Sunday 28 March 2021
The Oxford-AstraZenica Vaccine
Sunday 21 March 2021
One Year On........
In this country on Tuesday 23rd March there will be a national day of reflection to mark the anniversary of our first lockdown for the thousands who have lost their lives during the Pandemic. It will include a minute's silence at noon followed by a bell toll. People are also being encouraged to stand on their doorsteps at 8.00pm with torches and candles to signify a "beacon of rememberance".
Saturday 13 March 2021
An Elizabethan Hunting Lodge
Set high on a Cotswold escarpment, surrounded by steeply wooded valleys, this Hunting Lodge was built in 1550 by Sir Nicholas Poyntz; he reused the stones from nearby Kingswood Abbey following the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536 - 1541. A simple square shaped building with a reception area on the ground floor, a banqueting hall to the first floor and bedrooms at the top. Originally the roof would have been flat with four corner turrets to enable visiting ladies to watch the hunting in comfort. Apart from the changes to the roof, this eastern side elevation survives intact.
The doorway is classically detailed having fluted Doric columns beneath a triangular pediment with a roundel in the middle showing the Poyntz family arms.
This pleasing architecture shows one of the earliest examples of the classical order being used in an English building.
The hunting lodge was remodelled in 1790 by renowned architect James Wyatt for the Clutterbuck family, who turned the lodge into an elegant home.
In the current environment the interior of the property is closed to visitors, so let's head off and wander through the grounds.
The garden is a haven of wild flowers throughout the year. In January and February it is the snowdrops that hold centre stage, but they have now mostly been displaced by drifts of wild daffodils. In a couple of months the banks and woodlands will be covered in profusions of bluebells and wild garlic. Come September and it will be the turn of hundreds of wild cyclamen showing off their dainty pink faces.
The Clutterbuck family introduced this Georgian carriage entrance driveway and also landscaped the surrounding grounds.
We returned home from Newark Park feeling refreshed and ready for our lunch.
Friday 12 March 2021
Quiz
From my point of view this quiz was not my most successful, you are all far too knowledgeable and knew the answer. Until I found these lying beneath a nutmeg tree, in a Spice Garden in..........
Sri Lanka.............
I personally had not realised that Mace was red and that it formed such a pretty lacey covering around the nutmeg. The Mace takes on its amber/brown colour when it is removed from the nutmeg and laid outside to dry in the sunshine for a couple of weeks.
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
Shown in the order that they arrived are those who answered correctly
1. MrsL was first so she is awarded a⭐
2. Jim @ Road to Parnassus
3. Cherie @ North Yorkshires Craft Guru
4. Mariette's Back to Basics
5. Anita @ Hiking in Norway
6. Lorrie @ Fabric, Paper, Thread
7. Pipistrello @ Flying with Hands
8. Bob @ Blue Sky Scotland, but he was naughty - only he and I know why. But rest assured it wont happen again Bob!!!
9. Polly @ Olive & Pru
Well done to you all⭐
Tuesday 9 March 2021
Quick Quiz
2. In which country did I find them?
3. I spotted them lying together on the ground, but where was I? - e.g. was it in a park, on a beach, perhaps it was on a mountain side or none of these?
4. Each individual item yields two separate products. Both of which you probably use or will be familiar with.
I am switching on comments moderation - the answers will be posted on Friday.
🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺
I am happy, the sun is up, and I have secured an online booking for us to walk in a locally owned National Trust garden this morning.
Sunday 7 March 2021
"It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is.
And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so much ! " - Mark Twain.
Mother Nature has cast off her winter mantle, rubbed the dust from her eyes, and opened wide her paint box splashing delicate yellows, pinks, blues and shades of white around our land.
The National Trust has once again opened up its grounds to those who book online. However, although we would love to visit one of their spring gardens, our "lockdown" instructions are to stay local, so remain local it must be.
Fortunately we have a wide variety of different landscapes here on our own doorstep - hills and valleys, canal towpaths, woodland glades, and Common land.
With the warm sun on our faces It felt more like a fine summers day, so we decided to walk along the canal towpath that runs through the valley below where we live. People were picnicking, and paddle boarding, birds were being skittish as they swooped playfully across the water.
A group of Black headed Gulls - the white headed one is still wearing its winter plumage.
A church dedicated to St. Cyr has stood on this site for over a 1000 years, more than six centuries before the navigation canal was built in 1775. But who was St. Cyr?
He was a child martyr at the time of the last but most severe persecution of christians by the Roman Empire. In A.D.303 the Emperors Diocletian, Maximian, Galerius, and Constantius issued a series of edicts rescinding Christians' legal rights and demanding that they comply with traditional religious practices. Cyr and his widowed mother, Julitta, fled to Tarsus in central Turkey [Tarsus being the scene of the first meeting between Mark Antony and Cleopatra, and the birthplace of the Apostle, St. Paul]. But, Julitta and Cyr were betrayed and arrested on arrival. When questioned by the heathen Governor Alexander, Julitta would only say “I am a Christian”. The Governor tried to persuade Cyr to get his mother to change her mind, but Cyr replied “I am a Christian too.” This so enraged the Governor that he stabbed Cyr then threw his dead body down some steps and Julitta was then crucified.
There are only 7 churches with a dedication to St Cyr across England and yet curiously there are two of them close together in this area.
In France dedicating a church to St. Cyr is frequently used and not considered unusual.
Nutshell Bridge was built at the same time as the canal to enable the wool merchants to carry their wares across the water and to the mills beyond. Today it is hard to imagine just what a busy throughfare this area would have been with barges plying up and down the canal all day long carrying various materials - coal, timber, coke, tar, and withies used in basket making.
Leaving the water boarders leisurely paddling their way along the canal, we decide it is time to return home for a refreshing cup of tea.
Monday 1 March 2021
When Life Gives you Lemons
..........................make Lemon Curd.