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The Peak District – Day 3

The Peak District – Day 3

The day dawned bright and sunny – but not for long. The cloud soon blotted out the sun although it was still bright.

We drove the few miles to Wetton Mill in the Manifold Valley which meant going over the border from Derbyshire and into Staffordshire although there was little difference in the countryside. We were still on limestone but the ‘dales’ are now called ‘valleys’.

Having parked the car we walked on a path along the Manifold Valley which, like the Tissington Trail, was once the track of a light railway. We started from near this bridge.

Peak District

Within about 500 yards all that water in the river disappears underground through the river bed. There is no discernible hole but disappear it does leaving the river bed virtually dry except for the occasional small pool.

Some way further along the path we caught sight or Thor’s Cave and, before you ask, no we didn’t climb up to it. We were both still recovering from yesterday’s exertions.

Peak District

After walking a few miles we creaked our way back to the car and drove to Alstonefield an attractive little village, typically built of stone in this area, just a few miles from the Manifold Valley.

Peak District

After walking round the village we moved on to Youlgreave back in Derbyshire by which time the sun had started to break through again.

Peak District

Near the church there was a narrow lane which descended the valley side to the bottom of the valley.

Peak District

At the bottom is the River Bradford.

Peak District

We walked along by the river which had Brown Trout swimming in the most amazingly clear water.

Peak District

After climbing back up to Youlgreave and the car we moved on to Arbor Low, an ancient stone circle and our last stop for the day.

I’ll leave you with this picture. Tomorrow we return home.

Peak District

Peak of perfection

Peak of perfection

Yesterday morning we decided that we needed a short walking break in some beautiful countryside so I managed to book two nights at Biggin Hall in the Derbyshire Peak District. This morning we were at home but by lunchtime we were in Derbyshire.

Peak District

This afternoon we walked from the hotel to the village of Hartington.

Peak District

Walking back a different way we walked through a dale (valley) with Cowslips and Early Purple Orchids sprinkled all over the sides.

More tomorrow.

Trans-Atlantic friends

Trans-Atlantic friends

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.

Lavenham again

Lavenham again

We are now back from our trip to Lavenham and you may have noticed the absence of a blow by blow account. The hotel did have free wireless broadband available to guests but, as happened in Norwich, it wasn't working properly and so I couldn't use it. It was still out of order when we left.

Sunday 29th April 2007

We arrived in Lavenham on Sunday last at about 11:30 in the morning and, as we expected, our room at the Swan Inn wasn't going to be ready until about 2:00 in the afternoon. So we left our luggage with the hotel and wandered off around the town.

In case you wonder what the Swan is like then this is it (built in the 1400s).

One of the nice things about Lavenham is that whichever street you choose to walk along it will almost certainly have a lot of ancient buildings in it. This time we chose to go out of the back of the hotel into Lady Street and up a short way to the Square to look around the many and various nice old buildings including the Guildhall (built in 1530) and owned by the National Trust.

By now it was time for lunch and we went back into High Street and found a little teashop called 'Chilli and Chives' and had a light lunch including cups of tea and coffee.

After lunch we walked north along High Street and back admiring all the inevitable ancient buildings and then turned up Hall Road just to see if there was a 'Hall' and indeed there was. A lovely, large old house with very attractive grounds including a small lake with black swans.

We noticed that at the bottom end of the hall's grounds there was a public footpath running towards the church. Following that we emerged in the churchyard and so went into the rather cathedral-like church.

It has a rather imposing entrance porch.

It's even more imposing inside but I didn't take any interior pictures on this visit as it would require a tripod and that was still in the hotel. I made a mental note to return tomorrow with the said tripod.

It was coming up to afternoon tea time so we walked back to the hotel. After a brief visit to our room we sat down in one of the cosy lounge areas and ordered scones with butter, jam and clotted cream. Whilst we were waiting for our tea to arrive three other people came in and sat nearby. We couldn't help but overhear what they were saying and deduced from their accents that they were Americans. They chose to have the larger version of tea so that, in addition to what we had, theirs included finger sandwiches and pastries. When it arrived, on a tall cake stand in three layers, they seemed so pleased with it they were taking photographs of each other to include the cake stand. They obviously couldn't take a picture with all three of them in it so I volunteered to do it for them and they gratefully accepted my offer.

Our scones were some of the best we'd had – very yummy with jam and clotted cream.

After tea Amanda decided to have a bath so I went out for another walk around. Whilst wandering around the Square again I met the same three Americans from the hotel. It turned out that they had come over to collect their daughter from Law School in London and because the man had been stationed near Lavenham with the American air force about 20 years ago they had driven up here to look at old haunts and they felt that little had changed.

So back to the hotel to try the broadband.

I had, as mentioned earlier, to take my laptop into the lounge to try this and using the information given to me by the hotel tried to connect to the Internet. After fiddling about for 30 minutes I had to admit defeat. I went back to reception and asked to see their connecting instructions again. "Are you having trouble" said the receptionist – I said that I was. "Ah", she said, "we appear to have a problem with that". I wish I'd known before I started as it would have saved a lot of frustration. They were supposed to be getting a man in next day to fix it.

I went back to our room and had a look at the photographs I'd taken during the day after which it was time to get ready for dinner.

We went in to the dining room and what a dining room it was.

Oak beams everywhere and a minstrels' gallery (but no minstrel – pity). After dinner we went back to our room and, eventually, to bed. My mistake at this point was to pull the curtains completely closed.

I woke the following morning when it was barely light and concluded that it must be around 5:00 AM but on looking at my watch I saw that it was actually 8:00 AM. The curtains were so efficient at blocking the light that the room was still virtually dark although it was broad daylight outside. Oops! The next night I left a small gap between the curtains.

Monday 30th April 2007

We had arranged to meet a lady at Little Hall in the Square so that I could take some interior photographs today when the hall is normally closed to visitors.

This is just one of the rooms.

The other interiors will appear on the web site in due course.

After this it was time for lunch and this time we went to a little teashop in Water Street called 'Sweetmeats'. The range of offerings here was pretty amazing. I had a bouillabaisse which is described as a highly seasoned fish stew made from at least two kinds of fish and this had much more than two kinds – very tasty indeed. Amanda had Chicken Madras which she thought was very good. The tea room is upstairs, has only five tables and is run by a trained chef. This place is a little gem so if you are ever in Lavenham – try it.

Off to the church with a tripod this time to take some interior pictures. Just look at that stone carving on the wall of the nave above the arches

and at the risk of straining your neck look at the carving on some of the roof beams above the nave.

After the church we had yet another walk around the streets – we never get tired of doing that in Lavenham. Buildings in Lavenham crooked? Did I say that?

No it's not the camera angle and, no, they weren't built that way. I may look like that when I'm that old.

Later, back at the hotel, we decided to try the bar meals at The Swan in the less formal surroundings of the lounge and we were not disappointed. The menu was different from that of the restaurant but just as tasty and just as nicely presented.

And so to bed (No the broadband problem wasn't fixed today).

Tuesday 1st May 2007

We left Lavenham this morning to return home but that didn't stop us from sightseeing on the way.

First stop was Cavendish. A small village about 12 miles from Lavenham slightly south of west. This view is a well known and often used view of Cavendish to illustrate Suffolk and one can easily see why.

We love some of these names – 'Nether Hall'. Lovely building too.

Leaving Cavendish and moving further west another three miles we arrive at Clare where we find the Old House. I hope that you will be able to see the intricate moulded patterns on the house walls.

Just in case it's not easy to see in the smallish picture here is an enlargement of part of the same picture.

We had lunch in a small tearoom called 'Cafe Clare' which we can also recommend if you are ever round that way.

We made our way home from here after 3 delightful and interesting days.

Angels, Windmills and Porridge

Angels, Windmills and Porridge

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

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.

Going up in the world.

Going up in the world.

Yesterday we went to Purleigh, a small village near Maldon, to visit the church. They were having an ‘open’ day which included the tower so we were able to climb to the top to see the views over the surrounding countryside.

It was obviously popular with a lot of people going up and down and you can see why when you look at the views.

View from Purleigh Church tower

This is a view of part of Purleigh.

View from Purleigh

This is the church seen from the ground and if you look carefully you will see the heads of people looking down.

View of Purleigh Church

For some unknown reason very few churches were built during the reign of Elizabeth I so that Elizabethan churches are rare. After visiting Purleigh we went to Woodham Walter to see the Elizabethan church there.

View of Woodham Walter Church

View of Woodham Walter Church

What you can’t see in the first picture is that the main body of the church appears to have been constructed as two sections.

The stepped gables are a feature of Elizabethan buildings.

Early vandalism

How’s this for early vandalism? Someone has carved their initials into the stonework together with the date – 1668.

A little further down the road is the timber-framed Bell Inn.

The Bell Inn

A nice little trip on a sunny Sunday afternoon.