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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:

Big Sky – Small Fry

Big Sky – Small Fry

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Another lovely day yesterday saw us arrive at the free car park in Dedham where we intended to walk around the area where John Constable used to paint. A short walk from the car park brought us here.

Just above the cattle you may see a horizontal line in the grass – that is the path we intend to take which follows the River Stour to Flatford.

After crossing the road bridge over the river we joined the footpath and set off beside the river. After only a short while we stopped to look at a small shoal of small fish, about five inches long, near the bank. We are no experts when it comes to identifying fish but we thought that they could be Gudgeon. The jury's out on that one.

This is the public footpath a little further on.

We soon reached a footbridge which we needed to take to get on the other side of the river where the path continued. We stopped again, by the river, and could see numerous bright blue damsel flies together with some powder blue dragon flies (Libellula) and some very small fry in the shallow water near the bank. We imagine that they are probably Minnows.

A little further on and we could see the bridge at Flatford in the distance with people leaning over looking at the river.

A very short time after there we were at the bridge with the thatched Bridge Cottage beyond.

From the bridge we could see, looking back, the path by which we had arrived.

The National Trust, who own most of the properties here, run a small tea room attached to Bridge Cottage where we had a short break and some coffee. One thing that can be said about National Trust tearooms is that they know how to charge (one pound and 45 pence for a cup of coffee).

After our break we walked past Granary Barn (thatched) and Flatford Mill, which John Constable's father used to own, to reach Willie Lott's Cottage.

There are other pictures of this area on the web site on the Dedham Vale pages.

After looking around Flatford we walked about a mile up the lane to East Bergholt where John Constable once had a studio. We had a look in the church and in one place we could hear a pitter-patter noise above our heads in the roof. We decided that, from the sound of it, it must be a rain shower. There had been a few clouds about and some of them, although small, were rather dark. I went outside to check and found that it was still brilliant sunshine and there was no sign of rain. We never did find out what that noise was.

This church does not have a tower because they ran out of money when it was being built so they decided to build a small wooden building on the ground to house the bells. Very unusual.

At least there is something to catch the water in if the roof ever leaks. smilies

We walked back to Dedham from East Bergholt for a late lunch, at about 2:00 PM, in the Marlborough Head which dates from medieval times.

After lunch we had a good look around Dedham starting with the church. Have a good look at the church door. Quite a nice bit of carving although it does look a little worn but then it should do as it's been in place since the church was built in the 15th century. There can't be many church doors around which are 400-500 years old.

Just opposite the church is the Sun Inn built in the 15th century and walking through the archway into the yard behind you see this.

That diagonal structure is an external staircase, with a separate roof, giving access to the upper storey. When this inn was built such staircases were commonplace but there are very few of them left.

Our last port of call was 'Southfields' the earliest parts of which date from the 14th century.

A wonderful old building built in quadrangular form with a courtyard in the centre. This is the view through the main doorway into the courtyard.

Time to call it a day. We thoroughly enjoyed our walk – I hope you did too.

Trans-Atlantic friends

Trans-Atlantic friends

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Last friday we had arranged to meet an American couple, who were staying in London, at our local station at around 10:00 AM in order to take them round some of our local places of interest.

Joe and Carolyn were from Oregon and the local countryside here reminded them somewhat of home. It was their first visit to this country and today was their first experience of English country roads. They were particularly interested in the roads because, in a few days time, they will be travelling by train to North Wales where they will be hiring a car.

I think that they were a little surprised at how narrow the roads were in places and that the hedges were 'wing mirror clipping' close!

Our first stop was Coggeshall which is only about 3 miles from the station. We walked from the little local car park up towards the church where we saw the 15th century Woolpack Inn which was built before Columbus discovered America.

Then, as it was literally next door, we looked around the 15th century church.

Walking back down Church Street we stopped to examine and admire various old buildings such as this timber-framed house of jettied construction and with oriel windows.

Having walked to the bottom of Church Street we walked up West Street to have a look at Coggeshall's most famous building – Paycockes.

You'd have to go a long way to see another 16th century house this good. We walked, from here, up Grange Street to Grange Barn which was built around 1140 for the Cistercian Abbey of which little else remains.

Crossing the road into Abbey Lane we walked along to see what remains of the abbey (not much) and then on the public footpath across the fields to East Street.

Again there were plenty of interesting buildings and features to stop and look at including a house with an intricately carved beam with the date 1585 carved into it.

It was nearly lunchtime by now so we went back to the Woolpack Inn for lunch. They have a good selection of meals there and I think that we can all vouch for the fact that they were very tasty.

After lunch it was back to the car and on to Thaxted via Great Bardfield. As we drove into Thaxted and turned right to go to the car park we caught a glimpse of things to come.

After parking the car we walked past the church down Watling Street into the town centre where we had a good look at the Guildhall.

Then up the little lane to the right of the Guildhall, Stoney Lane, where we saw Dick Turpin's cottage. Dick Turpin was an infamous highway robber and, so I understand, a nasty piece of work!

Stoney Lane leads into the churchyard so we had a look at the church. This is an amazingly impressive church for a small market town. Joe was particularly interested in some marquetry inlay in the pulpit and he had plans for producing something similar when he got home – I wish him luck. I wouldn't have a chance of doing anything like that.

We walked from the church to the windmill going past some thatched cottages on the way. We had seen numerous thatched cottages on the way here but this was the first time Joe and Carolyn had been able to see thatch at close quarters. The tower mill that we were going to see was the first windmill they had seen. This picture shows Amanda, Carolyn and Joe wondering whether they will end up with severely strained necks.

It is sometimes open to the public but, unfortunately, today was not one of those times.

Back to the car and on to Finchingfield where we stopped for a much needed cup of coffee or in Amanda's case – tea. After refreshments we walked round to have a look at the post mill – a different type of windmill from the one we'd seen at Thaxted.

There were also a number of thatched cottages clustered around this part of Finchingfield – very pretty.

We walked back across the village green to the car.

It was getting a bit late but I thought we would have time to go via Castle Hedingham to get a glimpse of their first medieval castle. When we got there all we could see, because of tree cover, was a little bit of the top of the Keep. We then had to leave for the station and because the rush-hour traffic slowed us down somewhat we managed to miss their train by about 4 minutes. Luckily there was another train in about 40 minutes.

We thought that Joe and Carolyn were really lovely people and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly and I hope that they did too.

Angels, Windmills and Porridge

Angels, Windmills and Porridge

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Yesterday was a lovely sunny day and the back roads called. We headed north-west towards Braintree, by-passed Braintree to the north, then off west through Bocking Churchstreet. We passed by the windmill in Bocking Churchstreet, which we have visited before, and made our way through the tiny back roads passing through the villages of Panfield, Jasper's Green and Shalford Green before arriving at our first planned stop – Bardfield Saling church.

Bardfield Saling is a very small village which is approximately in the middle of nowhere and all the better for it. It has a little church, built in the first half of the 14th century, with an unusual feature – a round tower. There are only 6 churches in Essex with round towers and this is probably the last medieval church ever built in this country with a round tower.

There were a number of interesting features inside including some straw platting showing extraordinary detail. We spoke to a lady in the house opposite the church who told us that the platting was done in 1880 by the mother of the previous church warden.

After leaving Bardfield Saling we meandered, and meander really is the only suitable description for navigating these little lanes, for a few miles to the village of Stebbing. You will not find Stebbing mentioned in any tourist literature which is surprising because it really is a pretty village. Lots of ancient buildings and a rather fine church.

The existing church dates from the mid 14th century and belonged to the Knights Hospitallers. There is nothing in the architecture to indicate that it was a Hospitallers church; it is simply a fine example of Decorated English seen here behind some cottages from outside the old Red Lion.

It was here that we saw some angels.

There were a pair of angels, one each side, between each of the main supporting beams of the roof structure. That, however, was not the most interesting feature of this church. It has a stone rood screen, most are made of wood, and is one of only three left in Europe. One of the other two is in Great Bardfield, of which more later, and the third is in Trondheim, Norway.

We walked back into the main part of the village along this road.

With a last look at some of the old cottages we moved on to our next destination.

Wending, or should that be winding, our way through yet more back lanes we headed for Thaxted going out through Duck End and past Porridge Hall on the way. Don't you just love those names? I don't know whether the hall has any association with Porridge or whether it's a corruption of an older name.

I stopped to take this picture on our approach to Thaxted because the little town looked so nice nestling in it's valley. You can't really miss the church and the windmill can you?

We arrived at Thaxted in time for lunch. There are three tea rooms in Thaxted that we know of. One, which is Egon Ronay recommended, had apparently closed down and of the other two in the main street opposite the Guildhall we chose the one called "Parrish's". Amanda had fish and chips and I had omlette and chips which was fine and the only comments that I would make are that the meals arrive on plates the size of manhole covers, I couldn't finish all mine, and the 'background' music was a bit too foreground for me – too loud.

However, thoroughly fortified, we sallied forth to explore. We have been to Thaxted before but there were some parts we had not explored. We walked up Stoney Street which leads from the Guildhall up to the churchyard.

Through the churchyard past the Alms Houses and along the footpath to John Webb's Windmill.

This is a conventional tower mill built in 1804 using local materials. The bricks being made and fired locally using clay from a local pit. The windmill is fully restored and is now in full working order and capable of grinding flour.

Back along the footpath running alongside the churchyard we headed into the town centre.

Back to the car and off to our next destination – Little Bardfield Church next to Little Bardfield Hall. Somewhere between Thaxted and Little Bardfield we go past Furthermore Hall and I don't know where that name comes from either. The little church of St Katharine's at Little Bardfield dates from 1042 which means that, in case you can't work it out, it is a Saxon church. The tower really does look quite large for such a small church.

Onward for one and a half miles to Great Bardfield. Great Bardfield was at one time a small market town but is now a village that retains some of the trappings of its erstwhile importance, for example, a 'Town Hall'.

We parked in the High Street near the the war memorial and this view is from the war memorial looking down Brook Street which was the road we used to get to the church.

There are some nice ancient buildings here from the medieval period onwards as evidenced by this large thatched cottage. It is particularly interesting because a small part of the roof at the front is tiled.

Further along we went past the green, with its colour-washed houses, towards the church.

The 14th century church is interesting for a number of reasons. One is that the lower part of the tower is actually Norman.

Another reason is the stone rood screen. This is late 14th century whereas the one we saw in Stebbing is mid-14th century. So now you've seen two out of the three remaining stone rood screens in Europe. If you want to see the third you'll have to pop over to Norway.

This is yet another reason, should you need one; one of two elaborately carved chancel tie-beams including the date of 1618.

Leaving Great Bardfield we head for Finchingfield where we arrive in time for afternoon tea with scones, butter and jam. Yum! On a previous visit we went into the Causeway Tea Rooms but they are closed each Thursday and Friday so we went into Jemima's Tea Rooms, near The Fox Inn, instead. Good tea and coffee – lovely scones!

Finchingfield, like Thaxted, is already featured on the web site but we wanted another look around and there is always the chance of a different view like this one

We wandered across to the windmill which is the smallest post mill in Essex dating from the 1700s.

This is part of the village near the windmill.

.. and so we headed home after another long, sunny and interesting day. Some of these places will, in time, appear on the web site with their own pages.

Cottage and Castle

Cottage and Castle

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In my previous entry I said “The weather is forecast to be good next week” and it is.

I had wanted to visit Pleshey for some time now so that is where we decided to go this morning. Pleshey is a small village about 7 miles north-west of Chelmsford in Essex and is unusual in that it lies wholly within the defensive ditch and rampart of Pleshey Castle. The castle itself, built in Norman times, no longer exists as it was dismantled for building stone in the 17th century but the Motte and Bailey are still evident.

Map of Pleshey

We started by looking at the church.

There has been a church on the site for many hundreds of years but it was mostly rebuilt in the 19th century incorporating just a little of the original. The design of the present church is unusual in that it has a flying buttress on the south side of the tower, which can be seen in the view above, and a smaller hexagonal tower, containing a spiral stairway, attached to the north-east corner of the main tower which is shown in the view below.

We crossed the road to the public footpath opposite the church and followed the defensive ditch all the way around the north-west side of the village and back to the same road but on the other side of the village. The ditch is rather overgrown and this is the best view that I was able to get.

We walked back through the village admiring some of the pretty thatched cottages as we passed by.

The castle motte and bailey is privately owned and accessible to visitors only by appointment but some features can be seen from the outside. On the way through the village we stopped at the castle mound viewing area – a nice little grassed area with a bench seat.

The water is part of the original moat with the 50 foot high castle mound off to the right. Looking between two of the cottages we could see the large brick bridge connecting the motte and bailey and which was built in the late 14th century. This is one of the earliest brick structures in the country.

Finally we were able to get a good view of the part of the moat that surrounds the bailey although there is much less water in this part.

All in all an interesting little trip.