First a small posy of the first sweet peas from the garden. I ordered the seeds from Higgledy Garden along with a few other packets of flower seeds and I am really pleased with the results.
The Sunday before last D wanted to drive to the nurseries at Hoar Park Craft Centre and I was keen to visit ngs open gardens at Old Arley. The two places are fairly close together so we were able to combine a visit to the two. First the nurseries where we bought some ceramic pots - luckily they were half price and I also bought a new lavender plant. You can never have too much lavender!
Then we drove to Old Arley. By then it was becoming horribly hot and humid but when we arrived I noticed St Wilfrid's church was actually open. When I last visited Old Arley it was closed! So first visit was to the church which was a little cooler than the outside temperatures!
St Wilfrid's, Old Arley
War Memorial
The north nave wall of the church is partly Norman. The rest of the church is in the Decorated style for example the West Tower and the chancel with ogee headed priest's door and side windows with Kentish tracery.
There was (shudders) a Victorian restoration by Bodley and Garner 1872/3.
Red sandstone octagonal font.
Tower West Window by James Powell & Sons 1930
Nave window (I think also by James Powell?) entitled The Good Shepherd.
Mosaics
List of Rectors
Gothic Organ case in tower arch 1938
Looking towards the chancel - chancel screen by Bodley and Garner 1873. Sorry some of the photos are dark - light poor in church and I couldn't find the light switches!
A partly obscured monument of a recumbent priest with 2 angels at his pillow c 1350.
Kneelers and tiles
East window by Burlison and Grylls as are the side chancel windows.
The best feature of the church was this window containing medieval glass fragments.
We then had a look around the two closest ngs gardens - some were much further away and it was so hot and humid that after wandering around two I couldn't face any more.
I was really impressed with the first garden we visited and it had made such good use of a relatively small space. They had raised vegetable plots, pots, herbaceous borders, bee hotels, a wildflower meadow in the front garden and many pollinator friendly plants.
The second garden was what I would call a more "modern" garden with plenty of places to sit and entertain interspersed with flowers.
I loved this dragonfly and carved wooden owl.
A foliate head on a house wall - I loved this!
Bench spotted on the way back to the car.
Reference:
"Buildings of England Warwickshire" Pevsner.
All photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera. (I don't particularly rate my photos but if anyone wishes to use one of mine or my sons I would be grateful for an email first - thanks)
2 comments:
I do feel the same as you over the Victorian renovations of churches. I visited a few this week and the first one looked very much like it was Victorian, then I read in Wiki that it was Saxon and the oldest in Berkshire not that I could see evidence on the outside. It was locked like the rest of the ones I visited that day so I need to arrange another visit when they are open. This church you visited look a nice one to look around, even the roof screen is not that bad.
We have open gardens in our village but draw the line in opening ours
Thank you Billy. Glad you feel the same as me - some are more sympathetic but others go way over the top. Hope you can get in the church that wasn't open. You woldn't get me opening my garden either - too much hard work involved in keeping it looking lovely and pristine! I think there were 5 or 6 open in that village. Sadly I missed the ngs event at Berkswell which is one of my favourite villages locally when at home.
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