Christmas 2011

Cake was a predominant feature this year!

More cake!

Rosemary and Chris visited on 30 December

New Moon and Full Moon

New Moon, 27 November 2011

Full Moon and halo, 10 December 2011

Burghley House, Stamford (September 2011)

In September, Ben and I visited Burghley House, near Stamford.  The House was built by William Cecil, the first Lord Burghley (1520-1598), Lord High Treasurer and Chief Minister to Queen Elizabeth I.

We walked from the station through the Park to the House.

Various sculptures are dotted around the gardens

Look carefully in the foliage

The Shell Grotto in the Garden of Surprises 

Stamford High Street

Guided Busway

In August, the Guided Busway opened years late and way over budget.  Unlike the MRC building in the background...

On the Busway from St Ives to Cambridge

Southwold

The famous Southwold beach huts that cost as much as a small house!

St Edmund's Church

The angel roof in the church

Suffolk, and a visit to an old friend

We paid a surprise visit to Aldringham to visit Kate, a friend from school days.  The last time we visited was in 1972!  Now Kate has 4 grandchildren who love the zip wire in the garden!

Garden renovation

The joists of the decking paths had begun to rot so we replaced them with pavers.
Richard did the timber edges, and I laid the bricks.

Home-grown veggies

30kg so far, and still counting!

Birthday treat - Cheffin's auction

Richard's birthday, so he and Tony went to an auction of old vehicles - old and pricey!

Torquay and the Eden Project: July 4-8 2011

We went to Torquay for a few days.  It started off well with a lovely calm evening at Anstey's Cove, just a short walk through the grounds of the hotel.

However, by Tuesday, it seemed more like November than July on a river trip from Totnes to Dartmouth as the clouds came down and down!

From Dartmouth we went across to Kingswear on the ferry to catch the train to Paignton.  Goliath was built in Swindon in 1924.

Approaching Paignton with its rows of beach huts and a deserted beach

Where have all the tourists gone?

Ah, we spotted a few having a jolly time on the sand!

The following day we went to Torre Abbey in Torquay which had the great advantage of providing cover from the sudden squally showers.    This is the undercroft of the original abbey of the Premonstratensian Order which occupied the site from 1196 until 1539. 

A granite coffin, believed to be that of William Brewer the Younger who died in 1232.  William's father founded the Abbey in memory of Richard Coeur de Lion to whom the abbey was dedicated and whose freedom William Brewer had secured when Richard was kidnapped on his return from the Crusades.

After the Reformation the Abbey became a country house for 391 years during which the Cary family were its owners from 1662 to 1930 - none of the trauma of moving house for them!

In 1930 the house was bought by Torbay Council and converted to a museum and gallery.  This is the Thrupp Gallery filled with plaster casts from the studio of Frederick Thrupp (1812-1925)

The Spanish Barn in the grounds of Torre Abbey, so called because for a time is housed prisoners-of-war from the Spanish Armada in 1588.  It was built soon after 1196 and re-roofed in 1450.

Torquay Marina - don't let the blue sky fool you; there was a stiff south-westerly blowing that forced us to retreat from the jetty for fear of being blown overboard!

From Torquay we caught the bus to Babbacombe where there is a splendid cliff railway descending to Oddicombe Beach.

Spot the landslide onto the beach.  We'd only been there for a few minutes when the rain began

It really was too wet so we called it a day.

On Thursday we went on a coach trip to the Eden Project near St Austell.  The planting has really matured since the project was started ten years ago, and some of the trees in the Rainforest Biome are now nearly up to the roof.

This is a new walkway and viewing platform in the highest point of the Rainforest Biome.  We didn't venture forth: there was a 45 minute queue in temperatures in the mid-thirties, AND it looked a bit daunting!  But I think the view would be spectacular.

The open-plan kitchen cum cafe

Wild-flower meadow in front of the Mediterranean Biome.  The outdoor planting was very interesting and imaginative, with a wide range of plants from strictly ornamental to food crops, medicinals and bio-fuels.

I wish my vegetable garden looked like this!