Trains, Boats, Buses, Trams and other things

We've just been a way for a few days break in Teeside and County Durham.  Below are a few of the places we visited.  Our journey started in rain and ended in hot sunshine.  

 Low cloud at Holme Moss near Holmfirth on our way up into Yorkshire.

High Temperatures on the M1 between Sheffield and Chesterfield on our way home.

It was good to see new and old remembered places.

 The famous Betty's Tea Rooms in Harrogate, Yorkshire.

 The Pump Room Museum in Harrogate.

 Ripon Cathedral in Yorkshire.

 Ripon Workhouse Museum.

 Durham Cathedral from the riveside walk.

Durham riverside

 St Hilda's Church, Headland, Hartlepool

 Andy Cap Sculpture, Headland, Hartlepool

HMS Trincomalee at the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Hartlepool.

 'Puffing Billy' at Beamish Open Air Museum.

Vintage bus at the Beamish Open Air Museum

The beach at Saltburn-on-Sea, Yorkshire.

I'll be back with more on some of the places we visited in further posts.

Scavenger Photo Hunt - June

We've been away for a few days so I'm a bit late joining in with this month's Scavenger Photo Hunt organised by Kate at 'I Live, I Love, I Craft, I am Me' blog.

Words for June are:-

Notice, Spotted, starts with a K, Cobweb, Step, My Own Choice

Notice - I didn't notice that a bee had landed on the flower as I took this photo at Trentham Gardens, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.

Spotted - 'Have you spotted anything yet, Mildred?
'Just lots of strange creatures pointing things at us, Maurice'
Photo taken at Peak Wildlife Park near Leek, Staffordshire on Sunday 16th June.

Starts with a K - Kingfishers.  Garden decorations for sale at The Staffordshire Wildlife Trust Headquarters, at Wolesley Bridge, near Rugeley in Staffordshire.

Cobweb- Spider and web sculpture at The Staffordshire Wildlife Trust Nature Reserve, Wolesley.

Step- if you step off the step your foot lands in the rill of water running underneath.

 My own choice - Black Ruffled Lemur discovers camera bag or perhaps it wants to share the umbrella.  Another photo taken at Peak Wildlife Park.

Click on the link below to find other bloggers taking part in this month's photo hunt.

I'll catch up with all your Scavenger Hunt posts over the next few days.

Ashford in the Water Flower Festival

Yesterday was remarkable in that it was a day without rain.  We dropped into the pretty village of Ashford in the Water in Derbyshire on our way to meet up with friends at the nearby village of Great Longstone where we had lunch at the White Lion Inn.

Ashford was busy with visitors along its colourful and welcoming bunting festooned streets. Holy Trinity church had a flower festival but first we visited a couple of the well dressings in the centre of the village.

This smaller one was at the top of Fennel street opposite the car park.  It is known as top pump well. Well Dressings feature in many Derbyshire Villages throughout the summer. This is an ancient tradition the origin of which is unknown. Some sources think the tradition stems from a pagan ceremony of thanking the gods for the gift of water.  Others that it may have been started in the 14th century after the Black Death when people made thanks for clean, fresh water. 

The well dressings are constructed upon a background of a clay board and decorated with seasonal and local flower petals, leaves and other organic natural materials. 

The one above commemorates 70 years of National Parks and shows walkers crossing the River Dove using the famous stepping stones at Dove Dale.

More details of the walkers crossing the River Dove.

 The theme of the church Flower Festival was 'Out and About in the Peak District.'  All aspects of life, work and activities for visitors were portrayed in some wonderful and imaginative displays.  I didn't get to photograph all the displays as the church was busy and some were in dark corners but here are a few.

Rambling by Sarah Winkworth-Smith.  The Peak District is the birthplace of rambling following the mass trespass on Kinder Scout in 1932.

Camping by Hilary Bartlett

Arkwright's Mill by Janine Frost

Stately Homes - Haddon Hall by Angela Warren.  There was also a display for Chatsworth House but it was right under a window flooded with light and my photo didn't turn out well.

Cycling by Hannah Gregory-Campeau

Village Cricket by Jan Gibson

Hospitality by Rachel Kaunhoven

All names, dates and notes taken from the Flower Festival leaflet produced by Holy Trinity Church, Ashford in the Water.

Here is a little more about the Well Dressings from the church website - link.

Looking Back

A couple of months ago, after we had visited Clumber Park and Sherwood Forest which I wrote about here and here, we moved on and spent a couple of days in the town of Newark, Nottinghamshire.

 I thought I'd go back and look at my photos and share some of them with you. I must have been saving them for a rainy day.  In these photos you can see how lovely the weather was the week before Easter.

This photo was taken in the early evening sunlight.  The ruins of Newark Castle stand proudly at the side of the River Trent which flows through the town.

There are lovely gardens on either side of the castle and river.  The castle itself has a colourful history and has many nicknames including 'Guardian of the Trent' and 'Gateway to the North' It was here that King John died on 19th October 1216 just over a year after he had signed the Magna Carta.

Above the last of the evening photos taken from across the river.

Next day we were back to look at the castle from the gardens on the town side of the river.  Luckily it was still bright and warm.  The gardens were very well kept.

During the English Civil War Newark was a Royalist stronghold and both town and castle withstood three sieges by Parliamentarian forces finally surrendering in 1646 on the orders of King Charles I.

Parliamentarian forces gave the order the destroy the castle but these were never fully carried out as an epidemic of plague hit the ravaged town.  Gradually stones were removed from the castle and these turn up in houses and garden around the town. 

The Manor of Newark and the castle belonged to Henrietta Maria the widow of King Charles I until 1669.  The castle gardens were opened in 1887 and in 2000 a Heritage Lottery grant was used to refurbish the gardens and add a bandstand.

Newark Market Place with with the church of St Mary Magdalene in the background.

St Mary Magdalene is a very elegant church and its spire can be seen above the rooftops from all over the town.  This spire is recorded as being the tallest in the county of Nottinghamshire at 236 feet high.

We had a quick peek inside but didn't linger as it was Maundy Thursday and the church was being prepared for the following day's services.

Above and below a few glimpses of the church's interior.

Below, the font

 
 The lower part dates from the 15th century the bowl from 1660.

 A great view of the Market Place taken from a window in the Town Hall Museum and Art Gallery. Note the building at the corner of the market place which is the 15th century frontage of the Old White Hart Inn.

 Another view of the church spire over the roof tops.  this was taken from a window in the National Civil War Centre Museum.

I'll come back to both museums in a later post.

Simple Joys

Five simple things that have made me smile in a week of rain, more rain and yes, even more rain. It's hard not to feel slightly fretfull and depressed about the ways of the world in such dire weather, hence the need of simple pleasures to smile about.

 Strawberries from the garden.  In spite of the rain the strawberries have been ripening.  As soon as they show any signs of red we bring them in, before the slugs get to them and ripen them in the kitchen window.

A bunch of Sweet Williams from the supermarket.  I couldn't resist them as they were such a reasonable price and our plants in the garden are nowhere near as big as yet.

Both male and female bullfinch visit the feeders in the garden.  We see two pairs who visit the garden feeders several times a day. One pair always together sometimes accompanied by another female and then another male will visit at odd times. 

A lovely red poppy.  We have loads of self seeded poppies in the garden this year, I've never seen so many.  Some are pink and purple but others are this dark red.

I spotted these creatures dotted around and about in the flower beds at Trentham Gardens when we walked there late last week.  They made me smile.