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Singing, singing, buttercups and daisies – Tuesday

Singing, singing, buttercups and daisies – Tuesday

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We wasted a half-day today! It was, however, unavoidable. We left home at 9:30 AM and arrived at 12:30 PM after 3 hours of driving. That's the problem with travelling it has to be done to get anywhere but it could be better spent exploring.

The weather of late has been constantly cool, and raining for a lot of the time, but then last Monday, 21st May, good weather was suddenly forecast for at least 3 days so we booked some accommodation and left home on Tuesday, 22nd May for Wiltshire.

We had a clear run as far as the M25 and although there were no visible problems we started to see electronic signs displaying a message 'M4 junctions 6 to 10 long delays'. Guess what road we were planning to use for the next part of our route? We kept going past these signs and eventually decided that if we could see traffic queueing on the M4 slip road we would try an alternate route.

There was no queue on the slip road so we took a chance and went on to the M4 at junction 4. There were no signs of problems by the time we reached junction 6 and to cut a long story short by the time we passed junction 10 traffic was still flowing freely. There were no problems at all and I can understand why drivers tend to ignore such signs which seem not to be turned off once the problem has been cleared.

We arrived at Avebury under a clear blue sky with temperatures forecast to be around 75F. We didn't come for the stone circle but we did come partly for the stone West Kennett Avenue and partly to see inside Avebury Manor which has recently been restored. The restoration of Avebury Manor by the National Trust was the subject of a series of programmes on BBC television and it was very, very interesting so we were here to see for ourselves.

However, first things first! West Kennett Avenue starts from Avebury stone circle and winds across the landscape to the Sanctuary. It was originally lined with large stones of the sort which are to be seen in the stone circle but only some now remain.

This is a picture which I took on our previous visit in October 2011 which does not really show it to best effect.

So after lunch we walked along West Kennett Avenue to the lower end. This is what we saw this time.

Don't those buttercups make a difference? They show up the path along the Avenue very well apart from looking beautiful in their own right. There are also daisies in there somewhere but they aren't easy to see at a distance.

There is an old english folk song called "Strawberry Fair" of which the first two lines are:

As I was going to Strawberry Fair
Singing, singing, buttercups and daisies

Mid-June is probably strawberry time and buttercups and daisies are still in flower at that time but the first flush of Buttercups and Daisies appear towards the end of May.

Having reached the bottom of West Kennett Avenue we had also reached the path that went up and over Waden Hill to Silbury Hill so we just had to go to the top of Waden Hill to see the view of Silbury Hill.

We are just above the top of Silbury Hill at this height and looking a little left of Silbury Hill we could also see West Kennett Long Barrow which we have already featured on the web site. Even the standing stones which mark the entrance are visible at the left-hand end.

We went back down Waden Hill to the end of the Avenue and passed one of the locals looking a bit sheepish. Well you'd probably feel sheepish if you were seen wearing a thick wooly coat on a hot sunny day.

From here we went back to Avebury to look inside Avebury Manor. For the restoration it was decided to restore each room at a different time in the Manor's history, from the age of Queen Elizabeth I to the eve of World War II, and it is one of the few National Trust properties where visitors can touch, handle, sit in and lie on the furnishings.

This shows the Dining Room, with hand painted Chinese wallpaper, in the Georgian era.

The Victorian kitchen with one of the visitors, whose name shall remain anonymous but which starts with "A", leaning nonchalantly on the Dresser and she didn't even do the washing up.

This is a rather opulent bedroom, part of the Queen Anne Suite, and,yes, you could lay on it if you wanted although it would be nice if you took your shoes off first.

Then, of course, some of us have to start taking liberties on the Chaise Longue in the Withdrawal room.

We finally decided it was time to head for our hotel in Marlborough but, on the way, as we were passing the Sanctuary we were going to stop for a look.

This is where the Ridgeway starts and heads off to Ivinghoe Beacon in the Chilterns which I wrote about in the Blog – http://localhost/deoprrssw/?p=170

This is the signpost at the start of the Ridgeway, and it's a long walk to Ivinghoe Beacon,

and just across the road is the Sanctuary which was begun in about 3000 BC. The the site was constructed and modified in a number of phases, with eight rings in total (six wooden post rings and two stone circles) but, sadly, it is now just a set of concrete markers.

We went off to the Castle and Ball Hotel in Marlborough, where we were staying, for an evening meal and to prepare for our expedition tomorrow which features a lesser known historical monument and even more buttercups.
 

A Mere interlude – Day 4

A Mere interlude – Day 4

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Monday, 3rd October 2011

Today we leave Mere to make our way home but we are going back via Avebury. We have been to Avebury before and there are pictures on the main web site but we are going again so you'll just have to put up with it. :devil:

On our last visit we didn't look round Avebury Manor although I did include a photograph taken from the front gate but this time we were able to look round the gardens. The interior was temporarily closed to the public so we weren't able to go inside.

There are no prizes for guessing who that person is walking by the hedge with the nice topiary.

There is a picture already on the web site which includes this stone with the funny face taken from this same viewpoint. So? It's a nice happy, friendly stone.

Amanda stopped to have a chat with one of the other stones and, being paranoid, I think they're talking about me.

Amanda: "What do you think of that old buffer with the camera?"

Old Stone: :censored:

There is the West Kennet Avenue, comprising more stones, which leads away from the circle towards The Sanctuary. This picture shows part of it with some of the missing stones replaced by small markers.

That was the end of our trip because we wanted to leave around 2 O'Clock so that we would be home in time to avoid most of the rush hour traffic which we managed without incident.

This is a Mere finale. :roll:

 

A Mere peregrination – Day 2

A Mere peregrination – Day 2

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Saturday, 1st October 2011

After yesterday's walk we decided to have an easy morning looking round Mere. Our B&B is a very short distance from the High Street and the first thing we see is the 16th century George Inn which is the (apparently) timber-framed building in the foreground. I say 'apparently' because the George is actually stone built with a facing of timber and plaster. The stone building dates from 1580 but I don't know when the facing was added. King Charles II visited the inn in 1651 when he was fleeing after his defeat at the Battle of Worcester.

Beyond the George, on the opposite side of the road, is the Old Ship Inn with the large rounded archway. Originally built as a house in the 17th century it was reputedly converted into a coaching inn in 1785.

A short distance away is the Church of St. Michael the Archangel, dating from 1091, although little of that original church remains. A lot of the changes, including the tower and nave, were made in the 15th century.

That 15th century tower, as I mentioned yesterday, is massive. Someone in the 15th century had money to throw around.

The South Chapel had a rather nice stained-glass window which threw a coloured pattern on the lower wall and also put some blue spots on the brass of John Bettesthorne who was the benefactor of this chapel in the 14th century.

We left the church (there will be more interior photographs when we add Mere to the main web site) and made our way back to the Clock Tower by the George Inn.

We had a snack lunch then drove to Alfred's Tower which is part of the Stourhead Estate but has seperate access and its own car park.

This brick tower, also known as Stourton Tower, was built in 1772 on the north-western edge of the Stourhead Estate and is a folly: it is a building that arguably serves no purpose. It is 160 feet high with a spiral staircase of 205 steps which we duly climbed for the view from the top.

They didn't provide parachutes so we had to climb all the way down again. We then drove the short distance to the edge of Whitesheet Down, which we saw from Castle Hill yesterday, and promptly started climbing again. Will we never learn?

This is part way up, near the top, but we are aiming for that distant plateau because there is an Ordnance Survey Triangulation Point there and Amanda 'collects' them. There is also an Iron Age hill fort.

There are also sheep and people using hang-gliders. I don't think it's the sheep on the hang-gliders although it's difficult to see at this distance.

And there in the near distance, just poking up above  that spur, is Castle Hill again.

We eventually made our way down to our car and went back to Mere. The end of another interesting day.
 

A Mere jaunt – Day 1

A Mere jaunt – Day 1

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Friday, 30th September 2011

This turned out to be a trip to anywhere! The current spell of fine weather was forecast to start from Tuesday 27th September, which it did, and to go on for about 7 days. Unfortunately we had a funeral to attend on Tuesday and I had a long standing dental appointment on the Wednesday so those two days were out. We didn't trust the forecast anyway because 'they' had got it wrong so many times recently so we waited until Wednesday to see how the forecast changed.

We were originally planning to go go up to the Yorkshire Dales but by Wednesday the forecast for the north had changed for the worse so we thought we had better stick to the southern half of the country. Our next choice was going to be Great Malvern in Worcestershire but it looks as though most of the country had the same idea as us, to go away while the weather was fine, and we couldn't find any suitable accommodation.

Next choice was Swanage in Dorset. Same problem – no accommodation available. We were beginning to run out of ideas and Amanda said, as an aside, that she would like to stay in Mere in Wilshire sometime. We had stopped in Mere once, to have lunch, on our way to Porlock Weir in Somerset and she was rather taken with the little town so I though that I'd try there to see if they had any available accommodation. They did and so here we are after an amazingly clear run from home even though it involved a lengthy spell on the M25 which is often called the largest car park in the country.

As we came over the hill at Amesbury we saw the familiar sight of Stonehenge in the distance. If you can mentally ignore the A303 stretching out in front of you then you can imagine how it once looked with Salisbury Plain spreading out all around it. We didn't stop because we had other plans for this afternoon.

We arrived in Mere just before 1 o'clock, booked in to our B&B, had a snack lunch and set off. We were headed for Stourhead Gardens (National Trust) and we were going to walk 2.75 miles each way plus whatever we walked around the garden.

From Mere we headed out via Castle Hill.

It was a very easy climb (Translation: Puff, Wheeze, Gasp. I hope nobody sees me on my hands and knees.).

There used to be a castle here, hence the name, but all the stone has long since been removed probably to build the town down below. This is Mere from castle Hill.

That church tower, as we discovered later, is absolutely massive. Having got this far we continued along the ridge admiring the views over the surrounding countryside.

Just beyond the tractor in the foreground you should be able to see the A303, the road which goes past Stonehenge and which brought us here. On the other side of the A303 is the high ground of Whitesheet Downs and its Iron Age hill fort. We are headed out of that view to the left.

Back down off Castle Hill we reach ground level once again, cross the A303 on a footbridge, and head off across the fields. But wait, what's this? Amanda wearing shorts? Well it was hot, somewhere in the low 80s, and that footpath stretches a long way into the distance with Whitesheet Down off to our right.

Looking back we get a good view of Castle Hill (did we really go up there?) and can even see the Union Flag flying on the top.

We finally stagger, hot and thirsty, into the cafe at Stourhead for a brief respite then on into the garden.

The lighting looked amazing at this time of year together with the fact that the sun was getting noticeably low by 3:30 PM. The last time we were here was August 2008, and in the morning, so on that occasion the sun was lighting the opposite side of the bridge.

The Temple of Apollo was also beautifully lit compared with the photograph taken on our previous visit.

You can see those previous photographs on the main web site.

After walking about 1.5 miles around the lake we decided we'd better start for 'home' and set off again on the footpath back to Mere. The sun was getting quite low by this time and the views across the fields to Castle Hill were quite dramatic with the long shadows.

We arrived back at our B&B rather tired but very satisfied with our afternoon having walked a total of 7 miles. Tomorrow is another day.
 

Here today, not gone tomorrow

Here today, not gone tomorrow

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Sunday 12th September

After 4 hours and 210 miles we arrived at two o'clock this afternoon. Most of the journey was in sunshine but it started raining just as we arrived. Luckily it didn't stay that way.

Where are we?

Monday 13th September

We bin 'ere:

and 'ere:

Cloudy all day today and it rained all the way from the Minster to the Railway Museum.

Well done Old Guy – you got it in one. It may be York rain Tudor but it's just as wet as any other.  Annecy we'll give you the low down later.

Tuesday 14th September

More tramping today. This trip is turning into a Shambles.

Eventually we got the hump!

We had our longest, hardest, wettest shower this morning. We'll be leaving tomorrow.

Wednesday 15th September

Weather cool grey and very windy. Left York at 9:30 AM home by 1:30 PM. :bawl:

Down South – Day 4 – Sunday 27th Sept.

Down South – Day 4 – Sunday 27th Sept.

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We go home today but have decided to call in to Scotney Castle, in Kent, on the way but before any of you castle fanatics get overexcited, especially those of you who’s names begin with ‘M’, let me explain that there is very little castle but a lot of garden.

By the time we’d had breakfast, paid our hotel bill and driven to Scotney Castle it was a little after 11:00, they don’t open until 11:00 anyway, but the car park was nearly full; well it was a sunny Sunday after all.

We entered the grounds in a wooded area so couldn’t see very far until we reached a more open bit then went round a bend and saw this …

Nice view! We walked down the slope towards the ‘castle’ and arrived by the moat. The castle stands on a small island in the middle of the moat, which is more like a lake than a moat, and access is via a stone bridge.

The castle was built in the valley of the River Bewl around 1378-80 and, like Bodiam Castle, it had round towers at each corner only one of which remains. Some hundreds of years later a house was built here which incorporated the remaining ruins of the castle.

This shows a bit more of the ruins across the moat and that bright yellow plant, which I thought were flowers of some sort, turned out to be brightly coloured leaves. Very pretty though.

This shows a better view of the house which is, I believe, Tudor.

We went into the house, which is more or less empty, to have a look around but I didn’t find it particularly interesting. I did take this next picture whilst upstairs showing the area in the front of the house. The stone object in the centre of the circle is the old well head and, in the distance up the hill, can be seen the later Victorian Mansion. The mansion is open to the public but we didn’t go in.

We made our way back up the hill which is where I took this picture of the front of the Victorian Mansion.

Just around the right-hand side of the mansion is this little terrace where the old house/castle is just visible below.

As it was now lunchtime we adjourned to the cafeteria for a light lunch and headed back to the car. People seemed to be pouring into the place now and there seemed to be cars parked everywhere and not just in the car park so we were glad that we arrived relatively early.

That was the end of another trip and, we thought, a particularly nice one. We both liked Eastbourne very much and the coastal scenery is not to be missed. I’m sure we’ll go back.

Yes and No

Yes and No

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Back from our recent trip the answer to the question in the title of the previous posting is ‘Yes and No’.

We were lucky in that it was sunny but unlucky because it was uncomfortably hot and humid. We were lucky to visit Houghton, Hemingford Grey and Hemingford Abbots but St. Ives was a bit of a disappointment but I’ll start at the beginning.

Wednesday 1st July

We drove to Houghton which lies between Huntingdon and St. Ives in Huntingdonshire and we were there by 11:30 in the morning. We parked the car in the Three Horseshoes Inn’s car park and announced our arrival although we didn’t go up to our room.

We wanted to look round Houghton village before we set off on our planned walk because it’s a pretty village with attractive old buildings and chocolate box cottages. We rather liked this display of Hollyhocks which is on the other side of the village square from the Three Horseshoes. The village square is called “The Green” and although it may have been green at some time in the past it certainly isn’t now.

Opposite the Hollyhocks is what is known locally as the crooked house. You can just see some of the Hollyhocks on the extreme left of the picture peeping out from behind a house.

We wandered down Mill Lane (We were now starting the route of our planned walk) passing this chocolate box cottage on the way. It just had to have roses along the front didn’t it?

At the end of Mill Lane there is, wait for it, a mill. Owned by the National Trust it is still in working order and in a lovely setting. The water wheel must be one of the biggest, if not the biggest, we have ever seen. We have mentioned this mill briefly before on our way up to Stamford.

From the mill we followed the path across the River Great Ouse to Hemingford Abbots. Hemingford Abbots, like its neighbour Hemingford Grey, is a curious village. Very attractive and well kept with a number of old buildings but the old buildings are easily outnumbered by large, relatively modern and very expensive looking houses. Although we enjoyed looking at the designs of the modern houses we were more interested in the older style buildings.

That phrase ‘Chocolate Box’ springs to mind again – I don’t know why. We soon reached the centre of the village and this view of their pub, the Axe and Compass, with the church in the background.

As Hemingford Abbots and Hemingford Grey are virtually touching it wasn’t long before we were on the outskirts of Hemingford Grey.

It didn’t take long to reach the centre of the village which is where this next picture was taken and the suspicious looking person lurking in the shadows is, of course, Amanda. On a day like this lurking in the shadows is the best place to be – it was sweltering!

Both the Hemingfords are close to the River Great Ouse and our path took us alongside the river on our way to Hemingford Grey Meadow with St. Ives beyond.

We weren’t really looking forward to the next section which would involve crossing the rather large Hemingford Grey Meadow because we thought that there may be no shade in which to to shelter for some time. One of the churches in St. Ives can be seen on the other side of the meadow together with a few other buildings.

Luckily there was a small water channel, running down one side of the meadow, which was lined with shrubs and trees and we were able to spend short periods going through shade.

St. Ives is an old town but as we approached all we could see on the outskirts were modern buildings – not an old building in sight. We entered the town near the old bridge and having soon passed the modern additions we arrived at the waterside.

This picture was taken from the old bridge which is unusual in that it has a small chapel in the centre which you can see here on the right as we cross the bridge into the main part of the town.

There was a tea shop on the other side with a river terrace where we stopped for a much needed drink and from where I took this photograph of the 15th century bridge.

The area around the bridge and river is very nice but the rest of the town has nothing for the tourist. It’s not an unpleasant place but just little else of interest to see. We weren’t particularly pleased after walking all that way on a very hot and humid day especially as we now had to walk back but that’s the luck of the draw.

We arrived back at the inn in time for a short rest, a shower and then dinner. According to my pedometer we walked exactly 11 miles today.

Thursday 2nd July

After our St. Ives experience we decided to drive through Huntingdon first to assess the place and didn’t really see much there of interest either so drove on to Godmanchester. That didn’t hold our interest either so it was on to Plan B.

We pass close to Cambridge on our route to and from Houghton so we had thought that if we had time, which we now have, we might vist Anglesey Abbey. Now you may think that that would be a gargantuan detour but Anglesey Abbey is not on Anglesey in North Wales it is just a few miles north of Cambridge and is owned by the National Trust.

So it was that we arrived at Anglesey Abbey and gardens just as it was about to open at 10:30 AM. Walking through the gardens we had a bit of a surprise when we came upon this grove of trees.

Each one of those tree trunks is silvery white and the bark is quite hard and shiny. They are a form of Silver Birch which come from the Chinese side of the Himalaya. They gave a really ethereal atmosphere like something out of Alice in Wonderland.

A little further on we arrived at Lode Mill which is a rather cute little watermill and is now part of Anglesey Abbey grounds. We were going to have a look round the inside but the mill wasn’t open today because of a shortage of volunteers. The mill site is described in the Domesday Book although the building will have been replaced, possibly a number of times, since then.

From the mill we found our way to the Herbaceous Garden. Now that’s what I call a herbaceous border and it goes all the way round this large area. Keep that lot clear of weeds if you can.

After leaving the Herbaceous Garden we followed a not so obvious path and eventually stumbled upon the house. Even with a plan of the garden showing the paths it’s easy to get slightly lost in this place. Not a bad country cottage is it? Although the name of the property is Anglesey Abbey it is actually a country house.

Walking past the house, through the Rose Garden, we managed to find the Formal Garden where Amanda took this picture of me trying to run off with one of the stone vases. This may be a formal garden but dress is informal.

The gardens are very large covering around 114 acres most of which is parkland like this.

There is a lot that we didn’t see but Anglesey Abbey is only about an hours drive from us so we will probably return at different times of the year to see the changes.

That was the end of our current trip.

  • Like the curate’s egg it was good in parts.
  • Better luck next time
  • Can’t win ’em all.

You know the sort of thing. :mrgreen: