MMM Gloucester and Worcester Cathedrals

Driving back from Devon to Sheffield, via M this and that, we decided to stop at two remarkable places and thus give ourselves a break from loonies towing caravans, smart arses who think that driving faster than the speed limit is clever and convoys of lorries.

Gloucester Cathedral is one of the most stunning Norman cathedrals you could imagine. When you enter the body of the building the space seems almost too huge to be real. The stained glass is terrific and the NE and Lady Chapels have to be seen to be believed. One of the most uplifting of all the cathedrals we've seen. Fortunately the building was spared the excesses of Uncle Harry. Recent restoration work on the outside of the Nave shows that today's masons are every bit as skilled as those in history. The cloister is exceptional and its enclosed garden a place of tranquility; a place which, were you alone in it, would almost imposes meditation.

It's most unfortunate that most people who visit the place are only interested in the Harry Potter association - bah humbug!

The general area around the cathedral is lovely - if you like well preserved and maintained historic buildings. A great place to visit.

Worcester Cathedral was our next stop. Unfortunately the whole of the nave was filled with hundreds of seats in preparation for a music extravaganza; this detracted from, what would have been, a splendid and impressive space. The cloister is lovely with a pleasant enclosed garden. Something about the building was less spectacular than we had expected - maybe we were still enraptured by Gloucester Cathedral. At least there was no reference to the Potter mania.


The journey bored on and on. We arrived in Sheffield and gave thanks for a safe trip; motorways are the best way to cover distance, but I can't see why anyone would enjoy driving in the mad-dash, risk-taking traffic which is unavoidable. Caravans - I've had my fill ...

Summer Blue Skies - Packed Beaches and Massed Parking

Today was a brilliant example of an English summer day. The hoards were out with everything, including their kitchen sinks. Beaches were packed and parking was like the storage yard at a car manufactures. We stopped at a delightful pub in the village of Georgeham where a Czechoslovakian bar woman said she expected to be very busy once the "lobsters" returned for their evenings entertainment. Yes folks, it was a day for frying the kids and baking as much naked white flesh as possible; it's a national mania ...

St George's church at Georgeham is very picturesque; building was begun in the13th C. The village is noted in the Doomesday Book of 1087 and there may have been a church on the site in Saxon and Early Norman times.

The day finished with a visit to the NHS Clinic in Braughton so that I could get some antiBs.

A very pleasant day ...

Devon Hills, Churches And Getting Lost ...

Monday. The rain seems to be off for the day; coughs and colds just keep on working.

The first stop was Pilton near Barnstaple. St Mary's church was originally a Priory Church established in the 11th Century as an out reach of Malmesbury Abbey. The Elizabethan tombs are well worth a squiz, as are small number of restored panels of the 14th C rood screen which show the original paintings of Saints.

Lunch at South Molton.

On to Satterleigh where tiny 15C St Peter's church stands in countryside. The intimate interior is complete with medieval door and wooden bell-cote, limewashed walls and panelled oak roof. The drive along winding, narrow lanes was a delight in itself, but it was a bit disconcerting when the lane took us into the main yard of a farm. The church stands in a field/graveyard adjacent to the farmhouse - phew ...

More winding lanes and another, what seemed to be, farmyard cum green with a church at one side. St John the Evangelist at Warkleigh is an interesting 15 C church in an idylic setting. The six bell peal has two bells dating from 1553. The record of incumbents dates from 1276. The weather at this point was just delightful. The setting of the church is equally delightful.



More winding roads and a near complete lack of  location eventually got us onto a major road back to Braughton. The local supermarket supplied dinner. We were exhausted - the colds got the better of us, again ... time for some pills and an early night.

M M M - What A Drive To Ciderland

A lovely sunny day for a dive - maybe, if you like multi-lane traffic, tail-to-tail and travelling at 70 mph plus. Mix in a more than a few tail wagging, caravaners with no intention of driving at the required 50 mph and you have hours of  boring travel. We left home at 9am and got to the shack at about 5pm. M1, M42, M5 plus an alphabet mixture of other roads.

We stopped at Tewkesbury and went to a wedding at the Abbey. A magnificent building! Magnificent organs! One of the best examples of Norman columns and arches you can see. Good glass and painted ceilings with decorated bosses - beautiful in all respects. The music for the wedding powered from the organ filling the space with the deep resonance which both lifts the spirits and vibrates the innards - a truly spiritually moving experience ...

The shack turned out to be a typical traditional 50's cottage; really a sub-divided part of what may have been a small hotel. Well finished, comfortable and spotlessly clean. Unpacked, we wandered to the nearest pharmacy for yet more cough and cold juice - I'm still barking like the proverbial back dog.

The kitchen was soon put into action and we gave several Thanks for a safe journey and virtually collapsed into our dinner. We Stayed at Bloomfield House where the owners, Keith and Tricia, made us very welcome.

Even On Holiday

What a week! Coughing, sneezing and generally feeling like a limp rag. Not the sort of week anyone wants when they are on "holiday". Trouble is bugs don't have "holidays". The weather has been wet so that staying indoors would have been the most sensible choice anyway - I leave getting soaked to hardier fellows. Pills, potions and nostrums seem to have worked their magic and we will be able to trek south-west to Devon and Cornwall as planned. G knows how we will fit in all the people who expect us to visit - family, university folk, arty-farty folk and the odd itinerant we've met along life's highway.

Hopefully we'll pick up the car, pack and get away early - not too early - tomorrow. The question is, "Do we stop to visit folk along the way." If we do, it's going to be a very long journey ...

Coughs, Sneezes And Rain

After a sun-filled week in Lincolnshire we have returned to a rain-filled Sheffield. Close conversation with friends who were hot-foot from Majorca seems to have resulted in coughs and sneezes. Infection travels fast and fresh by Easyjet!

We spent a day, on and off between showers, at the cottage in Hathersage where we looked after Old Mr Flint. This didn't improve my barking. Boots - The Chemist - provided an elixir which has given me the expectation of relief so that I will de-bark in the near future.

All the news - what little there is - concerns the phone tapping exploits of  the Murdoch Clan. The whole affair is set to expand and engulf several of the Great and Good who are putting on their best "Who? Me?" interview face. What a bunch of crooks they are - and we elect some of them ...

I think I'll spend the day daubing and drinking good coffee ...

Lincolnshire, The Big Sky County

Time to visit old haunts in Lincolnshire. A pleasant 90 min drive got us to the motel at Sleaford where we set up camp for this week. I can recommend the Citroen Cleo; the cruise control really makes driving a breeze. Mind you, we couldn't get the satnav to work even after doing the unthinkable - reading the manual. The benefit being? Not listening to an Yank voice telling us we were where we already knew we were.

The Bishop's Eye

We drove to Lincoln on Monday and spent the day at the beautiful cathedral - yes, the whole day. So much to see and always worth hours of wandering and wondering - I've been doing this for over 45 years! We spent a couple of hours on a tour of the roof structure. Amaizing! Some of the massive oak beams are over 900 years old. One couple, who were on the tour, live in Jervis Bay - small world ain't it? They couldn't grasp the wealth and depth of hisory of the cathedral or the city and it's past social and industrial impact on English, and even world, history. Why would they ...

Lunch and afternoon tea at the cloister cafe were very enjoyable. We didn't stay for the organ recital which was scheduled for the evening.

We spent Tuesday morning visiting several lovely villages and a long, enjoyable afternoon with friends at a pub. The lunch was good and the beer excellent ...

Wednesday called for several expeditions into the darkest interior which provided several ancient churches, beautiful cottages, expansive views of hedge-rowed fields with ripening crops and the unexpected keep or manor house. Sadly, most of the churches are locked due to theft and damage. Lead roofs are a prime target. We are disgusted with this situation in England when we consider that we can wander around Japan and find temples are open and undamaged - even the plants in pots outside houses stay intact, as do the vending machines on street corners. What uncouth jobs we English are ... It's probably the Roman, Viking, Saxon and Norman Blood. All to do with having a history of invasion, pillage and football.

We visited South Kyme and came across a gem. On first view the St Mary and All Saints church seems unremarkable, but it dates from at least 1196 when it was an Augustinian priory. The church today consists of the south aisle and part of the nave of the former priory.

In the adjacent field stands Kyme Tower. This stone keep is all that remains of the medieval castle, which was built between 1310 and 1381, by Sir Gilbert de Umfraville. The tower sits upon a mound and is surrounded by a moat, which still survives as an earthwork. There is evidence of other embanked earthwork structures within the moated enclosure. To the east of the keep are fishponds and other features of medieval of post-medieval date. The 18th century Manor House stand nearby. The fields are begging for a resistivity survey ... a project for the future?

You can make out some of the underlying structures in the sat photos.









Thursday became a sorte to Wickenby airfield and the flight plan involved several stalls which resulted in forced landings into unknown fields far and wide.

Bloxholm village has an small church hidden away from the road which was probably built by the fok who lived at the, now semi-derelict, manor house. passing through Ashby de la Launde, Scopwick, Blankney, Metheringham, Nocton, Potterhanworth, Bardney, Kingthorpe, Langton by Wragby and Holton cum Becking, we arrived at Wickenby. Don't you just love the village names? Saxon, Norman, Dane; do we really know where we come from ...

Wickenby airfield was busy with civilian activity and the flying club's  CFI couldn't have been more helpful. One stalwart threw a Zlin 242 into an expert display of aerobatics. Well worth the visit; I've flown out of this field some years ago when most of the pilots were crew at RAF Scampton (of 617 fame). I think "Time Team" had one of their digs at the airfield.

We visited Wickenby church which, we were told, had had its lead from the roof stolen FIVE times! The suggestion to tile the roof has been vetoed by English Heritage, hence, tar-felt has been used to keep the weather out; so much for common sense conservation.

The church at Holton cum Becking was open. We stopped and ended up having a long chat to a Kiwi who was busy cleaning the place. Small world again ... This church has been robbed so many time that the most historically important objects have been confined to archival storage.

Friday saw us wandering the back roads around Sleaford again; so many lanes and by-ways, villages with their churches, pubs and old buildings. Late in the evening we drove back to Sheffield. An excellent week!

Porter Brook Painting Day

Rebecca Roche organized one of her full day drawing/painting days this Saturday at Porter Brook Studios. She had arranged an excellent model and lunch - she cooked the food as well: excellent goats' cheese flan, quiche, phyllo pastry parcels, salad and other munchies. The people who attended were very sociable with lots of intelligent conversation during the breaks. I had a great time. The model turned out to be a geologist so we had plenty to talk about and one of the other attendees is a lecturer in architecture which made for more interesting conversation. My painting was ... don't go there ...

Sue had a Zumba morning and a reading afternoon.

The Jacket Returns

As promised, the linen jacket was delivered to me yesterday. JAL had it cleaned in Tokyo, flew it to Heathrow and posted to Sheffield - as they said they would do. I can now dress like a vicar as I go about my perambulations. All I need to round off the image is a nice Montecristi Panama which can be doffed when I  bless the unwashed masses.

A Quick Visit To Dronfield

The 44 took us to Dronfield in less than 30 mins; the blessing of not having to drive is always a pleasure. We'd visited Dronfield before, which immediately gave us the location of a decent cafe.

A long conversation, with one of the natives, covered most aspects of visiting Oz and touring with a Winningbagle. (Don't you love Mrs Malaprop?) The absence of a rail system is Oz, a la "The Continent", always comes as a surprise to non-Ozers; unlike the use of the  phrase, "The Continent", which seems to be an lasting idiom of our Brit language when referring to our kin in the EU. We Brits seem to have completely forgotten, if current generations ever knew, the provenance of our genes ...

The church of St John The Baptist, which dates from at least the early 12th century, stands near the centre of the village. We were surprised at its size - for a village church. An imposing building which is well worth a visit.

Returning to Sheffield on the 44 brought the afternoon's sortie to a convenient close. This is the advantage of living in England; at a whim, you can use the public transport system to visit far, and, as in the case, near.