On Christmas Eve

It's a lovely morning cold but bright and sunny.  I put on coat and boots and went into the garden.  I washed and filled the bird baths.  Seeds, suet balls and nibbles had been topped up earlier.  Loads of goldfinches, one chaffinch,  one greenfinch,  a couple of dunnocks and a couple of blackbirds spotted so far today.  All the shopping is done, all the presents distributed, we may pop out for a gentle stroll later on after some preparation of tomorrow's meal has been done.

At the weekend we went up to wonderful Little Moreton Hall for their Yuletide Celebrations, something we try to do the weekend before Christmas, it has become somewhat of a tradition.

Watching and listening to Piva celebrating Christmas Tudor style.  They sing of the Yule Log, food and ale, the Twelve days of Christmas and the  Lord of Misrule or Master of Revels on Twelfth Night.  Also the tradition of Boy Bishops which ran from St Nicholas Day to Holy Innocents Day.  I think in the photo above they are singing and playing Gaudete which means rejoice.

Peace and joy to you all.

Festive Trees

We've just returned home from a couple of days away.  On Wednesday we  spent some time with our nephew, took him out for lunch and a bit of Christmas shopping.  We also visited the town Museum where I used to work, it had changed so much but perhaps more about that on another day. Thursday we had a lovely lunch with friends in Beeston, Nottingham.  We meandered home on Friday and spent some time in both Matlock and Bakewell. Rivers in both places were high after all the rain.

 

The River Derwent in Matlock

The River Wye in Bakewell

All Saints Church in Bakewell have a Christmas Tree festival each year so we decided to walk up and have a look.  Thank goodness the rain of the previous two days had drifted away

View across the town and beyond from the churchyard.  It is a fascinating churchyard, full of interesting memorials and stones.

One of the two Saxon crosses found outside the church.

An old weather vane close to the entrance.

Fragments of older building work in the porch.

The early 14th century font.

The alabaster monument to Sir Godfrey Foljambe and his wife is dated c1377.  I wanted to know the name of his wife and found that it may have been his second wife Avena Ireland who is depicted on the monument.

Anyway, I mentioned Christmas trees.  Unfortunately those in the chancel had been roped off as a crack had appeared in one of the main beams in the roof and it was thought unsafe.

There were some lovely trees to stop and admire. 

 

All for now.

Festive here and there

Places out and about are beginning to look quite festive.  Wednesday morning after I'd had my hair cut we popped up to Middleport Pottery for a coffee and scone and a little wander around.

There was a cool breeze but it was dry and sunny after Tuesday's wind and rain.

Inside the factory and shop was looking very pretty.  I love the Christmas Wreath above.

Dressed tables, white and green seemed to be a theme.

Trees with tempting parcels underneath.

Black and white wares on a black table cloth looked stunning.

Then it was up the canal to Westport Lake where a heron caught my eye.

It had it's beady eye on something in the shallows.  The sun kept shining for our walk around the lake.  We'd  put all the Christmas cards in a bag in the car so popped into Burslem where we knew there was a post office.

The new bronze cast statue of 'Lemmy' (real name Ian Frazer Kilmister) who was born in the town in 1945, stands near the town hall.  A member of the band Hawkwind and later front man of the rock band Motorhead   The work is by local sculptor Andy Edwards who is responsible for many notable sculptures including the one of The Beatles in front of the Liver building in Liverpool.

Last but not least we popped into the T G Green factory shop close by.

Such a colourful shop.  Year ago we liked to visit their factory shop in Church Gresley in South Derbyshire.  Usually when I was there researching family history. My father's family came from the area around Swadlincote and Midway.  My 5x great grandfather apparently settled there c. 1780 when he brought a gang of men, all from the Forest of Dean, to dig out test bell pits for the Gresley Family of Gresley Hall.

We treated ourselves to a couple of Cornish ware mugs, neither the blue or the red but the green stripey ones. 

Well, I think that is all for now.  

A Common Thread

 A Common Thread is the latest exhibition at the Brampton Museum in Newcastle-under-Lyme.

It is, in fact a three in one exhibition which celebrates modern textile art, home produced items from the museum's collections and photos and information panels about local textile manufacturers including hat makers.

The main exhibition has works from Dr Jack Roberts who is known as JPR Stitch.  In the top photo are the Daily Stitch Towers created over one year from daily stitch drawings.  Here is a -link- to the artist's website.

I always love to see costume in a museum and some of those on display were made locally and donated to the museum.   Above, on the left, is an Edwardian wedding dress with a handmade lace tabard.  The brown Victorian dress was worn by a lady called Ann Whalley for her wedding at St George's Church on Christmas Day 1870.  

Above a floral dress from the 1860s which has been altered a few times.  Perhaps so it could be passed on and worn by others.

It was a lovely display of all sewing crafts, tapestry, embroidery, lace making and knitting.

I was sure there were photos of me somewhere in dresses similar to the one above, I have found a couple of them and put them at the bottom of this post.

Lots of memories in these displays.  I still have my Mum's Singer sewing machine which is dated 1938.  She always had the Woman's Weekly delivered and often knitted cardigans, jumpers and toys from their patterns.

Such a serious little face.  This was taken at our house in Leicester before we moved away to a village in Derbyshire.  I would have been about four.  I still have the teddy bear.

Oh, heavy shoes and socks at half mast😊 This was taken in a London Park, I think. We were visiting my Mum's old school friend who lived in Stanmore in Middlesex.  I remember the bus journey into London.

Well, it's the first of December today.  I must start to think about Christmas.  We had our first card and present in the post on Friday so I must stop dragging my heels and write some cards, buy some stamps and add to the bits and pieces I've already bought to make up larger presents.

All for now.

Spotted

 Spotted Recently

Early Snowdrops at Trentham Gardens.  

A Hedgehog in the garden on one of the warmer days a couple of weeks ago.  It looked healthy. After a good rummage around in the grass and along the side of the greenhouse it wandered away into the hedges between us and next door.  I hope it has a warm home somewhere now the first frosts have appeared.

Again at Trentham Gardens beside the lake a strange fungi that looks like a cross between a cone flower and a fried egg.

At a local garden centre a Robin on the roof of one of the little 'gingerbread' cottages.  It flew in from the more open houseplant area into the decorated tree and then onto the little house.

Heron lurking in the branches of a tree overhanging the lake at Westport Lake, when it finally flew away another one flew out from the base of the tree and followed it.

A Kingfisher on the Trent and Mersey Canal between Westport Lake and Middleport Pottery. Paul managed to take a quick photo but the bird darted hither and thither.  It was so nice to see its wonderful turquoise blue feathers as it sped down the canal.

All for now.

The Ha-Ha Walk

 Last week's visit and walk took us to Biddulph Grange Gardens.  It was raining when we arrived so we decided to stop for coffee and a scone first and by the time we came out of the café the rain had petered out and there was a watery sun in the sky.

The Fuchsias in the urns down each side of the steps were looking wonderful.

We wandered down the Lime Avenue and discovered at the bottom that the Ha Ha Walk was open again.  We'd walked it once but then it seemed to close for quite a while .

The walk runs along between the sunken wall of the Ha-Ha and the metal fencing belonging to the country park.

The wall is a great haven for plants and wildlife.

Everywhere was leaf strewn.

About halfway along is a small diversion into a wildlife area.

Bird feeders and insect hotels

Lots of fungus too on fallen trees

The Ha Ha Walk comes out on to the Wellingtonia Walk.

When we first visited Biddulph Grange these were small saplings that had just been planted.

Look at them now after nearly thirty years of growth.

The steps and walk up to the Geological Gallery.

Above is the area where James Bateman's Music House stood.

Below, inside James Bateman's Geological Gallery.

All for now.  Take care.