A Wetland Walk

On Saturday we decided to visit Middleton Lakes a fairly new RSPB nature reserve near Tamworth.  I'd been told about it in the summer when we stopped to chat to a young lady who was manning an RSPB stand in the farmyard at Shugborough.  Then, just a few weeks ago, I saw photos of the reserve on Susy's blog Rustic Vintage Country.  The reserve has been constructed in the 400 acres around an old gravel quarry in between the River Tame and the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal.  There is a large car park at the site but first we stopped just a little way up the drive at Middleton Hall to have a look around and take a few photos.

The Hall looked wonderful and the grounds, walled garden and lake are open to the public on certain days between Easter and September. The Hall, run by a charitable trust, seems to be open to group visits only at the moment.  A reason to return again in the Spring to take another look as I love walled gardens.

 Opposite the hall were the former stables which were being refurbished.

 Behind the building above was a courtyard of small craft shops and a cafe where we would return later for lunch.

 

 We set off down to Middleton Lakes where on our walk up to the reserve we crossed the boardwalk at Heron Corner.

After the boardwalk the paths were very muddy so it was a good job we had put our wellies on.

 We crossed over the canal at Fisher's Mill bridge and headed towards the Wetland Trail.

 It was so quiet and peaceful just ourselves and the waterbirds.

The trail is about 3km long, that means nothing to me but I expect it is around a couple of miles if you add the approach to it from the car park.

There were many swans on the lakes. Especially on the small islands at the top end.  We also saw and heard them flying in with the gentle 'thrum,thrum' of their wings so different to the loud, aggressive honking of geese.

We also saw coots, grebes and cormorants. 

It was difficult to take many clear photos in the bright sunlight which was there even though it looks quite overcast in some of these photos.

On the opposite side of the trail the water of the River Tame was moving very quickly and it seemed high along the banks.

The paths close by were very wet as if at some point the water had flooded over.

We thoroughly enjoyed our walk and intend to go back again, perhaps in spring and do the other walks on offer.  The meadow trail and the woodland trail which, on Saturday, was closed off for maintenance.

We followed the path back over the canal to the car park and made our way back to the courtyard at Middleton Hall for a lovely lunch of hot soup served with the largest roll I've ever seen!  I couldn't eat all mine.  Then it was back toward Tamworth and our next destination, the castle, of which more in my next post.

At Baddesley Clinton

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

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.

Back to Reality

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!