Peak District Holiday 2016

Tags

annual meadow-grass, Betony, bull, calves, cows, Devil's-bit Scabious, enchanter's nightshade, eyebright, flowers, former industrial landscape, garlic mustard, grasses, greater plantain, harebell, hart's-tongue fern, Hawthorn, Ilam Country Park, Ilam Cross, Ilam Hall, Ilam village, industrial landscape, lamb, Lesser Burdock, Maidenhair Pleenwort, Paradise Walk, Peak District, power station, Rabbit, River Manifold, rowan, Sheep's Fescue, Small Teasel, stile, The Battle Stone, tormentil, unimproved grassland, wind farm

Richard and I had a weeks holiday in the Peak District during August and stayed in our caravan as usual and at a favourite site.  We travelled on the 15th taking Elinor with us and once we had set up the caravan and had had a short rest we then drove to Sheffield as Elinor would be staying the week with Alice.  We had a cup of tea, a nice chat with Alice and Richard met Mona, Alice’s cat for the first time.

This is Mona

Richard and I then returned to our caravan near Leek in Staffordshire calling in at the supermarket on the way where we bought enough food to keep us going for most of the week.  We couldn’t find anywhere to buy a take-away meal so we heated up a ready-made lasagna in the oven and had a very late but tasty dinner.

The weather forecast was for four days of good weather followed by cooler rainy weather so we thought we’d do as much walking in the dry at the beginning of the week as we could.  Our first full day was also Richard’s birthday and we decided to have lunch at the White Hart in Leek where we know we can get very nice Staffordshire oatcakes filled with cheese and bacon or cheese and sausage.  Before going in to Leek we had to put the awning up on the caravan.  An awning (for those who don’t know) is a tent, shelter or canopy which is attached to the side of a caravan which provides a little extra space to live in.  We find ours very useful, especially in wet weather as we can keep our soggy shoes and coats out there.

After lunch we tried to find a wood I wanted to walk in but we had great difficulty following the directions to it.  In the end we gave up and went to Ilam Park and walked from there.

Ilam Hall which is now a Youth Hostel

From the carpark we walked towards the remains of the hall and through the archway to the other side of the building.

The gardens at Ilam

The gardens are very attractive and have places to sit and admire the scenery.  We made our way through the pleasure grounds, the path descending towards the River Manifold.

Hart’s-tongue Fern (Phyllitis scolopendrium) and Maidenhair Spleenwort (Asplenium trichomanes) decorate the wall behind the handrail.

The underside of the leaves of the Hart’s tongue Fern have stripes of spore sacs.

Looking down through the trees to the River Manifold

Looking back up the steps we had just come down.

The water in the river is very clear.

Interesting rock formations can be seen down by the river.

A profusion of Enchanter’s-nightshade (Circaea lutetiana)

The view across water meadows from ‘Paradise Walk’

Paradise Walk is a Lime tree avenue where, in its heyday, the owners of the hall and their guests could walk and talk and admire the parkland.

The Battle Stone

The description of the Battle Stone

This cross shaft, known as the ‘Battle Stone’ has been set in a little enclosure at the side of the Paradise Walk.  It is strange to us to find that people in former times were happy to use any material they found to build their houses, even part of a cross!

We were advised not to use this bridge to cross the river.

Small Teasel (Dipsacus pilosus) growing with Lesser Burdock (Arctium minus)

Small Teasel

This was the first time I had ever seen this plant and it took me some time to ID it.   My photograph isn’t the best and I wasn’t too sure where to start my search.  The plant is often found on damp, disturbed ground near woodland edges and near streams and rivers.

Lesser Burdock

We went over the river at the next bridge and then crossed a meadow the ascent of which gradually got steeper.

Cow and calves

The calves were a little curious but the cow continued calling to them and they stayed with her.

Bull and cows

At the top of the field was a bull and a couple of cows.  Fortunately, they were more interested in eating than in us because we were quite puffed by the time we had got to the top of the field and I don’t think we could have run anywhere!

The next field was even steeper and the grass was dry and shiny.

There were flowers everywhere! Tormentil (Potentilla erecta) (the yellow flowers) and Harebell (Campanula rotundifolia)

Betony (Stachys officinalis)

Devil’s-bit Scabious (Succisa pratensis) and Harebells

Devil’s-bit Scabious and Tormentil

I’m afraid the photos got more out of focus the further up the hill I got.  It was all I could do to keep my footing.

Betony and grasses

Annual Meadow Grass (Poa annua)

The view from the top of the hill

We were glad to get to the top and catch our breath.  There was still rising ground to cover but the really steep bit was finished with.

I think this grass is Sheep’s Fescue (Festuca ovina) It caught my eye because the seedheads were shining in the sunlight.

Eyebright (Euphrasia officinalis agg.)

Eyebright is slowly becoming rarer because it is semi-parasitic on the roots of other plants and will only grow in undisturbed grass land.  There is very little undisturbed grassland in this country.

Another shot of the same view but from further up the hill

I love this rather untidy scene

Through the gateway

Both pictures are typical of cattle-farming country.  The well-trampled area next to the gateway and water-trough which in wet weather is extremely squelchy.  The bank of nettles beyond the trough…

A hedge in this part of the world is a rare thing

A view of Ilam village below us

A weathered Hawthorn tree (Crataegus monogyna)

I like the stand of trees on the crest of the next hill

I used the zoom on my camera to photograph a wind farm on the horizon

A different source of electricity. This may be Willington power station or maybe Rugeley? I know both these places have/had 5 cooling towers and my camera has quite a powerful zoom. I would be interested to know which station this is.

This is the interesting thing about the Peak District.  The whole area has been industrial at some period in its history.  We may be out on the moors and seemingly miles from anywhere but industry or the effects of industry surround us.

We began the descent towards Ilam village.

Grasses and flowers

This may look like a rather uninteresting patch of grass with a few flowers in it.  However, in this approximately 40cm x 40cm piece of land there are at least three different types of grass and more than six different flowering plants, not all in flower.  True diversity!

Having had cows, calves and a bull on this post we had to have a lamb too. Look at those ears! Richard called him/her ‘Wingnut’!

One of the many stiles we clambered over that afternoon

The path across the meadow

The path was much clearer in real life than in my photograph.  An indentation in the soil; the grass growing differently on the path and the light reflecting off it in a different way making it look lighter, sometimes darker than the surrounding grass.  I’m sure it would be more obvious at sunset or sunrise or with a dusting of snow on it.

A Rowan tree (Sorbus aucuparia)

Another stile. This time a squash stile’; my favourite (I don’t think!)

We had descended to the valley again and entered Blore Pastures Wood by the stile.

A brown lamb in the late afternoon sun

I was surprised to see Jack-by-the-Hedge/Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) in flower this late in the year

Greater Plantain (Plantago major)

We saw this enormous plantain next to the road as we approached Ilam.

Ilam Cross, built by Jesse Watts-Russell (who also built Ilam Hall) in memory of his wife.

The cross was badly damaged in a storm some years ago but has recently been completely restored.

A plaque with all the information about the cross

The village was full of people enjoying the evening sunshine.  I had hoped to photograph the houses and the bridge but there were too many people in the way.

A Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) seen on our way back to the carpark

A most enjoyable walk in glorious sunshine.

Thanks for visiting!

 

 

Peak District Holiday 1st to 9th July. Day 3

Tags

Back Forest, bilberries, Cedar, Danebridge, drystone walls, enchanter's nightshade, eyebright, ferns, fir cones, foxglove, Gradbach, grasses, Hanging Stone, hart's-tongue fern, heath bedstraw, heather, JW Lees beer, landslip, Lud's Church, marsh thistle, moss, mouse-ear hawkweed, pink purslane, River Dane, sheep, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, spear thistle, stiles, The Roaches, The Ship Inn, tormentil, walking, Welsh poppy, Wincle, Wincle Brewery, wood sorrel

After a gentle day in Buxton (see Days 1 and 2) and another good night’s sleep we felt ready for a little exercise.  We decided to go on a circular walk in Back Forest alongside the River Dane to Danebridge and then back.  We had done this walk before, a few years ago, and had gone in a clockwise direction.  This time we went anti-clockwise and it is amazing how different everything looks coming at it from the opposite direction.

We drove a few miles from where we were staying to the Peak National Park car park in Gradbach.  The day was bright and breezy with not too much strong sunshine – ideal walking weather.  The car park was full – about ten cars – which disappointed us, but once we had got past Gradbach Mill and into the forest we hardly saw a soul.  There is a short walk down the hill to the mill from the car park.  Last year the Mill had still been in use as a Youth Hostel but this year it had been taken over by Newcastle under Lyme University and a lot of renovation work was being carried out.  It is in the process of being made into a Field Study Centre and there were groups of students setting off on walks and school children on field trips having noisy picnics all over the place.  We followed a path away from the mill and down to the river going over and through a couple of stiles on the way.  One of the stiles was a squeeze stile and from a distance this looks an easier option than having to clamber over a wall or gate using wooden or stone cross bars.  Up close one can see that the gap is very narrow, in fact no more than 25cm/9.8″ wide to stop livestock escaping from fields either side of the wall.  There are stone pillars on each side of the gap to protect the structure of the wall.  The dry-stone walls are at least 4.5′ tall and as I am 5’4″ tall and not exactly skinny they are very difficult for me to manage.  I have to put my arms in the air, breathe in and force myself through inch by inch with R standing watching and smirking.  Anyone larger than me would not be able to get through at all.  R is nearly a foot taller than me at 6’3″ and takes longer strides so, though we walk the same distance, I do about two paces to his one.  I also wander about taking photos and lag behind and have to trot to catch up with him.

We crossed the river by a narrow bridge and started to climb up into the forest leaving the river some way below.

Back Forest Wood looking down from the path towards the River Dane.

Back Forest Wood

Ferns and Wood Sorrel leaves

We walked through the woods for about three-quarters of a mile eventually descending back down towards the river again.

River Dane

Dane is a Celtic river-name meaning ‘trickling stream’.

Bilberries

Mosses

River Dane

Walking further on we saw that there had been a landslip which may have been caused by all the rain last winter.

A new pool caused by the landslip

Tree roots on the path

We then left the wood and started walking along a grassy path through a valley.

Tormentil – potentilla erecta

In wet weather or at night, when the petals close up, the tormentil flower has the ability to pollinate itself.

Eyebright – euphrasia nemorosa

This bright little flower was thought to be good for poor eyesight and an extract from eyebright and the herb golden seal is still used as an eye lotion.  The 17th century botanist William Cole recorded in his book ‘Adam in Eden’ that eyebright was the herb used by the linnet (a little finch) to clear its eyesight.  My source book for this information says ‘Since short-sighted linnets are not easy to identify, few could argue with Cole’s reasoning’.  It is a semi-parasitic plant, only growing where its roots can attach themselves to other plants like clover and plantain.

Marsh Thistle with Buttercups

We then followed the path alongside a drystone wall.

Lots of Foxgloves were growing by the wall

Heath Bedstraw was growing in the grass

and so was Mouse-ear Hawkweed

which was popular with the flies

We passed by a farmhouse with some sheep.

Just a little further on over the fields the views were very good.

Rolling countryside

We then re-entered woodland.

I loved these tree trunks so had to include this photo though it is terribly out of focus

By this time we were approaching Danebridge and it was lunchtime.  We climbed over a stile and joined the lane that led to the village.

This was the slab of stone we stepped onto when we got down from the stile. I wonder where it came from and what it had been in a former life.

I immediately noticed a little pink flower at the side of the road.  The photo doesn’t show how pink it was.

Pink Purslane – Claytonia sibirica

This is a plant introduced from North America and is widely naturalised.

We walked down to the river thinking we would eat our sandwiches next to it but we couldn’t see anywhere suitable to sit.

Strange rock strata at the edge of the river

This shows it a little more clearly

Enchanter’s Nightshade

I like this plant’s name. It belongs to the same family as the Willowherbs.

Mathias De l’Obel, a 16th century Flemish botanist, in trying to identify a magical plant that Discorides (an early Greek physician) had named after the mythical sorceress Circe, eventually chose this plant.  Enchanter’s Nightshade’s botanical name is Circaea lutetiana – lutetia is the Roman name for Paris, which is where De l’Obel and other botanists worked.The Anglo-Saxons had used this plant as a protection against spells cast by elves.  Their name for it was aelfthone.  This is the only Willowherb that doesn’t disperse its fruit with the help of the wind.  Instead, it has hooks on its fruit that catch onto fur or feathers like burs.  It is pollinated mainly by small flies.  I find it fascinating that plants can adapt to their surroundings like this.

Hart’s-tongue fern

A yellow Welsh poppy has joined other plants growing out of this drystone wall

We stood on the bridge at Danebridge.

River Dane

From the bridge we could see the buildings of a local micro-brewery.

Wincle brewery

Wincle is a village just up the hill from Danebridge and a woman walking her dog informed us that there was a pub up the hill just beyond the brewery.  The word ‘pub’ worked as a clarion call to arms and R was up that hill before I or anyone else could say Jack Robinson.  As we powered up the hill I just had time to admire this door set into a wall.

I love doors like this. I imagine such a lovely garden beyond this one with stone steps on a winding path up to the house.

We found the pub as we neared the top of the hill.

The Ship Inn

The Ship Inn sign

It seemed so strange for a pub, many miles from the sea or even a navigable river, to be called ‘The Ship’.  There was a little information displayed in the pub and I have also looked on-line to find out more about this.  There is a ‘History of Wincle’ site which has been very helpful.  Sir Philip Brocklehurst of Swythamley Hall (a couple of miles away) sailed with the explorer Shackleton on one of his expeditions to the Antarctic from 1907-9.  The pub sign depicts the Nimrod in Antarctic ice ( not the more famous Endeavour of the 1914 expedition).  Shackleton was also Sir Philip’s best man when he married Gwladys Murray in 1913.

Some say The Ship is named after another vessel, ‘The Swythamley’, which was owned by a friend of the squire and sank off the Cape of Good Hope in 1862.  As the pub is also said to date back to the 17th century it is possible that the name is linked with ‘shippen’, a local word for a sheep shelter.  Or the name could be linked with a much earlier boat.  In fact, so far no-one seems to know for sure why it has this name!

A flintlock displayed on the wall of the pub.

There are stories about royalist rebels visiting the pub in the 17th century and the gun belonging to one of them was displayed on the wall until fairly recently as well as a framed article from a Manchester newspaper of the day.  Both these items went missing at some point.  The flintlock now on display was acquired fairly recently and, if I remember correctly, it was discovered that it was made at the same time and by the same gunsmith as the original gun.

We sat outside the pub and sampled their beer.  We asked if they sold the locally brewed beer but was told they didn’t so we had some JW Lees beer instead, which was very good.

I only had a few sips of my beer and had to give the rest, reluctantly, to R.  I am not supposed to drink alcohol as it reacts badly with the medication I am on and anyway, I try not to drink much of anything on walks because of the lack of convenient ‘conveniences’.  I have a horror of being ‘caught short’ as the saying goes, and being discovered by walkers, with a dog…

After a pleasant rest we continued on our way.  We went back down the hill to the bridge and found the path we needed which climbed up through more woodland very steeply at times.  I remember that for most of the walk we were listening to wonderful birdsong.  At the top of the path we came out of the wood onto fields again.  Here we rested again and ate our sandwiches.

Fir cones on a tree at the edge of the wood

View over a stile

This is one of the many stiles we climbed over that day.  We followed a track by a wall belonging to Hangingstone Farm and then saw the Hanging Stone itself.

The Hanging Rock

We didn’t have the energy to climb up to the rock to read the inscriptions there.  One plaque is dedicated to Courtney Brocklehurst, the brother of the aforementioned Philip, who was killed in the 2nd World War, and the other is to a pet hunting dog of an earlier Brocklehurst.  This dog was very well loved and when he died was buried under the Hanging Stone.  The dog’s name was Burke, because he was such a good hunting dog.  In 1828, Burke and Hare were accused of killing sixteen people and then selling the corpses to Dr Robert Knox who dissected them during his popular anatomy lectures.

A rather lovely Spear Thistle

A carpet of Tormentil

A carpet of Heath Bedstraw

I liked the delicate grass heads with the heavy blocks of the drystone wall behind

We were now walking over more open moorland.

The Heather, or Ling as some call it, was beginning to flower

Little pink-purple bells

A good-sized Cedar tree

The more open terrain here meant we could now see the edge of the Roaches, a gritstone escarpment which has spectacular rock formations.  The name comes from the French ‘les Roches’.

The Roaches

A gentler view.

The fields are all separated by stone walls

We then started descending slowly towards Back Forest again.

The walls are wonderfully constructed. Bilberry bushes are growing against this one.

In the woods again.

We diverted a little way off the path back to Gradbach to see Lud’s Church again.  This is a natural rift which is about 200 yards in length and varies in width from 12 feet to 50 feet wide and is about 59 feet deep.  We didn’t go far along it as we were both getting very tired.  We will go again some time,  walk its length and photograph it.

It is a very atmospheric place; mossy,cool and quiet.

The sides of the ravine are covered in ferns and other damp-loving plants.

During the 15th century, according to local legend, Lollards (followers of John Wycliffe, an early church reformer) used to worship here in secret during the time of their persecution.

Many researchers have identified this place as the Green Chapel in the 14th Century alliterative poem ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’.  The author describes this district well.  Gawain rides off searching for the Green Chapel ….

‘Then he gave the spur to Gringolet and galloped down the path,

Thrust through a thicket there by a bank,

And rode down the rough slope right into the ravine.

Then he searched about, but it seemed savage and wild,

And no sign did he see of any sort of building;

But on both sides banks, beetling and steep,

And great crooked crags, cruelly jagged;

The bristling barbs of rock seemed to brush the sky.’

Translation by Brian Stone.

Another legend is that a hunter was killed here and that he still roams about the cleft covered from head to toe in moss and leaves.  He is known locally as the Green Man one of many ‘green men’ to be found in Britain.

We joined our path again and soon reached the bridge over the River Dane and then Gradbach mill.

 

 

 

 

Cloud Chasing

Tags

Bertha, black bryony, blue flax, bread-making, clouds, clover, fields, fleabane, gates, grasses, great black slug, greenbottle, hen and chicks, Kestrel potatoes, marsh ragwort, phacelia, Rain, red bartsia, René Magritte, rice, the Beck, thunder, tub-thumping priest, walking, wild radish, willow, wind

I had hoped to be able to stay at home on Saturday as the weather was so nice.  However, when I took a loaf out of our breadmaker and saw that, for the second time in a row, the bread hadn’t risen very much I realised that one of two things had happened.  I knew that I hadn’t made a mistake when measuring out the ingredients or when setting the programme.  The problem was either a faulty batch of yeast or, even worse, a faulty breadmaker.  I went into Halesworth and bought a very nice looking loaf from the health food/delicatessen shop as well as some new yeast.  I had been experimenting with a different brand-name dried yeast and thought that that may have been the problem so I bought some of the old tried-and-tested yeast.  While in town I also got some more vegetables and a couple of newspapers – The Saturday Times so that R could do the crossword (most of the rest of the newspaper usually goes straight into the re-cycling bin) and a Beccles and Bungay Journal.  This had a very nice account of our Requiem Eucharist last Sunday with a photograph and also a double-page centre-spread featuring Dolly and her memories of living in a village which is doubly thankful, in that all its people going off to war in both the Great and the Second World War came back safely. As I drove home I noticed such wonderful clouds in the sky!  The wind was picking up already so I decided to trot back down the lane and photograph them before checking round the garden to make sure all was well battened down and tied up before the high winds that had been forecast arrived. One of my favourite artists is René Magritte who painted clouds like these.

La grande famille Series 1 Lithography by René Magritte

I also saw that one of next-door’s chickens had had some chicks and was taking them for a walk on the grass verge of the lane.

There are six chicks there somewhere!

R was mowing the grass when I got home and he also made sure everything was ready for the storm so I didn’t have to.  What a kind man! We had some very heavy rain and thunder over-night and while we were in church on Sunday morning the rain came on again with more thunder.  The Rector is currently having a well-deserved, two-week break from us so the service was taken by a retired clergyman who lives in our benefice and is a great friend of ours.  The bible readings for the day were very apt – the earthquake, wind and fire from which God was absent and then the quiet whisper that was God, and the story of the disciples being tossed about in the boat on the lake and Jesus walking on water to join them and calming the storm.  I was waiting for a stormy sermon and got one though not quite the one I expected.  In fact, we all got a lecture about the current terrible situation in Gaza.  We were told that a lot of what is going on there was our (the British) fault and that we cannot wash our hands of it.  The priest even struck the edge of the pulpit with his hand!  Twice!  Our Rector might grumble and nag but I cannot remember him ever beating up the pulpit during a sermon! I think we have been lucky and haven’t had such bad weather as others around the country.  The rain didn’t last that long really and by mid afternoon the sun was coming out.  It was, and still is very blustery but the wind hasn’t been as damaging as we thought it would be.  We have lost a few apples and pears from our trees and some of the plants look a little sorry for themselves but on the whole, nothing to worry about. Once we saw that the rain had stopped, R and I decided to go out for a walk.  We chose one of our walks across the fields.

Evidence of recent rainfall

Before we had walked more than a few steps along the path we saw such a mass of fleabane!

Pulicaria dysenterica – Common Fleabane

‘Pulicaria’ refers to the plant’s power against fleas (pulex = Latin for flea) and ‘dysenterica’ recalls a time when fleabane was used as a medicine against dysentery.  When dried and burned, the leaves of fleabane were said to give off a vapour which drove fleas away so the plant was highly prized when houses were plagued with them.  The plants were used in an unburned state as an insecticide too.  Culpeper, the 17th century herbalist, didn’t think much of the flower itself – ‘an ill-looking weed’, ‘the flowers are a dirty yellow’, but he commended its effectiveness against insects.  ‘The smell is supposed delightful to insects and the juice destructive to them, for they never leave it til the season of their deaths’. I believe I have photographed this gate before.  It is in an even worse state than the last time we were here.

Something has been eating this clover in a crimping style.

R and I were quite surprised to see that the normally fallow field was full of plants and flowers.  We haven’t been this way for some weeks.

Wild flower seeds appear to have been sown here – not all native.

The purple flower, Phacelia tanacetifolia or scorpion weed, is often grown as a green compost but is dug in before it flowers.  It is also grown as a butterfly and insect magnet as the flowers are full of nectar.  It is not a native plant.  I spotted all sorts of plants that I recognised, for example…

Blue flax

I think this may be wild radish

It also appeared as if a trial crop had been planted here.  We did not recognise it at all.  After some research I have decided that it may be rice.  The kind of rice – arborio – that is grown in northern Italy.

Is this rice?

I think it looks very much like it.  Can anyone confirm this for me, please? Near to the hedge we found some red bartsia but my photo is very poor as you will see. I also found some ragwort which I think may be marsh ragwort. We walked past another field of dried peas and continued to admire the enormous clouds on the horizon. We were now approaching the Beck and we could hear all the ditches and little streams that join it gurgling and bubbling. We saw this Great Black Slug in the damp grass.

The Beck was flowing very fast

This willow has galls on it and one of its leaves is very distorted

We decided to walk a little further to the top of the hill and look at the view from there.

Greenbottle flies develop a coppery tinge with age

One of our favourite views

The road junction at the top of the hill

After all the humid weather recently it was lovely at the top of the hill with the strong wind blowing.     It looked as if we might have some more rain so we headed back down the hill. On the way I noticed some shiny Black Bryony leaves in the hedgerow. Another view of a field, a gate and some clouds.   The wind and rain had made patterns with the dried grasses. We got home and I started preparing the evening meal.  I used some of our home-grown Kestrel potatoes which are very tasty indeed.

Purple patterned potatoes

In fact, the clouds passed us by without shedding a drop of rain.  The skies cleared by nightfall and we were able to see the enormous full moon as it rose and then a couple of shooting stars as well.  A beautiful end to the weekend.

Miscellany Part 2

Tags

barley, church cleaning, churchyard, coffin bier, electrical repairs, flowers, grasses, guelder rose, hedge woundwort, Klargester septic tank, landscaping, LED lights, lesser tortoiseshell butterfly, memorial stone, micro moth, ox-eye daisies, pond, Rumburgh Church, St Michael's water tower, St Peter's church, walking, wheat

I cannot believe how quickly this year is speeding by!  I always think at the beginning of spring that this year I will definitely make a better job of the gardening and I will have the time to do all the things I need to do around the house.  I always forget that as spring flows into summer the amount of jobs that need doing multiply and multiply and here I am left far behind yet again.  I forget how much time I have to spend away from the house driving about the countryside and this year I have had extra places to go.  Mum now has monthly check-ups at the hospital in Norwich to make sure her eyes are still free of macular degeneration.  My younger daughter E is hoping to go to City College Norwich in the autumn so we have had a number of visits there over the past few weeks, getting to know the place and some of the people there.

We have had a visit from the electrician who has done some work for us.  We had spoken to him a few weeks ago asking him to replace our kitchen under-cupboard lights which were very old and becoming faulty.  We also needed a new box cover for the electrics for our Klargester septic tank.  The old box cover had rusted away some years ago and we have had an upside-down plastic bin over the top since then!  We also need a lot of re-wiring done and some outside lights replacing.  The weekend before last R and I were woken in the middle of the night by a roaring noise in the house.  For some time we couldn’t think what it was and where the noise was coming from but eventually I realised it was something to do with the electric immersion heater which I switched off immediately.  (We use our immersion heater during the summer to heat our water; during the winter we use a gas boiler for water and central heating and this is fuelled by propane gas which is enormously expensive.  We are not on mains gas and as we often have power cuts it is better not to have everything powered by electricity.  We switch the immersion heater on over-night as electricity is cheaper then.)  The thermostat had gone faulty and the water was boiling.  The hot tank was emptying and the cold water tank and expansion tank were full of hot water – the house was turning into a kettle.  I wonder if steam was rising out of the roof?  If it had been left on much longer the tank would have exploded.  I phoned the electrician and asked him to add a new thermostat to his list of jobs to do.  When he visited last week he put in new kitchen lights for us….

A thin strip of LED lights only a centimetre wide – such bright lights!

he replaced the septic tank electric box cover…..

The septic tank with the electric box wearing its attractive new cover.

and fitted a new thermostat to our immersion heater.  He will be coming again soon to do the rewiring and fitting new outside lights.

The landscaper who had worked on our big pond in February also visited our house on the same day as the electrician and filled in all the ruts the JCB had made in the lawn with top-soil.  R is very pleased that this has been done at last.  He has seeded it all and we are now waiting for the grass to regrow.

The ruts nicely filled-in at last.

While he was at our house we asked the landscaper to look at our small pond and let us know how it can be improved.  We don’t want the pond quite so close to the hedge, the liner needs replacing and I would like a boggy area at the side of the pond where I can plant iris, lobelia  and other marsh plants.

The small pond in desperate need of improvement

The last couple of weeks I haven’t had to take Mum to church.  She has been taken by a young man from her church who lives in Harleston.  He works abroad, especially in Asia and the far East, for much of the year as a film director.  When he returns home from his high-powered meetings and filming in India and China he resumes his more important job of taking old ladies to church and being bossed about by them.  Well, what else has he to do except a bit of script writing!  I am really very grateful to him.  He stays in this country until September and that is probably when I’ll have to resume my duties again.

Meanwhile, I have enjoyed two weeks of going to church with my husband.  It is our month for cleaning Rumburgh church and when we went in last week we were amazed at how dirty it was.  The church had had a few visitors who had left some rubbish about and there was dirt which had been trodden in on shoes.  The main mess had been caused by our resident bats.  It took us about two-and-a -half hours to clean up the worst of the mess.  I think that during the summer when we have more visitors and when the bats are active the church should be cleaned more than once a month but some of the people on our rota will only come in once a month or only if we have a service in the church and of course we don’t have services every week in our church.  I also find that some of our cleaners will concentrate on the entrance to the church and will often ignore the Sanctuary at the East end of the church where the altar is.

Wild flowers in Rumburgh churchyard

Ox-eye daisies in Rumburgh churchyard

A beautiful flower arrangement on the altar

The old coffin bier in the church

Memorial stone in the aisle

R and I went for another of our walks across the fields a week or so ago.  We didn’t intend to go far as we were both tired.

A view across the fields

The path at the edge of the field

Hedge Woundwort

Hedge Woundwort is in flower everywhere we look at the moment.  This plant has been used since the times of the ancient Greeks to stem bleeding and treat wounds.  Poultices, ointments and infusions were made with the leaves and the flowers made into conserves.  It has been proved that the volatile oil contained in this plant does have antiseptic qualities.

An, as yet, unidentified micro moth

St Peter’s church

Water tower at St Michaels

Most of the water in East Anglia comes from springs and artesian wells and is very ‘hard’ water.  We all suffer from lime-scale in our homes and all those who can afford one get a water-softener.  I love the taste of our water and when and if we get a water-softener I would have to have a tap for un-softened water.

A Lesser Tortoiseshell butterfly

We saw this butterfly sunning itself on the path.

We also saw the crops ripening…..

Barley.

Wheat

We saw other grasses too

And a beautiful Guelder Rose.

I think I would love to have one of these in my garden!

The walk took longer than we thought it would because there was a path diversion which we took but after struggling through nettles and thistles and head-high grasses we had to turn back as the path hadn’t been cleared.

R has spent all this past week away, firstly in Gloucestershire and then he travelled to Lancashire for a couple of days.  He returned home on Friday having called in on his mother and spent the night with his brother in Manchester.  E and I had spent the day without electricity as there was a planned power cut to enable the electricity company to do repairs.  It is difficult to find things to do these days which doesn’t involve the use of electricity.  We managed however, and it is a good opportunity to have silence in the house with no humming fridges and freezers, no radios and TVs.  The only worry I had during the six-and-a-half hours was whether the food was still alright in the fridge and freezers.  It was a very warm day!  As it turned out, all was well.