No longer possible

A great controversy has opened up locally with the news this week that Trentham Gardens are to charge visitors to walk around the lake. Up until now this area of the estate has been free and, as you will know from many posts throughout this blog, we have walked there often, sometimes a couple of times a week, but from March this will no longer be possible.

The people who own and run the estate have decided that the lakeside will become part of the Italian Gardens area and therefore offer the people paying to visit the gardens more for their money. I suppose I can see the logic of this but where does that leave all the other visitors? The people like us who go there to have a walk followed by a coffee at one of the numerous cafes and perhaps occasionally do a bit of shopping in the retail village? If we can't walk around the lake then we won't be using the shops and cafes, therefore they will lose money, too. How is this going to help encourage visitors if half the retail outlets have to close due to lack of customers? Am I missing something here?

I know we shouldn't take access to these beauty spots for granted and that the amounts needed for upkeep must be huge but surely a small parking charge and donation boxes would be better than taking away from people something that has been available for so long.

I expect that most visitors will be like us and visit once or twice a week for exercise and recreation and I'm afraid that around £5 per person for every visit during this economic downturn will just be prohibitive. For us that would be £20 per week which is just not possible as paying the mortgage and household bills has to come first so our visits will therefore drop from once or twice a week to once or, if possible, twice a year.

What a great shame!

Discovering Things

I've been struggling with Picasa 3 for a few weeks now, for some reason not getting to grips with it and wishing I hadn't downloaded it, then suddenly, today, the penny has dropped. This is what you can do.

Above scenes around Ilam in the Peak District National Park taken on January 1st 2007. Below scenes around the Pembrokeshire Coast, Wales taken July 2006.

I'm off to see what else I can do.

The Big Garden Bird Watch

This year, as in previous years, we will be taking part, this weekend, in the RSPB's Big Garden Bird Watch. This is a huge survey that the RSPB have undertaken for the last 30 years. I think we have been joining in for the last five years. It is interesting to see what kinds of birds visit the garden and how they change over the years.

It is very easy to do, you just record how many of each bird you see over one designated hour at sometime during the weekend. You can download counting sheets from the RSPB and then enter the results on-line afterwards. You can do the survey in your own garden or in your local park. We usually do our watch on the Sunday morning in our own garden.

This year, the Guardian is joining in the fun, with a live blog and short video clips.

When we first started doing the survey we had lots of blackbirds, green finches and the occasional thrush visit the garden. The finches disappeared two or three years ago and we haven't seen a thrush for ages. We still have our regular sparrows, blue and coal tits, collard doves, wood pigeons, starlings and magpies.

New visitors to our garden this year have been Gold Crests who visited in the very cold weather to feed from the spruce trees.

Thanks to Paul for the photos - his camera is far better than mine for taking wildlife close ups, as those of you who visit his blog will know.

Thank You

Amanda at Pandy Potter Bears has generously passed on this award to me. Thank-you, Amanda. Do visit her super blog and have a look at what gorgeous little bears she makes.

Now I have to do the following:- "The authors say that blogs who receive this award are exceedingly charming . This blog invests in proximity in space , time and relationships . These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends .They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandisement . Our hope is that when the ribbons of these awards are cut , even more friendships will be propagated . Please give your kind attention to these writers !Deliver this award to 8 bloggers who will choose 8 more , and include this cleverly written text in to the body of the award . "

Well, I am going to find this so difficult as lots of you already have this award and anyway, how can I choose from all the wonderful blogs on my list? You are all charming and friendly and kind. So, I'm just going to say if you would like the award consider yourself nominated and take it with you with my best wishes.

Thanks again, Amanda, for thinking of me.

Where did the Time Go?

I've just realised it is over a week since I last did a post on here and I've no idea where the time has gone, except that it has probably gone by in a haze of going to work and getting home too tired to achieve much of anything except washing and ironing and a little cooking and cleaning.

I've been enjoying bits and pieces on TV and for once I sat and watched television on a Saturday night which is quite unusual for me. I've become engrossed by the wonderful John Adams on Channel 4. This is a brilliant series so far and I'm really enjoying it. This was followed by a new series on BBC 2, The Victorian Farm, made by the creators of the wonderful Tales from the Green Valley which I thoroughly enjoyed. This one looks as if it will be just as good - and I find that I'm interested in this series and relating it to my family history as it is fascinating to learn how people would have lived and worked through those times. Thirdly and again with family history in mind, having found out in the last couple of years that I have ancestors who moved from Fife and West Lothian into England in the early 19th century, is The History of Scotland again on BBC 2. This is fast moving and presented in a slightly frenetic way by Neil Oliver but it is completely captivating.

I've also been reading; in particular the last two Sunday Philosophy Club novels by Alexander McCall Smith, I loved the first three and ordered the two new ones from the library and have just enjoyed the first one of these 'The Careful Use of Compliments' - I love the gentle thoughfulness of these books and the wonderful descriptions of Edinburgh and in the one just read, of the scottish islands of Islay and Jura.

On Sunday we had a lovely visit from the son of a friend of old and his fiancee who stayed for lunch and told us of their wedding plans.

Last but not least I've been climbing in my family tree again and searching the newly released 1911 Census on line. I've found some interesting things which I'll no doubt report on later on Family Matters but for now I'm still assessing the information I've found.

For some reason I have been thinking a lot about the sea and the sand and walking on the beach and wondering if we will be able to get there this year - I hope we can.

The Beach at Nefyn, Lleyn Peninsula, North Wales, August 2006

So, all in all, it has been a quiet week of pottering with this and that, no walks or visits to speak of but hopefully, weather permitting, we will be able to rectify that this coming weekend.

Footprints in the Snow

Yesterday morning we woke up to a pristine, white blanket of snow covering the garden. I think snow always makes everything look so fragile and beautiful when it first appears to disguise the drab winter brown.

The Bridal Wreath is even whiter than it is when heavy with its springtime flowers; whilst the prickly, unforgiving, Creeping Juniper, the one that scratches your arms and leaves an itchy rash when you try to weed in and around it, seems soft and friendly with its white coverning.

The Kilmarnock Willow stands like a graceful white canopy over the frozen pond, where I found the footprints.

Are they cat footprints? Or are they fox? I think the larger ones may be fox because we hear them every night. Calling with their eerie bark.

Which of them dared to walk on the ice? Last night the fox woke us at midnight barking and calling; I wanted to sleep as I had to get up at 5 o'clock to get ready for work - my first day back after the Christmas and New Year break. In this weather I just wanted to stay in bed cosy and warm, so did the cats. I wonder where the foxes sleep?

New Year's Day

We had been watching the weather closely on New Year's Eve because we knew that we would be venturing out to Nottingham, to have lunch with friends, the next day. Thankfully, as we set out along the A50 the heavy mists of the day before had thinned and by the time we were close to Derby had disappeared completely, although the smoke from the towers of the power station at Radcliffe on Trent was eerily still, cocooned in the dense mist.

Last year I had found out that one of my ancestors, one William Stubbs, had been born at Ruddington in 1754 and as we had set out early we had time for a quick look at the village with the idea of checking it out for a return visit in the summer. We parked in the main car park near the medical centre. It was absolutely freezing so we wrapped up warm to take a short walk around the village. There were quite a few others out, taking in the fresh, crisp air some popping into the local supermarket for their newspapers, bread and milk.

We passed the old bakehouse all locked up for the day but with someone outside peering through the window with the hope that it may soon open.

Our goal was the Framework Knitters' Museum, just to look at the outside and to find out where it was. Ruddington was a centre of stocking making and many of the buildings reflect this.

You can see in the photo below the high windows at the top of the building which would have given extra light to the people working on their frames inside the building. Behind the walls is a complex of frameshops, cottages, outbuildings and a chapel where the knitters lived, worked and worshipped during the 19th century. It all looks really interesting and we vowed to return when it was open again in the spring or summer.

This lucky village has another museum housed in what looks like an old school building. Apparently it has reconstructed Edwardian shops inside. So now there are two reasons for a return visit.

We had a wander around the church yard but by now it was getting very cold. I didn't expect to find any relevant inscriptions in there because my ancestors would have been too poor to afford gravestones and even if there had been one from the mid 18th century it would have been unusual for it to survive. Also, my ancestor moved on, because his children were born in Wymeswold, Leicestershire and their children in Long Clawson, Leicestershire. Not so very far away as the crow flies and a perfectly feasible move for those seeking work.

Ruddington is a lovely village full of historic buildings and with a shopping street full of little shops, like a butchers, ironmongers and wonder of wonders it still has a post office.

Here are some more photos of the interesting buildings....

A row of early 20th century houses

More high windows reflecting the village's history.

By now our toes and fingers were cold, it was time to move on to the warmth and welcome at our friends' home.

Happy New Year and Thanks

Firstly, thanks to all those who answered my 'help' post about changing from the old style 'Template' blog to the newer 'Layout' blog - I decided to finally take the bull by the horns and give it a go - and I'm still here, all my archives back to 2005, posts and photos were saved - I just had to re-do the links in the side bar which took all of this morning and I'm now back to normal but with the extra facilities that the 'Layout' format has to offer - I can now add far more and play with all the gagets and widgits.

Secondly, thanks for all your Christmas and New Year wishes - I really love to receive your comments and e-mails.

Thirdly, I'm wishing A Happy, Healthy and Peaceful New Year to everyone who pops by to read this blog. All my best wishes for 2009.

Field Walking

Today we ventured out for a short walk to blow away the cobwebs of Christmas and to breath in some fresh country air. The fields reminded me of the first two lines of one of my favourite Christmas carols*

In the Bleak Mid-Winter, frosty wind made moan, Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;

I know the next line is: Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow and that this morning it was just a very heavy frost, but it was cold, it was clear and it was incredibly invigorating. It was also very quiet and peaceful just the kind of simple and contemplative day we needed after this week's festivities.

*In the Bleak Mid Winter - words by Christina Rosetti, 1872 music by Gustav Holst, 1906.

The Festive Season

Stay healthly, be happy and enjoy yourselves this Christmas.

Here is the most gorgeous book I received from Sal of Sal's Snippets in her 'give-away'.
Thank-you, Sal.

Something New

After work one afternoon last week we ventured to Trentham Gardens to buy various nuts and spices from the Julian Graves shop in the retail village. I'd heard that there had been a new addition to the attractions there but hadn't seen it.

The 60 metre wheel cost 6 million pounds to construct and put in place and it will be there for a year. It will offer panoramic views of the Italian Gardens and surrounding countryside and the owners of the Trentham Estate hope it will give an extra boost to their visitor figures. It certainly wouldn't have given many views at all on the day we visited as it was grey and misty with a constant, dampening, drizzle of rain. The Stoke City football club is its main sponsor and therefore it has been christened The Potters' Wheel.

It has 42 pods and will carry 336 people on the rides which last about 13 minutes. There weren't many takers on such a grey day and most of the pods were empty but it's new and people need to realise it is there. I hope it will be a great success in the spring and summer, but given the economic downturn and the way people are struggling, I wonder.

A Quick Question - help needed!

I've been wondering recently about changing this blog from the template format to the layout format. As I've been blogging here since March 2005 I'm still on the template format but I'm noticing more and more what the layout format has to offer. There are so many pretty blogs around at the moment with lots of lovely additions that I can't put on mine because I'm not on the layout format. I also have some followers whom I can't show on this blog. When I try to add them the instructions are to change to the layout format but it says that in doing so I may lose some changes. I'm struggling to understand what that means and fearful that if I press the key to change I may loose everything. The other alternative is to start a new blog but I don't really want to do that as I want to keep this one all together. Has anyone changed from the template to the layout format and if so - how did it go and what, if anything, did you lose along the way? I'd really like some advice on this.

It's beginning to feel like Christmas

It has been another busy week trying to cram everything in around work. A week of making gifts, like little hearts to hang on the tree filled with crushed cinamon to give a seasonal aroma.

Added to these Paul's homemade ginger and almond biscuits bagged and ready to go.

Yesterday a drive towards Chesterfield stopping off at the churchyard at Scarcliffe with a holly wreath for Mum and Dad's grave - we could hear the carols being sung at the Sunday morning service in the church as we walked quietly by.

Then it was time for coffee and warm mince pies at a friend's beautiful home where we sat chatting and catching up on news whilst watching the birds on her feeders and the pheasants on her lawn, visiting from the farmer's fields nearby. It was my first mince pie this year and I forgot to make a wish.

After a lovely lunch with my sister and brother in law, more pleasant chatter and exchange of cards and presents to put under the tree, we drove back via Matlock and Ashbourne where we stopped for a little walk around to look at the lights in the town centre. Just us and a few others feeling the magic of the lights in the bitterly cold night air.

Soon it was time to head for for home where my kind and thoughtful neighbour had been in to feed the cats, draw the curtains and put on the lights to welcome us home. What a perfect day, during which, for a short while, I forgot all the worries about how to keep paying the mortgage whilst the house languishes, still for sale, our savings dwindle and the work dries up after Christmas.

Christmas Shopping

It occured to me last week that I actually ought to do something about preparing for Christmas; I've been avoiding the issue for ages but suddenly, I had the feeling that I should probably start the shopping. With this in mind, one day last week after work, I walked up into the City Centre to see if I could make a start. I struggled around WHSmith but did manage to get what I wanted and also queued for stamps in the Post Office - now in Smiths. I dashed into M&S but couldn't face the rugby scrum at the checkouts so left there empty handed and foolishly entered Woolworth - I took five steps in saw the sea of bodies and turned round, walked out and caught the bus home, with the intention of trying again the next day. Three days later I still hadn't done any more towards present buying so, yesterday, we decided to see what we could find elsewhere. Our first stop was Amerton Farm near Uttoxeter.

It had been ages since we visited and there were many changes but so many lovely, pretty and festive things to look at in both their garden centre and gift shop; some things very expensive but others at a surprisingly modest price. Here we managed to buy small gifts for all my little great nieces and nephews and gained a couple of ideas for the adults too. I began to relax a little knowing that we had made a good start.

This place is interesting at any season with plenty of space for everyone and lots of things for children to do including a play barn and farm animals. There are lots of smaller shops too including a jewellery shop, pottery and bakery.

I couldn't resist taking the photo below of the cake and sweet shop - what great cakes in the window. Surely they can't be real cakes on display? The designs must be achievable though!

There is also a steam train enjoyed just as much by mums and dads as it is by the children.

We then set out towards Rugely stopping at the Wyvern Garden Centre at Wolseley Bridge to see what we could find. As we were wandering around we spotted Father Christmas buying his Christmas cards at the R.N.L.I. charity stall in the entrance hall. He saw a little boy coming towards him so turned and asked him what he wanted for Christmas. In the split second it took the boy to answer my mind, bathed in nostalgia, thought - a teddy bear, a red train, a jig-saw puzzle and a Christmas stocking full of sweets, nuts, chocolate pennies and tangerines - the words X-Box and Nintendo whisked me quickly back to the 21st century - I only hope that those things bring as much magic to the little boy as the less technological presents did to me over 50 years ago. We moved into the centre and managed to find a couple more present here.

Next to the garden centre, which is close to both the River Trent and the Trent and Mersey Canal is Wolseley Gardens, run by the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust. After a picnic lunch in the warmth of the car we had a walk around. The lakes were frozen and looked beautiful in the sunshine. Water birds were standing and slithering on the ice and ducks were flying overhead looking for somehwere less icy to settle, perhaps unnerved by the souind of the clay pigeon shooting coming from the nearby Shugborough estate.

The river, too look cold and icy. There were plenty of birds flying around and gathering at the feeding stations and bird tables. Including this festive little fellow.

Just before this photo was taken of the antiques barn across the road from the gardens a group of about 30 ramblers, all dressed in red with santa hats or deer antlers on their heads marched by on their way to walk along the canal side.

All of a sudden I felt slightly festive and a lot more positive; perhaps all the preparations for Christmas wouldn't be so stressful after all.

Mist Over Mow Cop

As we left the A34 and drove up the steep incline towards the village of Mow Cop the mist deepened, the air was chill and the trees and hedges glistened white on the roadside and in front gardens. It was magical. We approached the 'castle' and entered the car park, just us and a couple of other hardy souls who were already parked and clambering to the top of the imposing mound.

The ruin was shrouded in mist and the whole vista was so atmospheric. We made our way slowly and gingerly over the frozen grass and eventually reached the top. It was on this hilltop in 1588 that a beacon was erected to give warning of possible invasion by the Spanish Armada, linking lights around the country, between the Wrekin in Shropshire and Alderley Edge in Cheshire.

The ruins, now managed by the National Trust, were once a folly or summer house built by Randle Wilbraham of nearby Rode Hall. He had the mock-gothic castle built in 1754 to enhance the eastern view from his grand house at Scholar Green. From this vantage point on a clear day you can see for miles in all directions to the Berwyn Mountains in Wales, the Shropshire hills and the Peaks of Derbyshire. You can also see quite clearly the huge round saucer of Sir Bernard Lovell's Joddrell Bank.

Yesterday, though, all we could see were the sparkling white trees in the valley and the distant tower of the church; also the unusual garden wall structure of one of the houses under the hill. This is certainly a magical and mystical place. It was here on the 31st May 1807 that Hugh Bourne of Stoke and his friend William Clownes of Burslem ventured, with many like minded people wishing to return to a simpler ways of worship, to form the Primitive Methodist movement. This was to be the first of many mass gatherings on the hill.

At the base of the mound is a stone which commemorates this event. The inscription is as follows:-

"To the Glory of God. A camp meeting near this spot on May 31st 1807, began the religious revival led by Hugh Bourne and William Clowes known as Primitive Methodism. Unveiled by the President of the Methodist Conference May 16th 1948"

As we descended the hill the air had become really cold and dank; people were hurrying back to the car park and the warmth of their cars. It was time to head for home.

November Skies

Although I've been getting up and going to work in the dark for the last couple of weeks I'm usually home about an hour before dusk and this week I've been sky watching.

The colours are spectacular and ever changing. In fact, they change so quickly that by the time I've run upstairs, grabbed a camera and got out into the garden they are completely different but still very beautiful.

I love to watch them change from pale gold, to soft pink and then turn more vividly intense before the sun finally disappears and the early evening darkness makes an appearance.

I think this is one of the most wonderful shows nature offers us and we can watch, for free, from our own back gardens.