Sunday 29 July 2012

Sunday Morning Bike Ride

It's my first bike ride round our home patch for a wee while. I'm up and away reasonably early to try and catch the best of the weather as showers are forecast for later. The summer weather seemingly experienced by other parts of the UK in the past week has neglected us :(

A profusion of boggy wildflowers and an abundance of telegraph poles.

I pause at the bridge over the river to photograph the farmhouse on the hill.

A climb with pretty views.

At the top of the climb awaits a large expanse of (mainly) flat countryside with an excellent network of little roads to explore. Swallows and house martins are darting about the sky, I manage to capture a blurry image of two of them.

I have the feeling I'm being watched - just by the one brown and white cow in the field across the road, the rest are too busy grazing.

Umbellifers.

It would be rude not to.

Interesting umbellifer double-deckered beasties.

Bumble bee and thistle.

The road ahead, approaching a bend. For Mrs Micawber who likes bends in the road.

Ragwort.


 Another bend for Mrs Micawber. The roads here are very bendy, you'd love them!

Once round the bend I look back.

But what's this just a few yards further on? Some numptie has offloaded a couple of unwanted sofas onto the side of the road...

...right beside where this tree grows out of what's left of the doorway of a ruined cottage...

...and just before you turn the corner to find these lovely views of the reservoir.

Many of the roads are lined with wild flowers, in particular there is lots of this feathery white stuff. It's not a clear photo of it, but can anyone tell me what it is (after you all did such a good job in my last wild flower query)

I like how this tree arches over the road.


The reservoir, viewed from the opposite side of where we last saw it. And a shorn sheep.

It's rosebay willowherb time of year again. How time marches on.

Now we're heading down from the uplands via a lovely little lane. The rain has finally caught me which is why the photo looks a little blurred.

The folly.

Some wild roses are still blooming brightly.

The last few miles are spent zooming along the cycle path which is looking rather attractive at this time of year.

Then home to find that hubby has made raspberry muffins for breakfast. Yum.

Friday 27 July 2012

Granny Squares Big Blanket Update.

The blanket is now 12 squares by 12. Time to take it upstairs to see if it's big enough yet (and the bedroom was unusually tidy so it was safe to take a few photos too)

I like it!

I'm happy with my colour choices I think, though I'll not really know till November or so as that's when I swap the blue blind for the red one and get out all the red and pink bed linen (it just feels a little cosier for winter and it's nice to have a little change of scene).

But it's not big enough yet, perhaps just as well as I didn't think it would be and have already started making more squares. One more complete round of squares should do it, that would make it 14 x 14, so "just" another 52 squares...

I've run out of one colour of wool though and am awaiting it's delivery. Looking at the blanket it doesn't jump out as being the colour I've used most often. To me, the blanket seems dominated by red and pink (intentional, to match the winter decor). I have used one red and three different pinks, I have however only used two greens and the colour I'm needing is the fern green. It should arrive today...

Wednesday 25 July 2012

Train, Pier, Souvenirs.

Some last photos from Norfolk...

Starting with a trip on the Poppyline steam train...

...we boarded at Sheringham...

...wandering up the platform to get in the carriage right behind the engine.

Windmill spotted from the window en route to Holt. Unfortunately we then missed the bus into Holt town and there didn't seem terribly much to do at Holt station as the merry-go-round etc weren't yet open, so we got back on a returning train and alighted at Weybourne.

We liked Weybournce station much better. While waiting for the train back to Sheringham we wandered along a little country lane beside the station.



What is this plant called please!





And now right back to some photos from our first full day when we visited Cromer.

The pier.

Looking back from the pier towards the town. The children tried crabbing from the pier (I think it's almost compulsory in Cromer!) but didn't catch any. We also visited the lifeboat station at the end of the pier.

Then a little walk along the promenade to admire the beach huts. Some were rather nicely decorated with pretty signs...





 While the kids & hubby were crabbing I had a chance to wander round the shops and bought a thing...

You can see it here (behind N's birthday cards, more one these later). It's a sweet little wooden boat which bobs up and down when you turn the handle.

Other favourite souvenirs:-

 Some dangling shells, bought in Holt.

And a lovely big stoneware pot, seen here on the right, £2.50 from the Thursday morning car boot sale in Overtstrand.

A little bit of a rushed post perhaps, but it's time to get back to here and now. On that note, we finally had some sunshine today and it was lovely. On Monday I was ready to emigrate, the weather was so unremittingly dismal. But it's (almost!) forgotten now.


Sunday 22 July 2012

Blickling and Felbrigg

Back again with more holiday photos - just an excuse this time to fill my blog with photos of fabulous flowers. The gardens we saw while on holiday have prompted me try to to create more colour in our own garden which currently consists of many shades of green (lots of foliage) but not much in the way of flowers, particularly at this time of year. Indeed, yesterday I bought a couple of plants to do just that, but more on those in another post. Back to the halls. Being NTS members we also get to visit NT properties without further charge, which is good, especially when the weather isn't and you're a bit frugal. I see a theme devoloping with our NT/NTS visits - we tend to zoom round the grand houses and then linger in the gardens and grounds, even when the weather isn't great.

First up: Blickling Hall, the childhood home of Anne Boleyn. The approach to the hall is most impressive and the exteriors of the house and out buildings are very attractive. I only took one photo inside that I liked and that was a of a painting by Lizzie Riches which is part of a puzzle competition being run at the hall (which we didn't take part in, it seeming more suited to cryptic crossword enthusiasts visiting without young children!). We enjoyed the gardens though, despite the rain.



A Romance by Lizzie Riches












Now to Felbrigg Hall. This isn't quite as grand as Blickling, I liked the interior better and the guides seemed more friendly. The approach isn't quite as impressive as you reach the house from a path at the side. However, there is lavender planted alongside the access path and it was pretty (I once bought 72 lavender plants (small ones!) to create a lavender bordered path in our garden. I planted them all, though not all along the path as there were too many. Only one survived.).

The gardens are slightly away from the house and are jam-packed with wonderful flowers. I took a lot of photos...

































I have one more Norfolk post planned you may (or may not?) be glad to hear.

Off now to roast a chicken for tea. I believe the weather has improved somewhat in the south of the UK, but here it is still perfect weather for roast dinners, which is the only good thing that can be said for it.

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