I've been trying to focus on small things whilst all around me a world I no longer recognise or understand seems to be in turmoil. I find that it's hard to find anything worthy to say here when there is so much uncertainty and suffering everywhere. I could rant about my frustrations with politics but this isn't and has never been a political blog so therefore, to quote the wonderful Alan Bennett, I'm just going to 'keep on keeping on' and try and record the things that I have been doing and seeing around here and elsewhere over the last few weeks and hope that is okay with everyone.
The Wednesday before the Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK we travelled to meet friends for lunch at Wightwick Manor near Wolverhampton. We all wanted to see the new gallery which is now a permanent home for the De Morgan Collection. No photographs of the exhibition but it is a wonderful collection of the ceramics of William De Morgan and paintings by his wife Evelyn De Morgan.
The collection was founded by Evelyn's sister Wilhelmina Stirling. After her death in 1965 the De Morgan Foundation was established. Below are a couple of links to follow to find out more
Guardian Article/National Trust Page
Scenes from Wightwick Manor
Guardian Article/National Trust Page
On the Saturday of Bank Holiday weekend we visited Little Moreton Hall to see a new exhibition on the history of sleep in Tudor times
The exhibition showed how people approached sleep in those times. Their beliefs, fears, ways of sleeping and what they ate and drank particularly before bedtime and also remedies to combat sleeplessness.
There was also a wonderful exhibition of replica Tudor ceramics
Our garden has also been the focus of attention recently and I've been constantly pulling out grass and trying to keep the wood avens and buttercups at bay, they seem to have taken over this year. The Chive flowers, Geums, Valerian and Hardy Geraniums have been covered in bees, I've never seen so many at one time. We've had a wonderful array of birds feeding at the feeders including Gold Finch, Robins, Green Finch, Blue tits, Bull finch and loads of starlings and sparrows. Mrs Fox visits every evening looking for scraps and one night, just as dusk was falling, she honoured us with bringing her three little cubs to visit, it was lovely to see them.
Last Wednesday we headed out to Matlock Bath to visit the little Chapel I featured in my last post. We also walked along the River Derwent into Matlock through the park and back along the main road taking in a mooch around the antique centre on the way back to the car. We stopped at the newly refurbished National Stone Centre on the way back for a late lunch at their new cafe which is called Gastro Pod. The food was delicious, quite pricey but the portions were huge so we shared a Veggie Club Sandwich which was quite sufficient for us. I'd left my camera in the car so can't share a photo with you.
