Month: May 2019

A warm day just right for Tony to paint. After a rather lazy day. Here are a few reflections of boats moored on the opposite bank.

Dramatic sky

We decided to walk to the village shop in Whitminster just a couple of miles away. The footpath passes St Andrews Church

The through the middle of a wheatfield

Bought our milk and then decided to looke in at the Garden Centre. Didn’t take a photo of our cake which was a mistake because the slice of coffee & walnut was absolutely fresh. Light sponge with the correct amount of filling, delicious!. We admired their lake and duck house!

We decided to return along the former Stroudwater canal that is in the process of being restored. We found it by a traffic island. More of this in alter blog

The start of the canal path

We walked along through fields of buttercups and daisies but initially no water evident. Note the wartime feature.

The River Frome alongside had plenty of water

So back to Saul Junction and 13,460 steps today!

It was impossible to get to Berkeley Castle by public transport and a little too far to walk so we had abandoned all thoughts of visiting it. Then fate took a hand. We met Jenny and Frank walking their dogs along the towpath and as happens quite often, conversations start with passers by and Berkeley Castle was one of the topics of conversation. They declined a viewing of Matilda because the dogs needed feeding and so off they went.

The following day we were on our way to Gloucester when Jenny contacted us to say she would be very happy to drive us to Berkeley in the next couple of days. Anyway the upshot was that Jenny arranged to take us to Berkeley on our planned return to Saul Junction. Once again the kindness of strangers.

The path to the castle is lined with boards giving an outline of its history. There are also frequent guided tours. Our guide was Jane who certainly knew her stuff! Once we had been round with her we then went back to spend more time looking around

As it was in 1700s with the River Severn in the background and below today

Famous for the murder? death of Edward II, this is the room in which he was held

The billiard room is now laid out as dining room and has family portraits all wearing yellow coats of the Berkeley hunt and below the current Mr Berkeley. Note he does not have a title but he is High Sheriff.

A bit of family history. They owned property in Berkeley Square. Sir William became Governor of Virginia

And here is something I had never seen before. What is it? Answer at the end

The Great Hall above and below Queen Elizabeh left her bedcover behind

A suitable match was always important

Kitchens are always interesting. This one has an “automatic” spit so no need for a small boy or animal to turn it

Fire was a constant threat. Read the instructions carefully especially No 2

The Godwin Cup

Singing from the same hymn sheet An old manuscript

Many important folk have stayed here including William Harvey (1578-1657) above who discovered the circulation of the blood, Jonathan Swift, and below

Sadly all empty barrels and bottles in the cellar

Terrace gardens drop down to the old water meadows and below the stables where horses and hounds were kept

My favourite window Time flies!

And so to the church. Very odd because the tower is not attached

And finally Dr Jenners house It’s still standing and open to visitors. What a wonderful legacy he left.

Jenny & Frank came to pick us up and came aboard Matilda for tea and cake. We can’t thank them enough for their kindness and we hope to see them again in Worcester

Quiz answer: hurdy gurdy The hurdy-gurdy is a stringed instrument that produces sound by a hand crank-turned, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to those of a violin

Friends from Devizes called in on their way back from a meeting. We went to The Three Horseshoes in Frampton on Severn for lunch. This pub had been recommended to us by several people and what a good recommendation it proved to be! If you like hearty fare then this is THE place! A proper pub, this pub has real ale and so many awards..

A good selection of pies Below a steak and ale pie for Tony

James & I opted for the classic steak and kidney. You make a lengthways cut and lift the lid and this is what you see. Almost half steak and kidney, the mash with a few veg and then cauliflower and broccoli cheese. A complete meal under the excellent puff pastry lid. Carol chose chicken and mushroom and that disappeared very quickly. This was home cooking at its best

We all agreed the pies were superb. My only complaint was that it was too big and these were regular pies not large ones!

Me with the Cook and Carol

We didn’t eat dinner last night just munched a few grapes!

On our next visit we shall order one pie between us!

Sunset and evening reflections

I love open gardens! Every garden was different.

The Manor

Not a bad wisteria but every one is compared to Rosemundy!

Classic manor gardens

A surprise

Manor vegetable garden and below a bird scarer

A modern low maintenance garden

I think this was my favourite. At most six feet wide and just the length of the house. I had spotted it a few days earlier and admired it

This was a tiny narrow garden but the raised beds were full of interesting plants

I was very impressed by the peas and broad beans

After tea and delicious fruit cake that only members of the WI can bake, we set off to the last two gardens. Frampton Court was where Rosamund Clifford mistress of Henry II was born.

The leaning trees were intriguing

The last one was on our route home but we passed two homes with fantastic wisterias. The violas were blue and purple so the owner of this garden had chosen flower colour to complement the wisteria

So the last one was very attractive

Home made ice cream but the best place to eat it was in front of the fire in the summerhouse!

Look out for Cherry Moo ice cream. Choose the smallest pot as it is sooooo rich

Walked back along the Cotswold Canal towpath. 14,244 steps

After rain overnight it was a rather cool morning as we waited for a No 10 bus to Cheltenham. A regular ten minute service. Got the front seat upstairs! The bus stop is opposite the Municipal Offices with its excellent flower beds- daisies and tulips in shades of pink and red

Cheltenhams answer to the Trevi fountain?

There was a small market and we were lucky enough to spot our favourite pie maker. We bought a beaver pie, a deer pie and a penguin pie. I will leave you to guess the contents but two tourists actually asked if the pie contained penguin! Brocklebys are located in the Vale of Belvoir and have a good sense of humour as well as good pies www.brocklebys.co.uk

Cheltenham is a very smart town with lovely (expensive) shops including John Lewis. We followed the Montpellier walking tour after visiting the excellent museum and learning of Edward Wilson, More of him later

Former Britain in Bloom winners

As we walked we could hear the jazz festival. We walked past The Queens where Jolanta and I had a couple of drinks many years ago

On to the College the chapel and main entrance

One of its pupils was Edward Wilson who took part in two Antarctic expeditions losing his life in 1912. He was the expedtion doctor and artist

His home

The former 1930s Daffodil cinema now another eating house

More beautiful terraces

The past the Ladies College where Miss Beale was headmistress. There is an amusing rhyme about her and Miss Buss head of North London Collegiate School. The photo is from Wikipaedia

Miss Buss and Miss Beale,
Cupid‘s darts do not feel.
How different from us,
Miss Beale and Miss Buss.

And just to get your bearings

And a query. How can the NHS justify the cost of such smart premises?

If you enjoy shopping and like archtecture and a rich cultural life then consider Cheltenham. We enjoyed our day out. The pies are in the freezer!

A video of the River Severn immediately catches the eye. Taken by drone?

The old bridge above and Sharpness below

Purton above and ships graveyard below

Saul Junction and Marina

Traditional canal dress

Joe Skinner who Tony knew from his canal restoration days in Coventry

Charming and knowledgeable curator Chris who took us up to floor two that is not quite open yet!

An interesting display outlining how women worked the waterways during WWII

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Dressed for filming the quayside and the Erl of Pembroke. Note the bay windows are part of Weatherspoons pub!

Some old photos The one below was taken at Hawkesbury in 1907

We moored Matilda here where the two barges are. You can catch a glimpse of the cathedral

How times change! Now the CRT are so keen to get walkers and cyclists on the towpath that sometimes we feel boaters are ignored!

The museum has a coffee shop and outdoor exhibits too, so add it to your list of places to visit

A lovely little museum with lots to entertain familes especially dinosaurs

My favourite historical character of the moment

There was stunning display about the RAF in Gloucestershire. These quilts were hand embroidered and in the circle bottom right are the names of the ladies who created them. I was very impressed.

And when you have finished here you can progress to

or the National Waterways Museum

A city with a very interesting history. It has a number of self guided walks but we also had a tour with Guide Frank who was very knowledgeable Here are some of the things we saw and heard about. Firstly Beatrix Potter who had family in the town and frequently came to visit

Charles II

The statue now resides in an obscure position beside a block of 1960s flats

Robert Raikes who began the Sunday school movement

And one of the schools pupils

The pnerhaps not as well known to us as to Mr Dyson

…

The Judges Lodging is now a self catering holiday let

Ignore the Costa signs and look up at the embellishment on the upper walls

And above the jewellers and clockmakers are these amazing figures

And so on to the New Inn

One member of staff, seeing our interest, kindly showed us a very fine bedroom with amazing plasterwork on the ceiling.

A lovely park bench just too dirty to sit on! We probably need people to act on the poster below

The Cathedral is stunning. We arrived to find a rehearsal in progress so that added to the atmosphere

I love cloisters and these are truly magnificent

Cloister garden

Edward II

Some other non royal, but interesting, people are noted here. Below is the founder of the Imperial War Graves Commission

The composer of the american national anthem

And the founder of the WEA

And because I am reading Bernard Cornwells The last Kingdom Series I was interested in the Saxon christians and the Lady of the Mercians Aethelflaed

The crypt

I suppose it was safer here than in London.

So that completed our afternoon tour but we had to return the following day for the tower tour.

View of the entrance above and below note the solar panels and cloister garden

And you can just see part of Matilda by North Warehouse

Well worth the climb!

Cathedral entrance. A good choice of plants and so much better that a car park!