickly disappear when the starlings descend as they often do.  Wood pigeons and magpies  are also regular visitors and of course we often find squirrels on the feeders too.

 Here are photos of five of the most regular visitors to our garden.

Song Thrush

Sparrow

 Blue tit

 

Robin

Blackbird

Below is a collage of five more photos of other visitors including more Sparrows, a Wren, a Bullfinch, a Goldfinch and a Starling. 

I am joining in Five on Friday, taking five minutes from our day to enjoy five things.  Please go and visit the other people who are also blogging about Five on Friday this week.

Amy from Love Made My Home
Helen from Woollybluebells

Gina from Fan My Flame

Joanne from A Whole Plot of Love 

Debbie from Saylor Street Cottage 

Lil from House With Hearts

Frosty Morning Walk

We had a lovely walk around the lake at Trentham this morning.  It was very cold, slightly slippy and crisp underfoot.  The winter sun was blazing behind the trees and everything looked stunning in the frosty, morning light.

 The lake was almost all frozen over.  The birds were all together in the still watery bits around the edges.  Below are some more of the photos I took.

 The willow snowdrops are new in the garden

You can see the area that is roped off at the moment as this part of the garden is being restored to how it was when it was first designed by Lancelot 'Capability' Brown (1716 - 1783).  This is in preparation for the 300th Anniversary of his birth in 2016.  Capability Brown worked on the landscape at Trentham between 1759 and 1780.  We are hoping to join a tour later in the year which will explain more about what is planned so I'll write more about it then.

We stopped for a break at the far end of the lake and had a steaming hot chocolate at the Lakeside cafe.  It came in handy for warming my fingers which had got very cold on the way round as I kept taking off my gloves to take photos.  

This young heron was just sitting at the side of the lake and didn't seem to mind all the people taking photos of him or her.  I love the way he was using one leg.  I always think herons look quite prehistoric in their strangeness.

Robins always seem happy to pose for a photo too

A new tree sculpture called Diving Otters

Lastly, not a willow snowdrop but a real one - I don't think I've ever seen them in December before.  I actually took this photo at Trentham on Christmas Eve a couple of days before the snow came down and the frosts set in.   I didn't see it today!  Maybe it was still there under the snow.  We can hope it is.

All my very best wishes for a Happy New Year.

A Seasonal 'must do'.....

Our favourite 'must do' for this time of year is a visit to Little Moreton Hall in Cheshire.  It's less than 30 minutes away and it always 'kick- starts' our Christmas Celebrations.  We love the way it is decorated, the wonderful events taking place in and around the hall and the wonderful music from Piva.   Here are a few of the photos I took today.

The Hall is always such a delight at any time of year and as you know from previous posts we visit often.  You may remember my post from earlier this year about the mid-summer celebrations.

We wandered around the outside first

Watched the jolly japes of the jester

The interior was as always beautifully decorated

The tables groaning with seasonal Tudor food - not real, of course

 Highlight for us is always the performance of festive songs by Piva

I hope this little resident spotted in the main bedroom was able to escape - I think he'd found his way in through the glassless window in the nearby garderobe.

He's suitably festive with his little red/orange breast. 

Have a lovely weekend everyone.