2012 Highlights - Part 6 August

I returned to Temple Balsall on yet another hot summer day (one of the few we had!) because the village is steeped in around 800 years of history with connections to the Knights Templar. It is like a land that time forgot where nature and humanity appear to live in harmony. Its a beautiful and very atmospheric place.

Almshouses

The twelfth century Old Hall - headquarters of the Knights Templar in this area.

The Church of St Mary the Virgin was built between 1320 and 1330 and was not a Templar church as they worshipped in a chapel in the Old Hall. The church was originally built as a chapel for the religious Order of the Knights Hospitallers who took over properties following the dissolution of the Knights Templar.

Fox and Cubs again! or Orange Hawkbit (Thanks Emma!)

St Johns Wort

The pulpit dates from the Gilbert Scott church restoration during the 1840's.

West Window

Rose Window

Another churchyard with areas left to grow "wild" to encourage wildlife

July Visit to Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens - a garden that looks beautiful through the seasons.

My Lady's Border

Green House

Unusual to see a Rowan tree with berries and blossom!

August Visit

Lady Bridgeman's Garden

Cockspurthorn

More Fox and Cubs!

South Kitchen Garden

Medlar

David, my son, had entered every ballot going to try and get tickets for the Olympics and he finally struck lucky and managed to get some tickets for Badminton at Wembley Arena about two days before the event! I was really pleased for him as I know how much he had wanted to go and I was the only person free to accompany him :) The train fares would have been extortionate so I decided to take the car in the end as I managed to prebook a car park space and its not far from the end of the M1. I didn't take my camera as I wasn't sure if photos would be allowed but in the end David took the Fuji.

Wembley Stadium - very impressive!

Wembley Arena

Badminton matches

In August my friend and I had another day out at a National Trust property neither of us had visited before. Upton House and Gardens. What a beautiful place! I shall never forget reaching the Ha Ha at the end of the long lawn and suddenly a superb terraced garden and pool stretch out in front of you.

Small Tortoiseshell on lavender. I saw a lot of butterflies - Small and Large White, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown and my first Green Veined White of the year. Devoid of butterflies the year in general has been but nearly every time I have visited a NT property I have seen many flying about.

I shall certainly return hopefully next year.

Finally, a fun day out. Brian had been given a voucher for the hire of a Caterham 7 for the day for one of those birthdays ending in 0 - he is a massive "Prisoner" fan. So we had a great day (luckily the rain held off!) driving through the countryside and pretty villages of Leicestershire.

We had a pub lunch here.

Sorry again for the length of posts - I think September was quite busy but then I had a much quieter 3 months so hopefully I will get the highlights finished by the 31st!!

A Memorable Day Out in London!

After failing to get Olympic tickets via the two ballots and unsuccessfully checking the website for ticket sales every day without success, David finally struck gold (sorry!!) and managed on Tuesday night to get two tickets to watch Badminton at Wembley Arena.

Although it was a shame we wouldn't get to see the Olympic Park, the venue being on the outskirts of London meant we could forget about paying extortionate train prices and worries about packed tubes and go by car instead.

We had a good journey down to London yesterday morning and found Wembley Stadium and Arena without any problems. Unfortunately, finding the car park where I had a pre-booked ticket was not so easy! I lost count of the number of times we drove round and round past the stadium getting totally lost and confused by one way streets and road closures. On one of the circuits we got stopped by a police motorcycle to allow an official looking car through in the Olympic traffic lane. I had a rather horrible thought at this stage that I had totally forgotten that you couldn't drive in Olympic lanes - hopefully I didn't! In fact, I never did find the official car park and opted for my back up car parking plan as we were totally running out of time and I was getting increasingly panic striken!

I didn't bother taking my camera as I thought they would probably not be allowed but luckily I threw the Fuji Finepix in the boot as the friendly car park attendant at the back-up car park assured us cameras were allowed so I did get some pictures - all taken by David. He only took 15 altogether! I'm afraid I would have taken 100's.

Close-up Wembley Stadium is rather impressive





There were lots of Olympic Banners and Flags around the Stadium and Arena







We managed to get through security without setting off any alarms and here's Wembley Arena





The view from our seats




We attended the afternoon session which consisted of Mixed Doubles Semi-Finals and Women's Singles Quarter Finals. I really did enjoy it although it was a bit confusing at first as they play two matches at the same time! Goodness only knows how the players cope!

Some photos of the action











Although it would have been nice to get tickets to see Team GB in action, it was a wonderful experience and I am so glad we were lucky enough to go. It was one of those "once in a lifetime" experiences where the memories will be treasured for ever and I was especially glad for David as he had so much wanted to attend just one of the events :)