Final Trip of 2021 to Herefordshire - Leominster

 

Last week B and I spent a couple of nights in Herefordshire mainly to close down Offa for the winter which involves giving it a good clean, bringing home most food items, vacuum bagging a few clothes and the quilts and pillows and doing a mini drain down. For a small charge the owners of the site fully "winterise" it for you and then reverse the procedure before you return.  The site is open this year until the end of December and much as I would have liked to have visited again with Christmas it was looking unlikely as the kids like being at home for the celebrations. I shall so miss going as it has become a haven and a place to escape to in these troubled times but all being well the site will re-open in March so it will only be for a few months.

When you leave the M5 at Worcester there is a rather fascinating hill with a lone tree on the top which has always interested me. I finally found out it is "Whittington Tump" also know as Crookbarrow Hill or One Tree Hill!  Some believe it is an artificial mound and there is evidence of prehistoric activity there.  It may once have been a religious site or used as a burial mound.  It is a scheduled monument on private land so not accessible.  I don't believe it has ever been excavated.  There is a Radio 4 "Open Country" programme on the tump which one day I will get round to listening.

You can't really see the size of the mound on this photo but it was the best I could manage as we left the motorway.

Timothy in his Christmas jumper and scarf! 

The tree I have been watching for 18 months! As you can see it has now lost its leaves.  Someone, "Rustic Pumpkin" I think asked if I was going to do a collage of photos of the tree throughout the year which I will do probably early next year.  The tree is in a nearby field and I can see it from the dining room table.

We did have one trip out.  I was keen on going to Tenbury Wells but B wanted to go back to the mini mart in Leominster and buy a few items for the caravan.

This strange figure is in the car park by the mini mart. Not a good photo but there seem to be metal objects attached to it.

Door to the converted chapel where the mini mart is based.

Another old converted chapel opposite - now a sort of shopping mall.

Once B had purchased a broom, dustpan and brush and a wiper type thing for cleaning windows! we had a wander round the town. It was nice to see some of the shops looking Christmassy.

Corn Square which is all that remains of the old market place.

For those who love Phil Rickman's Merrily Watkins' books - I can imagine Jane, Merrily's daughter, visiting this shop! I would have liked to go in but it was very small and I am still not keen on going in enclosed spaces.

Christmas Trees for sale.  I did buy a few cheeses for Christmas from a farmer's market stall.

I persuaded B to go and have a look again at Grange Court once the old Market Hall built in 1633 by John Abel and moved to its present location in 1859.  It is now a community and heritage centre with a cafe.

It is timber framed and has decorated spandels with angels, shields, grotesques and dragons. This visit I managed to get more photos of the carvings.

 

Unfortunately, the Christmas Tree by the Millennium Clock didn't seem to be decorated so just a few Christmas figures seen on the way back to the car park.

Timothy enjoying a tipple one evening and making plans for places to visit next year :)

There are several pairs of Red Kites at Hatfield and on the last morning we were treated to our best view yet from the caravan as one circled low just in front of us. Sorry no pics  - camera was packed away!

I hope everyone is staying safe and well.

All photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera.