Garden Wildlife, An Interesting Church and Village and Lunch at a Historic Pub Overlooking a Battlefield

We're getting more birds visiting the feeders now its getting colder and the highlight this week has been a small flock of Redwings visiting the garden each day to bathe in the pond and feast on Rowan and Whitebeam berries. We don't usually get visits from this species until the weather is a lot colder or there's snow on the ground. I tried to get a photo without any success - they fly off at the slightest movement in the garden.

I did manage to get a photo of one of the frequent grey squirrel visitors though.

I've put the moth trap out quite a few times over the last few weeks only trapping a couple of Winter Moths (sadly no December Moths to be seen here) but there's a Winter Moth perched on the windows attracted by the light most evenings. Sorry rubbish photo but it is a pretty plain uninspiring moth!

It was my birthday last Sunday and plan A was to visit Upton House and then go for a pub lunch. As usual though we left far later than planned so ended up following Plan B which was a walk round the picturesque village of Tredington followed by the lunch. I drove through Tredington some months back when visiting Shipston-on-Stour with E and the village looked so lovely I was determined to return.

A few of the cottages and houses seen as we walked round the village.

Should I win the lottery in the foreseeable future I will definitely consider buying this cottage for sale as a weekend retreat :)

The River Stour runs through the village and the UK's second largest pike was caught here by a Geoff Crabtree - the pike weighed 451b 7ozs!



The parish church of St Gregory has a 210 foot tower and spire - the highest in Warwickshire. The oldest parts of the Church are Saxon dating back to 961

Valerian in flower by the churchyard

Many of the gravestones were covered in lichens - according to someone I spoke to later in the church there are quite a few rare lichens to be found in the churchyard.

The North door is fourteenth century and has lead bullets lodged in it dating back to the Civil War. A lady I spoke to inside the church told me that parliamentarian troops and horses had spent a night in the church on their way to the battle of Edgehill and the village had been divided over which side it supported with villagers on one side of the river supporting the King and those on the other side supporting parliamentarians.

A fifteenth century brass

Octagonal font - there are old staples on the steps said to guard against witches!

An ancient brass on the floor depicting Alice Barnes wearing a sixteenth century gown with puffed sleeves. She died in 1568 and the brass is a memorial to her and to her husband.

Seventeenth century pulpit installed in the church just before Oliver Cromwell became Protector.

We had lunch at the Castle Inn built on the summit of Edgehill, 700 feet above sea level, overlooking the battlefield of Edgehill where Englishman fought Englishman in the first major battle of the Civil War. There are superb views from the beer garden over several counties. The inn is also known as The Round Tower or Radway Tower and the octagonal tower built in 1742 marks the spot where it is believed King Charles I raised his standard on Sunday, 23rd October, 1642, prior to the battle.

The lunch was delicious with a starter of Brie and Cranberry Parcels

One of the main courses - I couldn't get a photo of the vegetarian option as the family were getting rather embarrassed at this stage with my constant photo taking in a crowded pub

Profiterole Cheesecake to finish the meal :) - I was determined to get a photo of this :)

As we drove through a village on the way home I spotted a "Sun Dog" in the sky. Sorry the photo doesn't really do it justice especially as it was taken from a moving car.

A beautiful sunset from the garden on reaching home