Making and Walking

Well here we are, 2017.   I've had a lovely few days off, in the period between Christmas and New Year when no-one knows what day of the week it is.

First of all I build some wooden covers for my wheelie bin.  They used to be hidden behind a screen fixed to a pergola but the pergola was rotting so I decided to take it down before it fell down.

I thought it would be a quick job to put them together but it actually took all day.  They are very sturdy though.

Next I've been making some jewellery.  A few months ago I bought some limo (polymer clay) and yesterday I made beads - it's very therapeutic!

Today I had fun laying the beads out and finding other beads to go with them.

Quite pleased with the finished result - I'm especially pleased with the marbled blue beads.

While I had the beads and bits out I decided to make another necklace with some beads that I'd bought ages ago.

But it's not all been building/making - I've had 2 lovely walks.  One day Celia, her husband and I went to Mersea Island off the Essex coast.  We'd seen a Channel 4 program called Britain at Low Tide a few months ago and they'd shown the earthworks of a tudor blockhouse  which was commissioned by Henry VIII in 1543 to protect the strategically important Colne estuary.

We found it!  The triangular earthworks are all that remain, and eventually, due to the changing coast line here, even these will probably be lost forever.

The other walk I did was on New year's Day, when it was grey and murky but it wasn't raininng so I walked down by the river to the mill on the water meadows.

The reeds were rustling in the wind and I watched a kingfisher darting about for ages.

Finally I walked home through the town, past this little gate, which was open but clearly not used much.

I hope you all have a wonderful 2017!

An Unexpectedly Long Walk!

My plan for this afternoon was to do a circular walk from home, past Cornard Mere, through the field to Henny, where I'd been tipped off about a kingfisher family.  A walk of about 4 miles in total - see route below.

It started very well.  I set off with a packed lunch and walked through the fields

where I was joined by loads of damsel flies and sky larks singing high above me.

I walked past Cornard Mere, where I could hear water rail squealing (I've still never seen one).

under the railway bridge, across a field to the River Stour at Henny where I sat on the bridge and waited for the kingfishers (they didn't turn up).

When I was ready to go home I realised that my route back across the field was blocked - by a very large and angry sounding bull.  

He was mooing loudly and pawing the ground and I didn't think it would have been a wise move to have tried to have got past him - a detour would be required!

The biggest problem was that I was now stranded on the Essex side of the river, a river with very few bridges, and I needed a route that would let me cross the river to get back into Suffolk. I had 2 options, to walk on the road from Henny to Sudbury, which is narrow with very steep banks in places, and quite busy with cars going to the Henny Swan pub, or to find another route.  

After consulting the OS map app on my phone I started walking into Essex.  It was beautiful, and I could see, right in the distance, the spire of the church at the end of my road.

  

After a while though the footpaths deteriorated

and at one point I was having to fight my way through nettles and deeply regretting the fact I was wearing shorts!

Eventually, and I mean eventually, I crossed the river and the railway again and found myself on a small road heading back to towards home.

When I finally got home (4 hours after first setting off) I tracked my detour.  The blue route below is my intended walk, the red one is what I ended up doing, (the spike off the right near the end was me visiting the co-op for an ice-cream!).

Instead of 4.1 miles I ended up walking 7.8, I just hope the stings on my legs stop stinging soon! 

Three Days Off

Some of you will know that I started a new job in September.  I'm enjoying it but it is very full on (isn't any new job) and, combined with fortnightly trips to Norfolk to my parents, leaves me very thankful for the free time that I have.

This week I took 3 days off from work, and have enjoyed some 'me time'.   I've done some more knitting.

It's been quite a phaff getting the colours right as I changed them from the original.  I've unpicked several sections more than once, but I'm pleased with it now.

I've walked by the river and managed to see my first ever kingfisher.

On one day I met Celia for lunch and a wander round Risby Barns where I bought these two pieces, a little Poole poetry vase and the bigger green vase which is Kensington (part of the Stoke on Trent potteries).

Today I walked back to the river, quite early, in the hope of finding more kingfishers.  I didn't find them,  possibly because the rowing club were practicing,

but I did see a flock of firecrests in the trees, really close, their bright orange head stripes almost glowed! And a flock of siskin (no photos of either).

But best of all I heard the water rail squealing away.  I knew they were on that particular island but had never heard them before.

Back to work on Monday!

Bits and Bobs

This is a bitty, rather random blog post - a bit like my brain at the moment!

First of all I had a really lovely 'staycation' this summer.  I had hoped to get to Ireland to see friends but unfortunately by the time I was able to book flights they'd gone up to silly prices.  So I stayed at home.

I spent one day at Castle Acre Priory.  I'd called in there a few months ago and walked around the edge but this time I was able to go in and took the audio tour which was fascinating.

On another day I walked with a friend from Dedham to Flatford Mill along the Suffolk/Essex border to visit the RSPB Wildlife Garden which is almost next to the National Trust tearooms at Flatford.

 It's a really lovely garden, free entry and had lots of information and activities for children.

After we'd left there we did the obligatory walk up to Willy Lott's House as made famous by John Constable's The Haywain.

I also spent a day in London with Celia, when we visited Dulwich Art Gallery and the Ravilious Exhibition.  It was wonderful.  Such detail and such light in his pictures.  It's finished now but there are still some images of his work on the gallery website here.

The next week I drove down to Bexleyheath to visit The Red House - a house commissioned by William Morris and designed by his friend Philip Webb.

We took the tour, which was really interesting and then wandered around a bit more after lunch.

Isn't this ceiling stunning!

If you're interested, like I am, in the Arts and Crafts movement it's a wonderful day out.  (Celia went a few months ago and has more photos and information about it on her blog which I can recommend reading)

And finally (for now) my new chair covers came this week, 2 weeks earlier than they'd originally said, so the 2nd hand very traditional chair now looks rather different and has already been given the feline seal of approval!

After the Storm Came the Calm

Today has been a day of almost constant rain and storms.  Then suddenly it cleared and left a beautiful evening so I went for a walk along the river Stour to the Sudbury.  No more words are required, just enjoy the pictures of my stunningly beautiful Suffolk. (click on any image to enlarge it)

Beautiful isn't it.

A Little Detour

After a day of cleaning and gardening at my parents' yesterday I took a little detour on the way home and went to Castle Acre.

The views from the top were impressive, but all the time I kept thinking that it wasn't how I remembered it from visiting as a child.

I had a good wander round, it was nice but I was puzzled as to where all the arches were that I knew had been there before.

I wandered back to the car and saw a sign to 'The Priory' and the penny dropped - that was where I'd been as a child not the castle! As I walked out of the village the priory came into view across the fields.

It's managed by English Heritage and when I got to the entrance there was only 20mins left until they closed so I didn't pay the £6.90 to go in, instead I wandered around the perimeter on a footpath.

 Now I could see the arches that I remembered.  Arches from the cloisters,

and from windows long missing their glass.

I will go back and pay to go in as I'd love to get up close to those arches and see the re-created herb garden showing the herbs that the monks used to use for medicinal purposes.

But even from a distance it was a lovely end to the day - a day where I found this gorgeous cloche hat in mum's cupboard, bought and worn by me in the 80s!

Hope you all had good Easter weekends too.

The Talbot Trail

Earlier on this week I rediscovered (as I had known about it before but had forgotten) a trail around my home town of Sudbury called the Talbot Trail.  It's a trail for children really and has 14 miniature bronze statutes on red posts around the town representing interesting facts about the history of the town.  It starts in the town centre; outside St Peter's Church is Pongo from 101 Dalmatians.  

In the story by Dodie Smith Pongo and Perdita stop in Sudbury to drink from the drinking fountain (which is still outside the church and about to be renovated) whilst searching for the puppies.

In the market place is Blondin - a famous (I'd not heard of him!) high wire artist who, in 1872, visited Sudbury and pushed a member of the public in a wheelbarrow across a rope suspended above the road!

I walked down roads that I usually drive along and saw things I'd never noticed before, like this lovely entrance way to a house,

this sign painted on a wall advertising the fact that a general engineer and millwright once worked there,

and this passage way 

which is intriguingly called 'Laundry Gardens' (I'll have to find out the history of that).

I found Amicia, daughter of the Earl of Gloucester who married into the de Clare family in the 12th century and brought her wealth to Sudbury,

and dancing bears who were brought to the town by victorian showmen to entertain the locals!

After a quick walk over the water meadows 

and up towards the croft I found good old Simon of Sudbury (complete with ladybirds!).

Simon became the Archbishop of Canterbury and Chancellor of the Exchequer during the 14th Century.

Sadly for Simon he ended up being decapitated in 1381 during the Peasants' Revolt and his head was brought back to Sudbury!

I'm not really sure why it's called the Talbot Trail, apart from the fact that a talbot is a type of dog owned by Simon of Sudbury and depicted on the Sudbury town sign.

On my way round I happened to pass Oxfam and bought 2 jugs for the grand total of £4.98

and a bunch of carnations for £1.50 from the market - nice and cheery.

It's a nice little trail and I enjoyed walking down streets I've not walked down before, before walking home in the fading light along the riverbank.