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Saturday 24 September 2011

Out and About

It seems ages since my last post - my feet don't seem to have touched the ground lately so apologies for not having visited as many blogs as I would wish nor leaving as many comments as I like to.  I did post a quick post earlier in the week but changed my mind about it as it had been done in a rush so appologies to those of you who found it on your dashboards only to find it gone!!

The day after my last post I spent the day in Salisbury with friends - plenty of gossiping but no photos I am afraid!
 Then on Friday 16th a friend arrived to stay till Monday and we were busy exercising our tongues most of the time but we did also go out and about and on Saturday we were here at Montacute.  Luckily we dodged the showers and were inside the house when it rained.  I loved the bark on this amazing old tree - could it be used in a knitting pattern perhaps?!

 See the sun did shine some of the time.  Having finished here we had a cup of tea in the village and then went to Ham Hill to see the views although as it was by then a bit cloudy we didn't stay long and got back to the car just as the heavens opened.

On Sunday it poured with rain all morning but on Sunday afternoon we went to Barrington Court and again luck was with us as we were able to enjoy the gardens and were in the house when it rained!


Cyclamen seem to be doing well this year and I have seen loads of them recently - I love them growing naturally under the trees like this don't you?



We finished our tour with tea in the restaurant overlooking the garden and then had a poke about the craft shops in the old barns - there was a new (or new to me) patchwork shop there which had loads of lovely books and I bought some ribbon with Love, Live, Laugh woven into it and another with Follow your Dreams.  I shall use them in my crazy patchwork (if I ever get enough spare moments to do any crafting!)

 Then on Wednesday we did another walk again from Sherborne but this time in a different direction - north towards Sandford Orcas.  Again the path was along grassy lanes...

under the trees...

 

and along an old drovers' road.  I imagined the drovers with their flocks or herds making their way along here in all weathers and could almost hear their footsteps.

Much of our route was sheltered and quite warm and there were a lot of flowers here and there including this clump of Michaelmas Daisies which the butterflies were enjoying.

Sometimes it was cloudy but..

sometimes the sun came out too.

After the heavy rain we had had the path was often muddy!

But we were wearing our walking boots so we managed to pick our way through the puddles.

Here you might be able to make out Glastonbury Tor in the distance if you can enlarge the photo?

If berries are a sign of a hard winter then I guess we are in for one of those!

We stopped for tea as before but this time we were within earshot of a B road so it wasn't quite as fabulous as the previous week's tea break but enjoyable all the same.

On the home straight now - wind blowing in my hair and making it more like a demented poodle than usual but how lovely it felt!

Not much further and we were back to the car tired but feeling very righteous and pleased with ourselves after another great walk in the beautiful countryside - this time just under 5 miles I think


Next day I said to my husband "I don't think I could do another  5 mile walk today even though the weather is good could you?"  and he replied "Maybe not but we could do the short one round Milborne Port"!  So we set off after lunch on a short walk round the nearby village this time in Somerset rather than Dorset.  The county boundary is a wiggly line round here and we had travelled from Somerset into Dorset and back into Somerset to get here.  Here is the church.

This used to be the pump house (and to think I had always thought it was just a bus shelter!) and alongside it the well now beside the busy A30.

This used to be the school.

This part of the village was all buil tbetween 1818 and 1822 and is called Newtown!  Many pretty thatched cottages but no more photos as there were too many parked cars for a decent view!

These two little dears were enjoying themselves in their little enclosure and wanted to know if I had anything to eat - which of course I didn't although a little further up the lane we passed a table with boxes of apples of various types and a notice saying "Help yourself" - sorry piggies!  Everywhere I am able to help myself to apples round here as it has been a good year for apples this year and everyone who has a tree has more than they know what to do with!

 Yesterday I did some much needed housework, washing and ironing and a trip to the shops to replenish the stores as today I knew I would be out all day doing a scrapbooking day!

If I take as long to do all my family photos I will be 100 before I am half way through but it was an enjoyable day and I can now breathe a sigh of relief as the diary for next week is comparatively empty!!  

What did I see outside the village hall in Broadwindsor where we were to do our scrapbooking but another box of apples with a notice to take what you wanted so tonight we had apple sponge for pudding!

Hope to have a bit more time to visit you all next week but don't hold your breath as life often has other plans I find!!  Enjoy the remainder of your weekend.

22 comments:

  1. Lovely photos of a beautiful area. We visited Montacute in July and Barrington Court is on my list of places to see. Thank you for that foretaste.

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  2. You have been busy Jane!!
    Beautiful scenery, I love the little cyclamen, especially the photo with the cows.
    The butterflies are lovely too and how cute are the piggies. The twisted tree is amazing.
    You must be as fit as a fiddle with the amount of walking you do!!
    Vivienne x

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  3. Beautiful photos. I do envy your lovely walks.

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  4. Well done for getting out and about despite the weather. As long as you have the right clothing it feels so good to be out, especially in the country. There were a lot of cyclamen under that tree, I did wonder whether to plant some in my garden (I've only grown them indoors before), but are the slugs partial to them?

    Your scrapbooking pages look lovely, but like you I am always surprised just how long they take.

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  5. Thank you for the delightful visit to all these lovely places. Seeing the Tor brought back memories of my visit to Glastonbury two years ago when the husband and I took a tour of England. I wished I was there walking with you among all that amazing countryside! And now I know what Michaelmas daisies look like. Elizabeth Goudge seems to mention them a lot in her novels (I love the name that's why I remember)...and now I will know what to picture next time I read that.

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  6. Lots of variety in this post!
    I particularly liked the photo of the bridge and the cyclamen under the trees.

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  7. I do enjoy your walks - lovely places, beautiful photographs, and cute piggies!

    That's such a lovely image of young David - and beautifully showcased with your gorgeous scrapbooking. Well done!

    x

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  8. I love seeing your photos of the countryside. It reminds me of my visits to the UK and it's also such a contrast to the local scenery here.
    You have been very busy. I used to scrapbook but it took me so long to make a few pages of my holiday to Dubai, I gave up. I was going to scrapbook my holiday to Europe but I'd still be doing that in another 10 years. It was easier to download them all to the internet!

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  9. how busy you have been! I enjoyed the walks with you, have a good Sunday!
    xxx

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  10. Lovely photos. The countryside looks so beautiful. I love your scrap book page.

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  11. Thanks Jane, another lovely walk ... or two! You two will be really fit the distances you are covering but what a nice way to get fit. Better than any silly gym !
    Loved seeing the cyclamens growing under the tree. I buy a potted one every winter to have instead of a bunch of cut flowers and my outside /garden room provides the cold night air that is necessary here to make them flower.
    I have a half finished family album that I have been scrapbooking but I'm only up to 1980! Takes me a whole session to do a double page spread and costs a mint too so I'm afraid I've let it slide. Must give it another go. You've inspired me with your pretty layout.
    Cheers
    Helen

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  12. Beautiful outings, muddy lanes and all.

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  13. Jane, you do go on some lovely walks. Thanks for sharing.

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  14. Another lovely post, thank you for all the photos, it's almost as good as being there.

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  15. Another lovely walk Jane. My friend hails from Milborne Port and I think it's a lovely little place. Great photos and a reminder of how much bounty there is in your corner of Somerset. I loved the photo of the Red Admirals! Hope you have a less frenetic week ahead .... but you seem to thrive on them so go with the flow! Lesley x

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  16. Thanks for my countryside walk. Complete with puddles. Love it. Your Michaelmass Daisy is my Aster. (Yes, I googled this time before asking, "Are you sure?") I have some in the garden, mine are deep purple, I'm thankful they survived this summer and are blooming. Asters also come in white, pink and violet. Have a great week.

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  17. I loved this little walkabout, the beautiful landscape, the walls, and the adorable pigs, even your poodle hair do!

    All joys to you and thanks for the fun...don't apologize for living your sweet life!

    Sharon Lovejoy Writes from Sunflower House and a Little Green Island

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  18. How lovely you went to Montecute, it's one of my very favourite old houses. And I did enjoy all the lovely English countryside pictures you've taken, with the fields and lanes and cottages (and muddy puddles too!) Your scrapbooking is looking lovely and so worth doing to presevere those lovely old photos in a special way. And thanks for your kind comment on my blog about borrowing a library book and finding it was by me! I hope you enjoy reading it. Have a happy week ahead, Jane.

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  19. What a beautiful country you live in. Those shots with lots of sky are my favorites.

    Thank you for your kind words regarding my daughter's departure for a year. We have to let them go and try their wings. They will be richer for it, and so will we. But it's not easy.

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  20. Lovely photos Jane. I also like the way that bark spirals around the tree. Lovely muted colours on your scrapbooking pages.

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  21. What a lovely area you live in - and what a good eye you have for capturing its details.

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  22. Lovely photos as usual. people can be amazed when one says they went to Devon , Dorset and Somerset in one day when they do not realise just how the county boundary wiggles around.

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