Herefordshire 2023 - November Visit Part 4: The Hop Pocket and a Trip To Coleshill

 

We made a detour on the way home to visit the Hop Pocket by Bishop's Frome. Its a nursery but there are also a number of independent shops there and a farm shop. Its a good place to look for gifts.

There was a wonderful selection of Logaston Press books.

On the Saturday back at home we visited Coleshill as there was an Antiques and Vintage Fayre being held in the Town Hall.  After a comment left on a previous post by Wessex Reiver I'd also spent some time researching Coleshill again. According to several websites there is supposedly a rare Edward VIII post box just past Packington Lane. The only one I could find in that area was a George VI postbox  although it did have a splendid postbox topper :)  I am not sure if the Edward VIII post box is located elsewhere or whether the information is incorrect.

Coleshill was once an important staging post on the London to Holyhead route and from London to Chester and Liverpool. At one stage there were over 20 coaching inns in the town and quite a few remain!

Plants in Pavements

We briefly visited the Antiques Fayre but to be honest there was not a lot of interest for us and we couldn't find the stamp stand.

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 I would be grateful for an email first - thanks).

Herefordshire 2023 (9) - Part 1: Hatfield and Bromyard

 So back to Herefordshire for four nights.  Although the weather forecast wasn't good we had to be there for a boiler service and gas safety check with British Gas on the Friday. Also it was good to get away from thumping and banging next door and have lovely views from the windows and total peace and quiet. I am just so thankful we have this refuge to escape to.

We travelled on the Wednesday and did the usual click at collect at Morrisons in the afternoon for food shopping. The site was lovely and quiet with only one other car way up the hill.

I love the old British Rail County Posters but to be honest a poster sized reproduction of the one for Herefordshire would have been too large so I was thrilled to see this print in Rossiters - its a bit bigger than A4 size. I've found a place for it too - on the fireplace below the clock.

My favourite trees were looking very similar to the last visit.

Herefordshire Oak

Octopus Tree

The Constable Tree

The Campanula was a good buy as it just keeps on and on flowering.

I bought a set of these vintage style plant labels from Brigsty Vintage Centre and gave some to D for his birthday and kept a couple for myself.

The mini alliums I bought on the last visit.

D wanted a small barbecue to use at the caravan for one of his birthday presents.  They do have a lot of strict rules on the site but I checked recently and you are allowed to have them as long as they don't bother other residents. Well as there was no-one for 100 yards we had a small barbecue on the first evening.

The two bug boxes recently installed.  B has now planted some of those pink cranesbill geraniums that I call "strawberries and cream" in the base of the pot.

We planted a few wildflower seed mixes in the border under the hawthorn hedge at the side of the caravan and, despite damage by moles!, the seeds are finally emerging and starting to flower including Black Medick and Poppies and this purple flower. I haven't been able to identify it to be honest and am wondering if it could be a garden plant that was included as its good for pollinators?  If anyone can id it please leave a comment.

D's promised to lend me this book when he's finished reading it - apparently its very good.

We now buy our eggs from this Hen House at the site entrance - to be honest we only discovered this year that they do actually sell eggs although I think the sign is new.

Thursday was better than forecast so D and I went to Stockton Bury Gardens which I'll write about in the next post.  Friday was lovely too but the gas engineer was due between 12 and 6 and didn't turn up until 4.30!  So we could have gone out! As it was D and I paid a quick visit to Bromyard to buy some cheeses from the farm shop there. And D managed to get me a photo of the post box topper outside the post office.

On Saturday it rained all day and all evening so it was a day of reading and relaxing indoors. Sunday lunchtime we came home.  I really do hope one day we can stop for longer but at the moment E still hasn't moved full time into her flat and she doesn't like being at home on her own so its all rather problematical.

All photos taken by me and my son with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera. I don't particularly rate my photos but if anyone wishes to use one I would be grateful for an email first - thanks.

A Local Country Walk in North Warwickshire

 

I hope everyone has had a lovely Christmas.

Today we went a walk in the North Warwickshire countryside and it was cold enough to blow away the cobwebs!

We had initially decided on a walk round Shustoke Reservoir but the 2 mile path is high on a ridge and the wind was bitingly cold so that plan got abandoned after a few hundred yards!

So instead we went for a walk along the lanes round the Shawbury and Maxstoke area.

This is the door of a cottage at the little hamlet of Maxstoke.  I've mentioned before this house was on the market last year and you can imagine how much these days I wish we had bought it!!

This is the church of St Michael and All Angels, Maxstoke. It it is Grade 2 listed and dates back to the C14th with 18th and 19th century additions.  It was founded by  William de Clinton who was born in Maxstoke and later became Earl Huntingdon.  The church may have been founded as a chantry chapel rather than the church for the nearby Priory.

The church is usually locked but we did visit some years ago for a Christmas Tree Festival so if you would like to see inside please see St Michael's Maxstoke

Victorian Wall Letter Box in the wall of the 14th century Maxstoke Priory. 

The Priory of Augustinian Canons at Maxstoke was also founded by William de Clinton in 1336/37.  It was dissolved in 1536 during the Dissolution.  The site today is surrounded by a surviving sandstone precint wall.

Below is the gatehouse but the rest of the ruins are on the land of a working farm and in I think the grounds of the Old Rectory so are not accessible. Many years ago when I was a teenager I was walking in the area with friends and the farmer did allow us to view them briefly but today there are "keep out" signs!!

It wasn't a long walk but it was good to get some fresh air out in the countryside.

I hope everyone is staying safe and well.

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).