A Very Brief Trip to Herefordshire

 

We managed to get away to Herefordshire for a couple of nights last week  although we had to come back early due to  a family "crisis" so we didn't actually have chance to go out anywhere. So just a few photos from around the site and caravan.

D made me this hop kiln model which is rather sweet.

Herefordshire oak - perhaps the slightest hint of a change of colour in the leaves?

Hawthorn berries galore - last autumn we used to see redwings and fieldfares feasting on them.

The rose is still flowering.

Hollyhock about to flower. 

View from the dining table in the kitchen - there are usually sheep in this field but now we have cows :) We heard a tawny owl or two hooting from that direction one night.

Cooking apples picked from the little apple tree. There were 42 - far more than last year. Two apple crumbles made and a Dorset Apple Cake. Next week I am making an Apple and Stilton Soup and B fancies making an apple pie.

I do hope we can go back to Herefordshire soon as the nightmare re: next door continues. I think by the time they have finished the demolition work only the exterior walls of the house and supporting walls will remain.  The workmen seem to have no knowledge of the party wall agreement as late last week they took the roof and tiles off the rear extension and debris was raining down on our greenhouse roof. They are not supposed to do work like that until they have protected the greenhouse!   We tried to tell them to stop but they just shrugged and carried on - one of them didn't seem to understand English. B rang the house owner and got nowhere just fobbed off as usual. I think we may have to contact the surveyor who drew up the Party Wall Agreement although it is supposed to be legally binding I don't think there is much you can actually do to enforce it.  Everything seems geared to helping the person who is doing the building work.

I hope everyone is staying safe and well.

Photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera (I don't particularly rate most of my photos but if anyone wishes to use one I would be grateful of an email first (thanks).

Recent Reading, Garden Vegetables, Birmngham Polinations and Local Walk Around Historic Parkland.

 

Recent Reading

I don't seem to have read so many books recently partly because for a variety of reasons I am not sleeping well recently and am too tired to read! but also because I have a backlog of magazines to catch up on!

Another Shire Book - this time on Rood Screens. An interesting book on  a feature in churches I am often guilty of ignoring.

The next Miss Marple book - really a series of separate short stories but light and easy reading.

The next in the Jackman and Evans series - this was a good gripping book with a lot of twists and turns.

The next Cooper and Fry. Gosh this book had shock ending. I won't reveal more in case people haven't yet read the book but I actually said "oh no" out loud at the end.

Baking

D made this lovely moist courgette and walnut loaf recently from homegrown courgettes.

More vegetables from the garden which

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were used for Vegetable Couscous.

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I didn't go but B, D and E went to see the bull from the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony which was on display in Birmingham City Centre.  To be honest I am glad I didn't visit as the place from D's photos was heaving with people.

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Birmingham Polinations

This is something else I didn't go to but I thought you might like to see the photos. 

Again I think it is connected with the recent Commonwealth Games.  A City Centre garden has been created, full of colour and nature, in Victoria Square. It contains giant architectural trees and thousands of plants.  

It is a celebration of colour, beauty and nature diversity.  It tells story of  the origin of plant species - many of our garden flower species did not originate in the UK.

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Walk Around Historic Parkland

Occasionally D and I go for a walk around historic parkland in Solihull. I don't usually take my camera so I haven't mentioned it before but on last week's walk I did take it.

It consists of 30 acres of parkland which is part of the wider Castle Bromwich Conservation Area. Historically the parkland was part of the Earl of Bradford's estate.  The last resident of Castle Bromwich Hall was Lady Ida Bradford (1848-1956), widow of George Bridgeman, 4th Earl of Bradford.  

The hall has now been restored and is now a hotel.  The gardens to the hall are run by the Castle Bromwich Gardens Trust.  A "Claire Voie" in the wall of the gardens reveals a view of the West Avenue of Trees from the hall towards what is today the centre of Birmingham. Years ago I used to visit the gardens a lot and did many posts on them - I am not sure if anyone has been reading my blog long enough to recall them.

The parkland is known locally as "Lady Bradford's".

Today the parkland contains:

• The Cow Pasture where cows were once grazed.
• The West Avenue replanted in 1895 after a storm destroyed the trees.
• Acid Grassland.
• Dog Kennel Pond
• Wood and Wetland Trail.
• Hedgerow and Holloway.
• Wetland with reeds.
• Grassland

The parkland is public land owned by the local authority.  In 2021 the Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens Trust was given funding to improve the parkland, provide better access and restore habitats. I think they have done a really good job.

A wasp nest

It is a lovely area to walk and blissfully free of people. You could be in the middle of the countryside if it wasn't for the roar of the traffic from the nearby M6.

I hope everyone is staying safe and well.  

Photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera and the ones marked *D taken by my son. (I don't rate most of my photos but if ever anyone wants to use one I would be grateful for an email first - thank you).