Circle of the Year

The Last of Autumn

2009-11-01T07:53:00.014Z

THE LAST OF AUTUMN

Come, bleak November, in thy wildness come:

Thy mornings clothed in rime, thy evenings chill;

E’en these have power to tempt me from my home,

E’en these have beauty to delight me still.

Though Nature lingers in her mourning weeds,

And wails the dying year in gusty blast,

Still added beauty to the last proceeds,

And wildness triumphs when her bloom is past.

Though long grass all the day is drench’d in dew,

And splashy pathways lead me o’er the greens;

Though naked fields hang lonely on the view,

Long lost to harvest and its busy scenes;

Yet in the distance shines the painted bough,

Leaves changed to every colour ere they die,

And through the valley rivers widen now,

Once little brooks which summer dribbled dry.

This is an extract from a lovely poem by John Clare who wrote a great deal of exquisite nature poetry filled with wonderful descriptions of the pastoral scenes that he knew and loved so well. I started doing extracts from his Shepherd's Calendat earlier this year then was overtaken by life and only managed to do May and June. Over the winter months I'll try and do some more along with other snippets of his poetry.

Happy Samhain!

2009-10-31T07:07:00.003Z

Sunset today will mark the beginning of Samhain, the last of the three Celtic harvest festivals. The word Samhain means 'summer's end' and from this point we are in the dark time of the year and the days get shorter and the nights get longer as we move towards the Winter Solstice. The Celtic people measured the days from one sunset to the next so Samhain will end at sunset tomorrow.

This is also the time when we remember our ancestors who have passed on to the Summerlands. I haven't yet set out the candles that I will light this evening but this is one from a previous year. It is surrounded with the herb rosemary for remembrance and tonight there will be individual candles for my parents and grandparents and a single large one for all the many past generations stretching back into the mists of time. I wish both them and you a Happy and Blessed Samhain.

Further Afield

2009-10-29T12:02:00.000Z

At the moment blogging is having to take second place to sorting the garden out ready for winter hence the long gaps between posts. Not that I garden in the dark but by evening it's energy that's lacking rather than time. Today, however, I have been a 'lady who lunches' and a day of gallivanting has left me with rather more brain than is usual at this time of night so I thought I'd do the next instalment of my US trip. One place I always visit is Nubble lighthouse at Cape Neddick in York, Maine. It's a beautiful place as is all the Maine coastline.

There's somewhere else worth visiting in York too - saltwater taffy has been made at the Goldenrod shop for over 100 years, originally Edward Talpey stood in this window and pulled the taffy by hand, now it's done by machine but it is still a sight that people stop to see. As always I brought home a large box of the end result in a dozen different flavours - I love it:)

When we came out of the shop this wonderful car was parked outside - isn't it absolutely fabulous?

This is the Remick Country Doctor and farm Museum in Tamworth, New Hampshire which is well worth visiting if you are in the area. The Remick family settled in Tamworth over 200 years ago and six generations of the family have worked the farm since that time. The last two owners, father and son, were country doctors as well as farmers and between them they cared for the local population for 99 years. The younger Dr Remick died childless in 1993 but he set up a foundation to preserve the farm along with his home so that the public could visit and learn about the old ways of farming and doctoring.

The Enoch Remick house, built in 1808, was where the elder Dr Remick lived and the younger one grew up and had his doctor's surgery. The younger Dr Remick and his wife lived in the building that is now used as the museum.

I was allowed to take photos when we toured the house, it is Victorian in style and the parlour featured this rather splendid stove - a woodburner I imagine though I don't know for sure.

This is one of the bedrooms which has walls decorated with what are apparently rather special 19th century murals by a man called John Avery. Frankly I find it rather dark and gloomy and think it spoils what is other wise rather a nice room. I'm afraid the angle is rather odd but the rooms were small and it was hard to get a good picture.

My favourite room in the whole house - the screened in summer sleeping porch.

Isn't this refrigerator fantastic? The tin lined cupboard was filled with ice which was what kept everything cold. Apparently the ice man delivered ice in the same way that the milkman delivered milk - I should think he had to make pretty frequent deliveries during the hot New England summers too!

Some of the farm buildings with Mount Chocorua in the background. It is named for a Native American chief of the Pequawket tribe who leapt to his death from the summit.

Tamworth itself is a really attractive small town surrounded by some pretty spectacular scenery, this is the church with its unusual pagoda-like spire. I'd have been happy to spend more time there wandering round and exploring - hopefully I'll have chance to visit again one day.

Another trip took us up into the White Mountains and eventually we began to see these signs along the road. I would love to see a moose, even though they are such large animals they strike me as being rather gentle looking. I'm hoping that on my next visit I'll get chance to visit 'Moose Alley' up on Rte 3 where apparently your chances of seeing a moose are very good indeed.

I have rather a thing about covered bridges so was thrilled to bits to see this one in North Conway over the Saco River.

A kind man seeing me with my camera told me how I could get down to the river and take a photo of the bridge and the river with just the beginnings of some autumn colour in the background.

At North Conway we turned off the main road onto the Kancamagus Highway which is a wonderful 34 mile scenic drive through the White Mountains. There are stopping places all the way along and this one is by the Swift River.

Smokey Bear is the mascot of the United States Forest Service and his job is to educate the public about the dangers of forest fires. He is based on a real black bear cub who was rescued after a severe forest fire in New Mexico in 1950.

What had been a nice sunny day had turned into something rather more threatening by this stage of the drive, you can see what we are driving into and as we climbed higher the temperature was dropping rapidly. It was down to 41F at the highest levels and I began to wonder if we were going to see snow rather than rain!

It was raining when we stopped at the Sugar Hill outlook but happily there was a shelter so I could take photos without getting too wet. I think we are seeing Green's Cliff and Mt Tremont.

The highest point of the drive and decidedly wet and cold by this stage. It was really beautiful in spite of the rain and must be wonderful when the Fall colour is at its peak. On the other hand, as it is one of the most scenic drives on the leafpeepers trail, I imagine it's pretty much bumper to bumper at the height of the colour so I think I'd rather settle for what I got.

Rambling round Rye

2009-10-22T07:35:00.025+01:00

I am finally managing a blog post of sorts, my body arrived back from the USA two weeks ago but my mind has only just joined it! I thought I'd start with a post about Rye as this is the small New Hampshire town where my friends live. It has the advantage of being on the tiny stretch of coast which New Hampshire possesses and is both pretty and historically interesting. It was the first place in New Hampshire to be settled in by Europeans when a man called William Berry set up home at Odiorne's Point in 1623. C, like me, is keen on history and is a member of the local historical society. They have a small but interesting museum which we went to see on my first day.

The area did, of course, have people living there long before any Europeans arrived on the scene. This illustration shows members of the local Native American tribe - they are the Abenaki whose name means 'people of the dawn' in the Algonquin language.

You will need to click on the photo to be able to read this lovely description of Abenaki life before the advent of the white man, I find the final words very sad - regrettably sharing wasn't on the agenda as far as the new settlers were concerned.

These are arrow heads found in the local area, they are from various time periods and the Abenaki would have used both bows and arrows and spears to do their hunting. I was really pleased to find that the local museum had several displays about the Abenaki rather than assuming that the history of Rye only began when Europeans arrived.

This chest was owned by John Langdon Seavey who was born in 1793. It contains a blanket issued to his father,William Seavey,who was a member of Capt. J Parsons Voluntary Company of Rye during the American War of Independence.

An old handmade,wooden lobster pot - so much more aesthetically pleasing than the plastic versions used today. Lobster boats still ply their trade off the coast of New Hampshire and fresh lobster is available in pretty well every restaurant. To the amazement of my seacoast friends I don't actually like lobster all that much. It's extremely messy to eat and involves a great deal of hard work for not very much reward as far as I'm concerned :)

This is now a private house but in a former existence it was the Garland Tavern, My friend points it out every time I go and I have a feeling that it has some sort of claim to fame connected with the American War of Independence but I have absolutely no clue what and I may well have imagined it - it sounds good though doesn't it?

My friends aren't able to do much walking so each morning, with the aid of a little map of Rye, I did 2 or 3 miles around the town so that I got some of the exercise that I'm used to having. As I walked I took photographs of buildings and scenes that attracted my eye. This display was in a local garden shop and gave me pleasure every time I saw it.

The Jonathan Locke House dating back to 1838, Rye has many lovely old houses like this.

I passed this gorgeous tree every day either on foot or in the car. It was unusual in having its full Fall colour as New Hampshire is last on the list as the colour works its way down from Canada. This is my fourth attempt to catch the full display and, though it was the best I've seen up to now, I was still about 10 days too early for the full show.

These three little cuties are miniature donkeys and there are two more of them just out of sight. They have a lovely paddock attached to their stable and live a life of donkey luxury! Over the many years I've been going to Rye I've got to know many of C's friends, the donkeys belong to M and I always try and see them when I visit.

The same friends own a house at the beach and this is the view from the terrace - I never need a second invitation to spend time here.

Another tree beginning to get into its stride, the colours intensified noticeably during the time I was there.

C insisted on taking this photo of me! Every year a local church has a huge sale of gourds and pumpkins as a fundraiser. There's a stand selling homemade bread, cakes and pies too - I bought a pumpkin pie and it was very good indeed.

These are the large pumpkins which people use for general autumn decorations as well as for Halloween.

I loved this display inside the marquee - all the colours and shapes of the gourds and pumpkins really appeal to me. I wish they were available in these quantities in the UK.

Rye is still a very rural place, these fields are at the bottom of the road where C & H live and they belong to R, another of their friends who will be appearing again in a later post.

Another of the lovely New England clapboard houses - originally an old farmhouse but now done up and no longer a farm.

This is a gate made by C and H and sitting at the back of their house in the fence which marks the territory of their dog. I love it, it's so quirky and totally unique.

Finally, another thing that is unique in Rye - when I am in residence, the Union Jack flies once more on American soil!

Derrick's MeMe - Not My Best Shot!

2009-09-21T06:00:00.001+01:00

Derrick of Melrose Musings has organized a MeMe for today where we post photos that don't show our talents as photographers at their best. I have absolutely no trouble finding pictures that fit this category:) Above is a recent attempt to photograph my grandson George. The lesson here is always use the Sport setting when small children are involved!

Supposedly an artistic shot of the moon still visible in the morning sky - back to the drawing board I think....

I definitely need a spot more practice with the macro setting on my Canon - I've yet to take a decent close-up with it. I don't think Lord Snowden needs to start worrying just yet.....

This will be my last post for a while as I leave for the USA in the morning - well just London tomorrow actually. I'll be flying to Boston Tuesday afternoon, I gather the weather is OK there so I've packed shorts and t-shirts in hopes that we'll be spending some time at the beach. I'm hoping to catch the Fall colours this time too,this will be the fourth time I've tried but ever the optimist:) See you in October.

A Suffolk Birthday

2009-09-16T10:50:00.002+01:00

It was my birthday earlier this month and I spent it in Suffolk with my younger son and his family. I decided to travel by train for once and discovered that most of the journey is through lovely countryside, the route goes down through Lincolnshire and then into the Fen country. I had my little Canon Powershot in my bag and I suddenly wondered whether it would be possible to take photographs through the window of a moving train and discovered that it is. You only get one chance and the quality isn't that great but I was quite pleased with some of them. Above is the marina at Ely and if you enlarge it you will see Ely cathedral in the background - one of these days I intend to go there. It was built by William the Conqueror and is a really beautiful building.

As we thundered through March I saw a low flying plane, then I realised there were three of them and that the big one was a Lancaster bomber and the two little ones were Spitfires - it was the Battle of Britain flight coming in to land at an airfield near March! It was the weekend of the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of WW2 and there must have been a display of some sort. I just had time to snap this photo. Edited to say that the two small planes are actually a Spitfire at the top and a Hurricane at the bottom. Thanks Roy:)

On the Sunday it was a nice day and we decided to take Gabriel and George to Jimmy's Farm which is pretty close to where my son lives. Jimmy Doherty rears rare breed pigs and there have been several documentary series' about the farm on Britsh TV. It's a really good place for children, plenty for them to see and do including these Red Poll cows.

We spent quite a lot of our time on the woodland Nature Trail, it's an ideal place for small boys to run about and bears like it too:)

Francesca plans to have an autumn nature table for them at home and we collected some specimens for it - acorns, sweet chestnuts, hazel nuts and a pretty bird's feather.

Once Gabriel discovered the little tractor we had a hard time parting him from it!

George enjoyed the woodland nature trail too, he's collecting sticks for the nature table:)

Gabriel and George both loved this living willow house and spent ages playing in it. We shall go back to Jimmy's Farm again as it's that kind of place, always different things to see and do through each of the seasons. On the photos it looks as though we have the place to ourselves but actually there were many family groups and also several coach loads of Brownies and Rainbows having a wonderful day out - they were very well behaved too.

My actual birthday was on Monday and in the morning we went to a small market town called Needham Market, it's an attractive place with quite a few small interesting shops and a great antique centre - the sort where there is masses of interesting, affordable everyday stuff to look at rather than an upmarket antique shop. I bought two 1950s copies of The Countryman magazine which I still haven't read because I managed to leave them behind when I came home! The one building in Needham Market that is truly ugly and uninspiring on the outside is the church of St John the Baptist. It looks neither old nor interesting and I wouldn't even have bothered going inside if it hadn't been for Francesca's mum. Once through the door though, you realise that it is much older than it appears. It was built as a chapel of ease in the late 15th century for pilgrims travelling to visit St Edmund's shrine at Bury St Edmunds and only became a parish church in 1901. It gives a real feeling of what medieval churches must originally have been like when there were no seats or pews and everyone stood through the services. There would be just one or two benches against the walls for elderly or infirm people and this is the origin of the saying that 'the weakest go to the wall'.

The real hidden secret of this church though is the double hammerbeam roof which is mentioned in Nicholas Pevsner's 'Buildings of England'and he described it as 'the climax of English roof building'. Apparently it's the finest double hammerbeam roof in the country. The leaflet in the church suggests that you lie on the floor and look up and then you get the impression of looking at a ship's hull - and it's quite true. I did and you do! It's thought that it may have been crafted by shipwrights brought in from the nearby coast.

As always in Suffolk many of the houses in Needham Market are painted in pretty colours especially the Suffolk pink which was originally made by mixing animal blood with lime. I loved this tiny cottage which must originally have been a 'one up and one down' and looks as though it was tacked on to the end of this row as an afterthought.

This hare is my birthday present from my husband bought in one of the lovely little shops in Needham Market. I absolutely love it.

My birthday cake baked for me by my lovely daughter-in-law Francesca, she gave a little party for me and I had more cards and presents than I've had for years. Gabriel and George had been practising singing 'Happy Birthday' and the cake was delicious. It was a really lovely birthday weekend.

Autumn's Riches

2009-09-04T08:07:00.001+01:00

Autumn seems to have arrived very early this year,the woods have that lovely early morning earthy smell and the equinoxial gales are certainly with us at the moment. The woodland floor already has a scattering of fallen leaves and there is a slight chill in the air as I take B Baggins for his walk first thing. Most of the photographs in this post were taken in Lancashire towards the end of August as I walked Mr Dog along the Wyre estuary. Above are rowan berries, rich and opulent in the sunlight. Mixed with crab apples they make an attractive but tart jelly which can be served with game or lamb.

I was struck by the sheer abundance of all the berries this year, these blackberries have still to ripen but they look more like bunches of grapes than brambles - it will be a wonderful harvest for all the birds and small creatures who rely on the hedgerow fruits to see them through the winter.

The size and quantity of the sloes was encouraging - you may be seeing some purple berries, I am seeing several bottles of sloe gin! The sloes need a frost on them really before they are used but if my source here at home isn't as generously covered as the ones by the river then I shall be going over in October to pick some of these.

These beautiful, glowing red berries are quite definitely for admiring only - the berries of the woody nightshade are poisonous but nevertheless it's my favourite of all the autumn berries.

These are the pretty flowers and unripe berries of woody nightshade which scrambles about using other hedgerow plants for support.

Elderberries beginning to ripen, these can be turned into elderberry rob which is wonderful for winter coughs and colds. This is on my to do list before I go off to the USA at the end of this month.

Hips and haws both beginning to ripen and just as prolific as all the other autumn fruits. The haws are the berries of the hawthorn and can be used to make wine, rosehips are a rich source of vitamin C and rose hip syrup was doled out regularly in winter when I was a child to help keep colds at bay. During WW2 children were paid to gather the rosehips so that they could be made into a syrup by a company called Delrosa. This was then supplied to the mothers of young children through the local baby clinics.

All these were growing within the space of less than a mile along the river estuary, the path has the salt marsh,mud flats and river on one side and the hedgerows and fields on the other. It's not only rich in wild fruits and flowers but in birds of all kinds especially waders and wildfowl. As the tide is going out or coming in it is an absolute paradise for birdwatchers. I see hundreds and hundreds of birds sometimes, I only wish I had more idea what I was looking at. It's a walk that is always full of interest for Bilbo Baggins as well as me, he meets lots of other dogs and loves racing about and playing on the salt marsh. I like walking on the salt marsh too when it's dry enough, it's covered in all kinds of specialized plants including sea lavender, sea asters and glasswort which was used in glassmaking at one time. It also keeps you fit as there are a lot of little creeks and gullies that have to be jumped over and one or two that are wide enough to encourage one to make a detour. Discretion is definitely the better part of valour at these points as I have no wish to suffer the embarrasment of having to scramble out of a deepish and very muddy crater and totter home looking like a drowned rat! Always assuming that I wasn't a drowned rat of course, the creeks fill up when the tide is in and frequently stay full too!

A Fire and A Fortress

2009-08-12T20:50:00.001+01:00

My plan on the morning after visiting the Waterhouse exhibition was to go to the Tower of London and spend most of the day there and catch a late afternoon train home. I was able to leave my luggage at the hotel which made life easier, I couldn't have done any sightseeing if I hadn't been able to do that. As the Tower didn't open until 10am I decided to get off the Underground at Monument and have a little look round the area where the Fire of London began in September 1666. You can enlarge all the photographs so that you can read what is on the plaques etc.

The fire began in a baker's shop on Pudding Lane and burned for three days destroying virtually all of the medieval City of London. The city was rebuilt using brick and stone as the building materials rather than the wood and wattle and daub of the medieval buildings. This is the period in which Sir Christopher Wren built St Paul's Cathedral and over 50 other London churches. Many of these were destroyed or damaged by the second Fire of London in the Blitz of 1940-41.

Charles ll was the king at the time of the Great Fire of London and he commissioned Sir Christopher Wren to build The Monument to commemorate both the Fire and the rebuilding of the City. It is 202 feet high which is the distance that it stands from the site on Pudding Lane where the fire began. On this site originally was the church of St Margaret, Fish St which was one of 86 churches destroyed. The really amazing thing is that, in spite of the huge amount of destruction,only six people died.

The base of The Monument - I've never actually climbed the stairs to the top of it. It's a spiral staircase and no place to discover half way up that you can't manage to go any further !

This is St Magnus the Martyr Church which is mentioned on the plaque in the previous photo. The original church was one of the first to be destroyed and this one is the replacement designed by Wren. The clock dates from 1700 and used to hang over the road to Old London Bridge which ran through the churchyard to the right behind the white van.

The Tower of London is over 900 years old and was built by William the Conqueror soon after his victory at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. The original part is the White Tower on the right of the photograph which now houses the Royal Armouries Museum including suits of armour worn by Henry Vlll. I didn't go in there - at least, I did go through the door and took one look at the rugger scrum inside and the huge queue edging slowly up the stairs and rapidly changed my mind!

The entrance to the Tower is over a bridge which is where the drawbridge over the moat would have been in medieval times. The archway leads through the Byward Tower built by Edward l in the 13th century. As you can tell by all the umbrellas it was raining pretty hard and not your ideal sightseeing day. The Tower is a huge place and I'm afraid I didn't follow the recommended route as set out by the guide book but wandered about indiscriminately here and there picking out the things that interested me.

The word 'Medieval' is always a surefire draw as far as I'm concerned so the words Medieval Palace on a signpost acted like a magnet and off I went up the steps and into St Thomas's Tower which, with the Wakefield Tower and the Lanthorne Tower, are known collectively as the Medieval Palace. St Thomas's Tower was built by Edward l between 1275 and 1279 and was where he had his living quarters on his visits to the Tower. This is a reconstruction of his bedchamber using replicas based on original 13th century furnishings and decoration. And very nice too!

This is Edward l's private chapel which was through a small door leading out of the bedchamber.

Outside again I headed towards Tower Green. This is where ten people were beheaded including three Queens - Ann Boleyn, Catherine Howard and Lady Jane Grey who was only 16 years old. Only the most important personages were executed actually inside the Tower precincts and another of these was Queen Elizabeth l's favourite, Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex. The many others who suffered the same fate were taken to the public execution block on nearby Tower Hill. In the foreground of the photograph is the execution site memorial. You might be surprised to know that the last execution in the Tower took place as recently as 15th August 1941 when a German spy was shot by a firing squad. The building in the background is Waterloo Barracks which was built in the 19th century and is now the home of the Crown Jewels.

There wasn't one particular place where prisoners were kept at the Tower, they were squashed in anywhere there was room. In the Beauchamp Tower the walls are covered with graffiti carved by prisoners over the years, most of them date from the 16th and 17th centuries.Some are really elaborate and must have taken years to carve but I suppose that time was one thing they had plenty of! The photo needs enlarging and isn't that great even then as there were spotlights all over the place which create a lot of glare.

On the left of the photo is the doorway leading into The Bloody Tower and the walkway in the centre is called Raleigh's Walk because it is where Sir Walter Raleigh took his exercise during his 12 years as a prisoner here.

There were prisoners and then there were prisoners at the Tower - this is the room where Sir Walter spent his time furnished as it was during that period. Not exactly a bread and water regime I don't think:) Apparently his family were allowed to visit frequently and his son Carew was born while he was a prisoner! Obviously walking wasn't the only exercise he got!! He was in there accused of treason in case you're wondering...

I seem to have the knack of often being in the right place at the right time invariably purely by chance. I was wandering around Tower Green again when I heard marching feet and turned to see two guardsmen marching smartly round to the sentry box ready for the changing of the guard - the soldiers spend two hours at a time on duty in the sentry box. That's a long time when you have to stand there wearing that heavy bearskin and without moving regardless of the weather.

The ravens are an integral part of the Tower, there is a legend that if ever they leave then the White Tower will crumble and great disaster will befall this country.
It has an interesting origin,according to Geofrey of Monmouth's 'History of the King's of England' written in 1136 an ancient British king called Bran Hen was killed in battle and requested (presumably before the battle!)that his head be buried on the White Mount as a talisman against invasion. The Welsh word 'bran' means raven and the White Mount is where the White Tower now stands. One gathers that William of Normandy wasn't regarded as an invader:) One of the Yeoman Warders is Ravenmaster and has specific care of the ravens who have their own Raven's Lodgings. They also have one of their wings clipped just in case!

This is Traitor's Gate - not the entrance to the Tower that you would want to use in Tudor times! Ann Boleyn, Sir Thomas More, Catherine Howard and many others were brought along the River Thames by barge, passing under London Bridge where the heads of recently executed prisoners were tastefully displayed, and in through this water gate to climb those steps and face imprisonment and death. It actually had a much more cheerful start in life as it was originally built as an entrance for Edward l's royal barge.

I am standing looking through the archway under the Bloody Tower towards Traitors Gate. The portcullis of the Bloody Tower is still visble and the timber framed building over the top of Traitors Gate was built as lodgings for Ann Boleyn before her coronation. By this time it was mid afternoon and the sun had finally come out, but it was time for me to leave so that I could retrieve my luggage and catch the train home. I could have spent much more time here had it been available, it's well worth a visit if you ever get the chance.

Fortunately I'd given myself plenty of time to get back to the hotel because as I walked back towards the Underground I saw a sign which said 'oldest church in the City of London' - well, I couldn't not go and see it could I? The church is All- Hallows-By-The-Tower and there is still an arch from the original Saxon church of 675AD remaining down in the Undercroft. This is where the headless bodies of those people executed on Tower Hill were brought and William Penn the founder of Pennsylvania was christened here in 1644. US President John Quincy Adams was married here too when he was the American Ambassador. In 1666 Samuel Pepys and Admiral Penn, the father of William Penn, climbed the brick tower of this church and watched as London burned.

All Hallows has strong maritime connections, there is a Mariner's Chapel in the South Aisle and all over the church are models of ships, they are all tokens of thanks for cargoes safely delivered and voyages safely completed. I wish I'd had more time to look at these.

In the Undercroft under the Saxon arch is the best preserved piece of Roman tessellated pavement in London, it was once the floor of a Roman house.

The Undercroft was a little Museum full of all sorts of fascinating bits and pieces from an altar that had accompanied Richard ll on the Second Crrusade to this barrel which is the crow's nest from Sir Ernest Shackleton's ship 'The Quest' which he used on his last Antarctic expedition. It's a little jewel of a place and there was nobody else there!
I shan't be posting or commenting for a couple of weeks now as we are off to our house on the coast for the rest of this month and it's a computer free zone there.

Some Accidental Sightseeing

2009-08-02T19:37:00.000+01:00

I decided to walk from my hotel on Great Russell St to get the Tube from Chancery Lane to Piccadilly which is where The Royal Academy is. I was walking along streets full of modern buildings when all of a sudden this appeared in front of me. I had no idea what it was but took some photographs anyway. When I got home I told DH about it and he said ' Oh you should have gone through the archway, there's a wonderful courtyard at the back.' It turns out to be Staple Inn, it was built in 1586 and managed somehow to survive both the Great Fire of London in 1666 and also the Second World War. It's the last surviving one of the original nine Inns of Chancery - these housed associations of junior lawyers in London from medieval times until the 19th century. DH worked in the City of London for many years and went to London on business virtually every week during the thirty odd years that he worked in Sheffield so he is a mine of information on the history of this part of London. All the photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

This is the courtyard of Burlinton House, the home of the Royal Academy and also five other learned Societies including the Linnean Society, the Society of Antiquaries and.....

.... the Royal Astronomical Society. Burlington House was once one of the great London Town houses and belonged originally to the Earl of Burlington then later it was inherited by the Duke of Devonshire. As the Devonshires already had the magnificent Devonshire House as their residence in Town Burlington House was eventually sold to the Government in the mid 19th century.

The statue of Sir Joshua Reynolds who was the first President of the Royal Academy when it was founded in 1768. He held this position until his death in 1792. Quite why he is wearing a garland of flowers I'm not sure but it does add a nice summery note to things.

There are buildings on three sides of the courtyard and the fourth side has this archway which leads out onto Piccadilly.

Just across the road from Burlington House is one of my favourite London shops - Fortnum and Mason. The Food Hall is an Aladdin's cave of wonderful exotic foods and the most fabulous handmade chocolates. Afternoon tea there is a very pleasant experience too though there's usually quite a queue for a table. It was nearly 5.30pm though so no time to go in there this trip. This is where the unexpected part of the day began, Piccadilly was absolutely seething with people so I turned down Lower Regent St thinking I'd walk down to the bottom and find a quieter Tube station. It's a while since I've been in this part of London and I'd forgotten that if you walk down Lower Regent St and through Waterloo Place you are on the Mall with Admiralty Arch at one end and Buckingham Palace at the other and Horse Guards Parade just over the road. Horse Guards was nearest so I decided to wander over and take a few test photos with my new little camera (would you believe that I forgot to pack my Olympus!!)

Horse Guards is best known these days for being the place where the Trooping of the Colour takes place each June celebrating the official birthday of the Queen. Originally though this was the site of the tiltyard of Whitehall Palace where Henry Vlll himself took part in tournaments. Jousting was one of his favourite pastimes.
Just visible in the background is the London Eye.

Opposite Horse Guards on the edge of St James' Park stands the Guards Memorial which commemorates members of the Foot Guards who have lost their lives fighting for their country - the Foot Guards are the Grenadier Guards, the Coldstream Guards,the Irish Guards,the Scots Guards and the Welsh Guards. I actually find this a more impressive and moving memorial than the Cenotaph which stands in Whitehall.

One of the Guards on duty as I walked through Horse Guards onto Whitehall. They are not allowed to speak to anyone when they are on duty but I did ask whether I might take his photograph and received the barest nod of his head in reply.
The Life Guards and the Blues and Royals form the mounted section of the Guards Divison known as the Household Cavalry and are the ones you see escorting the Queen on ceremonial occasions. They are the oldest and most senior regiments in the British Army. This young soldier is in the Blues and Royals,they wear blue tunics and have red plumes to their helmets whereas the Lifeguards have red tunics and white plumes. While on guard duty they carry swords and wear white riding-breeches, known as buckskins, and the tall black leather boots of cavalrymen. They don't only carry out ceremonial duties of course but are also regular soldiers who serve overseas in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.

I passed Downing Street with barely a second glance and at the corner of Parliament St I saw this tall tower with a clock at the top - it took me a minute to realise that I was looking up at Big Ben! This photo is really worth enlarging to see the detail of the clock face and the decoration of the tower. The London Eye is in the baxckground once again.

Looking towards the two western towers of Westminster Abbey, there is nearly a thousand years of history here. It's the place where every English and British monarch since William the Conqueror has been crowned. The only exceptions are Edward V and Edward Vlll neither of whom had a coronation. It is the burial place of kings and queens,aristocrats, soldiers, politicians, great literary figures and many others. Those buried here include Chaucer, Dickens,Isaac Newton, Sir Laurence Olivier, Lord Byron and perhaps most poignant of all The Unknown Warrior - an unknown British soldier from the First World War who represents all the nameless dead from that dreadful conflict.

The Great North Door of Westminster Abbey, one day I must actually go in through that door and go round the Abbey, in all the years I've been going to London I've never actually been inside.

The final photograph was the most unexpected thing of all, I had absolutely no idea that there was a statue of Oliver Cromwell outside the Houses of Parliament! He stands on Cromwell Green and has apparently been there since 1895. Regular readers will know that I am not exactly a big fan of Cromwell's! This isn't the side of the Houses of Parliament that everyone is familiar with of course, it is usually photographed or filmed from the Southwark side of the Thames which is the glamorous view. At this point I decided it was finally time to go back to my hotel, it was raining the whole time I was taking these photos so the light was poor and the quality isn't great I'm afraid but I enjoyed my spot of unexpected sightseeing in spite of the weather.

Lughnasadh

2009-08-01T08:04:00.016+01:00

August 1st is the first of the three Celtic Harvest festivals and is known as Lughnasadh or Lammas. The first fruits of the harvest are ripening now and the weather becomes a crucial factor in the farmer's life as on it depends whether the grain crops can be harvested at their peak.
Lughnasadh is named for Lugh and according to Celtic legend, he decreed that a commemorative feast be held each year at the beginning of the harvest season to honor his foster mother, Tailtiu. Tailtiu was the royal Lady of the Fir Bolg. After the defeat of her people by the Tuatha De Dannan, she was obliged by them to clear a vast forest for the purpose of planting grain. She died of exhaustion in the attempt. The legend states that she was buried beneath a great mound named for her, at the spot where the first feast of Lughnasadh was held in Ireland, the hill of Tailte. At this gathering were held games and contests of skill as well as a great feast made up of the first fruits of the summer harvest.

Rowan berries (at the top) are always the first to ripen and this year they are prolific. Bilberries also are ripe now but the photo is from last year as so far it has been too wet to go picking so I don't know what this year's crop is like. Good I hope as bilberry pie is one of my favourites.

This is a very ancient English folksong usually sung to the tune of 'We plough the fields and scatter'. John Barleycorn is the personification of the cereal crop barley which was very important in the days when beer was drunk by everyone including children. Barley was one of the grains commonly used to make bread and its history goes back to the Stone Age.

There was three men came out of the west,
Their fortunes for to try,
And these three men made a solemn vow,
John Barleycorn should die.
They ploughed, they sowed, they harrowed him in,
Throwed clods upon his head,
And these three man made a solemn vow,
John Barleycorn was dead.

Then they let him lie for a very long time
Till the rain from heaven did fall,
Then little Sir John sprung up his head,
And soon amazed them all.
They let him stand till midsummer
Till he looked both pale and wan,
And little Sir John he growed a long beard
And so became a man.

They hired men with the scythes so sharp
To cut him off at the knee,
They rolled him and tied him by the waist,
And served him most barbarously.
They hired men with the sharp pitchforks
Who pricked him to the heart,
And the loader he served him worse than that,
For he bound him to the cart.

They wheeled him round and round the field
Till they came unto a barn,
And there they made a solemn mow
of poor John Barleycorn.
They hired men with the crab-tree sticks
To cut him skin from bone,
And the miller he served him worse than that,
For he ground him between two stones.

Here's little Sir John in a nut-brown bowl,
And brandy in a glass;
And little Sir John in the nut-brown bowl
Proved the stronger man at last.
And the huntsman he can't hunt the fox,
Nor so loudly blow his horn,
And the tinker he can't mend kettles or pots
Without a little of Barleycorn.

Let us hope that the rain disappears and the sun shines and that this year's harvest is a successful one.

John William Waterhouse

2009-07-28T15:37:00.010+01:00

I've just spent a couple of days in London and the main purpose of my visit was to see the exhibition of paintings by John William Waterhouse at The Royal Academy. As I walked round I scribbled notes on my free guide about my thoughts as I finally saw in reality some of the paintings I've only seen in books or online before. The picture above is 'Circe Offering The Cup to Ulysses' and is the one chosen for the cover of the guide and for the publicity posters. What struck me about this was the way Waterhouse caught the wonderful diaphanous quality of Circe's robe. All the photographs are taken from the web of course as no photography was allowed in the actual Exhibition. I have to tell you now that I know nothing about art or the techniques involved, I simply know what I like - an attitude that infuriates my two artist friends both of whom are talented painters!

Another painting of the sorceress Circe - a very rare chance to see this as its usual home is the Art Gallery of South Australia. The title is Circe Invidiosa and it shows her in the seclusion of a quiet grotto poisoning the water where the beautiful nymph Scylla goes to bathe. The poisoned waters turn her rival into a dreadful sea monster. I loved this because of the wonderful vibrant turquoise of the water which isn't as obvious in the photograph as it is in the actual painting.

Who would be
A mermaid fair,
Singing alone,
Combing her hair
Under the sea,
In a golden curl
With a comb of pearl,
On a throne?

The Mermaid was first shown at The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in 1901 and Waterhouse was inspired by the poem of the same name by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. I loved this painting, he captures the sheen of the fishscales on her tail perfectly.

There were two paintings of The Lady of Shalott and this was my favourite of the two - "I am half sick of shadows said The Lady of Shalott" If you click on the quote it will take you to my post of the whole of Tennyson's beautiful poem.

Each year, as payment for the slaughter of Minos' son, the Athenians offered a tribute of youths and maidens to the Minotaur that dwelt in the Cretan labyrinth. Designed by Daedalus, the labyrinth was so large and complicated that nobody had ever escaped from it. Ariadne's father, Minos, the King of Crete, selected Theseus as part of the annual offering, but on his arrival at the island Ariadne fell in love with him and, not wanting to see him die, secretly gave him a spool of thread by which he could trace his way from the maze. Theseus slew the Minotaur and fled from Crete, carrying Ariadne away as his wife, but when they arrived at the island of Naxos the Olympic gods shrouded his mind with forgetfulness and he deserted her while she lay asleep.
That is the story behind this painting but what really attracted me were the two panthers which I think Waterhouse has captured beautifully. They are there because they are sacred to the god Bacchus who, in some versions of the legend, came to her rescue and made her his wife giving her a golden crown as a wedding gift. After her death he placed her golden crown in the heavens and turned it into the constellation still called Corona Borealis or the Northern Crown.

This was the painting that kept drawing me back, it is the largest of the works by John William Waterhouse and shows Mariamne, wife of King Herod, after she has been condemned to death for adultery. I found the figure of Mariamne so mesmerising that I hardly noticed the background and had to make a real effort to look at it.

Not all of Waterhouse's paintings were of beautiful women, this is one of his earliest works painted in 1876 and called 'After The Dance'. It shows a Roman interior with two children resting after their performance.

My final choice from the exhibits is this one 'Penelope and the Suitors' which was painted in 1912 towards the end of Waterhouse's life. Ulysses is believed to be dead by everyone but Penelope and she is being courted by many suitors, all obnoxious and none of whom she wants to marry. In order to delay the moment when she must choose among them, she starts weaving a shroud for her aged father-in-law Laertes saying that she will choose when it is done. When Ulysses finally returns home after twenty years she tells him how she deceived the suitors 'So then in the daytime I would weave the mighty web, and in the night unravel the same'.

There were a hundred paintings and drawings in the Exhibition and it was hard to choose my favourites, Waterhouse had an incredible talent for painting beautiful women and I was especially impressed by the way he painted their hair. I have shown just a handful from among the many beautiful paintings that I saw and it was hard to choose which to include and which to leave out. I did buy the full 'catalogue' so now I can look at them whenever I like. Why it is called a catalogue is beyond me, it is a large glossy book with over 200 pages and well worth the £18.95 that it cost me. I really enjoyed seeing these wonderful works of art and am glad I made the effort to go. It's made me want to look for other interesting exhibitions to visit in the future and I shall also make time for visits to the National Gallery and the Tate next time I'm in London.

Saving The Best Until Last - Part Two

2009-07-21T19:55:00.000+01:00

This is Stinsford church where Thomas Hardy's father and grandfather came every Sunday to play their violin and cello as part of the church choir. Those of you who have read Tess of the D'Urbervilles and Under The Greenwood Tree will know this as Mellstock Church. Hardy himself was christened here and was a regular member of the congregation as a boy and young man.

It was always Hardy's wish to be buried at Stinsford among all the other members of his family. In the end his wishes, and those of his family, were ignored and his ashes are buried in Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey - only his heart was removed and buried in this grave with his first wife Emma. I find it astounding that it was possible to override the wishes of both Thomas Hardy and his family, including his wife, in this way. Hardy's second wife, Florence, was buried in this grave when she died in 1937 and the graves on either side also contain members of the Hardy family.

The church itself was not really all that exciting, there has been a good deal of Victorian 'restoration' and although it is a pleasant enough little church the really interesting things such as the musician's gallery, where Hardy's father and grandfather sat to play for the services, have been removed. There is now a modern replacement gallery, nice enough but without the history. This is the stained glass memorial window which shows Hardy's favorite Old Testament story (I Kings, chapter XIX) in which Elijah, here robed in purple, listens to the "still small voice" which followed the tumult of wind, earthquake, and fire.

This is the cottage where Thomas Hardy was born and where he wrote Under The Greenwood Tree and Far From The Madding Crowd. It was built in 1800 by his great grandfather. When he was only 16 years old he wrote the following poem describing his home.

Domicilium

It faces west, and round the back and sides
High beeches, bending, hang a veil of boughs,
And sweep against the roof. Wild honeysucks
Climb on the walls, and seem to sprout a wish
(If we may fancy wish of trees and plants)
To overtop the apple trees hard-by.

Red roses, lilacs, variegated box
Are there in plenty, and such hardy flowers
As flourish best untrained. Adjoining these
Are herbs and esculents; and farther still
A field; then cottages with trees, and last
The distant hills and sky.

Behind, the scene is wilder. Heath and furze
Are everything that seems to grow and thrive
Upon the uneven ground. A stunted thorn
Stands here and there, indeed; and from a pit
An oak uprises, Springing from a seed
Dropped by some bird a hundred years ago.

In days bygone—
Long gone—my father’s mother, who is now
Blest with the blest, would take me out to walk.
At such a time I once inquired of her
How looked the spot when first she settled here.
The answer I remember. ‘Fifty years
Have passed since then, my child, and change has marked
The face of all things. Yonder garden-plots
And orchards were uncultivated slopes
O’ergrown with bramble bushes, furze and thorn:
That road a narrow path shut in by ferns,
Which, almost trees, obscured the passers-by.

Our house stood quite alone, and those tall firs
And beeches were not planted. Snakes and efts
Swarmed in the summer days, and nightly bats
Would fly about our bedrooms. Heathcroppers
Lived on the hills, and were our only friends;
So wild it was when we first settled here.’

The cottage is National Trust property and when I asked my usual question about taking photographs inside I expected the equally usual answer of 'No'. The friendly warden amazed me by saying that I could take as many as I liked! It was quite difficult to get good ones as the rooms are very small and there was lots of sun pouring in through the windows but I did the best I could:) I really liked the parlour with it's flagstone floor and lovely big inglenook fireplace though I would have wanted a nice big rag rug on it in the autumn and winter months!

Thomas Hardy had a brother,Henry,and two sisters, Mary and Kate and this is the room which the two girls used. Thomas was the eldest child and it was 5 years before his sister Mary arrived. Henry was 15 years younger than Thomas and Kate didn't arrive until Thomas was 19 so the two girls were 14 years apart and probably didn't actually share the room for very long. And I have to say that I doubt whether the bed was that close to the fireplace when the room was actually in use!

I was standing as far back as I could to take this photo so you can tell how small the rooms are. This is the where Hardy and his brother and sisters were born.

This is Thomas Hardy's bedroom, he wrote Under The Greenwood Tree and Far From The Madding Crowd in this room, he used to sit on the lovely deep window-seat or at an old table that was set beside it. There was no electric light of course, only oil lamps and candles so he would have needed the light from the window to work. From here there was an incredibly steep, narrow stair leading down to the ground floor. It was more like a ladder really and I went down it facing the steps as if I was on a boat.

At the bottom of the stairs was the door into the kitchen with its brick floor. The original range has been blocked up but to the right of the fireplace is the old bread oven.

The lean-to at the side of the cottage with the old barrel being used as a water butt and handy for watering the vegetable garden. The cottage garden here is lovely and a couple of weeks after these photos were taken it would have been even better, there were so many plants almost ready to bloom. Like all cottage gardens it would be at its very best in mid to late June. I so enjoyed my visit, both cottage and garden were an absolute delight. I wish I'd had time to explore some of the surrounding woodland too, Thorncombe Wood is ancient woodland with nature trails and it has a Roman road running through it too. That will have to be for a future trip though- this time I wanted to go in search of Lawrence of Arabia.

I've known about Lawrence of Arabia for a long time of course but my first real encounter with his life was several years ago when I was in Jordan visiting various archaeological sites. We spent one of the days driving out into the desert in open top jeeps and visiting various places associated with T.E.Lawrence including the rock formation known as The Seven Pillars of Wisdom in Wadi Rum. Lawrence was a complicated and fascinating man and when I discovered that he had lived and was buried in Dorset I decided that I must see both his grave and his cottage.

07004930755090" />Moreton Church where Lawrence's funeral service was held, it was attended by many famous people including Sir Winston and Lady Churchill and the poet Siegfried Sassoon. The church looks quite simple and ordinary from the outside but when you open the door and go in.......

...this is what you see, it's really beautiful inside and this photo doesn't do it justice. The church was hit by a bomb in WW2 (there was a US Army base at Moreton which was probably the actual target) and half of it was destroyed. After the war the church was rebuilt and they made a wonderful job of it.

The original stained glass windows were destroyed and they were replaced by plain glass which was etched by the artist Lawrence Whistler and I think they are the most beautiful windows I've ever seen. Do enlarge this so that you can see the detail. This was the only one where the light fell so that I could get a really good photo.

The main churchyard where Lawrence is buried is just across the road from the church but this is the original graveyard behind the church, what a wonderfully peaceful place to be laid to rest.

Clouds Hill, the cottage that Lawrence lived in from 1923 until his death in 1935. Another National Trust property now so we are back to 'no interior photography'. It was very interesting inside but even the Guide Book photos aren't up to much so you will have to take my word for it! Lawrence never actually lived here full time as he was a soldier and based at the nearby Bovington Camp. He used Clouds Hill as a place to write his books during his off duty times. The plan was to live here when his term of enlistment was up in 1935 but he was killed in a motorcycle accident a short time before this.

I think I stopped in Bere Regis so that I could look at the map, I turned off the main road and parked by the church and as the roads were busy with 'going home from work' traffic I decided I'd have a look round while I waited for it to quieten down a bit. It turned out that there was another Thomas Hardy connection here, Bere Regis was the manor of the Turberville family for over 500 years from the 13th to the 18th century and the family tombs are in the church. The inspiration for Hardy's novel Tess of the D'Urbervilles came from this powerful family which had eventually died out in the late 1700s.

The church itself was well worth seeing -and fortunately the verger, who arrived pretty much at the same time as I did to lock up, said he'd come back later so that I could look round. The photo shows the entrance to the church and above the porch door are two iron hooks with chains. These date to about 1600 and were attached to long poles and used to pull thatch from the cottage roofs in the face of an advancing fire. Fire was an ever present danger in an age when houses were built largely of wood with thatched roofs. Apparently there were several disastrous fires in the village and consequently there are very few really old buildings left here.

The interior of the church which dates originally from 1050 though there is little left from this period.

The really spectacular part of the church is the fabulous 15th century nave roof. It is made of oak with full length carved figures of the twelve apostles. There are various other carved heads and devices including a Tudor rose. These are all painted and gilded and it looks absolutely spectacular. It was the gift of Cardinal John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury and Chancellor of the Exchequer to King Henry VII.

The font is 12th century and really beautifully carved. It's amazing that it has survived for around 900 years in such wonderful condition.

The wheeled parish bier isn't as old as some I've seen, it was acquired in 1898 to "ease the burden of funeral bearers, who, since the establishment of the cemetery in 1881, had been required to walk the whole distance to and from the church."

On the north wall of the chancel is a lovely carved table tomb commemorating John Skerne who died in 1593. The three brasses depicting John, his wife Margaret and the family coat-of-arms. The lower photograph shows a detail of one of the brasses.

At this point I thought I'd better let the verger come and lock up though I'm sure there was alot more of interest to see. This was my last day in Dorset and definitely the best.

Saving The Best Until Last - Part One

2009-07-16T07:12:00.018+01:00

The final day of my stay in Dorset started early again as I headed off to fulfil one of the ambitions mentioned in Winter Dreaming - the only one I've managed so far I'm afraid! I arrived to find the car park empty and the sun shining. Needless to say the photo above is not one I've taken myself but an aerial photo is the only way you can really see what Maiden Castle looks like. I came up the little white track on the right of the photo and entered on the western side then walked all round the perimeter. The 'War Cemetery' that I mention later in this post lies directly opposite on the eastern side. I know it looks as though I don't know east from west but it's just that the photo is taken from the northern side:) Clicking on all the photos to enlarge them will make it much easier to see detail.

Maiden Castle is yet another of the many Iron Age hillforts in Dorset and it commands spectacular views over the surrounding countryside. The walk round the perimeter is about 2 miles and, as with Hambledon Hill, I had it entirely to myself most of the way. It was a marvellous experience, wonderful scenery, 6000 years of history around me and the constant sound of skylarks singing overhead, not just one or two but dozens of them.

English Heritage, who own the site, do an excellent job with their information boards, there are just a small number of them and they are dicreetly placed and very informative. This one gives an impression of life here as it would have been 2000 years ago.

I love this photo which shows the ramparts beautifully, these were built 2000 years ago and, as at Hambledon Hill, the only tools that were used were antler picks, wooden spades and shovels made from animal shoulder blades.

This is the information board which describes the 'War Cemetery' better than I can. There is little to see now apart from a large hollow, I scrambled down the bank from the fort to look at the actual site...

...but this is all that there is to be seen as I stand in the area where the burials were found and look up to the eastern entrance to the hillfort. This definitely needs enlarging to make any sense.

This newly shorn and beautifully clean sheep came to see what I was up to in her territory.

This is all that remains of the Romano-British temple that was built on Maiden Castle built in the late 4th century AD.

The information board gives an artist's impression of how the temple would have looked. I find the various artist's impressions on these boards very helpful, even though I know a certain amount about Roman temples it's still hard to visualize one from an outline of stones in the ground.

It's really difficult to give a real impression of the height of these ramparts, I thought the pathway and the line of steps leading down the opposite embankment might help to give an idea of just how massive these earthworks are.

Just to the side of the hillfort is this Bronze Age round barrow, it has stood in this place for about three and a half thousand years respected by each passing culture through the centuries. After a very enjoyable couple of hours I made my way back to the car park meeting hordes of people on their way up, the car park was absolutely full by this time and I was, once again, glad that I'd made the effort to get there early. My next destination was Stinsford church where Thomas Hardy's heart is buried but this will be in Part Two.

Evening

2009-07-09T22:08:00.000+01:00

The evening comes, the fields are still.
The tinkle of the thirsty rill,
Unheard all day, ascends again;
Deserted is the half-mown plain,
Silent the swaths! the ringing wain,
The mower`s cry, the dog`s alarms,
All housed within the sleeping farms!

The business of the day is done,
The last-left haymaker is gone.
And from the thyme upon the height,
And from the elder-blossom white
And pale dog-roses in the hedge,
And from the mint-plant in the sedge,
In puffs of balm the night-air blows
The perfume which the day forgoes.

And on the pure horizon far,
See, pulsing with the first-born star,
The liquid sky above the hill!
The evening comes, the fields are still.

By Matthew Arnold

Hambledon Hill

2009-07-04T19:56:00.000+01:00

On my third day in Dorset the weather was decidedly better and I decided to go out early and climb Hambledon Hill which is very close to Iwerne Minster. Not only is Hambledon Hill an Iron Age hillfort of international importance but it is also a National Nature Reserve which is home to a wonderful array of wild flowers, grasses, butterflies,insects and birds. The photograph above shows the impressive ramparts of the Iron Age fortifications.

I started by climbing a path through a woodland area and came across this rather impressive bracket fungus on one of the trees.

Just to give you an overview of the site and help you get your bearings, I came up the path next to the P marked on the left and then turned right to begin my climb and when I reached the top I walked to the southern end and then turned and walked down the centre of the hillfort from south to north and eventually back to my original starting point. Clicking on any of the photos will enlarge them so that you can see more detail.

I approached from the west side of the hill which is about 470 feet high so is quite a steep climb. Rather than go straight up I started walking round and gradually climbing as I went. The thin chalk grassland was awash with flowers, I am making no firm statements about the one above but I think it's yellow rattle. As I climbed steadily up and round I was lucky enough to have two seperate sightings of a red kite, a bird I've never seen before. Both flew up right in front of me so I had a really good view of them, they were gone before I could photograph them though.

I'm even less sure what this is but have decided that it might be a milkwort of some sort.

People were occupying this site long before the Iron Age, this is part of a Neolithic causewayed enclosure which dates back over 5000 years to between 2900BC and 2600BC.

More wild flowers - the Early Purple Orchid

I think this is Horseshoe Vetch but am open to correction - if it is it is the food plant of two rare and beautiful butterflies - the adonis blue and the chalkhill blue both of which are found on Hambledon Hill.

These two photos are taken from the web - I only wish I'd had the privilege of seeing these beautiful butterflies myself. The chalkhill blue is on the left and the adonis blue is on the right.

This is another milkwort - chalk milkwort I think. There are several kinds of milkwort and telling them apart isn't easy.

This is a long barrow, a Neolithic burial chamber, it lies at the highest point of Hambledon Hill and is 230ft long. I am standing at the narrow southern end about to walk up and over the top.

Looking out over the village of Childe Okeford and showing clearly the steep ramparts that were built using only picks made from deer antlers, wooden spades and shovels made from animal shoulder blades. Can you imagine the effort involved in making something like this using only these tools? These people must have been both physically fit and mentally strong to have the vision and staying power to build on this scale. The area enclosed by the ramparts is about 30 acres!

A somewhat hazy view over the lovely Blackmore Vale, still a lot of cloud around but it was warm and dry and I was willing to settle for that.

I'd arranged to meet up with friends in Sherborne in the afternoon but as I drove along the road from Childe Okeford ( I love this name!) I passed a layby that I thought might be the access to Hod Hill, another Iron Age fort practically next door to Hambledon Hill. I turned the car and went back to check and I was right so I decided I still had time to go and explore.

Hod Hill is the largest Iron Age hillfort in Dorset and was home to the Durotriges, the Celtic tribe who occupied this area of Britain. Around 43AD it was attacked and taken by the Roman Legio ll Augusta commanded by Vespasian who later in his career became Roman Emperor. The photo shows part of the double bank and ditch defenses - it's quite a steep climb getting up there. It was unusual for a hillfort to be re-used by the Romans but in this case they built an auxiliary military camp in the north west corner. On the ground I could see the lumps and bumps where it had been but there was nothing that would really show up in a photograph. If you click on the previous photo there is an artist's impression of the Roman fort which has been excavated so they do know exactly what was there - apparently 600 legionaries and 250 cavalry were garrisoned here.

I walked all round the perimeter but even though it is larger than Hambledon Hill it doesn't compare for either beauty or atmosphere, it was a pleasant enough walk but nothing more. It did have its interesting moments though. Click on the photo - can you hear the conversation? 'Hey boys, look over there! Who's that? Let's go and check her out!'

They all came ambling over, curious as cows always are. There was no threat but they all started trudging along behind me so finally I turned round, held up my hand like a policeman and said 'Halt' and to my utter amazement they did. 'Okay, what now?' enquires the leader of the herd. I explained that I had nothing interesting for them to eat and that I was really pretty boring so there was no point in them following me.

There was obviously some discussion and then they decided that actually I was a bit of a disappointment on the entertainment front and, with a little encouragement, they turned aside and wandered off again. They really were as close as they look in the middle photo,I'm not using any zoom - actually they all posed rather nicely I thought:)

Like Hambledon Hill, Hod Hill is rich in wild flowers and butterflies, this is wild mignonette which I thought was very pretty, I've never seen it before.

This is a very ordinary sight, a field thick with buttercups which I walked through on my way back to the car. Buttercups may be common but seen en masse like this they are really beautiful. I went on my way to Sherborne well satisfied with my morning, it was full of historical and botanical interest, I'd had a good deal of exercise and I'd had both places virtually to myself to drift and dream to my heart's content.

Tagged!

2009-06-30T12:58:00.003+01:00

I was tagged recently by liZZie so here are my answers to the questions. I've dotted a few photos around to make it a bit less boring for you{:)

What is your current obsession?
I don't really get obsessive about things but I suppose family history might come under this heading - the photo is me aged three.

What is your weirdest obsession?
No weird obsessions that I can think of.

What are you wearing today?
Dark brown jeans and a cream T-shirt.

What’s for dinner?
Chicken and broccoli pasta bake

What would you eat for your last meal?
The oak smoked salmon rosti that I had at Betty's in Harrogate a couple of weeks ago followed by the homemade Key Lime pie I had in Virginia a few years ago - together they rank as the best food I've ever eaten.

What’s the last thing you bought?
Two skeins of embroidery silk.

What are you listening to right now?
One of my favourite sounds - silence.

If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you like it to be?
Tucked away in a quiet corner of the South Downs. I've travelled a good deal but never found anywhere I'd rather live than England.

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
To the little cafe on top of the Kasbah in Hammamet, which looked out over the sea on one side and the Medina on the other, to drink Turkish coffee and eat little honey cakes with the same small group of people I was with when I first went.

Which language do you want to learn?
Italian, it's a beautiful language and I love to listen to it even though I don't understand what is being said.

What’s your favourite quote (for now)?
The wonder of the world,
the beauty and the power,
the shapes of things,
their colours,lights, and shades;
these I saw.
Look ye also while life lasts.

The photo is Bourke's Luck Potholes in Blyde River Canyon, South Africa.

What is your favourite colour?
Turquoise

What is your favourite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe?
A three piece set of primrose yellow trousers and strappy top with a floaty short sleeved shirt in shades of primrose, peach and soft sage green.

What is your dream job? The one I have - housewife.

Describe your personal style? Classic

What’s your favourite tree? Er - Rowan?

What are you going to do after this? Put the ironing away

What’s your favourite fruit? Ripe English strawberries

What inspires you? The beauty of the natural world, in this case a South African sunrise.

Your favourite books?
Too many to mention but would include all of Dornford Yates' Berry books

What are you currently reading?
The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey, Jonah and Co by Dornford Yates and The Garden Cottage Diaries by Fiona Houston.

Go to your bookshelf, take down the first book with a red spine you see, turn to page 26 and type out the first line:
...as 1250, and the rate may have originated in the bailiffs' power to...
from The Parish Chest by W.E.Tate. Not very exciting I'm afraid, it's one of my family/local history text books and is about rates and rating - to be precise it is talking here about the local levies of labour for the maintenance of sea walls in Romney Marsh. Now I'll bet you always wanted to know about that didn't you?

What delighted you the most today?
The scent and sight of wild honeysuckle as I walked in the woods this morning.

By what criteria do you judge a person?
I go on pure instinct, I've learned over the years ago not to judge on appearances. The first lesson was when I was waiting at a bus stop on a deserted street in Chester many years ago. An old man with, I kid you not, a stick over his shoulder with a bundle tied up in a large red spotted handkerchief attached to it, came and stood next to me. He looked like a gentleman of the road and I was a tad nervous. He was chatty and my mum always taught me to be polite so I replied. He turned out to be a delightful real old countryman and one of the most interesting people I've ever met. I was quite disappointed when the bus eventually turned up!

What is your earliest childhood memory?
Being in my cot next to my parents bed, I must have been about 18 months old. I'm lucky and can remember a lot of my childhood very clearly.

The question I'm adding is 'What is your all time favourite film?
Mine is one that is visually beautiful, a lovely gentle story and has a happy ending. It's called 'Enchanted April'.

The rules:
1. Respond and rework; answer the questions on your blog, replace one question you dislike with a question of your invention, add one more question of your own.
2. Tag eight other people. As ever I'm not tagging anyone as not everyone has time or inclination, I found it interesting to do though so if you want to have a go then please do.

A Ruined Abbey and A Dovecote Part Two

2009-06-25T07:05:00.021+01:00

The Dovecote

The weather was starting to improve by the time I'd had lunch and I set off towards Dorchester to visit a medieval manor house called Athelhampton. The original part of the house was built in 1495 with the addition of a West Wing in the 16th century and over the next 300 years the North and East wings were added. The photograph shows the West Wing from the garden - and also, at last, some blue sky and sunshine.

The original part of Athelhampton with the 15th century porch which leads into the Great Hall. You can see the oriel of the Great Hall on the left - the tall, narrow windows which project from the wall. The only other rooms at this period were the buttery at the north end of the Great Hall and the solar on the south side.

Athelhampton is privately owned and when I asked my usual question about taking photographs they said 'yes, but please don't use flash'. Refreshing change from the NT! The interior shots are not that great because there were a lot of lamps on so there is glare but hey! at least I can show you what the inside looks like. Above is one end of the Great Hall with a lovely log fire going in the fireplace. The linenfold panelling is really elegant and beautiful.

On this you can see just the oriel on the left - it's an early form of bay window. The doorway leads into The King's Ante Room. The tapestry above the fireplace is late 16th/early 17th century Flemish and illustrates ' Sampson slaying the Philistines with the jaw bone of an ass'. If you click on the picture to enlarge it you will just about be able to make out Sampson.

The other end of the Great Hall with the Minstrel's Gallery, beneath the portrait is a lovely oak and walnut coffer dating from 1631.

The Screens passage with a lovely old stone floor. It runs under the Minstrel's Gallery and the oak door is 15th century, there is one of these doors at each end of the passage. Click on the photo to see it more clearly.

This is the dining room now but it is part of the original 1495 building and the buttery would have been here then. This was where the butts of wine were kept hence the term buttery. I imagine it was also used for the storage of anything that needed cool, dry conditions.

This is The King's Room, also part of the original house. It was once the solar which was the room where the lord of the manor and his family could withdraw and have some privacy. It isn't called The King's Room because a king has slept there but because this is the room where the Manor Court was held in the name of the king.
The lovely oak Tester bed dates from the reign of Charles l ie between 1625 and 1649.

This isn't the main library of the house but a small and cosy little study/library opening off a landing on the stairs.

The Yellow Bedroom, the fireplace is lined with lovely Delft tiles and the panelling is 19th century but is fixed directly onto Tudor brick and timber walls.
The ghost of The Grey Lady haunts this room.

The State Bedroom with its oak four poster bed.

This rather splendid fire place is 15th century and is made of Ham stone which comes from a quarry on Ham Hill in Somerset. The small arched doorway leads to a private chapel.

The gardens at Athelhampton are very pleasant to walk in especially on a sunny afternoon which by this stage is what I had. This is the Corona which is more or less at the centre of the gardens. The walls, like the fireplace in the previous photo, are of Ham stone backed by clipped yew and they frame a lovely vista through to the fountain in The Great Court.

The River Piddle runs through the grounds - no sniggering at the back there please!
On a rather more romantic note, this scene reminded me of the Pre-Raphaelite painting of Ophelia by John Everett Millais.

Finally we come to the piece de resistance - at least, it is as far as I'm concerned. I think this 15th century dovecote is absolutely beautiful.

This lantern on top of the roof provides landing stages for the doves.

Dovecotes were a status symbol but also had a very practical purpose, they were used to farm pigeons to provide fresh meat especially in the winter months. The door is only three feet high but, in the interests of science and also because I was curious!, I crept in and took this photograph of the interior showing some of the nesting boxes. There is room in here for 1500 birds to nest.
I had a really pleasant afternoon at Athelhampton and from this point on the weather was much better and the two best days were still ahead of me.

A Ruined Abbey and A Dovecote Part One

2009-06-22T08:41:00.004+01:00

The Abbey

The day after my visit to Wimborne it was grey and damp once more, I'd decided to go in the opposite direction this time so headed up to Shaftesbury. This is a very ancient Saxon town set on a hill top and was founded in the 9th century by King Alfred the Great and, thanks to its great Abbey,it was a place that attracted great numbers of pilgrims. The photograph shows the statue of King Alfred that now stands among the ruins of the Abbey that he founded. It's a modern piece commissioned in 1989 and I really like it.

I started off by walking down Gold Hill which is famous for being featured in a well known nostalgic UK advert for Hovis bread. I was standing at the bottom of the hill looking up and the thick stone walls on the left are the remains of the Abbey precinct wall - since the Abbey was destroyed in 1539 these walls must be at least 800 years old. It was raining when I took the photograph so it looks rather less appealing than it does in the golden light of the advert!

Even in dull light this ancient water pump makes an attractive picture.

I took this photo because it was like suddenly stepping back into another age, it's rare these days to see anyone using a sickle but this elderly man was obviously an expert and was cutting back the growth on the hedgebank in the same way that his ancestors would have done for centuries past. You will need to click on the photo to see the sickle clearly. I have one just like it in my kitchen that is around 100 years old.

This is Edwardstow in the oldest part of Shaftesbury, the centre part of the house predates the Dissolution of the Abbey in 1539 and it is the oldest house in Shaftesbury. If you enlarge the photo of the cottage you will see the blue plaque on the far end.

Shaftesbury Abbey was a large and wealthy Benedictine nunnery with vast land holdings and its first Abbess was King Alfred's daughter Aethelgifu. The Saxon King Edward the Martyr was buried here in 978AD and his shrine attracted great numbers of pilgrims including royalty. King Canute visited the Abbey frequently and died here in 1035 though he isn't buried in Shaftesbury, his body was taken to Winchester which was the capital city of England at that period. The Abbey grew and prospered until March 1539 when the nuns were forced to leave, the Abbey was stripped of its treasures and the church and Abbey precincts destroyed. Then in 1985 a group of people formed a Trust and bought the grounds and some inspired soul had the idea of turning it into a garden with a small museum attached. It has been superbly done and although there are discreet information boards around the ruins the area remains both tranquil and beautiful. The photograph(which will need clicking on) shows the nave with the nave altar, which would have been used by townsfolk and pilgrims, nearest the front. Just behind it is a line of stones where the screen would have been and only the nuns and their priest would have been allowed in that area behind there. The mounds of stone at intervals on either side were the pillars that supported the arcades which led to the north and south aisles.

One of the information boards which shows an artists impression of what the interior of the Abbey church would have looked like.

The remains of four steps to the High Altar, on the site of the altar is a 14th century wayside cross which originally stood in the town. During services the altar would have held chalices and other items made of gold and decorated with precious stones which were part of the Abbey's great treasure store. Legend has it that Elizabeth Zouche, who was Abbess at the time of the Dissolution, arranged for the treasures to be hidden in a chamber that was dug in one of the tunnels that are supposed to exist under the Abbey so that Henry Vlll wouldn't get his hands on it. An elderly priest was in charge of the digging and led the blindfolded workmen to the site each day. Finally the chamber was completed and the priest put the treasure inside and locked the door. As he hurried to tell the Abbess where the chamber was he collapsed and died of heart failure and the secret of the treasure's whereabouts died with him - so it must still be there somewhere under the Abbey ruins!

The crypt and the steep stone steps that lead down into it.

This is thought to be the site of the shrine of King Edward, Saint and Martyr. He inherited the crown from his father King Edgar in 978 at the age of 16 and was murdered by his step-mother so that her son Aethelred could become king. After his burial there were stories of miracles occurring and in 1001 he was canonized and became St Edward the Martyr - the pilgrims flocked in and the Abbey's future was looking good.

One of several Purbeck marble coffins that were found during excavations. It is in the South Aisle and they think it contained the remains of Abbess Juliana de Bauceyn who died in 1279. The remnants of a veil edged with gold thread were found here.

This is my favourite part of the whole place, King Alfred's statue stands in the centre of Aethelgifu's Herb Collection which is absolutely fascinating - to me at any rate:) Monasteries and Abbeys were the main providers of medical treatment in Saxon and Medieval times and all would have had extensive herb gardens and there would have been at least one member of the order who was an expert in the uses of herbs for healing - think Brother Cadfael here. This is a collection of the herbs that would have been in use in Anglo Saxon times not only for medicines but for strewing, insecticides, dyeing and many other things. There is also a collection of orchard fruit trees growing at the back against the wall.

Horsemint was apparently eaten to cure dry skin and the juice was taken mixed with wine for worms in the ear! Happily this unpleasant sounding affliction seems to be a thing of the past now - at least, I've never come across it I'm glad to say.

Plantain was one of the nine Anglo Saxon sacred herbs and was very highly esteemed. On one of the herb courses I've done it was used with other herbs in a soothing ointment for cuts, small burns and insect bites. The Anglo Saxons used the bruised leaves to relieve sore feet too.

Here are spurge which was used for catarrh, sweet woodruff was a strewing herb and moth deterrent and the opium poppy which was used as a sedative. If the weather had been better I could have spent much longer exploring all the herbs, the Museum shop had a super little booklet listing all the herbs and their uses, there are over one hundred herbs listed and I was surprised at how many of them I have growing in my garden. Shaftesbury Abbey is well worth visiting if you are ever in the area. The town itself has a jolly good cafe too just at the top of Gold Hill where I had sausage,pea and mint soup on the recommendation of the waitress. It sounded odd but tasted delicious. This is getting rather long so I shall divide it into two parts and do the Dovecote in part two.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

2009-06-19T22:06:00.009+01:00

“Where the water whispers mid the shadowy rowan - trees
I have heard the Hidden People like the hum of swarming bees:
And when the moon has risen and the brown burn glisters grey
I have seen the Green Host marching in laughing disarray”

Fiona MacLeod

Tonight is Midsummer Eve when the veil between the worlds is thin, it is one of the few times of the year when it is possible to see the faery people as they hold their Midsummer Revels especially if you sit under an elder or hawthorn tree at midnight.
Tomorrow will be the longest day of the year, for a few days the sun rises and sets in the same place before the wheel of the year begins to turn again and the days begin to shorten once more. The Crown of the Year passes from the Oak King to the Holly King as we begin the journey to the fullness of the harvest and the long cold days of the winter.

Come faeries, take me out of this dull world,
for I would ride with you upon the wind
and dance upon the mountains like a flame

W.B.Yeats

For now, though, the sun is at the height of its strength and it is time to celebrate and enjoy all that summer has to offer - the scent of the wild honeysuckle drifting on the air, the brilliant blaze of red where the poppies grow in profusion and all the new young lives that are in every tree and field and woodland glade at this time of the year.

"I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine:
There sleeps Titania some time of the night,
Lull’d in these flowers with dances and delight"

Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream

A very Happy Summer Solstice to all.

The paintings are
1.The Riders of the Sidhe by a 19th century Scottish painter called John Duncan.
2.Midsummer Eve by Edward Robert Hughes a Pre Raphaelite artist
3.Titania Sleeps by Frank Cadogan Cowper

Another Left Turn

2009-06-15T08:47:00.001+01:00

While I was in Dorset I stayed in a village called Iwerne Minster (pronounced yewurn) chosen because it is fairly central to the area I wanted to see. I had a wander round on the evening I arrived and found this wonderful old cottage right on the edge of the churchyard which looked as though it was in a time warp.

There were several lovely old houses including this one standing on a quiet lane.The weather was still grey and very windy on Monday morning and I decided to head for Wimborne Minster where there is a museum as well as the Minster and having indoor options seemed like a good idea. However as I drove along the B3082 I saw a brown sign (brown signs in UK are used to indicate places of interest) - it pointed to the left and it said 'Badbury Rings'. The indicator went on and once again I made a sharp left turn off my planned route.

Badbury Rings is an Iron Age hillfort surrounded by three large banks and ditches and the area that was the actual area of occupation is now covered with trees. This is approaching the entrance on the western side of the rings. As I was walking up here I met a woman on her way out and she said she had walked the circumference of the hillfort on top of the ramparts and that it was worth doing for the views. She had walked both the third and second but had decided against doing the inner ring because it was already occupied! I decided that, in spite of a really strong wind, I'd walk round the second ring. My new friend had said that the wind was exhilarating and she'd felt almost as though she could fly! Hmmmm, I think I've mentioned before that the wind and I are not on especially good terms so the plan was to see what it was like on the top and turn back if it got too bad.

This gives a better idea of what Badbury Rings looks like than I can manage with photographs. Clicking on the photograph will enable you to read what it says and to see the drawing more clearly.

It's hard to give a real idea of the height of the ramparts which would have been about forty feet high with the wooden palisades that would have been on top, even now they are still substantial. As I walked along it was rather thrilling to think that I may well have been treading in the footsteps of King Arthur - Badbury Rings is thought to be a possible site of the Battle of Badon Hill where King Arthur finally defeated the Saxon invaders and brought a prolonged period of peace to Britain.

I discovered that my friend was quite right - it was exhilarating up there in the wind and the views were certainly worth seeing. They would have been even better on a clear day but there was heavy cloud and the rain was never far away.

Here we have the reason for avoiding the area which would have been occupied during the Iron Age! It was occupied currently by a herd of beautiful Devon Reds, they had calves with them and gave the impression that they wouldn't take kindly to closer inspection. I'm not at all afraid of cows but I have a healthy respect for them when they have young at foot. Discretion is definitely the better part of valour at times like this. It took me about an hour and a half to complete the circuit, it was a fair distance and I kept stopping to look at the views and the wild flowers. It was time well spent though and I was glad I'd followed the little brown sign.

Practically the first thing I came to when I started off to explore Wimborne Minster was the Priests House Museum which was on my list of things to see. It's an interesting little museum set in a 16th century town house, there are period room settings and a great many exhibits telling of life in East Dorset from prehistoric times to the present. At the back of the museum is this lovely walled garden which also has a little tea room.

There has been a church on the site of Wimborne Minster since 705AD when an Abbey was founded by Saint Cuthberga, sister of the king of the West Saxons. The nunnery was destroyed by the Danes in 1013 but the Abbey church survived and was remodelled and rebuilt by the Normans between 1120 and 1180. The outside of the Minster isn't especially thrilling but it does have, high up on one of its two towers, this Quarter Jack which dates from 1612. Originally he was a monk but during the Napoleonic Wars he became a Grenadier - and very smart he is too. He strikes the two bells every quarter of an hour.

The nave with its Norman arches with the typical chevron decoration. Above the arches are small round headed windows which formed the clerestory of the original Norman church before the roof was raised probably in the mid 1400s. The two arches in the centre are the oldest part of the building dating to 1120 and they support the central tower of the Minster.

Each of the Norman arches is decorated with a corbel figure or animal, I was particularly taken with the second of these two which I think looks like friendly little monkey though I don't expect that it really is.

This wooden chest survives from the original Saxon nunnery which makes it over a thousand years old! It is carved from the trunk of an oak tree and was used to hold religious relics.

My favourite thing in the Minster - this is a monument to Sir Edward Uvedale who died in 1606. It's about the most laid back looking monumental figure I've ever seen I think. It's worth clicking and enlarging as it really is beautiful.

The mid 15th century tomb of John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset and his wife Margaret, they were the grandparents of Henry Tudor who we met in a previous post when he fought and defeated Richard lll at the Battle of Bosworth and became King Henry Vll of England.

The thing about Wimborne Minster that I found most interesting is that King Ethelred, the elder brother of Alfred the Great, was buried here in 871AD following his death in battle against Danish invaders. Alfred succeeded him as king. The exact location of Ethelred's tomb is unknown but is thought to be in the wall close to the high altar. This memorial brass was engraved about 1440 and is the only memorial brass effigy of an English king. Incidentally this is not the the same Ethelred as Ethelred the Unready who was a great grandson of King Alfred.

The sundial has a date of 1676 on it and has three faces which is very unusual. I would have liked to see the Minster's Chained Library but it was closed the day I was there probably because they were preparing the church for a funeral service. Wimborne is a pleasant enough town but it is, I regret to say, rather a dull place in spite of having a very long history. I did walk round the town clutching a little town guide but didn't find anything either especially interesting or especially beautiful and so,as it was by now mid afternoon, I decided that it was time to move on.

'I'll go back via the scenic route' I thought, 'and see whether I can find Knowlton Circles'. Well, it certainly was the scenic route, I got to know Wimborne St Giles quite well as I drove through it at least three times trying to find the lane to Knowlton! I could find any number of signs pointing in various directions but they all ended up in Wimborne St Giles. Eventually I came across a young couple and they were able to tell me the way, it was no wonder I'd missed the turn as it was up a very narrow lane with no sign at all and I drove on into what appeared to be a totally deserted landscape. The road climbed higher and higher and got narrower and narrower but eventually I spotted the silhouette of a church on the skyline and soon I was getting out of the car to explore. The ruined church is Norman and, as is the case with a great many Christian churches, it was built on an ancient pagan site.

Here you can see the bank and ditch of the henge which the church stands on, Knowlton has three henges in a row and the church is on the middle one with a fourth one known as 'Old Churchyard' to one side. In the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age it was apparently one of the most important ceremonial sites in Wessex, the equal of Stonehenge. Knowlton was once a thriving village and the capital of a Saxon hundred. It was devastated by the Black Death around 1485 and gradually people moved away and the church fell into disrepair in the 17th century. Knowlton 'village' now consists of one farm!

Knowlton was a centre for the building of Bronze Age round barrows, the one above is just to the east of the central henge and is the largest round barrow in Dorset and there are many others close by. By this time thoughts of dinner were beginning to enter my mind so I headed back to Iwerne Minster at the end of an enjoyable day. As so often happens though it was the unplanned parts that were the best.

The 18th Photo!

2009-06-05T12:57:00.006+01:00

Derrick from Melrose Musings has tagged me to go to the 18th photo of the 18th folder in my files and tell the story behind it - apparently the meme started off as the 6th photo of the 6th file but it seems that there is a degree of superstition attached to the number 6 which I must investigate later. My husband spent a lot of the winter of 2007 scanning all our family photos, from the late 1800s up until the advent of my digital camera, into my computer and these are all in folder number 18. The photo is a family group taken in our garden in 1988 and left to right are my husband, my Uncle Vic, Aunty May, elder son Stephen aged 15 with daughter Juliette aged 8 in front of him, me and my younger son Neil aged 13.
My Uncle Vic was a Norfolk man and early in WW2 he was stationed in my home town of Macclesfield, Cheshire with the RAMC. There he met May, one of my dad's younger sisters and they fell in love. Soon he was shipped out to the Far East and after the fall of Singapore in February 1942 he became a Japanese prisoner of war. He managed to survive these dreadful years with the help of a small leather wallet containing a photograph of the girl he'd left behind which he managed to keep hidden from the Japanese guards. He was finally repatriated back to the UK in late 1945 weighing just 6 stones (84 pounds). He came straight to Macclesfield to the girl who had been his reason to struggle on and survive and in April 1946 he married her and took her back to live in his home county of Norfolk. They celebrated their Diamond Wedding in 2006 and in August 2007 Uncle Vic died at the age of 87. Aunty May is still going strong and will be 89 in August.
So really this is a cheat as the photograph wasn't taken by me at all but by my Uncle David, it brought back some happy memories though even if it wasn't quite according to specifications. I'm not passing this on to 6 other people but please feel free to do this meme if you want to, you may well find that it brings back some good memories for you too.

The Shepherd's Calendar - June

2009-06-02T22:13:00.015+01:00

Here is an excerpt from the June poem in John Clare's 'Shepherd's Calendar'. Remember that you have to put in your own punctuation as you read:) The lovely painting above is by Helen Allingham.

Some ancient customs mixd wi harmless fun
Crowns the swains merry toils - the timid maid
Pleasd to be praised and yet of praise affraid
Seeks her best flowers not those of woods and fields
But such as every farmer's garden yields

Fine cabbage roses painted like her face
And shining pansies trimd in golden lace
And tall tuft larkheels feathered thick wi flowers
And woodbines climbing oer the doors in bowers

And London tufts of many a mottled hue
And pale pink pea and monkshood darkly blue
And white and purple jiliflowers that stay
Lingering in blossom summer half away
And single blood walls of a luscious smell

Old fashioned flowers which hus wives love so well
And columbines stone blue or deep night brown
Their honey-comb-like blossoms hanging down
Each cottage gardens fond adopted child

Just to help you out with the flower names
larks heels are larkspur
London tufts are London Pride
jiliflower could be either pinks/carnations or wallflowers
bloods are also wallflowers, the lovely deep red ones

June is sheep shearing time and the girl is collecting flowers for her 'clipping posies' which were little nosegays presented to the sheep shearers - I believe they were often sprinkled with pepper or snuff which was the cause of much hilarity when the unsuspecting recipient put the sweet-smelling flowers to his nose. Sheep shearing was hard, hot work but not entirely without its pleasures. The farmer would usually supply copious amounts of home brewed cider or ale to help things along. In fact here are another few lines -

The large stone pitcher in its homely trim
And clouded pint horn wi its copper rim
Oer which rude healths was drank in spirits high
From the best broach the cellar would supply
While sung the ancient swains in homly rhymes
Songs that were pictures of the good old times
When leathern bottles held the beer nut brown
That wakd the sun wi songs and sung him down

Life was hard but it had it's lighter side as well.

On To Dorset via Salisbury

2009-06-01T20:53:00.001+01:00

It was early on a grey,cool morning as I left Sussex and headed towards Dorset,my early start was to give me as much time as possible in Salisbury.The first thing that took my attention as I walked from the car park was the medieval Poultry Cross where once upon a time country people would sell their eggs and poultry, it is the only survivor of the four market crosses that once stood in Salisbury's market place. In the background are some half-timbered buildings one of which is...

.... The Haunch of Venison which was built originally to house the craftsmen working on the cathedral spire, it has been there since at least 1320 and is Salisbury's oldest inn.

Relations between the citizens of Salisbury and the clergy of the cathedral were not always entirely harmonious and there was constant trouble to the point that in 1327 Edward lll granted a licence for the building 'an embattled wall of stone' around the cathedral and Close. The photo shows High St Gate, one of four gates which were, and still are, locked at night. This gate had a portcullis which could be dropped across the entrance when the citizens got too out of hand!

The West Front of the cathedral with its life size statues of saints. Salisbury is unique in that it was built to a single plan in a remarkably short space of time, the foundation stone was laid in 1220 and the cathedral was complete by 1266. The chapter house and cloisters were added by 1280. It didn't have a spire to begin with, this was added around 1335 and at 404 ft is the highest in England. Clicking on the photos will bring up more detail.

The interior of the cathedral looking towards the east window.

The rather splendid tomb of sir Richard Mompesson and his wife Katherine who owned Mompesson House, one of the houses in the Cathedral Close and now owned by the National Trust.

This is the oldest working clock in the world, it was made about 1386 and only strikes the hours. It doesn't have a face as it was originally in a bell tower and only heard not seen.

The cloisters and behind them the octagonal building is the Chapter House. The Chapter House is the only part of the cathedral where photography isn't allowed so naturally it is also far and away the most attractive and interesting part! It has a wonderful vaulted ceiling and a superb medieval carved stone freize depicting scenes from the books of Genesis and Exodus, including Adam and Eve, the building of the Ark, and Abel's murder at the hands of Cain. It is fascinating to walk round with the information card explaining which each one represents. The jewel in the crown though is one of only four of the original forty or so copies of Magna Carta still in existence.

I couldn't resist looking for an online image of the freeze and this is the only one I could find - Noah's Ark with Noah and the returning dove. Isn't it wonderful?

Walking through the close I saw this lovely sundial on the wall of Malmesbury House.

This is another of the gates of the city - St Ann's Gate this time and the rain was beginning to fall quite heavily again when I took this photo, hence the rather grey and depressing look to it. The great composer Handel was a friend of the owner of Malmesbury House and in 1739 he is said to have given his first concert in England in the room with the arched window above the gate. In the house that you can just see on the left of the gate lived Henry Fielding, the author of Tom Jones. He liked to have a good time and was apparently giving one of his frequent noisy parties as Handel performed next door!

I love the beautiful statue on the portico of The White Hart which is an 18th century building - again you need to click on the photo to see it properly. It was one of Salisbury's grander coaching inns and must once have been the scene of a good deal of noise and activity as the stage coaches clattered down the street and turned into the inn yard.

The House of John a'Porte who was a wealthy wool merchant and six times mayor of Salisbury. The house was built in 1425.

The church of St Thomas Becket was originally built around 1220 as a place of worship for the craftsmen working on the building of the cathedral but the present building dates from around 1450. Over the chancel arch is the largest 'Doom' painting in England dating from around 1475, the offering of a grateful pilgrim safely returned from his journey. It was whitewashed over at the Reformation and rediscovered in the 19th century.

It isn't everyone who carves their own memorial! Humphrey Beckham was Chamberlain of the Joiners Guild in 1621 and Warden in 1635 and obviously intended to be remembered.

In the Lady Chapel of St Thomas' there are more medieval wall paintings, this one is The Annunciation....

.....and this is The Visitation. Paintings of The Visitation are quite rare in English churches partly because the churchmen considered it an 'indelicate' subject!

Eventually the rain stopped and I decided to walk through Harnham Water Meadows to see the view of the cathedral which John Constable painted though in 1831 the Meadows seem to have been rather more watery than they are now, though judging by the rainbow in his painting it was raining while he was in Salisbury too!

It was really nice to get out of the busy city streets and walk through this lovely rural scene.

This lovely old building dates back in parts to the 12th century, in 1550 it was rebuilt and the course of the River Nadder was diverted to flow under it and it then became Harnham Water Mill, Wiltshire's first paper mill. It's my favourite of all the buildings that I saw in Salisbury.

This is a detail from the walls which I found both fascinating and beautiful. I think this is the original 12th century part

I crossed the 15th century Crane Bridge over the River Avon as I walked back into the city to retrieve my car and continue the journey to Dorset. I think there is still a good deal of interest for me to see in Salisbury and I'd like to go back there - preferably on a nice,dry day next time!

Oak Apple Day

2009-05-29T13:56:00.009+01:00

Today, the 29th of May, is Oak Apple Day, the day that commemorates the Restoration of the Monarchy when Charles ll returned from exile in France to become king in 1660. The date was declared a holiday by Parliament but was formally abolished in 1859 which seems rather a shame.

Oak apples or sprigs of oak leaves were worn on this day in remembrance of the day after the Battle of Worcester in September 1651, when the future Charles II of England escaped the Roundhead army by hiding in an oak tree near Boscobel House in Shropshire while fleeing to exile in France.

May 29th 1660 was also the thirtieth birthday of the Merrie Monarch so ' A Health Unto His Majesty' who would certainly would have known how to have a good time on his birthday!

A Wet Start and a Detour

2009-05-26T06:27:00.017+01:00

I've just spent a week in Sussex and Dorset and when I left home the weather was so bad that I decided to stay off the motorway and find my way down to Northampton on the ordinary roads. I left at 6am in pouring rain so at least there wasn't much traffic while I navigated on strange roads. On the map the route looks perfectly straightforward, on the ground it's full of roundabouts, narrow roads through small towns and a general lack of signposts where you need them most! However by 9am I was driving through Leicestershire and the rain had eased and suddenly I saw a large brown sign that said 'Bosworth Battlefield'. Working on the theory that 'I may never pass this way again' I did a sharp left turn and set off to see what I could find. It was too early for the Visitor Centre to be open when I arrived but there was a walk around the area of the battlefield with good information boards at intervals.

The Battle of Bosworth took place on the 22nd August 1485 and was the final battle of the Wars of the Roses. It changed the course of English history as the Plantaganet king, Richard lll, was killed on the battlefield and Henry Tudor became Henry Vll, father of Henry Vlll and grandfather of Elizabeth l. Above is Ambion Hill where Richard's army camped the night before the battle.

The battle standard of Richard lll which would have been flying on Ambion Hill on that fateful day when Richard was betrayed by Lord Thomas Stanley who waited to see which way the battle was going and finally committed his large private army on the side of Henry Tudor and attacked Richard and his cavalry and Richard was killed, the last English king to die in battle. His body was treated shamefully by Henry Tudor, he was stripped naked and tied to a horse and taken to Leicester where it was exposed to the public gaze for two days before being buried without ceremony at the Church of the Greyfriars. At the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries his coffin was dug up and his bones thrown into the River Soar. This was followed by the blackening of his reputation by supporters of the Tudor dynasty in particular Sir Thomas More. William Shakespeare's play, Richard lll, was largely based on the book written by More. During his lifetime contemporary sources suggest that he was an able and greatly loved administrator who did much to improve the living standards and liberties of ordinary people.

A cairn covers the spring where King Richard is said to have stopped to drink during the battle.

This is the board standing just in front of the spring, The Fellowship of the White Boar was the original name of the Richard lll Society

St James Church, Sutton Cheney where Richard is reputed to have heard his final Mass on the eve of battle.

The memorial to Richard lll and his followers which is on a wall of the church. A poor photograph because of the way the light was shining on it. Loyautie me lie translates as 'Loyalty binds me' and was the motto of Richard Plantagenet. The memorial was placed there by the Richard lll Society.My own interest in Richard began after I read a book called The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey - it's a detective novel which I have read several times and it never gets any less intriguing. However we'd better carry on to Sussex now.

I was in Sussex to do a course called Food for Free at the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum, it was a pleasant enough day but to be honest I can't say I learned a great deal that I didn't know already, it didn't rain anyway and we had a pleasant ramble in the woodland but other than that it wasn't very notable.One thing to do when you are out in the country is to notice not only what is available now but what might be worth coming back for later in the year - in this case the wild strawberry flowers will eventually become small,sweet fruit.

This is a fungus that grows on dead ash trees and is called King Alfred's Cakes - and they do look like little cakes left in the fire too long. They aren't edible but they are very useful for anyone who is living off the land and needs to start a fire.

They can be either brown or black and the black variety can be very useful for lighting fires because the inner flesh, once dried out, will easily catch a spark which will ignite the flesh of the fungus and, although it burns slowly like a barbecue briquette, once it has been lit you can get a flame started. It can also be used to carry as a living ember if wrapped in birch bark or fresh grass. "Oetzi", the 5000 year old Iceman who was found in the melting ice of an Alpine glacier in Italy in 1991, was carrying a piece of tinder fungus in a leather pouch. They are rather attractive when they are cut open too, the inside reminded me of tree rings.

This is burdock, most widely known in its context of Dandelion and Burdock - one of the world's most wonderful drinks in my opinion:) The root can also be eaten as a root vegetable provided you have sufficient strength and stamina to dig it up! It has several medicinal uses too.

Good King Henry is not only wild but was widely grown in cottage gardens in the medieval period and used as a potherb. It can be cooked like spinach and you can also use the stems which are known as Poor Man's Asparagus. The Henry part has nothing to do with English kings - Good Henry was a kind of Anglo-Saxon elf!

We were shown how to hot smoke fish on an open fire using a couple of baking tins and a tray from a disposable barbecue. You shave half a dozen slivers of wood such as apple, beech, hazel, or oak into one of the trays,put the fish on the grid over the top and season it, then put the other tray over it. Do NOT use woods like yew, pines or horse chestnut as they are toxic, you really do need to know what you are doing when using wood for anything like this.

Put the lot straight onto the fire and put a big rock on top to keep the lid on, leave it for 10 minutes or so and...

...smoked cooked fish. Very nice it was too. Afterwards I went back to where I was staying and went to a local inn called the Keepers Arms to eat a beautiful steak closely followed by a beautiful creme brulee! No foraging required!