Nobody is happy to have a road accident, especially on holiday in another country. But the very definition of 'accident' is something that happens unexpectedly and is out of our control.
Showing posts with label holiday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holiday. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Friday, July 5, 2013
Mosaic and Lego
Friday 5th July - We spent our last morning exploring Bucklers Hard and having a farewell lunch at Steff's Kitchen, then we headed for Winchester, avoiding the motorway to dodge the weekend traffic.
We soon decided that Winchester is a lovely old city. Neither of us knows it well.
In Saxon times Winchester was the capital of Wessex after about 686 AD. Later it became the capital of the whole of England until the Normans moved the capital to London where it has remained to this day.
While Donna went shopping, I took half an hour for a quick tour of the City Museum. While there I was amused by this Lego table loaded with Lego food, standing on a Roman mosaic floor excavated in the city.
The museum has a set of four magnificent models showing Roman Venta Belgarum (Winchester) in its heyday, the early Saxon first minster built among the Roman ruins but on a new alignment, and two more recent states of the city's development.
After an evening meal in the city, we finally left Winchester to head back home to St Neots. It had been an excellent holiday!
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| Lego table and meal on a Roman mosaic |
In Saxon times Winchester was the capital of Wessex after about 686 AD. Later it became the capital of the whole of England until the Normans moved the capital to London where it has remained to this day.
While Donna went shopping, I took half an hour for a quick tour of the City Museum. While there I was amused by this Lego table loaded with Lego food, standing on a Roman mosaic floor excavated in the city.
The museum has a set of four magnificent models showing Roman Venta Belgarum (Winchester) in its heyday, the early Saxon first minster built among the Roman ruins but on a new alignment, and two more recent states of the city's development.
After an evening meal in the city, we finally left Winchester to head back home to St Neots. It had been an excellent holiday!
(If you liked this you might also like Journeys of heart and mind and Quote me on this.)
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Our holiday home
Thursday 4th July - We've been staying in a converted yachtsman's shelter at Baileys Hard in Hampshire. The land slopes down to the Beaulieu River (you can see it in the background) and our holiday home is one of eight built in woodland.
Baileys Hard is within easy walking distance of Beaulieu (up river) and Bucklers Hard (down river, not far from where the river meets the sea.
Inside, the house is lovely. It's small, with just one double bedroom. There's a loo, a bathroom with an excellent shower, a well-equipped kitchen, and a moderate sized lounge with a TV.
Boadband and Wi-Fi is included although it was poor throughput and the Wi-Fi seemed patchy. I think it's a difficult area of the coast for networks and poorly served by broadband.
We put out some bird seed and suet the first day we were here and have been rewarded with a lot of activity and a chance to see some birds that are, for us, rather special. A jay and two greater spotted woodpeckers have visited us daily, and there's been an assortment of finches and tits as well as a blackbird and a nuthatch.
It was fun to live upstairs in a stilt house, it felt rather like a very well-appointed tree house.
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| Our holiday home at Bailey's Hard |
Inside, the house is lovely. It's small, with just one double bedroom. There's a loo, a bathroom with an excellent shower, a well-equipped kitchen, and a moderate sized lounge with a TV.
Boadband and Wi-Fi is included although it was poor throughput and the Wi-Fi seemed patchy. I think it's a difficult area of the coast for networks and poorly served by broadband.
We put out some bird seed and suet the first day we were here and have been rewarded with a lot of activity and a chance to see some birds that are, for us, rather special. A jay and two greater spotted woodpeckers have visited us daily, and there's been an assortment of finches and tits as well as a blackbird and a nuthatch.
It was fun to live upstairs in a stilt house, it felt rather like a very well-appointed tree house.
(If you liked this you might also like Journeys of heart and mind and Quote me on this.)
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Flowers on a building
Wednesday 3rd July - Donna's Mum and Dad were with us today. We ate at 'The Pig' and then returned to our holiday home at Bailey's Hard and watched the birds on the veranda for a while. Then we walked to Beaulieu and back along the footpath, stopping at Steff's Kitchen for coffee.
After waving goodbye and watching her parents drive away, Donna and I drove the short distance to Lymington, bought fish and chips, and ate them near the yacht club in Milford-on-Sea.
Just before buying our fish and chips we spotted this fish restaurant in the old part of town near the harbour. It had a glorious show of flowers.
Isn't it amazing how a bunch of plants in flower can brighten up any building? Adding a bit of living material to some bricks and mortar brings the entire place to life. Suddenly it's more than a building. It's a structure supporting life in all its crazy mix of tumbling colours and fragrances.
It's the same with people, I think. Inject some real life into a person and suddenly they blossom. Smile wherever you go, laugh with people, give gifts, encourage everyone you meet, help those in trouble, listen attentively, be sympathetic. If you do these things, those around you will come alive and will blossom and flourish like plants in a well-tended window box.
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| Flowers in Lymington |
Just before buying our fish and chips we spotted this fish restaurant in the old part of town near the harbour. It had a glorious show of flowers.
Isn't it amazing how a bunch of plants in flower can brighten up any building? Adding a bit of living material to some bricks and mortar brings the entire place to life. Suddenly it's more than a building. It's a structure supporting life in all its crazy mix of tumbling colours and fragrances.
It's the same with people, I think. Inject some real life into a person and suddenly they blossom. Smile wherever you go, laugh with people, give gifts, encourage everyone you meet, help those in trouble, listen attentively, be sympathetic. If you do these things, those around you will come alive and will blossom and flourish like plants in a well-tended window box.
(If you liked this you might also like Journeys of heart and mind and Quote me on this.)
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Getting up close
Today's outing was just a short walk away, the Beaulieu estate with its famous National Motor Museum. We had a lot of fun at the 'Top Gear' exhibition, every bit as crazy and funny as the TV show!
There's a lot to see. We walked through the Motor Museum, rode on the monorail, visited the remains of the 13th century Abbey, and explored the gardens.
I like nothing better than to take images that are close up and personal. It comes from several decades of microscopical research in the 1970s and 1980s. I studied flower development and pollination in fruit trees.
I can't get quite that close, of course, with my trusty old Canon G12. But I thought you might like this shot of a water lily in the rain.
The water drops bead up because of the water-repellent properties of the petal surface. The cells are coated in wax, often in the form of fine fibres and the water sits on top of these, barely touching the epidermal cells beneath and rolling off with ease.
The yellow structures you can see are the anthers that will produce pollen in the next day or two. Bees and other insects will come for nectar and pollen and will also carry away a dusting of pollen on their bodies, transferring it to other nearby water lily flowers. In this complex way, the life cycle of the water lily is completed and seeds are formed.
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| Close-up of a waterlilly |
I like nothing better than to take images that are close up and personal. It comes from several decades of microscopical research in the 1970s and 1980s. I studied flower development and pollination in fruit trees.
I can't get quite that close, of course, with my trusty old Canon G12. But I thought you might like this shot of a water lily in the rain.
The water drops bead up because of the water-repellent properties of the petal surface. The cells are coated in wax, often in the form of fine fibres and the water sits on top of these, barely touching the epidermal cells beneath and rolling off with ease.
The yellow structures you can see are the anthers that will produce pollen in the next day or two. Bees and other insects will come for nectar and pollen and will also carry away a dusting of pollen on their bodies, transferring it to other nearby water lily flowers. In this complex way, the life cycle of the water lily is completed and seeds are formed.
(If you liked this you might also like Journeys of heart and mind and Quote me on this.)
Monday, July 1, 2013
Japanese maple
Somewhere we wanted to visit was Exbury Gardens, and today we had the opportunity to do it. We drove through Beaulieu and crossed the river, then headed south to Exbury, found the gardens, and left the car in the car park.
We bought tickets for the gardens and for the little railway that runs around parts of the garden.
Although the rhododendrons were mostly over, it's true to say there are other things worth seeing here. Most of the garden is woodland with extensive pathways and exploring was fun.
We interrupted our walk to take a train ride, but returning to the walks later, we spotted this lovely Japanese maple.
It goes by the grand Latin name 'Acer palmatum atropurpureum' which means it's a maple (Acer) with 'hand' shaped leaves (palmatum) that are a purple-red colour (atropurpureum).
As the sunlight filtered through these lovely, purple leaves, it made them glow a delicate luminous colour. It's almost a deep, autumnal amber, even though autumn is still far off. Just beautiful!
How amazing that a little corner of a garden in a tiny area of a little country on a small planet around an average star can be so beautiful. And when you think how fragile this beauty is and how it will all be gone forever by the time winter arrives, it's even more poignant and significant. And it would be here even if nobody saw it!
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| Acer palmatum atropurpureum |
Although the rhododendrons were mostly over, it's true to say there are other things worth seeing here. Most of the garden is woodland with extensive pathways and exploring was fun.
We interrupted our walk to take a train ride, but returning to the walks later, we spotted this lovely Japanese maple.
It goes by the grand Latin name 'Acer palmatum atropurpureum' which means it's a maple (Acer) with 'hand' shaped leaves (palmatum) that are a purple-red colour (atropurpureum).
As the sunlight filtered through these lovely, purple leaves, it made them glow a delicate luminous colour. It's almost a deep, autumnal amber, even though autumn is still far off. Just beautiful!
How amazing that a little corner of a garden in a tiny area of a little country on a small planet around an average star can be so beautiful. And when you think how fragile this beauty is and how it will all be gone forever by the time winter arrives, it's even more poignant and significant. And it would be here even if nobody saw it!
(If you liked this you might also like Journeys of heart and mind and Quote me on this.)
Saturday, June 29, 2013
Beaulieu village
We visited a community vegetable garden in Beaulieu today. And there, in amongst the cabbages and beetroots was a scarecrow all kitted out for Wimbledon!
Wimbledon is proving to be a bit of an upset this year with several of the top seeds knocked out in the earliest stages. It opens the field for lower ranking players - but surely not for scarecrows?
Although he may be good at chasing away the birds, he doesn't seem to have a great action. In fact I'd say his performance is a bit wooden.
Beaulieu itself is a pretty little place, there's a small garden centre (Fairweather's) with a great restaurant attached called 'Steff's Kitchen'. They serve tea, coffee and good food, and they use fresh ingredients. from the community garden with the raquet-wielding scarecrow.
There's a teddy-bear shop and other small businesses focussing on the tourist trade. But the main claim to fame by this little village is the well-known motor museum, the Palace House, the old abbey and the nearby coast and the New Forest.
We haven't visited most of these sites yet, but I was very impressed with the work Fairweather's are doing in Steff's Kitchen and (particularly) Patrick's Patch. Not only is it good for the tourists like Donna and me, it's good for the local community involving schools, volunteers and more. Every small town and village needs projects like these. Well done Fairweather's and the good folk of Beaulieu.
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| Scarecrow at Wimbledon? |
Although he may be good at chasing away the birds, he doesn't seem to have a great action. In fact I'd say his performance is a bit wooden.
Beaulieu itself is a pretty little place, there's a small garden centre (Fairweather's) with a great restaurant attached called 'Steff's Kitchen'. They serve tea, coffee and good food, and they use fresh ingredients. from the community garden with the raquet-wielding scarecrow.
There's a teddy-bear shop and other small businesses focussing on the tourist trade. But the main claim to fame by this little village is the well-known motor museum, the Palace House, the old abbey and the nearby coast and the New Forest.
We haven't visited most of these sites yet, but I was very impressed with the work Fairweather's are doing in Steff's Kitchen and (particularly) Patrick's Patch. Not only is it good for the tourists like Donna and me, it's good for the local community involving schools, volunteers and more. Every small town and village needs projects like these. Well done Fairweather's and the good folk of Beaulieu.
(If you liked this you might also like Journeys of heart and mind and Quote me on this.)
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