Monday, August 13, 2012

To the Lighthouse

Saturday found us driving towards Lincolnshire to pick up a dear friend and take her to a place she had always wanted to visit.  It was somewhere we wanted to visit too.  The A50 took us through Derbyshire into Nottinghamshire where from Kegworth we travelled into Leicestershire through Melton Mowbray and out towards Spalding.  After we had collected our friend we travelled into the village of Gedney, where we had lunch at the Chestnuts farm shop and then out towards the Wash, through Long Sutton and over the bridge at Sutton Bridge.


We turned left and followed the narrow road down the east side of the River Nene until we came to the place we were aiming for, we came to the lighthouse!


Not just any lighthouse for this one is special as it was the home of the famous artist and naturalist Sir Peter Scott.


The lighthouse is now owned by Doug and Sue Hilton of the Snowgoose Wildlife Trust.  They  bought the property about two years ago and open it up to visitors at weekends in August.  This is the second year of the openings and this time visitors are allowed to go up to the lantern room at the top.


At this point I'll admit that the photos above and below aren't mine as I didn't dare scale the narrow ladders to get up there.  

The view from the top was amazing as you can see from the photo below which shows the first stretch of the Sir Peter Scott Walk and which I'll mention again later.

Paul ventured up to the top whilst I stayed downstairs with Marcia.  The owners came to talk to her as they were fascinated to hear her memories of the area and the fact that her elder brother had, many years ago, done some work at the lighthouse during Sir Peter Scott's time there.  We had e-mailed in advance of our visit as our friend is now 87 and quite frail and needs help walking.  We were allowed to drive right up to the building and we were welcomed in such a friendly, attentive way.


Later on whilst we were inside the lighthouse we were privileged to be invited to go through the barrier into the studio with its huge windows overlooking the river on one side and the pools on the other where many geese and other wildfowl were gathered.  This is where Peter Scott used to work.   The downstairs rooms consisted of studio, a dining room, small private kitchen and a bedroom.  On the next floor is the original living room before the studio was built.  Up above that was the original bedroom and right at the top is the lantern room.


I took the photo above from the studio window.  It shows two people on the Sir Peter Scott Walk which starts at the car park near the lighthouse and goes along the sea banks all the way to the River Great Ouse ferry which you can use to cross the river to the town of Kings Lynn.  There is, we were told, by one of the other visitors to the lighthouse, a halfway point at Ongar Hill but you have to be wary of the tides.  Here is a - link - to the walk details.

Down in the basement is where 'Samphire Charlie' lived with his little dog.  He was there when Peter Scott first came to the lighthouse in 1933 and he made his living gathering the samphire which grows on the shores of the wash from June to September.  Later the basement was used by Mackenzie Thorpe, a notorious wildfowler, whose paintings can be seen on the mantle piece in the photo above.  Whilst we were visiting at least two lots of people had come to talk to the owners about their memories of the rogue 'Kenzie' also known as the 'wild goose man.'

Above is the bell on the outside of the basement door.  Was it used to summon 'Samphire Charlie' or Kenzie Thorpe, I wonder?  On the opposite west bank of the Nene is an almost, but not quite, mirror image of the east bank lighthouse.  This one is in private hands.


The owners and the Trust are gradually restoring the lighthouse and the area around it and hope to build a visitor centre and museum nearby.  Here is a - link - to an article from the local newspaper which explains all about their mission.  They want to interpret the area and the life and work of  wildfowler turned conservationist Sir Peter Scott which will also include sections on the people of influence in his life including his famous father, Robert Falcon Scott the antarctic explorer and his mother the sculptor Kathleen Bruce  .  His friend Paul Gallico who wrote the novel 'The Snow Goose'  his first wife novelist Elizabeth Jane Howard and his second wife Phillipa Talbot-Ponsonby and, of course, Kenzie the  'Wild Goose Man'.

We had a lovely afternoon at the lighthouse, the weather was, again, perfect and the smile that lit up our friend's face made the long journey there and back worthwhile.

34 comments:

  1. How wonderful, I've never been to that part of the country but it looks like my cup of tea! So good that your friend enjoyed the trip. x

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    1. It was a very restful place to visit and the walk looks interesting, I'm sure you would enjoy it:)

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  2. What a smashing post and so lively that it makes me want to visit..it would not take long from where I live, well a couple of hours, but from your description, well worth going... Loved the pictures too.. Thanks for sharing.. J

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    1. There are two more weekend left of opening for this year and it is worth a visit. I'd like to go back again and do some of the walk:)

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  3. That was a bit of a drive! And you should have waved on the way past (I can see the A50 from my house - just!) Technically you're in Leicestershire before you get to Kegworth you know. The border is the River Trent (which I can also see from my house).
    I'm a bit anal about the boundaries because I love to tell people I can reach three counties on foot. :)

    Looks like a lovely place to visit. I'm descended from Fen men and those wide open skies give me goosebumps!

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    1. Ah, I hadn't noticed that we'd crossed into Leicestershire before the end of the A50. I love that drive through Wymeswold (I have an ancestor from there) and you certainly keep crossing borders between Nottinghamshire and Leucestershire as you drive along towards Melton. Same when we visit Nottingham we go along the A50 as far as the turn for Long Eaton and dip in and out of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire along there:)

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    2. That roundabout (the turn for Long Eaton) is in Leicestershire. You actually do three counties along that road! I shall be driving round that roundabout tonight because it's my turning for home. (opposite direction though)

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    3. Ah, thanks, I will look for the county signs next time we go along the Sawley, Long Eaton road. I ought to know when I'm in Leicestershire as it is the county I was born in. I like it when we go up to Bridgemere and go from Staffordshire, into Shropshire and then Cheshire on one road in just a couple of miles:)

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  4. A lovely post. How wonderful to live in an old windmill - the stories it could tell if only the walls could talk!
    June

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    1. Yes, I bet there would be some interesting stories, I'll be interested to go back and find out more when the museum is opened:)

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  5. Love lighthouses! What a beauty, how lucky you were to see the living quarters. I'd never heard of Sir Peter Scott so I had to go have a look at some of his paintings, and they were wonderful.

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    1. Janet it is a lovely lighthouse. Glad you liked Peter Scott's paintings:)

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  6. What a stunning place - Ive never heard of it, but Ive put it on my "list". When you are 87, I will come and take you out for the day. xxxxxx

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    1. Our 'lists' are gowing longer all the time! Bless you - there may still be somewhere left on those lists to explore!:)xxxxxx

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  7. What I like about this post is how much joy you got from taking your friend to the lighthouse. I am sure it will be a very happy memory for both of you. x

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    1. We printed out the photos we took and sent them to our friend and she rang today to say she was delighted with them and still can't believe she was there:)

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  8. What a wonderful place to visit - I love the Fen country.How lovely to have the opportunity to go behind the scenes - I hope your friend enjoyed her day. I see that you have several Jacqueline Winspear books on your sidebar, I'm anxiously waiting for the latest one to come out in paperback!

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    1. I picked up 'The Mapping of Love and Death' in The Works and thoroughly enjoyed it. I got the next one from the library then decided to go backwards and start at the beginning. I've looked at the writer's blog and website and the latest book looks interesting:)

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  9. Hi Rosie,

    What a fascinating place to visit. The view from the top would be worth the climb. I've always thought that lighthouses are such interesting buildings and have so much historical interest. We recently met someone who is a lighthouse-keeper's daughter.. I think that she must have lots of tales to tell, as such jobs no longer exist in the modern day.

    Thank you so much for visiting and welcoming me to my new place. It was a wrench leaving the old spot, but I felt that it was time for pastures new.

    Marie x

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    1. I wish I'd have been able to go to the top but there were some young boys clambering up and down the ladders doing a quiz and I didn't want to spoil their fun as it would have taken me some time to negotiate them - I got up to one level then decided I'd reached my limit:)

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  10. What a wonderful place and how fortunate that you could go visit! It must have been so much fun to see. I would have wanted to move in. The idea of a lighthouse fascinates me as I am very much a hermit and would love the loneliness of it.

    Hugs from Holland ~
    Heidi

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    1. You would, I'm sure, love the solitude out there looking out towards the sea banks. It is a wonderfully bleak and atmospheric place:)

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    2. *sigh* .... when can I move in??? :-)

      Hugs,
      Heidi

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  11. I have never been inside a lighthouse and this one looks particularly interesting - glad you enjoyed your trip

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    1. The only other lighthouse I have been in was when I was a small child and we visited Portland Bill in Dorset - I vaguely remember the large windows and lots of steps:)

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  12. Hi Rosie,

    I just found your blog, and this is a lovely post.

    We used to live near Slimbridge, another of Peter Scott's wildfowl sanctuaries, and I loved going there. I'm sure I'd love the Lighthouse just as much. Probably more so.. it looks like it has retained more of its history, and peaceful ambience.

    Jessica

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    1. Welcome, Jessica - it is a very peaceful place I remember visiting Slimbridge many years ago. The reserve we vistied most when we lived in South Linconshire was at Welney:)

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    1. Thanks, Ruth, glad you enjoyed travelling with us:)

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  14. yet another tour to thrill. Loved all the photos and also the boat bell - sweet. We haven't been visiting because we have been away and then encumbered with extra work that going on holiday entails. Lovely to be back. Love Helen, Darcy and Bingley xxx

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    1. Well I'm sure you will all have had a wonderful holiday and Darcy and Bingley - I'm sure you won't have had too much work to do now you are home again. Thank you for visiting:)

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  15. I don't believe these photos, Rosie; they must be Photoshop... right?

    :)
    (Speechless)

    Thank you. Also: We don't hear these beautiful sounds in America: [I went to 'Lincolnshire' to pick up a dear friend and take her ....through 'Derbyshire' into 'Nottinghamshire' where from 'Kegworth' we travelled into 'Leicestershire' through 'Melton Mowbray' and out towards 'Spalding'].

    Have a great day, T.

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    1. Hi Tony, Thanks, glad you like the photos and the sound of the English place names. I don't have photoshop on my computer I just save in Picasa and crop and straigten etc in there. The three photos I borrowed from my husband (of the upper levels as I didn't dare go up the ladders) may have been prepared in photoshop as he knows how to use it but I think they are pretty much as taken. Take care, Rosie

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