Corners of my Mind

Photo Scavenger Hunt - January 2012

2012-01-29T16:15:00.005Z

Well, it's time for a Photo Scavenger Hunt post again. As always a big thank you to Kathy at Postcards from the P.P. for continuing to inspire us and get us thinking and snapping each month! Here are my efforts for January!

Two shadows across the defensive ditch at Castle Ring Iron Age Hill Fort, Canock Chase, Staffordshire

Blur

A hang glider over Thorpe Cloud, Ilam, Staffordshire

Company

A group of cyclists keeping each other company along the Monsal Trail. Photo taken just at the exit of the Headstone Tunnel. Yes, we finally got to walk through the tunnels last Sunday - it was a good way of getting out of the very strong wind!

Entrance.....

......to the Manifold tea-room, Ilam Country Park, Staffordshire. Inside lots of people in warm hats and boots chatting and eating scones!

In your bathroom

Just one little corner!

In Season

Seville Oranges for making marmalade

In the Distance

Rugeley Power Station beyond Cannock Forest taken from Castle Ring Iron Age Hill Fort on Cannock Chase

Information

Information Board in the exhibition area at Ilam Country Park, Staffordshire.

Mess

After baking a cake!

Odd
Not odd weird but odd unusual! A white fallow deer at Dunham Massey, Cheshire where we went yesterday to see the winter garden - I'll do a post about that later next week.

Soft
The squirrel's fluffy tail looks soft as does the distinctive white fur behind his ears!

Warning
Of the danger of soft mud at Tittesworth Reservoir, near Leek, Staffordshire. I don't think the duck is too worried about it!

Here is a - link - to more of this month's entries!

Big Garden Bird Watch and Versatility

2012-01-25T09:49:00.004Z

This coming weekend I will be participating in the RSPB's Big Garden Bird Watch. All you have to do is record the birds you see in one hour over the two days! (full details here) I've done this for a number of years now even though we didn't join the RSPB until a couple of years ago. We have lots of birds visit our garden and I have three areas where I feed them.

We have loads of sparrows! They have done so well here over the last couple of years. I think it's because we have hedges and shrubs on two sides of the garden. They particularly like the holly hedge at the top of the garden where they wait to be fed each morning sometimes flying across the garden and into the hedge as I walk towards it just as if they are vying to be first in the queue. The hedge is a good refuge from the sparrowhawk that occasionally flies across the garden and sometimes lands.

We have a few blackbirds too. One of the males is quite aggressive and chases the other birds away from the food!

The little robin sings every morning before I put out his meal worms. He is always first in line for these although he sometimes loses out to a couple of magpies who drop by to see what is available on the food table. I can hear him now, through the open bedroom window, singing as I type this post.

We are so pleased to have the song thrush back! We had three the year before last and they did an excellent job of clearing the slugs and snails in the garden. In the middle of last year there was just one and then it disappeared but it came back and it is still here - I haven't seen it for a while but my neighbours have.

This week I was very honoured to receive this blog award from Elaine at A Woman of the Soil. Do go and visit Elaine's lovely blog and whilst you are there you can also visit some of the other blogs she has given this award to. Some of them are bloggy friends of old whose blogs I know and love, whilst others are new to me. Thank you so much for thinking of me, Elaine! I have quite a few things to do in order to receive it so I will have to give this some thought next week as this week I'm still trying to get my photos together for January's Photo Scavenger Hunt. I have 10 of them and I'm still looking for the last two. Perhaps I'll get some inspiration for them this weekend.

White Winter Walk

2012-01-17T12:04:00.000Z

On Sunday we walked at one of my absolute favourite places!

We parked at the Blore Pastures car park and set out through Blore Woods and over the fields towards the village of Ilam. The ground was hard underfoot and quite slippy as we headed towards the entrance to the parkland.

You can see Thorpe Cloud and Bunster Hill in the distance. I have to say although it was bitterly cold it was also truly magical!

The sheep were gathered around their food looking cold even though they have such warm, woolly coats.

Once inside the parkland we walked along by the river towards the bridge

Where there was a wonderful view of Ilam Hall Youth Hostel

We carried on along the river and climbed up the steps to the top of the walk and down the other side before crossing the river by the smaller bridge.

By this time my fingers and toes were tingling with cold so we stopped for coffee and scones at the Manifold tea-rooms which were very busy!

No, we didn't sit outside! Everyone was inside sharing tables with each other and chatting away about the weather, the walking and the beauty of the day.

Of course I had to take yet another photo of - my favourite view. You'll notice that by the time we'd eaten our scones and looked inside the National Trust shop the sun was out and the frost was disappearing.

We'd been out for nearly three hours and it only seemed like one! It was time to head back over the fields towards the car and home.

On Farewell Lane

2012-01-14T16:24:00.009Z

What on earth, you may ask yourself, was I doing on a cold Saturday morning in January walking along Farewell Lane......

...taking photos of what appears to be a traffic island on a triangular junction?

Well, I'll tell you! This is no ordinary traffic island but according to the Guinness Book of Records, the smallest park in Britain!

Prince's Park was placed here, in the village of Burntwood in Staffordshire, in 1863 to commemorate the marriage between Albert Edward, Prince of Wales and Princess Alexandra of Denmark.

It is sited opposite the red brick church of Christchurch which was built in 1819 and consecrated in 1820 as a chapel of worship for the people of Burntwood who found it difficult to travel the four miles to their nearest parish church in Lichfield.

The three trees in the little park, which I crossed in about ten or twelve strides, were planted at the time of the commemoration and are named Faith, Hope and Charity.

The park is maintained by Lichfield District Council and has a bench where, according to their website, you can sit for a while in tranquil surroundings. I have to say that it wasn't very tranquil whilst we were there as the traffic around the junction was pretty heavy at times but the trees and bench are well maintained and the little park absolutely litter free.

Now I'm wondering which is Britain's largest municipal park? Anyone know?

On Looking for Green in the Garden

2012-01-11T13:58:00.002Z

I found.......

Hebe (not sure which type)

Euonymous fortunei 'Emerald Surprise'

Pieris

Juniper, sadly no berries this year

and Wallflowers

Silver, gold and a few good books

2012-01-11T13:08:00.001Z

Evening skies earlier this week.......

saying farewell to the golden sun

then welcome to the silver moon

A Quick Book Review

I just wanted to mention three books I read towards the end of last year. Written by Miss Anna Dean they feature amateur 'solver of puzzles and myseries' Miss Dido Kent. Set in the very early 19th century in 1805/6 and half written in the form of letters to her twin sister Eliza as Dido writes down all her thoughts, suspicions and conclusions on what ever is going through her mind as she searches for the root of the problem. When I picked the books up in 'The Works' I took a risk buying them, even thought they were only 3 for £5, but I'm so glad I did. If you enjoy Jane Austen, Georgette Heyer or Agatha Christie's Miss Marple then I'm sure you will enjoy the enquiries and investigations of Miss Dido Kent.

Blowing the Cobwebs Away

2012-01-03T11:16:00.002Z

After visiting Ashbourne on Wednesday (see my last post) we spent Thursday at home with friends who had come over from Nottingham to visit. We had a lovely day chatting, eating, catching up on news and exchanging presents. On Friday we drove out to Bridgemere Garden World as I had some vouchers that needed to be used before the end of the month and a broken bird feeder tray to replace - I think the winter- plump squirrels must have been too heavy for it! Saturday we had a stroll around the lake at Trentham and Sunday was spent mostly indoors as the weather was awful but not, I have to say, as bad as it is this morning when knocking at the front door woke us at 6a.m. - nothing to do with visitors but the Christmas spray on the door, which was fastened to the door knocker, being tossed around in the wind.

In complete contrast to today, the weather yesterday morning was cold and sunny. We set out to take a walk at Tittesworth Reservoir just beyond Leek.

The snow on the hills looked just like an over-generous dusting of icing sugar on top of a cake. This just made me smile as I made a lemon sponge on Wednesday evening, ready for Thursday's visitors and I dusted over a little too much icing sugar but I didn't, unlike Kirsty Allsop on Kirsty's Homemade Christmas, blow the excess off as she did from her chocolate log just before the judges had to taste it!!

In the distance the rocky outcrop of The Roaches glistened in the low, bright winter sun.

It was firm and crisp underfoot

and it was cold enough to wear the hat again!

I thought that the water levels at Tittesworth were much higher than those we'd seen at Carsington last week.

As we were heading towards the car park there was a great cacophony of sound as dozens of geese flew over with a honking, swirling, flourish some landing on the water and some on its grassy bank. This one was watching us closely to see if we might have anything to offer in the way of sustenance. Sorry goosey!

Hope everyone had a super New Year's weekend.

Brrr.... it was cold!

2011-12-30T16:36:00.004Z

Wednesday morning in Ashbourne was very cold! We had a walk around the town before stopping for coffee and toasted teacakes at Spencer's bakery and tea shop.

I love looking in all the little shops in the Market Place. I know I've written several posts about Ashbourne over the years so I hope you don't mind me repeating myself just a little.

Most of the shops in the town were open except the Art Gallery we usually visit for our morning coffee but Spencer's was very good and very busy.

After browsing around some of the bookshops.........

..... we went into the shop below and I treated myself to a new winter hat. I have to say that hats and I don't get on very well and I always think I look ridiculous in a hat ............

....but I was so glad I'd bought it because as soon as we arrived at Carsington Water I put it on!

The wind was so strong we could hardly stand and taking photos was almost impossible. The water in the reservoirs was very low for this time of year!

I loved the red of the berries against the soft grey stone wall, such a contrast to the dark glowering sky.

With all my best wishes for a Happy New Year - see you in 2012!

Edited 31st December 2011 - especially for Anne at 'MorningAJ' - here is the hat!

Photo Scavenger Hunt - December 2011

2011-12-28T21:11:00.005Z

A Christmas Alphabet
A - D

Angel, Berries, Cards, Dickens

E - H

Envelopes, Father Christmas, Gingerbread Men, Holly

I - L

Ivy, Joyful Music, Kings (carols from), Lights

M - P

Mistletoe, Nativity, Oranges, Poinsettia

Q - T

Quality Street, Reindeer, Stocking, Tree

U - X

Unwrapped presents, Vegetarian Christmas, Wreath, Xmas Reading

Y and Z

Yule Log, ZZZ....wake me up when it's over!

Thanks as always to Kathy at Postcards from the P.P. for coming up with the monthly challenges. Here is a link to some of the other participating blogs. Haven't we all had great fun this year? Most of my photos were taken around home except two or three taken at Little Moreton Hall and a few at a local garden centre which is where I met Dancer or is it Prancer? I cheated and used a photo I took in Cambridge a couple of years ago for 'Carols from Kings'.

Yesterday's Walk

2011-12-27T10:38:00.001Z

We hadn't been out of the house since Christmas Eve morning when we walked around the lake at Trentham so we were ready for a long walk. We decided to follow one of our favourite walks, with a few detours along the way, so we set off to Consall country park so that we could walk through the woodland down to the Caldon canal. I know I've taken you on this walk many times before but I'm going to share it again.

We walked through the woods under the bare, leafless trees in which long-tailed tits and firecrests twittered and flitted.

Past the fishing lakes where there was one solitary fisherman braving the elements

Down the canal towpath with its mossy lichened walls

Past the station at Consall which last week was a hive of activity for the Santa special steam trains.

I love these old mile stones on the canal side of course, the Caldon canal doesn't flow as far as Uttoxeter anymore but you can walk to Etruria, in the heart of the city of Stoke-on-Trent. This is where the Caldon and Trent and Mersey canals meet at the Etruria Industrial Museum.

We crossed the canal at lock number seventeen

and then crossed the railway - no trains today!

and finally crossed over the river which was flowing quite quickly under the bridge on which we were standing, foaming and eddying around the rocks as it went along its way. I love this area where the railway, river and canal all run alongside each other.

Then it was a long climb upwards along muddy, leafy steps - gosh this made my knees hurt a bit and my lungs gasp for breath - note to self for 2012 - more exercise is needed!!

It is worth it when you reach the top of the hill - the views are spectacular.

Then we had to find our way back to the bottom of the valley, down more muddy, slippy steps - good job we'd put our wellies on.

At the bottom we walked along the boardwalk and back through the woods to the car - it was time to return home.

On Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T15:58:00.000Z

My warmest wishes to you all.....

.... for a happy festive season. Merry Christmas!

This Morning in the Garden

2011-12-18T16:31:00.001Z

This morning we awoke to find more snow. We had our first downfall of snow on Friday but that had almost disappeared yesterday. Here it was back again.

The Robin was anxiously waiting for his mealworms as I wandered around the garden topping up the feeders and taking photos.

The pond is frozen over, as it was a lot of last winter, but the wildlife in there seems to survive each year.

The squirrels were out and about looking for food and leaving tracks and trails all over the garden

I'm sure the snow will disappear quite quickly as it is already very soft on the branches of the trees, dropping gently to the ground with soft, gentle thuds.

To Little Moreton

2011-12-17T10:11:00.003Z

We recently visited Little Moreton Hall, near Congleton to see the festive, seasonal decorations. We last visited in the Spring when we sat in the gardens in the warm sunshine with ducks begging for scraps at our feet. This visit it was very cold and there were no ducks to be seen.

We also went along to listen to Piva a group of musicians who play music of the 16th and 17th centuries. It was all very festive and jolly and warm inside the main hall.

Piva are always such good fun to watch and very entertaining too as they explain about the origins of the music they are playing and the instruments they are using.

The audience are always encouraged to join in the chorus of some of the songs. After singing along to 'Gaudete' amongst others, we were warm, full of festive spirit and ready to find our way home in the bitter cold of the late afternoon.

Down Nostalgia Lane

2011-12-13T17:13:00.000Z

I've been reading on a few of your blogs that for one reason or another quite a few of you, like me, are finding it difficult to keep up with all that has to be done at this time of year. Today we have finally posted the last of the cards and over the weekend managed to buy a few presents but it is very slow going. I've been thinking about food for Christmas Day - we nearly always cook a Rose Elliott recipe Red Wine and Chestnut Puree En Croute from her 'Vegetarian Christmas' book but I've been looking at a few other recipes as well. This got me thinking about childhood Christmases and of all the things I remember most vividly about Christmas Day preparing the table for dinner is high on the list. Putting out the place mats and cutlery, laying a cracker and twinkling wine glass beside each place and setting and lighting the candles on the table centre piece which was always angel chimes.

We had this delightful, golden and tinkling ornament for years and years and it was always on the Christmas table even when I was grown up, married and travelling miles to come back home for Christmas Day. I never knew what happened to the chimes when our old family home was finally cleared but I wanted to re-live that memory. So I 'googled' Angel Chimes and found them straight away, still being made - one site with a forum of other people's memories of their childhood and the magic of angel chimes. I found some for sale on Amazon and ordered them on Saturday plus a box of candles. Today the postman knocked at the door and there was my parcel of nostalgia.

This evening I was able to experience the magic and charm of Angel Chimes. So now I know of at least one thing that will definitely be on the dinner table on Christmas Day.

Racing towards Christmas

2011-12-09T10:53:00.001Z

When I get up in the morning my first jobs before breakfast are to put out the recycling left from the dark evening before diligently separating the plastics from the tins from the paper from the cardboard. Next I feed the birds topping up the containers on the main feeder and the little cups near the holly hedge inside which the birds lurk awaiting their breakfast. Then it's into the back of the garage to sort out the cat lit tray - the less said about that the better, I think! This morning, whilst in there, I decided to take a quick peek into the gloom under a shelf at the pot of paperwhites planted a few weeks ago!

My goodness how they've grown! I was hoping that they would flower over Christmas and New Year but they do seem to be racing on, don't they? I've popped them back into the gloom for a while longer to try and halt their progress a little. They can't wait to grow and bloom and I can't wait to see them and experience their special fragrance for, as we enter the new year, they remind me of the joys of spring to come.

Meanwhile the cyclamen has sprouted into life again. Each year I put the dry, dead looking corm into the same gloom now occupied by the paperwhites, then at this time of year I fetch it out and sprinkle it with water and watch the little hook like tendrils turn into fresh green leaves. Later it will flower and stay flowering until spring when it is put away for another season. I've been doing this for at least five years now. It never fails to bloom again and never ceases to amaze me!

Just a small part of the whole

2011-12-04T19:33:00.015Z

Or scenes from a Saturday in Lichfield.

I was thinking about a theme for this post and decided to take a detail from each photo and then show both. So here are just the small parts of the whole........

A carved statue

on the front of the Cathedral

An interesting window

on Dr Johnson's Birthplace Museum

A festive wreath

on a shop front in Tudor Row

The head of a camel

outside a shop on Dam Street

A business sign over a shop front

down Quonians Lane

This one was in the detail - I forgot about the whole!

Out and About

2011-12-02T13:30:00.004Z

On Saturday we went over to Nottingham to have lunch with friends. On the way over we stopped to look at St Mary's Church in Attenborough because I wanted to find the memorial to the victims of the Chilwell shell factory explosion for my last post. It took us a while to find it in the churchyard. I asked a local lady where it was but she didn't know. She had come to the church to look at the bazaar and wondered why it was closed even though I wasn't local I was able to tell her it was actually in the village hall but only because I'd seen it mentioned on the church's website whilst I was looking up details about the memorial the day before.

The church does open three days a week but not on Saturdays so I'd like to go back some time and look again. The house to the right of the church in the photo below is Ireton House. It was the family home of Henry Ireton a general in the Parliamentary army during the English Civil Wars and the son-in-law of Oliver Cromwell, he married Cromwell's daughter Bridget. He was baptised at the church on 3rd November 1611.

I've always been fascinated by Henry Ireton since I had to study the Putney Debates as part of my 'England in the 17th Century' course for the Open University. Although he fought on the side of Parliament during the civil wars he was wary of all the radical groups that grew at that time and he still believed in the constitution of King and parliament.

Just near the church is a path to the Attenborough Nature Reserve. We visited a few years ago (seems like only two but it was five) and here is a - link - to the post I wrote at the time where you can see a photograph of the visitor centre.

From here we went to pick up our friends from home and then out towards the village of Draycott where we had a wonderful lunch in The Beetroot Tree. The food was tasty we all had Homity pie and a winter salad followed by a lemon meringue. The service was excellent if a little slow but that was quite understandable as they cook whilst you wait and it was very busy. Inside, as well as the cafe, is an upstairs exhibition area as well as sales of different crafts, fair trade goods and crafting supplies. They also do workshops and courses.

We were there over two hours after which we drove back towards the city and to the Djanogly Art Gallery which is part of The Lakeside Arts complex at Nottingham University. We went in to see the Lowry exhibition they have on at the moment. As it was late on a Saturday afternoon it was quite busy and we struggled to see some of the paintings and drawings. As it is on until the end of February I think we may go back again. I have seen quite a few of Lowry's paintings at The Lowry in Salford and there are some of his paintings in our local museum. I just love them. I was particularly struck by a couple of paintings he'd done of a deserted house on an island in the middle of an industrial wasteland, very dark and stark but quite different from his densely peopled city streets.

We also visited the newly opened University Museum which is near the gallery. It was so quiet in there after the Lowry exhibition. Based on the Romano/British collections of Felix Oswald which were donated to the University in 1933 there is lots to see including a case of artifacts found in Nottingham's famous caves. Again we will have to go back and look some more. When we left it was dark so I couldn't take a photo of the new building.

Before I leave you I just want to show you a couple of photos I took in the back garden late on Tuesday afternoon the sunlight after all the rain we'd had was golden......

and quite beautiful.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Photo Scavenger Hunt - November 2011

2011-11-29T13:38:00.001Z

Here are my photos for this month's Photo Scavenger Hunt. A lot of them are taken at home as I haven't been out and about very much this month. Thanks as always to Kathy at Postcards from the P.P. for coming up with the monthly challenges. Here is a link to some of the other participating blogs.

A Lucky Charm

A little black pottery cat with Looe stamped on its back. I'm not sure if I bought it whilst on holiday or if it was given to me after someone else's holiday. I've kept it since I was a child and it lives in my 'treasures' box.

A Poppy

Well, a poppy seed head anyway. I collected some earlier this year from the garden and dried them out and placed them in a vase. I made this photo black and white as it shows more detail that way.

A Self-portrait

Taken in the bathroom mirror. I've done this one in sepia tone just as an experiment.

Comfort Food

A bowl of Macaroni Cheese is always comforting!

Memorial

A memorial in the churchyard of St Mary's, Attenborough, Nottinghamshire to all the civilian workers who lost their lives in an explosion at the National Shell Filling Factory in nearby Chilwell on 1st July 1918. One hundred and thirty seven men and women were killed - only thirty two of them could be positively identified. They were buried in a mass grave in the churchyard. Two hundred and fifty people were injured. The blast was heard over 20 miles away. Photo taken on 26th November.

Polka Dots

I'm never sure of the difference between spots and polka dots but anyway this is the spotty Aga at the Emma Bridgewater Factory Shop, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent.

Silhouette

Of a finger-post taken at The Longshaw Estate in Derbyshire on 19th November. It was an extremely sunny day so just right for taking a silhouette.

Something Purple

A cyclamen growing in the hot-house at Buxton Pavilion, Buxton, Derbyshire taken on 12th November.

Something that lights up

A display case in the Museum in Buxton, Derbyshire

Something you have made

A Coffee and Walnut Cake for a friend's birthday.

Staircase

Staircase in the upstairs art gallery of The Beetroot Tree, Draycott, Derbyshire taken on 26th November.

Warmth
A warming bowl of Broccoli and Stilton soup for lunch much appreciated after a brisk walk in the chilling wind.

That's it for this month - just one more to go!

Holly Hobbie

2011-11-25T14:06:00.004Z

I was thinking about this plate the other day and went on a search for it in the dark, depths of the cupboard finally finding it amongst the sea of orange and brown Hornsea wares that were both mine (Saffron) and my mother's (Bronte). We both started collecting it at the same time in the mid 70s after a visit to the factory on the South Yorkshire coast with the village WI that my Mum belonged to. Anyway, back to the plate and Holly Hobbie as she and her little ginger cat always make me smile.

I think Mum bought her at a charity shop in the local town and she went on display soon after, hanging on the bright turquoise wall in the back porch right opposite the back door. I remember she was the first thing you saw when you went into the house high up over a bookcase which was full of old hard backed books like dictionaries, encyclopedias, little china ornaments and dangling spider plants. The back door was at the top of three steps on which the rusty tin containing tokens for the milkman was always placed. At the side of the steps was a small paved area with a seat under a window and which, in spring and summer. was always full of pots of colourful flowers.

Through the door, which was always unlocked and often, in summer, open with one of those candy striped plastic fly curtains fluttering in the breeze, past the downstairs cloakroom and into a warm living room with its Rayburn fire and settee covered in crocheted granny square throws and plush velvety cushions. Holly Hobbie stayed in her place on the porch wall way after Mum died as Dad wouldn't move anything, any ornament or picture had to be left just as Mum had wanted it. Later, when my sister and I cleared the house we boxed and bagged everything and halved the boxes and took them home sorting through them at our leisure. Many of the things went to charity shops but I kept this plate. I desperately need to have another clear out and I think all the Hornsea stuff will have to go to a charity shop or free to a good home if I can find someone who collects it. I'm holding on to the plate though as I love the words on it!

I always thought Holly Hobbie was the name of the little bonneted girl but it is also the name of the designer of the complete range of Holly Hobbie goods. Here is a - link - to her Wikipedia entry so you can read more about her.

You don't live here!!

2011-11-21T14:00:00.000Z

Casper is a lovely cat! He has a lovely home! He has caring owners (servants) who tend to his every whim, who paid out hundreds of pounds in vet's bills when he was run over by a car last summer.

He is now supposed to be on a diet to help him lose the weight he gained after so much inactivity during his time with a steel pin in his leg. Of course, he's found another source of food - in our house! He waits for us to go out and then pops into his local cafe!

Where he can empty Max's and Chloe's bowls of food and then have a snooze on the sofa in the conservatory where he has easy access to the cat flap. This week he has got so confident that he didn't move when I took these photos. He's such a lovely, gentle cat, but he's becoming a pain in the posterior as when we go out for any length of time our cats have to be kept in, otherwise he would eat all their food and they would be very hungry when we got home.

A walk around Buxton

2011-11-12T21:17:00.012Z

When asked where I would like to go today I replied - a nice town with historic buildings, a market, a museum and park with somewhere we can sit and enjoy a coffee in pleasant surroundings - Buxton it was then!

We usually park up near the town hall on The Slopes - I love this row of houses with the bay windows. I wonder if there are seats in the upper ones? If I lived in one of those I would spend ages gazing out of the windows watching the happenings in the town.

From The Slopes there is a lovely view down to The Crescent

and also to the Buxton Baths

There are some lovely shops in the Cavendish arcade within the Baths building. I did my first bit of Christmas shopping in Atticus Boo. My second bit of seasonal shopping was a pudding from Waitrose. I used to make a Christmas pudding around this time every year but for the last couple of years we've bought a small one just for two.

After a cup of coffee in a pleasant cafe called No 6 The Square, just round the corner from The Crescent and opposite the Opera House, we set off for the Museum and a wander around the galleries as well as a look at the temporary exhibitions.

Then we had a walk in the Pavilion Gardens which were looking lovely in the sunlight.

There was a Saturday Bazaar taking place in the Pavilion with lots of wonderful craft work and tasty goodies on sale and also some interesting art work in the displays in the Tourist Information Centre.

Outside the fire brigade were putting Christmas lights in the trees.

It was time to head towards home but we diverted out towards Wildboarclough instead of going back towards Leek....

.....and down to Rudyard Lake for a cup of tea and piece of cake before heading off through Endon and Stockton Brook towards Stoke and home.

Wasn't it wonderful to see some sun today after such a grey, dull and rainy week?

Edit 13/11/11 - I forgot to mention that I wrote a Remembrance post on my Family History blog this year - link in my sidebar.

They were Three Sisters

2011-11-10T09:50:00.006Z

Last night, courtesy of the New Vic Theatre and Northern Broadsides, we were transported up to the windswept Yorkshire Moors and back in time to the 1840s to a parsonage in Haworth where three sisters lived their daily lives trapped by place and time struggling with their growing awareness of the fleeting, fretfulness of life and the looming presence of death.
In the darkened theatre with the sound of wind howling in the background and a candlelit table with three writing desks the play starts with the line "Mother died on a day like this" and so the three Bronte sisters, Charlotte (the small, plain and compassionate one) Emily (the odd, wild and restless one) and Anne (the young, pretty, outspoken one) come to life.
Though troubled with worries about their ageing father Patrick, drunken brother Branwell and visited by various other characters like the doctor, the teacher and the 'love-sick' curate they encourage each other to write. Like the three sisters in Chekhov's play who long to go to Moscow these three long to go to London.
In the last act as they see their brother spiral into a drunken, debt ridden life they cling to what they believe will be their purpose in life as Charlotte says "Soon the years will have passed and we'll be gone. Our faces will be forgotten, our voices will be forgotten, all that mattered to the three of us will be forgotten. But there'll be our books. And in the end, we will be remembered"

This is a new play by Blake Morrison. directed by Barrie Rutter and acted by an outstanding cast of performers. It's not as morbid as it sounds, there are lots of humorous moments, but throughout there is the awareness, through hindsight, of what is to come. It is a brilliant play! See it if you can.

I found the trailer below to give you an idea of what to expect.......

On the Fence

2011-11-02T11:45:00.003Z

It was wonderful to see a thrush in the garden again over last weekend. He or she stayed around long enough for me to run upstairs, get out my camera and take a photo through the landing window as it sat for quite a while on our side fence. I was quite pleased with the result considering that it was taken through double glazing and that I couldn't seem to keep the camera still. I think it is a Song Thrush as its feathers are quite dark and its spots brown rather than the black spots and paler feathers of the Mistle Thrush. The shorter, sturdier neck and the song pattern we heard just before we saw it convinces me that it is a Song Thrush. Does any one know?

Sadly the decline in song thrush numbers across the country especially on farmland means it is an endangered species accorded 'red status' by the RSPB and given high priority for conservation. I'm pleased we have one in our garden.

Photo Scavenger Hunt - October 2011

2011-10-30T18:50:00.002Z

It's Photo Scavenger Hunt time again hasn't this month gone by so quickly? Thanks as always to Kathy at Postcards from the P.P. for coming up with the monthly challenges. Here is a link to some of the other participating blogs.

I feel as if I haven't done very well this time, although I've found and photographed all the topics, I'm not satisfied with some of the results and feel that I could have done better. Anyway here they are in no particular order......

Crunchy Leaves

and conkers collected on a leaf strewn walk at The Brampton in Newcastle-under-Lyme.

Golden

A lovely Chestnut tree in the pleasure gardens at Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire. The leaves looked so beautifully golden in the afternoon sun.

Candlelit

Candles illuminate some pom pom chrysanthemums in a vase on the table.

Pumpkin

Harvested from our garden - we managed four in all two small and two larger ones. I think we had more last year and they matured a little later than this year. We used the same seed this year as last so next year we will buy new seed and see if we can grow some darker more orange pumpkins.

Something eerie

At Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire, there is a bridge from the churchyard over an open passage way from the shop and cafe to the toilets. As we walked across I looked over the wall and saw the figure on the ground below. Was it meant to be there? Was it in the process of being moved? Was it real? Was it a fake/backdrop for some sort of theatrical production or a display? Why was it upside down? It reminded me of Henry Wallis's painting of the death of the tragic 18th century poet Thomas Chatterton who, aptly for this topic, influenced some of the later Romantic and Gothic writers of the early 19th century. Very odd, very eerie!

A black cat
It's a regular visitor to the garden and despite its stern look is quite friendly.

A River

The River Bollin as it runs by the side of Quarry Bank Mill, Styal, Cheshire. The water from the river was used to power the cotton looms in the mill.

Heritage

Children learning about their heritage by re-enacting the past at Quarry Bank Mill, Styal, Cheshire

Graffiti/street art
In an underpass in Newcastle-under-Lyme. Official and unofficial street art!

Fog/mist
On the A50 near Uttoxeter

Sunset

Taken from the garden on the evening of 26th October. What a strange light it was, a hectic mass of black swirling clouds tinged with deep gold. It was constantly changing; the gold seeming to celebrate the two quite lovely days that had gone before and the black forewarning of the next day's heavy rain.

A witch's hat/broomstick
Which one will you choose? A selection of hats in the clearance sale at TKMax, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent. I like the orange and black one with the little curl on the back - in the middle of the top row.

The One Where.........

2011-10-28T12:13:00.001+01:00

........the content of the post bears no relation to the photograph accompanying it!

Swan on the lake at Trentham Estate taken last Sunday morning

In a week where everything has been about the glorious weather, (except yesterday but we did need the rain!), woodsmoke in the air, Halloween pumpkins and pomegranates in the market, ghostly and macabre apparitions in shop windows, children off school on bikes and scooters down the road, Diwali fireworks and a 'penny for the guy' collector we have received our first Christmas card. I wasn't in the least surprised to receive it so early, knowing from whom it came, but what did surprise me was to receive one for 2012 as well. Let me explain!

We have a dear elderly friend who, each year sends or gives us a package containing an Easter card, a wedding anniversary card and two birthday cards and I keep them safe and open them as each event comes along. Our friend is now 86 and is concerned about losing her memory - I have to say when I speak to her each Sunday morning she is as bright as a button and when I can't remember something like a name or place she is quick to fill in the blanks. She also tells me that non of her family have ever lived over the age of 87 and so she has sent us a card for 2012 just in case she a. loses her memory or b. doesn't get to the end of next year. Half of me is amused by this but the other half feels quite sad, disturbed, uneasy - what other words can I use to describe the whirligig of emotions? I expect I will put the card somewhere safe (not too safe or I'll never find it!) and open it when the time is right and hope I can still 'phone her to say thank you.

On a brighter note don't forget it is 'Feed the Birds' day tomorrow. Here is a link to the - RSPB - site. I shall just carry on as normal as I feed the birds every morning - I love to sit and watch them through the window as I eat my lunch. Also tomorrow is the end of British Summer Time so the clocks go back an hour. Remember Spring forward and Fall (Autumn) back. This of course means the evenings getting darker earlier which I don't like very much.

We've got a busy weekend ahead with a first for me of a Saturday funeral - I've never come across that before - so I'm going to schedule my post of photos for the October Scavenger Hunt and hope that blogger works as it should.

Well, whatever you have planned or not as the case maybe, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend:)

The Long Walk

2011-10-17T11:23:00.006+01:00

Yesterday, after spending the whole of Saturday either in the garden mowing lawns and clearing leaves, transporting paving slabs and sand or taking bags of clippings to the council's refuse and recycling site we decided, despite the aching necks and shoulders caused by all that work, to take a day off and walk somewhere we hadn't walked before.

We decided to follow the Long Walk at Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire which isn't too far away. It was drizzling with rain as we left home but by the time we reached Kedleston it was dry and the sun was beginning to appear from behind the clouds.

The walk passes by the lush, sheep dotted parkland surrounding the house and gardens and winds its way up into the woods.

We passed quite a few badger setts including this one in the middle of the path - the sign reads 'Mr and Mrs Bert Badger live here - please watch out for their front door in the middle of the path' - of course we didn't see them but were careful not to disturb them!

There were some lovely old, gnarled trees. We thought we could see a face in the one above and then I decided I could see a Chinese dragon - can you spot it?

It was lovely and shady under the trees as we walked with fallen leaves crunching underfoot and birds twittering - mostly great tits - up high in the branches.

There were occasional views of the parkland and then views of the house and church. We sat opposite the view below whilst we ate our picnic lunch.

At this point we were about halfway along the walk. We crossed some of the parkland still with plenty of curious sheep around

and farm implements left standing

before entering the woods again. We saw plenty of fungi (see the collage at the end of the post) as we walked.

At the end of the woods we found the 'splash pool' as we joined the walk along the water's edge back towards the bridge.

The three arched bridge was designed by Robert Adam in the mid 18th century and spans the fishing and boating lakes of which there are five in all.

After our walk we went into the pleasure gardens and the church and also had a quick look in the shop before heading towards home.

Edit Tuesday 18th - for more photos of Kedleston pop over to Louise at - Ramblings of a Roachling - who visited on the day before us.

Seaside Memories

2011-10-02T19:14:00.002+01:00

Childhood memories seem to fall into two main categories, those that are painful or hard to re-visit and those that leave you filled with a warm nostalgia.

I was never sure if my memories of our holidays when I was a child were seen through rose tinted glasses, although my little NHS regulation glasses worn from the age of seven onwards after a severe bout of measles never had tinted lenses and memories of having to wear them at school are still quite painful, but I think, on the whole memories of seaside holidays have a rosy glow.

Some of my most vivid memories are of holidays in Teignmouth in Devon with Mum and Dad and sometimes accompanied by aunts, uncles and cousins. We used stay in a bed and breakfast owned by a lovely couple called Mr and Mrs Lofty, he gloried in the first names of Milton Zacharia. Isn't it strange what details you do actually remember? They or their family owned a small shed like beach hut on the riverside of the estuary so my Teignmouth memories are more of this stretch of beach than the bigger beach and pier of the sea front. I went in search of the beach huts and I have a feeling that the little one may be the one. We used it as a base all week, we children playing in the sand and running in and out of the sea. Mum would make tea and sandwiches for lunch in the back of the shed which always smelt of slightly damp, old wood and salty seaweed, sandy wet bathing costumes and damp towels would hang drying inside.

I remember once my Dad getting me up very early and taking me mackerel fishing. We brought our catch back to Mr Lofty to be cooked for breakfast. I never liked them - too many bones for my fastidious tastes - but I loved going fishing well not the fishing as such but being on the sea. I don't remember where the bed and breakfast was but I do remember the loud gong which was sounded to summon us to breakfast and evening meal. I also remember the walk each morning down to our little hut clutching our buckets and spades, sun hats and fishing nets.

There was an ice-cream seller next door or next door but one to our hut so we always had a lovely creamy ice cream in the afternoon but my most vivid memory is of the ferry. It left from just nearby and we would lock up our hut, catch the ferry and go over to Shaldon. I remembered them being black and white and they still are. As Galant mentioned in her comment on my last but two post - the basic design hasn't changed much since Elizabethan times! We loved the ride and then the walk up by the Ness hotel and past a little thatched cottage with a pond outside it.

That was still there, too! Then excitement rising we would head for the Smuggler's tunnel for the walk down to the Ness beach. We children used to shout and listen for the echoes as we walked. It was cool and damp in the tunnel but all too soon you could see the sun again and feel the rising heat as we neared the end. Then it was out into the bright sunshine, dashing down to the sand to stake a place and set up camp for the afternoon buckets and spades at the ready.

I did notice that the tunnel had changed inside as the original exit had been shut off and another tunnel built alongside with steps inside - I don't remember steps in the original tunnel but maybe there were. Your mind can play tricks sometimes especially after 50 or so years.

One thing I did feel was that everything seemed smaller and more compact than I remember! This beach seemed endless to me as did the one on the Teignmouth side of the estuary. The ferry point seemed a longer distance from the old hut and yet when I saw it recently it was only a few steps away.

It was lovely to revisit these places and see that at least some of my memories were correct and that my mind wasn't playing tricks.

The photo above is of me and my cousin John, who was just two weeks older than me and sadly lost to throat cancer at the young age of 54, about to jump off the wooden stand onto the sand. It was taken not far from the old beach hut. We look happy and excited, everyday of the holiday laying down another cherished memory. I'm so glad I went back to take a peek at a life gone by but never forgotten.

October?

2011-10-01T14:57:00.002+01:00

Twenty five degrees centigrade on the car thermometer

Strawberries in the garden

Cats retreating from the heat

Butterflies still fluttering

Flowers still flowering

Welcome October!

Photo Scavenger Hunt - September 2011

2011-09-29T18:58:00.008+01:00

It's Photo Scavenger Hunt time again. Thanks as always to Kathy at Postcards from the P.P. for coming up with the monthly challenges. Here is a link to some of the other participating blogs.

As you can see I managed to get quite a few of this month's photos whilst we were on holiday. Here are my offerings in no particular order.....

A public telephone box

In the main street, Gunnislake, Devon. On the seat a statue of a Cornish copper miner. We stopped here on our way to Morwellham Quay.

Back to School

Way back to school at Morwellham Quay, Devon. There was a school party in there practicing handwriting earlier in the day.

Apples

In the orchard at Cotehele, Devon a really atmospheric house with wonderful tapestries on the walls but I loved the Quay on the River Tamar and the Mill even more than the house. It is just down from Morwellham on the opposite side of the river.

Harvest

In the outdoor biome allotments, Eden Project, Cornwall - a harvest of marrows

A pile of things

Rocks on Ness Beach, Shaldon, Devon

A road sign

A sign to warn vehicles they are approaching Blackcat junction, near Dulverton, Somerset. A very tricky junction it was too!

A view from above

From the viewing platform in the rainforest biome, Eden Project, Cornwall. It was quite scary up there (the biome is 165 feet tall) as it moved slightly and its was so hot (36 degrees centigrade was mentioned) but we went up in stages in small groups so it was well organised.

Relaxation
Cats have mastered the art of relaxation - well ours have anyway! When they curl up on your lap they make you relax; add a glass of wine and 'Downton Abbey', 'The Killing' or 'Who do you think you Are' on TV or a good book to read - relaxation complete!

Your desk/workspace
is just an old washstand in the corner of a bedroom.

Start of the football season

Britannia Stadium, Stoke City ground. The figure is Stoke footballing legend Sir Stanley Matthews; the whole is covered with ceramic tiles decorated with images of fans' season tickets. There are hundreds of local faces on there plus a few cats and dogs.

Something taller than you
Crich Memorial Tower, Crich, Derbyshire. Memorial for the Sherwood Forresters Regiment (now the Mercian Regiment)
When I was small my step-dad always used to say 'when the Duke of Devonshire stands at the top of Crich Stand he can say all I see I own'. I wonder if that was true? I do remember it was always called 'Crich Stand.' I did go to the top and see trams on the track near the quarry at the nearby Tramway Museum.

What's in your bag?
Not quite the kitchen sink but nearly! So purse, mobile phone, keys - most important! Sun glasses, especially in the car and for winter sun as I struggle to see in bright light, also an umbrella in case it rains. Notebook and pen so I can jot down notes and thoughts about things I see and also to carry info - Scavenger Hunt list for example. Camera - if I don't take it I'm bound to see something wonderful to snap! Little fold up shopping bag - extremely useful! Tissues, hand cream, lip salve and a little tin of solid perfume which matches the one I use, paracetamol - if I carry them I don't get a headache if I leave them behind I'm guaranteed to get one. I can't travel any distance without a book - I have a fear of being stranded somewhere with nothing to read. I've missed out the little bottle of hand gel I take in case I can't wash my hands wherever I am! That's all!

The Wanderer Returns

2011-09-24T17:25:00.004+01:00

We are back home after a wonderful holiday in which I have overdosed on Cornish harbours and fishing villages

Looe

Polperro

Charlestown

Port Isaac

Boscastle

Travelled back in time.......

Morwellham Quay, Devon

.....and into the future

Eden Project, Cornwall

Been 100ft up above a rainforest

Rainforest Biome - Eden Project

two miles underground.....

George and Charlotte Copper Mine, Morwellham Quay

and relived some childhood memories

Teignmouth to Shaldon Ferry, Devon

Ness Beach, Shaldon, Devon

I'll be back with more tales of those and other places in further posts. In the meantime there is washing and ironing to be done, lawns to be cut, kind neighbours to thank and disgruntled cats to cuddle; loads of e-mails to read and a pile of post to open plus all your blogs and posts to catch up with. We also have a problem with the car which started to make a funny noise on the way home. Hope it will be ok as it is nine years old this year and we've had it from brand new. Better get cracking - I may be gone some time!

Haughmond Abbey

2011-09-12T09:02:00.004+01:00

Yet another post about our trip into Shropshire over the bank holiday weekend at the end of August. I'm conscious that I also promised posts about Wroxetter Roman City and Attingham Park but things are catching up with me and I probably won't get around to them now. We couldn't take photos inside Attingham but it was great to see inside again last Monday on BBC 4 during Lucy Worsley's new series on 'The Age of the Regency' which I'm really enjoying. Anyway back to earlier times and the ruins of a medieval monastery.

The ruins of this former Augustinian abbey are quite substantial, including the remains of the abbot's quarters, refectory and cloisters as well as the chapter house.

Haughmond, which was founded in 1135 by William Fitzalan, is just north east of Shrewsbury and nestles beautifully on the slope of Haughmond Hill.

On the hill is an area known locally as 'Douglas's Leap' because it was from here that the Earl of Douglas in flight from the Battle of Shrewsbury fell from his horse and was captured by Henry IV's men. The battle between Lancastrian King Henry and rebels led by Henry 'Hotspur' Percy, one of the bloodiest of the Wars of the Roses, was fought, in 1403, about two miles from the abbey.

The abbey was finally dissolved in 1539 during the mass dissolution of monasteries ordered by Henry VIII at this time there were ten canons and an abbot in residence.

The Chapter House has a wooden roof of about 1500 and houses an octagonal font and several stone tombstones which may have been placed there when the abbey church was dismantled. The Chapter House is where the canons would meet to discuss the day to day running of the abbey.

The abbey passed into private hands, namely those of Sir Edward Littlejohn and later Sir Rowland Hill (not the postal reformer) and the Barker family. Much of the land was used for farming.

The ruins are surrounded by fields and we were watched carefully by the local sheep as we wandered around.

The ruins were taken over in the 1930s by the Secretary of State and later by English Heritage who administer and care for the site today

I'm going to be away from home and my computer for a while so I'll catch up with you all when I return.

'bye for now.

September Garden

2011-09-10T14:35:00.003+01:00

We've been busy in the garden clearing things away. Lots of the plants growing in pots have now found a place in the garden or been disposed of. The hanging baskets have been emptied and put away until next year. Many of the pots were full of grass or weeds and the original plants had disappeared. Some things have done really well this year others have struggled. One of the lavenders I bought earlier in the year is really struggling the other is doing well. The Echinacias didn't flower properly each flower having only a few petals on one side and some never turning pink. I've no idea what caused that!

The table, chairs and parasol are packed away in the shed along with the gazebo which came down a few weeks ago. I had a stroll around the garden this morning and took a few photos of the plants that are doing well. We do have pumpkins! Not as many as last year though. The plants have spread their tendrils quite a distance and I found pumpkins nestling in quite a few hidden places.

This one is resting on the pea gravel in front of the raised bed they are growing in.

and this one is resting on the wall of the raised bed!

The one above is hiding amongst the daisies on the other side of the raised bed.

Also lingering in the garden are the Sedum and Crocosmia - still attracting the occasional butterfly!

The Japanese Anemones are still flowering like mad too; we have pink ones but the whites are my favourites.

Outside the wind is getting stronger, the flowers are dancing on their stems, the trees are swaying and the leaves are blowing across the grass. Although the air is quite warm it really feels as if Autumn is on the way!

Heritage Open Days

2011-09-09T18:34:00.006+01:00

For those of you who live in England don't forget Heritage Open Days this weekend! There are lots of interesting things to do and lots of buildings open all over the country free of charge, many of them not normally open to the public. Click on the logo above to take you to the official web-site where you can find out what is going on in your area.

Have a great weekend everyone!

At the Cantlop Bridge

2011-09-07T14:03:00.003+01:00

The Cantlop bridge is on the way back towards Shrewsbury from Acton Burnell (see my last post). Built in 1813 it was one of a network of bridges constructed to improve both communication and trade in Shropshire.

We pulled in to the off road parking area to take a look at the bridge. It is a single span bridge built to an innovative design approved by Scottish engineer Thomas Telford. The structure was strong enough to support the flat deck without a central pier which could have hindered navigation of the Cound brook.

It is built from cast iron and is the only Telford approved cast iron bridge left in Shropshire. Although cast iron is very durable it is weak in tension and no longer considered suitable for today's heavy road traffic. It stopped being used in the 1970s when the present road bridge was built. This is a rather smaller bridge than the one by Telford and Jessop that I wrote about here!

As we walked over the bridge and back I spotted hops growing in the hedgerows. Although to me it was an unusual sight it is, apparently, quite common to see wild hops growing in hedgerows in several areas of the country especially where there has been, or still is commercial hop growing taking place.

The hops stretched quite a way down the road across the hedgerow separating the road from the field beyond.

As we headed home we stopped at a farm shop and cafe to have a cup of late afternoon peppermint tea.

For the Gloucester Old Spot pigs it was tea time too!

Down narrow lanes

2011-09-04T15:46:00.004+01:00

Down narrow lanes, through fragrant woodlands and yew walks , hidden away behind the trees we found it.......

....not even sure we were heading in the right direction we finally came upon the gateway beckoning us in. What would we find?

The board gave us little idea of what was waiting for us nestling perfectly in its place in the surrounding countryside.

The ruins of Acton Burnell castle appeared across sweeping grass.under the branches of the Cedar tree

The soft red sandstone of the building looked warm against the cool green of the grass and trees. Followers of the late 18th and early 19th century aesthetic movement of the Picturesque would certainly have loved this place. I'm sure it would have appealed to their romantic sensibilities.

So too would the readers of early Gothic novels - especially in the rather eerily overwrought cemetery and churchyard just over the wall. I was thinking of the parodic Northanger Abbey or the proper Gothic Dracula or Frankenstein.

The semi-fortified castle was built between 1284 and 1293 by Bishop Robert Burnell, Edward I's Lord Chancellor. It is said that King visited on more than one occasion and held a parliament here during one of his visits.

Although the building has a licence to call itself a castle it is more a fortified manor house although by the time of its building. fortification, probably against incursions from over the Welsh borders, wasn't much of an issue.

The building was once three stories high and would have had within it a great hall, solar, bedrooms and chapel. In the early19th century the manor house became a folly in the garden and parkland of the new Acton Burnell Hall built in 1814 by the Smythe family.

The 19th century hall is now one of the campus buildings of a private educational college for 13 to 19 year olds from across the world.

Just outside the village we found another historic gem.

Langley chapel is a 17th century Anglican church which still retains all its original furniture on the inside. A huge old key had been left in the lock so visitors could let themselves in. I was so busy turning the key and wondering what I would find inside - too many thoughts of Gothic novels or parodies thereof - that I forgot to take a photo of it!

Inside it was starkly puritanical and devoid of any ornament. There was no alter but a communion table with benches around for people to sit during the communion ceremony. There were also two pulpits....

...a series of box pews and a desk at the back for the church musicians. The quiet setting of this chapel and the musician's desk took my mind away from the Gothic to the Rural and Hardy's 'Under the Greenwood Tree'. I know I should have been thinking of a local author and not one from Dorset but I can't for the life of me remember if Mary Webb wrote about church musicians in any of her novels about life in rural Shropshire.

As I left I took a photo of the Shropshire countryside outside and as I added the photo below I've just realised that if you look closely you can see the key in the door after all!

I turned it firmly as we left otherwise no doubt the chapel would be full of swallows, rabbits and little field mice - now that sounds more like Beatrix Potter!

Photo Scavenger Hunt - August 2011

2011-08-30T18:43:00.005+01:00

It's time to show my photos for this month's Photo Scavenger Hunt. I've struggled with some of the topics this time and I've taken so many different photos for each topic and have kept changing my mind about them. Below is the final choice.

A Boat

The 'Miss Elizabeth' crossing the lake from the Italian Gardens to the Monkey Forest at the Trentham Estate, Trentham, Stoke-on-Trent.

A Festival or Funfair

The Steam Carousel in the courtyard at Tatton Park, Knutsford, Cheshire

A Fountain

In the Italian Garden, Trentham Estate, Trentham, Stoke-on-Trent.

A Picnic

For a peacock a nice picnic of left-overs at the Blackbrook Zoological Park, nr Leek, Staffordshire

A Sport

Cricket on the village green, Sudbury, Derbyshire.

Bread

Selection of Paul's home made bread (for those interested there is a link to his website on my sidebar)

Fabric

A maid's white cotton bonnet in the still room, Attingham Park, Shropshire

A Market

A market barrow in the courtyard at Tatton Park, Knutsford, Cheshire

Mountains

To compensate for there being no mountains hereabouts I went looking for molehills so that I could make them into mountains but I think Mr Mole had closed his building sites down for the summer. Then, quite by chance, I fond myself near the Shropshire hills so I thought they might be acceptable in lieu of mountains.

Something Ancient

The remains of the forum basilica or exercise hall which was part of the bath house at the Roman town of Wroxeter or Viroconivm cornoviorum in Shropshire.

Something Bizarre

Bizarre Wares by Clarice Cliff - an earthenware vase c. 1930 courtesy of the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent.

Street Food

Oatie Mostons filled Staffordshire oatcakes on sale in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent

Thanks as always to Kathy at Postcards from the P.P. for coming up with the monthly challenges. Here is a link to some of the other participating blogs.
Edit 31/8/11 - I see Kathy has the September list available on her latest post if you want to get cracking on some new topics:)

How to handle a Squirrel

2011-08-29T12:12:00.002+01:00

When we arrived home late yesterday afternoon we went out into the garden to check things and found the little fellow below under the garden seat. I'm calling him a 'he' he could of course be a 'she' but who knows.

He wasn't moving except for shuffling his back paws and wafting his tail over his head. Our cats were watching from a distance but didn't seem too concerned about getting close to him. He was shuddering slightly and seemed anxious and a bit dazed.

We brought him a little bowl of water and a few peanuts and sunflower hearts and left him alone for a while but he was still quite distressed so we decided to give him a quick check to make sure he didn't have any injuries, though I'm not sure what we would have done if he'd had any!

He didn't much like being held in a gardening glove - well would you? There were no visible injuries so we left him alone again and after a while he started to move about a bit - we were watching for other cats around the garden as at this point ours were being kept inside just in case - eventually he started to hop about then run a little and finally he disappeared. I think I've seen him around this morning so he seemes to have recovered from whatever trauma had affected him. Here's hoping anyway!

Scenes from Yesterday

2011-08-26T14:37:00.005+01:00

We had a lovely day out in Shropshire yesterday and it is hard to believe in the rain of today what a glorious day it was. The weather was perfect. We visited two wonderful places quite close to each other namely Attingham Park and Wroxeter Roman City. I'll do a post about each of them later but here are just a few photos from Attingham Park which, for me, capture the spirit of the day.

Tortoiseshell butterfly on statice flowers in the walled garden

Young swallows waiting to be fed on the bean tunnel in the walled garden. More photos here

Display in the old cottages near the glasshouses in the walled garden

A young Jersey calf in the pastures around the Mansion
house

Tree- sculpture on the long walk between the courtyard stables and the walled garden

Outside the garden cottages

Apples in the orchard

French climbing beans - Blue Coco from the garden produce shop

Have a great weekend, everyone!

A visit to Tatton Park

2011-08-21T10:59:00.002+01:00

We hadn't been to Tatton Park, a National Trust property near Knutsford in Cheshire for ages, so, since we are once again members of the trust we decided, one day last week, to visit. On our last venture there we just walked in the parkland and had a guided tour around the Tudor Old Hall. This time we went into the Mansion and around the gardens.

We had wanted to visit the Tudor Old Hall again but it was closed so we made for the gardens and spent ages wandering around until the Mansion was open. Photography wasn't allowed inside although I have noticed this year that many properties have started to allow photographs to be taken as long as you don't use flash.

There was a wondeful walled kitchen garden and orchard. All the fruit and vegetables grown here are used in the restaurant and to make produce for the shop. Some of the freshly picked vegetables were on sale in the garden shop too.

As usual I took far too many photos and it has been difficult choosing which ones to show you but the ones I've chosen are from some of my favourite parts of the garden.

The gateway to the Tower Garden

Above and below are taken near Golden Brook as you head towards the Japanese garden, which was closed when we passed by. You can only go in on a guided tour. I loved the bridge and water lillies and the huge gunnera plants by the water.

Another favourite was the Fernery which was so light and airy inside

Ferns are such fascinating plants.

The pale pink fuchsia below was in the show house which was attached to the fernery. Next door the huge conservatory was being refurbished ready for opening early next year.

There is quite a lot more to see and do here; we didn't get to the farm but there is a little road train to take you there from the main car park. There was also a steam fairground next to the car park and picnic area as well as a huge carousel in the courtyard. It does cost £5 to park your car which came as a bit of a shock and our sandwiches and apple juice from the Stables restaurant cost double that and more and I only ate half of mine as the wasps in the outside seating area made me very uneasy - I'd forgotten about it being August and therefore wasp time as we found our table outside.

After the disappointment of finding the Tudor Old Hall closed even though it said on the website it would be open we wandered around and took some photos of the fallow deer in the park. They really are such beautiful creatures.

A Gentle Stroll

2011-08-18T15:29:00.003+01:00

On Sunday morning we had a gentle stroll around grounds of the Wolseley Centre, headquarters of the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust. Below are some of the things I spotted as we walked

Glossy red currants

A beautiful Acer tree

A ladybird on a teasel

Ducks on a misty lake

A red eared terrapin (I think!)

Swans snoozing on the River Trent

A badger mosaic - logo of the Wildlife Trusts

Rowan berries

Burdock burrs

The new boardwalk

I'll be back after the weekend with some photos taken yesterday in the gardens at Tatton Park.

A Profusion of Plums

2011-08-14T17:01:00.003+01:00

The old tree at the top of the garden is laden with plums

Last year we had about a dozen fruits from it - this year there are too many to count!

We are watching them every day as they ripen and fall so quickly

It is hard to pick them at exactly the right time

We picked a bowl of soft plums this morning to make a plum crumble with. I expect that over the next few days we will be making jam and chutney which means a trip to the shops for sugar and vinegar and a delve into the box at the back of the garage to find empty jam jars and lids.

We have a profusion of tomatoes too. I think that this week I may be busy in the kitchen!

Donington le Heath Manor House

2011-08-12T15:47:00.001+01:00

A few weeks ago we visited one of our favourite places - The Manor House at Donington Le Heath.

I don't know what it is about this place but I love it!

We have visited three or four times over the years and things have changed since our first visit which was, I seem to remember, on a cold, autumn morning. Things were a little different then; more open to your own interpretation, with some rooms unfurnished and fewer sign posts and information boards.

Now the manor house has become more popular as a visitor attraction there is far more to see inside with special events, historical re-enactments and local exhibitions. There is also a souvenir shop and a couple of computers which offer further information and virtual tours for those unable to get up the stairs.

I love the soft grey stone of the building

It was quite a warm, sunny day when we visited and the herb garden was a riot of colour and glorious scents.

The lavender growing along the base of the walls was buzzing with bees.

On the other side of the window above is the kitchen. This is one of the favourite rooms with visitors as there is so much of interest in the hearth, on the table and in the deep windowsills.

Through the arch on the left of the photo above are the virtual tour computers.

Upstairs is the great chamber with windows at either end so it is light and airy.

In a small room off the great chamber is a four poster bed. The legend is that it is the bed on which King Richard III laid down to rest on August 21st 1485 - the eve of the Battle of Bosworth. It is said that the bed was brought to the Blue Boar Inn in Leicester for him as it was richly carved as befitted a King.

The bed spent many years at the Blue Boar Inn and was passed from Landlord to Landlord before it came into the hands of the Herrick family of Beaumanor Hall in the village of Old Woodhouse and is now on permanent loan to Leicestershire County Council. There are other legends attributed to the bed - including hidden treasure and a murder. You'll have to visit and read the book to find out more!

The herbs in the recreated 17th century garden are all labelled with quotes from Culpeper's 'Complete Herbal' of 1652.

There is a lovely cafe in the barn and we have eaten in there on a couple of occasions, once, a few years ago, on my birthday which was a lovely treat. This time we had a picnic with us which we ate at our next destination and which I'll write about in a later post.

Parts of the house date back to the late 13th century when it was owned by the De Sees family. The last family to live in the house were the Hill family who left in 1960 when the hall was sold by the Harley Trust, set up by owner Thomas Harley during the 17th century. Tenant farmers lived in the house from 1670 until 1960.

It was bought by a local farmer who used it as a pig sty! In 1965 the house was designated as an ancient monument and was purchased and gradually restored by Leicestershire County Council.

Last but not least it is, amazingly, free to go in and look around and some of the events are free too!

At The Burrows Gardens

2011-08-06T14:00:00.004+01:00

The Burrows Gardens is a haven of peace and tranquility just off the A52 Ashbourne to Derby road near the villages of Kirk Langley and Brailsford.

It's ideal for a gentle stroll on a warm summer morning

The garden is set out in a series of smaller gardens and walkways each with a unique vista

The garden has been lovingly tended by Mr Dalton the owner of the house who was happy to chat to visitors about his vision of the garden and what it means to him.

We spent ages wandering around - every corner of the garden is a delight.

Below is the Temple Garden

and the Hydrangea garden also known as mini Cornwall.

It was wonderful to sit on the bench surrounded by Hydrangeas and Agapanthus - two of my favourites.

There is also a plant sales area and I would recommend trying some of the homemade cake with your morning coffee served in the barn or courtyard.

We had a wonderful time and there were only a handful of other visitors so we more or less had the place to ourselves. The garden opens in season between 10.30a.m. and 4.30pm. on Sunday, Tuesday and Friday and also on one Monday each month between April and September for the National Garden Scheme.

Some more views of the garden

Click on any of the photos to enlarge!

Photo Scavenger Hunt - July 2011

2011-07-30T11:37:00.046+01:00

Here are my entries for this month's Photo Scavenger Hunt. Thanks as always to Kathy at Postcards from the PP for setting the topics for each month and I see that August's list is on her blog now! Here is a - link- to the other participants.

A Flag
At the Ambien Hill re-enactment camp, Bosworth Battlefield Centre, Leicestershire

A Kite

Home made by Paul with crepe paper, parcel ribbon and balsa wood and tested in the garden

Celebration
I really struggled with this one as we have no birthdays or anniversaries in July so I decided to interpret it in my own way by taking a photo down by the Caldon canal in celebration of the beauty of nature and of being close to such lovely countryside.

Fields
From Ambien Hill, Bosworth Battlefield Centre, Leicestershire

Flip flops
Courtesy of George @ASDA

Ice cream
Vintage ice cream van in the city centre

Red, White and Blue

A rather sad looking toy dog at the local garden centre

Seashells

In a fish dish - courtesy of the local garden centre

Something that makes you happy (not a person or animal)
Having a pile of new books on my bedside table just waiting to be read

Stars

Emma Bridgewater's 'Stars' teapot

Strawberries

Stripes
Deckchairs blowing in the wind at Trentham Gardens

Right, I'm off to see what everyone else has come up with!

Nant Gwrtheyrn

2011-07-27T17:01:00.002+01:00

As promised in my last post - a bit more history....... hope you don't mind!

We ate our picnic on a grassy area at the side of the small car park over looking the mountain of Yr Eifl. A man asked us if we were 'going up' as the views from the top were stunning. We'd noticed one or two people following the path up the side of the mountain but we weren't really properly shod to risk the climb but I'd love to go back again and walk to the top to see the three summits, known in english as The Rivals, and the iron age hill for at the top of the summit Tre'r Ceiri.

Instead we took the road down to the bay and the old Victorian Quarry village of Nant Gwrtheyrn known also as Vortigern's Creek. There were just a few farmhouses on the hillside until the quarry opened in 1861. The village of Porthy y Nant grew up nearby.

It is now a centre for Welsh language and creative writing courses and is also used for events like weddings and conferences.

The old chapel is now a Heritage Centre overlooking the sea.

The former cottages of the village are now used as accommodation by groups of people attending courses and conferences.

Inside the Heritage Centre is a model of how the village used to look at the height of the quarrying industry.

Plus lots of other information about the history of the village before and after the quarry was established and the memories of people who lived and worked there. The quarry closed during the second world war and the community gradually dispersed.

We only had a short time here but it is somewhere I'd like to explore further next time we visit as there are many coastal walks and waymarked paths both down to the beach and up into the hills.

I still have three photos to find for this July's Photo Scavenger Hunt so I'd better get a move on as it is August next week! Where has this month gone?

The Church on the Beach

2011-07-21T16:38:00.002+01:00

One of my favourite places on the Llyn Peninsular is the little coastal village of Aberdaron.

It's here you will find the church on the beach

St Hywyn's church is such a peaceful place to be

If it is warm outside it is beautifully cool inside

I like the light coming through this window which overlooks the sea

Inside the church is a cairn of stones from the beach. You can collect a stone from the beach, inscribe it with the name of someone dear to you and leave it on the cairn. On the last Sunday in October they are returned to the sea - the full story of the cairn is - here

Next to the cairn are tombstones, dating from the 6th century, of two early Christian priests. Again the full story is - here.

When we set out from Aberdunant in the morning, calling at Abersoch on the way, the weather was dull and cloudy. By the time we reached Aberdaron the sun had come out and the sky was blue.

From the beach you can see across to Bardsey Island - Ynys Enlli

an historic place of pilgrimage and also a well known bird observatory.

Aberdaron has a stunning beach which is wonderful to walk along and there are many more walks in the area.

The last time we visited Aberdaron, which was in the pouring rain, we had a lovely meal in the little cafe above. Y Gegin Fawr used to be a communal kitchen where pilgrims to Bardsey island could seek a meal before continuing their journey. This visit the sun was shining and we had food with us and we found a wonderful place, steeped in history, to eat our picnic. I'll tell you more in my next 'Welsh' post.

Now Showing.....

2011-07-16T15:18:00.001+01:00

in the garden.........

Hardy Geranium - Ann Folkard

Hemerocallis or Day Lillies

Hardy Geranium -not sure which variety this is! I just know that it isn't Johnson's Blue.

Lavender - Munstead

Hydrangeas

Daisies

Roses

Hardy Geranium - Ann Thompson

Yellow Loosestrife - is this a weed or not? If it is quite a bit of our garden is full of weeds!

Hebe

Honeysuckle

Nasturtium

and what a splendid display it is - even in the rain!

I'll be back soon with more from our holiday in Wales.

Penarth Fawr

2011-07-10T10:11:00.002+01:00

Just off the coast road between Pwllheli and Criccieth is a hidden gem. We'd been here before a couple of years ago and loved it so much that we decided to go back and visit again.

This is Penarth Fawr a medieval house set in beautiful, peaceful farmland. In the little guide book I purchased from the cafe and craft shop the house is described as 'a stone-built aisle truss hall-house'

It also says that the present structure was 'most probably built by Hywel ap Madog about 1460 on the boulder foundations of an ancestor's earlier house.' In another note the booklet tells the story of Hywel ap Madog dying of 'wounds inflicted during the Battle of Mortimer's Cross during the Wars of the Roses.'

The fireplace in the great hall above was added during improvements made to the house in the late 16th century. When first built the hall would have had a central open hearth.

Above is what the booklet calls 'The Magnificent 15th Century Spere Truss' The upper story is to the right of the cross-passage between the great hall and service quarters and was, according to the booklet, used for storage or servant's sleeping quarters.

The upper floor has many warnings about falling and I was very wary of the height, especially after my experiences a couple of days before at the aqueduct!! I did struggle up the steps though to get the feel of the place and it was wonderful whilst I wasn't thinking about how to get back down to ground level with a little dignity still intact - I'm sure I didn't struggle so much on our last visit.

The 'solar' end of the hall and the private family rooms which had been added in the 17th century were demolished about 1840. In the 17th century another wing was added which is now a private farmhouse running at angles to the great hall.

We had the place to ourselves for quite a while before some more visitors arrived.

The stable block is now a cafe and craft shop and we sat outside in the courtyard under the trees sipping tea. It really is a most tranquil and relaxing place to visit.

I forgot to mention the little herb garden at the back of the house. There were many interesting plants and also the lovely Dovecote.

The House is in the care of CADW - Welsh Historic Monuments - and it is free to look around. It was time to head back to Criccieth for a walk by the sea.....

.......and some fish and chips.

A Stream in the Sky

2011-07-06T09:38:00.005+01:00

When we drive into Wales towards Porthmadog we nearly always go through Llangollen and onto Corwen and Bala - past -'The Butterfly Man' - and - 'Glassblobbery' - I always look out for both of them as familiar landmarks. Sometimes we stop at Llangollen, sometimes Corwen or the lake at Bala. This time we stopped at the canal basin in the village of Trevor just outside Llangollen to stretch our legs, have a picnic and walk across the 'Stream in the Sky'.

You wouldn't know from these photos, as I had to snap them very quickly because of the rain, that the place was very, very busy. I hadn't expected it to be so popular especially on a wet Tuesday lunch time during term time but there were bus loads of tourists and many cars with foreign number plates all visiting this wonderful World Heritage Site.

The canal walk was popular but it was obvious that most people, including us, had come to see the 'Stream in the Sky' - otherwise known as the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.

At 126ft in height and over 1000 feet in length it is one of the longest and highest cast iron aqueducts in the world and has a Grade 1 listed building status.

As you can see I did walk halfway across but I had to turn and go back as I was a bit anxious about slipping in the heavy rain and there was a group of tourists coming towards us all with umbrellas and I couldn't see where we were going to pass. The height was also getting to me!

The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, built by Thomas Telford and William Jessop, opened in 1805 having taken about ten years in the making at a cost of £47,000. It is 11ft wide and just over 5ft deep - you can see why I didn't want to slip - just looking at it again knots my stomach!

The Aqueduct, which carries the Llangollen Canal on its route towards Whitchurch and beyond where it joins the Shropshire Union canal at Hurleston Junction, spans the River Dee in the valley below.

After our walk and picnic we drove around to the other view point where I was lucky to get a photo of a boat crossing the aqueduct and was able to take in how high it is - had I really been up there?

On the route between the two viewing sites we found this lovely pack horse bridge - more my size I think - from where I took the photo above. In the opposite direction was the most lovely building on the side of the river. I thought how French it looked jutting out over the water!

I've taken the title of this post from the sculpture in the first photograph - just because I liked the idea of a stream in the sky! I'm guessing that the person who made the sculpture found the quote from a specific source in archives somewhere but I haven't been able to find any reference to it as yet.

The Answer

2011-07-04T08:53:00.003+01:00

The answer to feeling under the weather and in slightly low spirits is, for me, to go and find the sea which, thanks to our kind neighbours who let us stay in their holiday home every year and look after our cats as well, we were able to do.

We walked on quite a few beaches along and around the Llyn Peninsula and there are a lot more posts coming about all the things we have seen and done but for now we'll just have a wander up the cliff path at Borth y gest and look out over White Rock Sands - Black Rock sands are further around the headland.

Then we went down to walk along the beach at Borth y Gest, where we found rock pools

Footprints in the sand

Lots of seaweed

and loads of jelly fish washed up by the tide and trapped on the beach

I could gaze out over this view across the Glaslyn Estuary towards Harlech for ages; it is soothing, calm and pushes all those little niggles and anxieties to the back of your mind.

As we walked along the cliff path we passed the house below - it's for sale. Oh, if only! Just to have that view above every day!

I'm still not too old to have dreams and aspirations.

Photo Scavenger Hunt - June 2011

2011-06-30T09:30:00.001+01:00

Here are my photos for the June Scavenger Hunt. Thanks as always to Kathy at Postcards from the PP for hosting the Scavenger Hunt and keeping us on our toes with her wonderful choice of topics. Here is, I hope, a -link- to other participating blogs.

A Childhood Memory

Buying a bucket, spade and fishing net when we got to the seaside and carrying them down to the beach where sand castles would be built with the bucket and spade and rock pools dipped with the net.

A Farm Animal

One of the Highland Cattle at Wimpole Estate Home Farm, Cambridgeshire

A wheel trim
On a Bristol Fighter at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford, Cambridgeshire

An Elephant
Carved wooden elephant in a shop window

Architectural Detail
Chimneys on the Precentor's House across the green from Ely Cathedral, Cambridgeshire

Cheese
from the cheese counter in the Red Lion Quarter, Spalding, Lincolnshire

Cutlery
On a table display in the Wedgwood Factory shop, Barlaston, Stoke-on-Trent

Night
On the outside looking in!

Something beginning with Z
Zinfandel wine - goes well with the cheese!

The view right outside your door
Back door that is - outside my front door which is actually on the side of the house is next door's brick wall which doesn't make for a very interesting photograph.

Something with your town's name on it

Of the six towns that make up the city of Stoke-on-Trent, Longton is the closest to where we live. This is the sign for the Longton Interchange (bus station) near the Tesco, Argos and Next stores. Behind you can see the railway station where trains run between Derby and Crewe stopping at all stations in Stoke along the way and behind the station an old, derelict pottery factory with its bottle oven and chimney.

Tree Branches

Sometimes

2011-06-20T16:35:00.001+01:00

Sometimes, when life gets too much............

........you just have to go and cuddle a cushion!

'bye for now:)

Highlights from last two days

2011-06-18T14:14:00.004+01:00

On Thursday we drove over to Spalding in Lincolnshire to visit some friends. We had a lovely lunch in a pub by the riverside and then a wander around the town. Spalding has altered so much since we left in 1995. It was nice to go back and look at where I used to work.

This is Ayscoughfee Hall Museum, a 15th century red brick house at the side of the River Welland. I used to work in the room whose window is just to the right of the black door in the photo below. This was just behind the main hall and reception area which was then a Tourist Information Centre as well.

I was too busy enjoying myself to take many photos but we did visit a new place called the - Red Lion Quarter - where there was a restaurant and a shop full of mostly local produce. We also popped into - Sergi's Deli - down the Hole in the Wall - Mr Sergison, who took part in the recent TV series called 'Turn Back time - The High Street' was behind the counter and had a chat with us. We then visited 'The Bookmark' a wonderful local, independent bookshop that has regular visits and talks by well known authors and then we had afternoon tea in the outdoor courtyard at Pennington's florist and gift shop.

After saying farewell to our friends we set off across the Cambrdgeshire fens to Ely. Once we'd settled into our accommodation we took a late evening stroll along the riverside - photo above - and around the Cathedral.

View from parkland at the back of the Cathedral

The next morning we moved on to the Imperial War Museum at Duxford. A whole morning was spent here gazing at the aircraft.

The Flying Fortress

Concorde 101

RE8 - a world war one spotter plane

In the afternoon we visited the Wimpole Estate. The Hall doesn't open on Fridays but we had a wander around the gardens and the home farm.

The Hall from the Dutch garden

The Walled Garden

Two lovely, noisy residents of the home farm - Clementine and Daisy.

I'll be back with more on Wimpole Hall later this month as we are off on our travels again so I'm taking a break for a while.

Ancient Waymarkers

2011-06-12T15:21:00.001+01:00

In the corner of an area of land belonging to the Longshaw Estate is a wooden pole. It stands near the triangular junction where the road from Sheffield to Hathersage joins the road down to Froggatt and Calver.

It is just a wooden pole in the ground but it is so well known that the area around it is known as 'Wooden Pole'.

What is it?

According to some sources it is an old way marker for a pack horse route which leads down to Hathersage and marks the boundary between Hathersage and Holmesfield. It isn't one of the original way markers or 'guide stoops' but it has been there for many, many years and is occasionally replaced by the National Trust who own the site. According to others and referring to the stone in the ground which is engraved 'T1778' it is a boundary marker for the parish of nearby Totley at that date .

It is quite tall too! I'm sure many people pass by without noticing it or think that it is the remains of a dead tree. There is a little pull off on the road for a few cars and a gate through onto the field so you can get close to it.

In the grounds of the Longshaw Estate is another way marker or guide stoop (stoop being a Scandinavian word for stone). This is a stone one engraved on each side of the stone. The side above says 'Tidswell Rode' - Tideswell Road

The engraving on this side says 'Hope Rode 1787' - Hope Road

and this side says 'Sheiffeild Rode' - Sheffield Road.

There are a few more of these way markers around the estate and many more are to be found in the Peak District area of Derbyshire.

These were guides to follow along the ancient pack-horse trails which criss-cross the moors, hills and valleys of the Peak District. These trails are part of the industrial heritage of the area used by pack horse trains to carry such local commodities as silk, cotton, lead and salt to the growing industrial towns of Manchester and Sheffield. Travelling across the moors could take several days and in certain weather conditions, be quite treacherous. Travellers could easily lose their way. In 1697 an Act was passed that local surveyors should erect guide posts in the more remote areas showing the way to the nearest market towns. There was no defined standard to presentation or appearance so many different types of guide stoops are to be found across the Peak District.

By the mid 18th century turnpike roads began to appear across the region with their own mile stones and signposts and the need for the guide stoops faded. The stoops themselves usually date from 1709 onwards when another Act made it compulsary for parishes to provide guide posts at road junctions. They were used to supplement or replace other types of guides like cairns, crosses, way markers and wooden poles. Which is where this post started - with a wooden pole!

Gardens - Herbs and Books

2011-06-10T09:15:00.001+01:00

I was so lucky recently to win a give-away organised by Valerie at - Acornmoon - to celebrate her two years of blogging. I won a copy of a book called 'In and Out of the Garden' by Sara Midda. I'd seen this book on another blog - I can't remember which one - quite a while ago and I've had it on my wish list ever since then so I asked to be included in the draw. You can imagine my delight when I found out that my name had been pulled out of the hat and when the postman arrived with the parcel!

I'm sorry that my photos can't do justice to the prettiness of the book as the colours are so delicate.

It is an exquisite book, hard backed, cloth covered and everything I expected of it. The illustrations are delightful- I just keep picking it up and gazing at the pages and finding something new each time. I can't believe how lucky I am! Thank you, Valerie.

Last week on a visit to my sister in Chesterfield we called at the - Herb Garden - at Hardstoft. We used to go there quite often when Mum and Dad were still with us, we've taken them there for lunch a few times but sadly the cafe part of the gardens is now closed and the whole place is for sale. The cafe used to make the most wonderful quiche and salad lunches and things like lavender cake and scones. The gardens are still open at the moment so we popped in to take some photos.

It was just as I remembered it!

Enclosed all around by a high hedge it is a peaceful little oasis just off a main road.

There is an intricate 'knot' garden

Full of statues, water features and tinkling bells.

Down an avenue at the side of the hedge are three separate gardens containing herbs for special purposes. There is the scented 'pot pourri' garden. The 'physic' garden full of herbs for soothing and healing and the 'lavender' garden full of many different varieties of one of my favourite flowers.

Down one side of the knot garden are the 'culinary' herbs. Everything is labelled with an explanation of uses.

It really is a peaceful place and I hope whoever buys it will keep it just as it is.

Here are the details of the house and gardens for sale - link - I think I might just buy a lottery ticket this week!

The garden is noted for its collection of Echinacea plants! We bought some there a few years ago and they lasted in our garden for several years before they disappeared after the cold winter of last year. It was time to buy some more!

High Peak - Part Three

2011-06-09T15:22:00.004+01:00

On to part three of our visit to New Mills. After our visit to the Heritage Centre and our walk around the town which included a visit to both the indoor and outdoor market and a browse in the bookshop - we can't not browse in a bookshop if there is one to be browsed in - we headed back down the path and steps to the valley towards the ruins of the Torr Factory and the viaducts over the river.

I loved the atmosphere down here - surrounded by the ruins and the tall viaducts. It felt protected and had a quiet magnificence about it - almost like being in the ruins of somewhere very ancient; like an old abbey or stately home.

I think industrial buildings have an appeal and grandeur all of their own.

These are the ruins of the old Torr Factory built around 1790 for the Schofield family and originally known as Schofield's Mill. It was destroyed by fire in 1838 and rebuilt with the addition of a steam engine in 1846. Cotton production stopped in 1890 and the mill became a fustian cutting firm until it was again destroyed by fire in 1912. The area alongside the river is known as The Riverside Park and also as 'the Park under the town'. We are hoping to visit again before too long and walk along the Sett Valley trail to the village of Hayfield.

Below is the Torrs Hydro-Electric plant. It is the first community-owned plant in this country and produces enough energy to supply the local Co-op supermarket with any surplus being re-sold to the National Grid. It uses the power of a small weir in the gorge and is known as 'Archie' because it uses a device known as a 'Reverse Archimedes screw'.

In case you were worried about the fish in the rivers getting caught up in the device there is apparently a 'fish-pass' under the steps to the right of the screw turbine.

High Peak - Part Two

2011-06-05T13:44:00.006+01:00

When we arrived in New Mills we parked close to the central station on station road near the river Goyt and walked along the riverside until we came to the Millennium Walkway.

As you walk along the path you pass the only surviving mill, the Torr Vale Mill, which has a wonderful position on the side of the river. This mill held the record for the longest continuous textile production in the country having been a cotton mill for over 200 years when it closed in 2000. A small part of the building still seems to be in some kind of use and there are plans for restoration.

The walkway links the two parts of the Riverside park which now extends for two miles along the Goyt valley. It is suspended on stilts and is attached to the retaining wall of the railway line which carries trains between Sheffield and Manchester. It is also the final link of the Midshires Way a long distance footpath which runs between Stockport and the Ridgeway * long distance walk in Buckinghamshire.

The views of the Torr Valley factory and the river are spectacular as you walk along with the trains passing by above. You really get the feel here of the starts of the industrial revolution when the textile industry moved from being mainly home based to the new factories placed so they could harness the power from the river water.

At the end of the walkway you find the ruins of Rock Valley Mill another of the mills built in the gorge where the Goyt and Sett rivers meet. From here you can walk down to the start of the Sett Valley trail and another of the ruins of a former mill but we diverted up the steps towards the town centre and the Heritage centre.

The cobble stoned pathway gave rise to imaginings of all the mill workers making their way from the town to work at the mills; the sounds of the heavy shoes striking on the stones, their chattering voices the sounds of the mills working and of the other industries attached to them must have been tremendous.

Close to the top of the path, known as Rock Mill Lane, and opposite the Heritage Centre is a viewing point over the valley of the tops of the factory buildings........

.......and of the railway line running above the walkway.

The Heritage Centre is very interesting and tells the story of New Mills as it grew around the mills in the valley and about the building of the railways across the gorge. It is free to go in and there is also an area for coffee and a lot of local tourist information too.

I was particularly taken with the model of the town below showing the working mills across the valleys of the Sett and Goyt rivers and the construction of the Union road viaduct across the gorge.

Before return to the valley floor we had a walk around the town which, as well as covered and open markets, has lots of little shops including a hardware shop, an old fashioned shoe shop with boxes up the walls, a wonderful second hand book shop and the place below which I spotted and have included a photo of as I know it will please one of my friends!

The national office of The Plain English Campaign. I'm sure that they would probably find lots of faults with my babblings on this blog but then I've always been the master of the long sentence and it is very hard to change!

We wandered back down to the river valley to look at the viaducts, the ruins of the Rock Vale Mill and the site of the new Torrs Hydro-Electricity Scheme so I'll be back with part three of this visit.

* this walk runs from Avebury in Wiltshire and passes through Oxfordshire, Hertfordsshire and Berkshire on its way into Buckinghamshire. The Midshires runs from Buckinghamshire through Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Great Manchester - wouldn't it be amazing to have the energy, time and rescources to walk them both together? What wonders you would see on your travels!

High Peak - Part One

2011-06-02T20:20:00.002+01:00

Late last week we decided to visit the town of New Mills to take another look at and photograph the Millennium Walkway. We took a break at Chinley which is a lovely village just beyond Chapel-en-le-Frith. As I took the photo below I turned and saw two goldfinches perched on the cow parsley in the lane; they were too quick for me to photograph We have a pair visit our garden, in fact they are on the nyger seed feeder as I type this post but I only ever see them through the window so it was great to see them close to and out in the open.

Below is a photo of a little architectural gem the Chinley Independent Chapel, which is in fact just outside the village near the smaller hamlet of Chapel Milton.

It is one of the country's oldest non-conformist chapels and was built in 1711 but the group of dissenting worshipers who founded the chapel first started meeting in 1662, led by the Rev William Bagshawe who was known as 'The Apostle of the Peak.'

Apparently it cost about £126, raised mostly by donations from sympathisers, to build and is two stories high. I peered through the windows and inside I could see galleried seating and box pews. There was a huge central pulpit. The two rows of windows let a lot of light into the interior.

In 1908 the chapel was almost completely renovated. The walls were dismantled and rebuilt so the chapel looks the same as it did when first built.

The chapel will celebrate its 300th anniversary this year with a series of events to be held later this month.

Across the graveyard and cemetery is another architectural gem. A bifurcating viaduct which carries two railways lines across the valley.

We'd passed under this viaduct many times on the main road on our way to Glossop or New Mills but had no idea there was an adjoining viaduct or that the delightful little building of the chapel was so close by.

When you actually stop to look instead of passing by it is the most amazing architectural feat.

Our next stop was New Mills, a walk amongst the remains of the old cotton factories in the Torr Valley and a visit to the Heritage Centre. I'll tell you more in my next post.

Photo Scavenger Hunt - May 2011

2011-05-30T15:42:00.007+01:00

Here are my photos for the May scavenger hunt. It has taken me ages to get started this month and I've dashed around at the last minute to get some of them. You can add your photos to the link on Kathy's Postcards from the P.P. blog - here - thanks once again to Kathy for hosting the scavenger hunt and providing us with each month's topics.

A Bicycle - at the side of the River Avon, Stratford-upon-Avon

A Butterfly- I haven't seen any real butterflies for ages so here is one in a ceramic mosaic at the Westport Lake Visitor Centre, at Middleport, Stoke-on-Trent.

A Cartoon Character - I loved The Perishers Comic Strip in the Daily Mirror so here is one of the characters from the TV cartoon made of it - Boot!

A Black and white portrait - one of the ladies from the Tudor Group at Haddon Hall Tudor weekend in early May

A Red Door - on the Lodge house in The Brampton, Newcastle-under-Lyme.

Sign of the Zodiac - Pisces

A street light on Station Walk, Newcastle-under-Lyme.

An emergency vehicle taken in the Market Place, Newcastle-under-Lyme

An interesting local building - The Visitor Centre at Westport Lake, Middleport, Stoke-on-Trent.

Something Blue - a garden ornament in the garden at the Rambler's Retreat, Dimmingsdale, North Staffordshire

Texture - the mossy base of a tree at RSPB Coombes Valley, Bradnop, Leek, Staffordshire

Think Vintage
Some vintage tableware from my china cupboard - inherited from my mother - although the Sooty egg cup was mine when I was little!

At Baddesley Clinton

2011-05-26T09:38:00.000+01:00

After our morning stroll around Stratford we set out to visit a nearby National Trust property, set in the heart of the Forest of Arden, just through the busy village of Knowle at the smaller village of Baddesley Clinton.

Baddesley Clinton was a fortified manor house founded in the 13th century by Thomas de Clinton. The building you see now is from the 15th century, a stone house built by the Brome family, whose coat of arms can be found on the windows inside the hall.

The Brome family added the eastern side of the building which is now the main entrance under the two story gatehouse. The estate passed to the Ferrers family through marriage. Many of the internal structures were added by Henry Ferrers around 1580. The story of the hall and the Ferrers family at this time shows what it was like to be a practising catholic in a protestant society.

The Ferrers family remained members of the catholic church and were heavily fined for their beliefs. The remoteness of the manor house meant that several priests took refuge here and there are three priests holes in the building.

In 1591 there was a meeting of several prominent catholic and jesuit priests and sympathisers all of whom were being sought by the authorities. That night several of them stayed behind after the meeting and at 5a.m. the following morning just as they were starting early morning mass the pursuivants or priest hunters arrived at the door and were kept waiting by a servant long enough for the priests to clear away any evidence of the mass and escape into the secret places within the hall.

As you enter the inner courtyard it all seems so peaceful now after such a turbulent early history.

I was fascinated by the coats of arms on all the windows both from inside and outside.

In the corner, not far from the kitchen table was a priest's hole - I wasn't able to take a photo as it was always surrounded by visitors.

Above some of the earliest coats of arms in stained glass in the leaded windows

The moat surround the house and you can imagine how remote and well protected it must have felt to be staying here in such dangerous times.

In the 19th century the house was occupied by 'The quartet' who were the artist Rebecca Dulcibella Orpen the wife of Marmion Ferrers and her aunt, the novelist, Georgiana, Lady Chatterton and her husband Edward Heneage Derring. After the death of Marmion Ferrers and that of Lady Chatterton, Rebecca married Edward Derring. She was the last surviving member of the quartet to live at the hall until her death in 1923.

After looking around the house and the book barn we went into the gardens which were lovely.

There were plenty of colourful flowers in the borders

The pretty cream flowered plant above was covered with bees - I don't know what it is.

After strolling down to the ponds we sat for a while in the vegetable garden before finally setting off for home.

To Stratford - Day One

2011-05-23T13:16:00.006+01:00

We travelled to Stratford along the Fosse Way. Having collected our friends in Nottingham we drove out towards the East Midlands Airport and then picked up the Fosse Way which we followed nearly all the way to our destination. We passed through some lovely countryside and pretty villages before we stopped for a short time to view the place where the Roman roads of the Fosse Way and Watling Street meet and cross at a place called High Cross, on the Leicestershire/ Warwickshire borders known, in the days of Roman Britain as Venonius.

Down Bumble Bee Lane is a monument placed here in 1712. The Latin inscription on this monument has been translated as 'If traveller, you seek for the footsteps of ancient Romans, here you may behold them, for here their most celebrated ways, crossing each other, extend to the utmost bourne'. The monument appears to be in some one's back garden but it has been left open so you can walk around it. After our short visit here we diverted again from the Fosse Way and stopped for a sandwich at Ryton Gardens.

After our wonderful night at the theatre - I've written a review in the post below - we were up early the next morning for a pre-breakfast walk along the River.

We mingled with joggers, dog walkers and school children in uniform down Swan's Nest Lane and onto the river path opposite the theatre....

and Holy Trinity Church - burial place William Shakespeare.

It was very peaceful at that time of the day!

Then it was back over Clopton bridge towards our hotel - breakfast beckoned!

After breakfast we had a wander around the town and visited a few shops. By now the town had become quite busy. Below are a few photos I took as we walked around.

A view along Chapel Street towards Church Street

Statue of a Jester by James Butler at the top of Henley Street

Shakespeare's Birthplace - from the front.......

and from the back - I peered through the gates to take this photo as we didn't go inside.

It was time to move on as we were going to visit Baddesley Clinton before we began our journey home, I'll be back with photos from there later this week.

2011-05-23T10:33:00.006+01:00

Here is my review of 'The Merchant of Venice' seen last Thursday evening at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon.

After a wonderful meal in the theatre's Rooftop Restaurant we had time to wander around and look at the new parts of the theatre and in the shop before making our way to our seats. The seating was comfortable and close to the new stage so we had a good view of all the action. The inside is totally different than how it used to be with its new thrust stage and tiered seating.

Photos weren't allowed in the auditorium so I can't show you what it looked like.

As we entered the auditorium some of the actors were already on stage in a set resembling a Las Vegas gambling club with loud brassy music, black jack tables, cocktail bars and one-armed bandits. The merchant, Antonio, sits gloomy and desolate at one of the gaming tables, whilst the rest of the club goers are having a great time.

This was, in fact, one of the most unusual and thought provoking productions I have ever seen. The play, directed by Rupert Goold, seemed to me to be split into three distinct sections. The scenes with Antonio, played by Scott Handy and Bassanio, played by Richard Riddell were in and out of the clubs and coffee bars of Las Vegas where ducats became dollars and the character of Launcelot Gobbo was an Elvis impersonator. When Jessica, Shylock's daughter and Lorenzo elope they do so dressed as Batman and Robin.

The 'casket' scenes where Portia's suitors have to pick the right casket (Gold, Silver or Lead) containing her picture to win her and her fortune was turned into a television game show with Portia ( Susannah Fielding) and Nerissa (Emily Plumtree) as the ditsy presenters all platform shoes, short skirts and false smiles for the cameras. Think 'Legally Blond' here and you just about have it.

Then there is Shylock, played so wonderfully by Patrick Stewart, he sometimes seemed as if he were in a different play entirely, distanced from all around him - as I guess he would have been as one of jewish faith in a mainly christian society - he went from cunning money lender to a frail, elderly old man, who wanted his revenge.

The American accents slipped occasionally but the timing was perfect - especially the scene in the lift! The courtroom scene was dramatic with Antonio strung up on a meat hook gasping with fear as Shylock took his knife from his case to take his 'pound of flesh'. I was waiting for 'the quality of mercy' speech from Portia and wondered how it would be done - very well as it happens - and the ending, after the giving away of the rings, was unsettling as Portia, realising that Bassanio will always love Antonio more than her, whorled around the stage on one platformed shoe as she descended into madness accompanied by the Elvis impersonator singing 'Are you lonesome tonight?'.

Back to Reality

2011-05-21T13:32:00.003+01:00

We are now home after our two day trip to see 'The Merchant of Venice' in Stratford-upon-Avon. My head is buzzing with images of all we have seen and done. We have walked where two ancient roads met and crossed at the place once called Venonis (the place of the poison plants), eaten wonderful food in a rooftop restaurant, seen a strangely surreal (but quite entertaining) adaptation of the play mentioned above set, not in 16th century Venice, but in present day Las Vegas and wandered around a mediaeval, moated manor house. I'll be back to report on all later.

Meanwhile I'll leave you with a photo of a swan on the Avon - not the Sweet Swan of Avon - which was the playwright Ben Johnson's name for William Shakespeare - but one of the many seen on our early morning, pre-breakfast, walk along the riverside.

And also one of a living statue seen on our after breakfast stroll around the town centre!