Monday Miscellany

It was so beautiful yesterday, the sky was bright and the sun was warm.  We spent all morning and some of the afternoon pottering in the garden.  Pruning bushes, taking the old heads off Sedum and Hydrangeas.  Pulling up the already encroaching weeds and brambles.

 

There was quite a lot of wildlife in the garden 

 We spotted a Comma butterfly

The sage was full of Ladybirds

 Both of these are seven spot ladybirds

The frogs were croaking in the pond;  every time I looked into the pond there was plenty of activity, there must have been about ten frogs in there and a couple of newts too.

 This friendly frog allowed itself to be photographed

By the end of the day there were four areas of frog spawn.

 The heather was alive with bees, so hard to photograph.  I may have caught one in the photo below.

 It was good to get out in the garden and feel the warmth of the sun as we worked.

I did take half an hour out of the garden to make some scones for afternoon tea I thought we deserved them and they were lovely with crab apple jelly.

 

Five on Friday

It's Friday so I'm joining in with  Amy at Love Made my Home for this week's Five on Friday.  Click on the link at the bottom of this post to find others who are joining in too.

Just a quick post this week and with photos looking back to a short local walk we took couple of weeks ago.

Five scenes taken along the Caldon Canal at Cheddleton, Staffordshire.

1.  We walked from the station as we had parked nearby so I could get a photo of a line for the February Photo Scavenger Hunt.  The station is on the Churnet Valley Steam Railway which runs between here and Frogall and sometimes now going further on to the stone quarry at Cauldon Low.

2.  This is the road bridge over the canal which leads to the station. It is bridge number forty four.  The red sign is for The Boat Inn Public House which stands on the canal the other side of the bridge, where the boats are moored.

3.  The Old Dock House which was used as a Methodist Chapel.  Sunday services were held here from the 1790s for quite a few years.  It was restored by the British Waterways Board in 1985.

4.  Some of the industrial buildings around the Flint Mill, to the left you can see the Victorian Cottage Museum.  I remember going inside the cottage, which was the Miller's cottage, quite a few years ago when we visited the mill.  It was summer then and the mill was open to visitors and there was a canal barge moored outside which belonged to a travelling theatre company.

5.  The Flint Mill has been awarded a Grade II* listing from English Heritage and is an interesting collection of buildings showing the importance of industry in the Churnet Valley where the river, canal and railway run side by side.  Early references to the mill indicate that it started life as a corn mill but in the 18th century it changed its occupation to the grinding of flint. At the same time the canal was built and the calcined flint produced by the mill was used in the production of earthenware in the nearby pottery factories.  Josiah Wedgwood, whose factory at Etruria was at one end of the Caldon canal, had perfected the production of creamware resulting in lighter coloured pottery ware becoming fashionable.

Five more photos taken along the way.

Have a lovely weekend everyone

Monday Miscellany

It was such a lovely morning we decided to walk at Trentham today instead of our usual Tuesday.  The sun was bright, making it impossible to see at times but it was so lovely to feel the warmth of it on our backs and to see the blue sky.

Today's walk was all about light and shade, reflections and shadows.

 As we walked around the garden, the spring flowers were out.  Buzzards wheeled over head, cormorants and herons flew over too on their way to the lake,  and the crocus geese made their way across the grass. 

 More crocus under the trees

 Such a beautiful colour

 

Daffodils were hard to photograph in the bright sunshine but lots of them are in flower now.

 The reflections of the colours were so vivid

 Planting was underway in the kitchen garden

 The trees looked wonderful against the blue sky

Paul walked in front of me as I was taking this photo but I've left him in as in his warm, beige coloured hat he looks a bit like a fourth mushroom. 

 Everything looked so clear and sharply defined in the sunny brightness.

 I love the shadow of the head of the goose on the right reflected on the flank of the goose on the left.

 The beginnings of the new stumpery using the roots of the trees that have been removed for the refurbishment of the garden taking it back to how it was when designed by Capability Brown.

 The trees themselves were looking wonderful in the glorious light.

 Two hours passed by so quickly.

 What a lovely morning it was!

Five on Friday

It's Friday so I'm joining in with  Amy at Love Made my Home for this week's Five on Friday.  Click on the link at the bottom of this post to find others who are joining in too.

The last week has seen the transition from February to March.  There is an old saying 'March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb' well the 1st of March wasn't very lion like although the day after certainly was with lashing rain, sleet, snow, hail and howling, branch snapping winds.  Definitely a day to stay indoors.  This week will see five notable or seasonal events and these will be at the heart of my Five on Friday this week.

1.  Monday 29th February - Leap Year

Another old saying we learnt at school and which I still remember today is  'Thirty Days hath September, April, June and November all the rest have thirty one, except February which has twenty eight days clear and twenty nine each leap year.'  People born on the 29th February only have a proper birthday day during leap year and they are known as Leaplings.  During my lifetime I've only known one person born on the 29th February and he always celebrates his birthday on 1st March, except in leap years of course.  

 2. Tuesday 1st March - White Rabbits

The rabbit in the photo above is not a white rabbit of course, but is an extremely charming rabbit photographed a few years ago on one of our walks and he or she seems to fit in here.

 

When we were children we always had to remember to say 'White Rabbits' on 1st of March and it also had to be the first thing you said on waking up, the reasons why are lost in the mists of time but it was something to do with nice surprises.  There was another saying which relates to the first of any month 'Pinch, Punch it's the first of the month'.  I don't remember this one as a child but it was probably around although I'm sure I'd remember lots of pinching and punching in the playground so it wasn't as well known as 'White Rabbits.' 

 

3.  Also Tuesday 1st March  - St David's Day

St David's Day is a day of huge celebration for anyone from Wales.  St David (Dewi Sant) is the patron Saint of Wales.  He was born in Caerfai in Pembrokeshire around 500AD.  Studying under St Paulinus in Cardigan he founded twelve monasteries in his lifetime.  It is thought he died on 1st March 589 and his remains are buried in St David's Cathedral in the small city of St David's in Pembrokeshire.  Above is a photo of St David's Cathedral taken when we visited in the summer of 2006.

4. Thursday 3rd March - World Book Day

  Books play a large part in my life and always have since early childhood.  I like nothing better than to curl up with a good book.  I have happy memories of the books I read as a child and of my visits to the local library to choose books to take home to read and I still love visiting our local library to choose books to read.  One of my favourite books, in fact possibly my favourite,  is 'A Month in the Country' by JL Carr.  I think I've written several posts about it over the years and I still re-read it often.  I last read it after we'd been to see a wonderful stage adaptation, by the North Country Theatre, a couple of years ago so it is due for another re-read soon.  I loved the film they made of it, over twenty years ago now, with Colin Firth and Kenneth Brannagh in the lead roles, as it was so true to the book. It is just a shame that no DVDs of the film are available.  I wonder if they will ever remake it with new actors in the rolls?  Another favourite book (and film) and due for another re-read soon is The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim but I think I'll wait until April for that. Another book I love and re-read often is The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey and I've also written about this one in several posts about Richard III.

 

5. Sunday 6th March - Mothering Sunday

or Mother's Day, here in the UK.  I lost my Mum in May 1999, she was born in 1916 so would have been 100 this year had she lived.  I'll be thinking about her on Sunday.

 Have a lovely weekend everyone

 

St Giles Church, Hartington

As promised in my Five on Friday post last week a bit more about the church in the village of Hartington in Derbyshire.

The foundations of the present church were laid in the early 13th century and the building was completed c. 1250.  It is thought that there was an earlier Anglo Saxon church on the same site.  The tower dates from the 14th century and the walls of the church were made higher sometime in the 15th century.

There were a few gargoyles on the outside of the church some of them were restored in the 19th century and have been adapted from waterspouts to downspouts.

Inside the church was warm and light with the morning sun streaming through the windows.

One of the most interesting things for me were the fragments of wall paintings in quite a few places.  Above and below are two of the larger sections remaining high up on the walls of the nave. 

These remnants were restored in 1985, the restorer, Anna Hulbert, managed to identify some of the texts.  Also identified were at least two royal coats of arms, those of James I and Charles II.

The 14th century font stands in the south transept where it was moved in 2007 from the base of the tower.  It was apparently 'garishly coloured'  but has been cleaned and returned to its original stone.  The south transept used to house the Biggin Chapel there are quite a few interesting items to be found here.

Below the south window is the tomb of a 13th century lady holding a heart in her hands.  This tomb was found and moved from beneath the nave in 1858.  Her identity is a mystery.

On the wall opposite the window is a base drum  which originally belonged to The Hartington Volunteers, a militia company founded in 1875.  The volunteers were later incorporated into The Sherwood Forresters regiment.

In the south window itself  is a roundel depicting the Star of David.  The glass is older than the fabric of the present church and it is thought to have come from the earlier church which stood on the same site.

I hope you have enjoyed having a little look around both inside and out.

With thanks to the unknown writer of the little church guide book we purchsed for the information I have used in this post.