August Visit to Herefordshire - Part 1 : Hatfield and Tenbury Wells

 

Last week we returned to Herefordshire for four nights. The journey took longer than usual as the Worcester Road was closed at Bredenbury and the diversion took us out of our way by over 20 minutes!

Timothy back on his shelf.

I treated myself to this handmade ceramic arts and craft style tile showing the mistletoe that grows on trees around Tenbury Wells. It is heat resistant so I am using it as a tea pot stand at the moment although really it should be on display somewhere at the caravan as it is too nice to hide under a teapot!

There is not much change in the Herefordshire trees although I think I can detect a slight change in the leaf colour of the oak.  On the journey we noticed so many trees where the leaves were changing colour and falling from the trees presumably due to all the dry weather we have been having

Herefordshire Oak

Octopus Tree

Constable Tree(s)

Thankfully, most of the plants in the garden and in pots had survived while we were absent. Only the cranesbill geraniums looked a bit sorry for themselves but perked up after being watered.

Mini alliums in full flower now and attracting many bees, butterflies and hoverflies.

D has at least 12 chilli peppers forming on his chilli plant

The cherry tomatoes are starting to ripen.

The hedgerows are full of hawthorn berries and blackberries.

The cooking apple tree in the garden is full of apples this year and we have started to pick a few. We brought home a carrier bag full of them and blackberries!  I think I might try making an apple chutney this year.

We walked down to the hen house to buy eggs although unusually there were none for sale.

A rose in one of the gardens.

I picked a rose from our garden - the scent was beautiful.

A few weeks ago we picked some honesty seedheads from the garden and dried them. We have now put them in a jar to in front of the rather modern fire we have in the lounge.

I spotted a Grey Dagger moth on the bee hotel - a new species for the site.

D's rudbeckia's are in flower now.

Another two people have left the caravan site - B's friend and ex work colleague who had a caravan in the walled garden and the people in the caravan next to us.  I think a lot of people are feeling very uncertain about possible changes to the site next year.

The next day Wednesday we popped into Tenbury Wells mainly to buy a few items from Tesco but we went for a walk first.

One of the trees in the Burgage recreation ground.

We popped into Mr Thoms to buy some of their Bramley Apple chutney which is delicious.  I just hope I can make some as good.

The antiques gallery

The next day we visited Berrington Hall as we haven't been for ages and I will write about that in the next post.

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 son's I would be grateful for an email first - thanks)

Recent Reading

 

I am really enjoying Anne O' Brien's historical fiction books. This is the story of Lady Katherine Swynford who becomes the mistress of John of Gaunt.

This is a lovely book which I was given as a present by my daughter. Now I have read it I am keeping it at the caravan.  The book is full of delightful water colour illustrations by a Victorian naturalist and mycologist. Very little is known about the author.

It is always good when a new Vera Stanhope novel by Ann Cleeves appears. This was a great book full of suspense.

I have finally started to enjoy this Dorset crime series.

In fact I enjoyed it that much I immediately read the next in the series!

This is a book of poems from A E Houseman and beautiful photos by John Hayward which I have been reading at the caravan.  I found the poems very poignant but sad and the photos are a delight.

The next in the Cadfael series was really good. I haven't seen the tv series which is probably for the best I find. I prefer to imagine the characters in the books myself.

The next Anne O'Brien novel I read is the story of Joan of Kent.

Forgotten Churches is a charming book with wonderful drawings. The author writes about some of his favourite churches not in any  detail but he does give some history of the church and area and the features in each church which stand out.

I always enjoy the Wesley Peterson books by Kate Ellis. Sadly, I think I am nearing the end of the series.

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 son's I would appreciate an email first - thanks)

Helios at the Charterhouse, Coventry.

 

Recently D and I went to Coventry to see Helios at The Charterhouse.  Helios is a piece of artwork by Luke Jerram. I must admit that I was horrified when we arrived as the car park was overflowing into a nearby field and the Charterhouse plus garden and grounds were teeming with people. Because I wanted to see Helios so much I had ignored my golden rule - don't visit NT or EH places particularly in Warwickshire in the school summer holidays. I should have learnt my lesson from how busy Croft Castle was recently although the Charterhouse had even more people!

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The Charterhouse was a Carthusian Priory of St Anne founded in 1381 with the foundation stone being placed by King Richard II in 1388.  The monks came from  Chartreuse in France and thus gave the name Charterhouse to their monasteries in England.  They were a silent order and the monks lived alone in their cells only speaking on special occasions.  Twelve cells were located around a cloister in what is now the walled garden.  The priory was dissolved in 1539 during Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries. 

The stone building contained the monks refectory and the prior's lodging.  The timber framed end of the building was added in the C16th after the building became a private home. The conservatory which I assume is a more modern addition serves as the ticket office area.

Helios is located in the walled garden and here is our first view of it.

Helios is named after the sun god of Greek mythology and the sculpture is 7 metres wide and has light, high resolution solar imagery and sounds recorded by NASA are emitted.  One metre of the sculpture represents 2000km of the real sun's surface.

In 2017 we went to see the Museum of the Moon by the same artist which was located in Birmingham City Centre.  In many ways I think I preferred the Moon sculpture.

We wandered around the walled garden first.

This building is called the Apple Store which was built as a C19th folly.

We returned to the tea room and D managed to find a table although the queues for food were still long.

After lunch and visiting the book store we were hoping to go into the building itself but sadly that wasn't possible as apparently you needed a timed ticket which I hadn't realised!  I was a bit annoyed with myself as one of the treasures inside is the lower part of a wall painting that would have been in the refectory. It was put there ~1417 soon after the building was finished and depicts the Crucifixion of Christ.

We had a brief wander around the orchard before leaving.

The Charterhouse is Grade I listed.  After the Dissolution it became a family home and then a garden to produce exotic fruit.  One notable past resident was Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester and favourite of Queen Elizabeth I.

The Charterhouse is owned by by the Historic Coventry Trust which was set up in 2011 to restore historical places in Coventry.  They raised the £11.9 million needed to restore the  Charterhouse.

The National Trust and the Historic Coventry Trust are now in a partnership and the former now cares for the house. It is their first property in Coventry.

The River Sherbourne

The lost medieval village of Bisseley (later called Shortley) was located near the C12th Bisseley Corn mill near the Charterhouse.  The mill was later called the Charterhouse Mill and was demolished in the 1930's.  It is possible that part of the village lies under the Charterhouse and its grounds.

The medieval St Anne's chapel was also located nearby. 

Some of D's photos from the visit

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Photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ bridge camera and those marked *D were taken by my son with the Canon SX50HS bridge camera. (I don't particularly rate my photos but if anyone wishes to use one of mine or my son's I would be grateful for an email first - thanks)

Reference:

National Trust website on The Charterhouse

Various information boards around the site