Last year I had a day trip
Went to the coast
Of Wales
It rained on the way
And it was blustery
By the beach.
I went on a coach
Can’t drive that far
Anymore
One day away
My holiday
……
One day away
Tag: Day trip
Day out
After a long wait we finally went on our choirs boat trip. It was arranged for the singing for lung health group I am part of. It had been postponed due to a mechanical problem, but today was gorgeous, hot, sunny. Ideal for a canal trip on the boat Beatrice which is used to give people with disabilities the chance to get out on the water.
It was a slow journey, a bit nerve wracking because there were steep steps to got into the barge then uneven paths to negotiate to get to our destination a pub called the black lion at consall forge. We sat under an awning and sang a few songs that we have practiced for months. We didn’t have an audience except for a few people sitting on benches at the front of the pub.
Then I carefully picked my way back down the steep path with someone helping me as I was feeling very unsteady and a bit breathless. We meandered our way back along the river Churnet, entering a lock to get back onto the canal and back to our dropping off point. I was tired but I’m glad I went.
Little bridge
Little bridge over a rocky chasm, (a small split in the rocks), another feature at Biddulph Grange. I’d forgotten this photo. I think we walked over the bridge, but to be honest I can’t remember. It seems to teeter over the gap, and I get vertigo, so maybe not! The approach up to it isn’t fenced in, so I’d be nervous just walking up to it…
Rode hall bluebells
We finally got the weather for our walk around the grounds of Rode Hall. It was lovely, calming and peaceful. I know it’s strange, but I wondered where the musical backing track was….. But there was beautiful birdsong.
This was the last day of the actual bluebell walks, but they are obviously still there for a little while. There is a Rode Hall website and I’m sure there will be details available for visits there.
Pompom dahlia
Dad used to grow these. You can see why they are called pompom dahlias. He had a whole patch of them in the back garden. I found some in the local garden centre so I have bought a packet of tubers just to see if I can grow them.
The best place to see dahlias in the area is the dahlia walk at the Biddulph Grange garden in Biddulph, Staffordshire. The National Trust owns the house and gardens. The building is only accessible in a few rooms, but the gardens are magnificent. Part classic gardening, part themed garden it is worth visiting and you have to see the Dahlia Walk in late summer. Sections separated by hedges on either side of a central pathway are filled with all sorts of Dahlia plants in all sorts of colours, for example red Bishop of Llandaff ones. Other sections in the garden have various themes, a Swiss cottage next to an Egyptian tomb, grottos and stepping stones and a Chinese temple and giant stone frog and golden calf!
Worth a visit if you are in the area.
Staffordshire landscape
I wanted to show you a part of the Staffordshire Moorlands that we visited today. Consall Forge once was an industrial landscape and is part of the industrial archaeology of the area. Sitting in an isolated valley it was connected by a narrow gauge railway between Leek and Froghall Wharf. The Consall Forge was about half way along the valley. We have ridden on the preserved railway several times, but I have never found out about its history before. I have seen old lime kilns there but didn’t know their origins. I think the lime was used in the pottery industry and I think there may be a pottery there?
GOOGLE SAYS: Consall Forge kilns. At Consall Forge against the canalised River Churnet stands a bank of four large limekilns. These date from the early nineteenth century and were linked to the North Stafford Railway, a plateway built between 1815 and 1819, running from the Caldon Canal to north of Caverswall.
The valley continues to Froghall Wharf where there is a station for the railway with a good tea room and station shop. The line passes through the ruins of a copper factory which is possibly going to be developed. This makes Froghall much less picturesque than either Cheddleton, where the Churnet Valley Railway starts and Consall Forge which is where we were. The Cauldon canal was used for transporting coal from Froghall Wharf to Uttoxeter but was closed after losing money because of its rural location. It opened in 1811 and closed in 1849.
There is also a nature reserve at Consall. You can get there along narrow country lanes, along the railway or along the canal or its towpath.
Bluebell walk
We visited Betley Court and walked around the bluebell woods. It’s a private property so it only opens twelve times a year so we were really lucky to get in today. We will go back! It’s on the road from Keele in Newcastle under Lyme towards Nantwich I think. Its in Staffordshire I think (but its really near Cheshire). Its a lovely place. I really love this Spring abundance.
Owl sculpture
I saw this today on our visir to the Dorothy Clive Garden. I really like it. Not much more to say really.
At the museum
At the Terracotta army exhibition in 2018.at the World museum in Liverpool. I like drawing as well as taking photos. (I had over 100 photos).
The World museum is full of so many interesting exhibitions, ranged over several floors. These included Egyptian art, Clocks, Marine artefacts and other art and objects. Too much to see in one day. I would love to go back and see more!
Manorbier Castle
Painted a few years ago while we were on holiday in Pembrokeshire, South West Wales đ´ó §ó ˘ó ˇó Źó łó ż.
I ppainted this while we were staying in a caravan in Pembrokeshire, I’d decided to take paints and a canvas for a change (I usually just take a sketch book or watercolours). I did some sketches of the castle but used a guide book for the castle to find an image to work from.
Manorbier is still in private ownership (a lot of places are now owned by the National Trust and other charities). Its really close to the coast, you can walk down a valley to the sea and if you look back you can see the castle up on a hill on the left and the church tower of the village on a hill on the right.
If you ever go to South West Wales it’s worth a visit……
Mallaband-Brown 