Five Little Things

 We've been watching the Great Crested Grebes on the lake for the past few weeks.

Nest building

Sitting on eggs

Catching Food.  Lets hope we see some chicks soon.  I love their stripey, humbug appearance and the way they travel on a parent's back. 

Family History

I've been finding more family history on line.  I knew about this family but didn't have details of where they lived in- between my great great grandfather Alexander Young being born in Loughborough, Leicestershire and later census details of the family in Ilkeston, Derbyshire.  It seems he married my great great grandmother Rebecca Webb in Lenton, Nottingham.  They married on 1st March 1857.

On the 1861 Census the couple are living at 145 Little John Street, St Anne's, Nottingham.  Alexander was a tailor and you can see from the other entries that most people worked in the textile industries in Nottingham famous for both lace and hosiery.  Alexander was the son of John Young who moved to Loughborough from Kirkaldy, in Fife, Scotland some time in the 1820s.  John, my 3x great grandfather, married Maria Parkinson, my 3 x great grandmother, at All Saints Church, Loughborough in 1826. Ten years later they had  five of their children, including my great great grandfather Alexander, baptised at the Dead Lane Primitive Methodist Chapel in Loughborough on the same day.

In the garden the sweet peas are doing well, as are the strawberries.

Also in the garden a very relaxed fox.  

They visit early morning and late evening.  We thought they only had one cub this year as they were bringing one cub at a time into the garden but last night both parents arrived with two cubs.  Apparently they do separate the cubs to keep them safe from predators when they are very young.

It was too dark to take any photos of the cubs but it was a joy to watch them run and play around the garden.

As well dabbling in family history I've been reading.  I took these two books back to the library this morning.  Both read and enjoyed.  I did wonder about the new Elly Griffiths and if I would be able to read it as it has a time travel theme and I don't usually read anything that is time travel, fantasy or science fiction but I stuck with it and did enjoy it in the end as the writing is so good.

After leaving the library we popped into the Emma Bridgewater factory shop for coffee, the garden at the side of the factory was looking lovely.

There were some beautiful roses and the ones below caught my eye.

So pretty.

Well I think that is more or less a Friday five.  I'll be back in June.

Hopton Hall Gardens

On Friday we'd arranged to meet a couple of friends at Hopton Hall, Carsington, Derbyshire.  The hall is open through July specifically for the rose gardens.  We've been several times when they open in February for their Snowdrop walks but never at this time of year. 

It was certainly much warmer than our February visits.  I think we chose the hottest day of July so far.  We had coffee from the 'pop-up' cafe before we followed the trail into the gardens.

We sheltered under the cover of this lovely summer house a couple of times during our visit.

 

The rose gardens were looking good although some of the roses were going over.  Others were looking gorgeous in the sunshine.

Above a small section of the 'crinkle crankle' wall. Some of it was hidden by scaffolding.  It is best viewed from outside as you pass by in the car towards the entrance.  No photos as it was a narrow road and quite busy as people arrived to view the gardens.

I liked the raised beds on one of the terraces.  These looked new.

The back of the hall.  Holiday accommodation is offered here.  

There are two ponds, this is the smaller one.  Damselflies and Dragonflies were hovering over the surface of the water.  The Damselflies an iridescent blue.

It was a lovely afternoon full of chatter but the heat was getting to all of us.  We moved on for a late lunch at The Miners Arms in Carsington village where most people were sitting outside in the sunshine, inside it was cool.  As we left children were coming out of school, excitedly rushing to the nearby play area on the village green.  I guess it was the last day of the summer term and they were filled with the thoughts of days of freedom stretching ahead of them.   I remember that feeling.  Do you?

Planes and Roses

On Wednesday we had a day out and about.  The weather stayed dry until we were driving home when it absolutely cascaded down and the windscreen wipers were on overdrive most of the way.  

Firstly we visited the RAF Museum at Cosford.  There were lots of changes since our last visit.  I didn't take many photos this time.

Hawker Hind Trainer 

 

 

Boulton and Paul Defiant

 Wellington Bomber

Bomber Crew, the crew member with the dog was a rear gunner.

Spitfire PRXIX 1945

We then moved on just a mile or so to David Autstin Roses. It's really just behind Cosford's air field but you have to drive round to get there. 

  It was very busy so we didn't stay too long. 

I took photos of some of the roses that caught my eye.  It was hard to take general views as there were lots of visitors and no space in the cafe or garden for lunch.  It's a very popular place.

The Lion Garden although I didn't take a photo of the lion statue that gives the garden its name.

Renaissance Garden

 

 One of the avenues in the long garden.

I love all the different names of the Roses - Port Sunlight where we visited a few years ago when we stayed on the Wirral.

 

These smell of orange blossom.
 

The Poet's Wife has a lemon scent.

Tottering-by-Gently.  I really liked this one especially the name.  I feel I'm just tottering by lots of things at the moment.  Named after a cartoon by Annie Tempest which is apparently in the Country Life magazine.

Shropshire Lass - well we were in Shropshire- is a rose from 1968, the blooms fade gently from pale blush to pure white.

 

Gertrude Jekyll - a firm favourite with many including me.
 

Emily Bronte - such a delicate colour.

Sir John Betjeman - such a lovely colour.  I share a birthday with him.  Day and month not year of course.

Boscobel - had to include this as that's where we were off to next - it's just a few miles down a long and narrow but straight road.  We often call them Roman roads, perhaps they were.

Boscobel House

I think it deserves a separate post.