Hampshire - Round and About

Here we are at Barton-on-Sea with Jane and Ron who now live just around the corner from this spot. If you look hard enough you can just see the Needles between Sue and Jane. Although it doesn’t look it, it was very busy along the coast on this Sunday afternoon.

Our friends from Portsmouth visited for the day. Unfortunately Roy and Sybil couldn’t make it.

Sue and I whilst walking in the forest spotted this tree so had to take a photo. A ‘hole’ lot of fun!

I was out on my bike and a pig farm has sprung up close to the forest edge. Although the sows are behind electric fences (thank goodness – they are really BIG!) the piglets have free range and are running all over the place. They know where their next meal is coming from!

 

Keyhaven early one morning – a very tranquil place at that time.  Keyhaven is a quiet coastal village overlooking the Solent. From here there are views across to Hurst Castle and the Isle of Wight. It was once an important port particularly for the salt trade. Keyhaven is now a place for yachting, fishing and bird watching.

 

Harbridge Heavy Horse event – This is the second year we have visited this event. It was a very pleasant afternoon.

 

At rest                                                Ploughing demonstration

     

On the turn whilst harrowing.

Sue with the foals                                   Punch and Judy

        

Heavy Horse in full harness.

It takes about 15 hours to polish all the brasses.

Easter Saturday I was out rambling with the New Forest Ramblers. There was some discussion and demonstration about photography. David was left to give out the Easter eggs.

   

Alpacas - local animals though not indigenous to the New Forest.

Whilst out on a very early bike ride on Easter Sunday this roe deer (I think) was quite happy grazing  close to the Castleman Trailway.

     

I have recently bought a slide scanner so that I can copy all my slides to computer (there are a few thousand). The scanner copies about 10 slides per minute (I have to operate it manually). Below is a photo of one of our early camping ventures close to Barcelona.  Yes – the tent is standing in water, we had to leave it there and take to a hotel. This is the day after the rain. In case you are not sure that is me holding the table!

During the scanning of the photos many friends have come to light. Watch this space!

Cambridge – week 2

The second week started rather overcast and cooler than we had been used to. We visited two National Trust properties over the weekend. The first Wimpole Hall was built in 1643 and much altered by subsequent owners, Wimpole has developed into the largest country house in Cambridgeshire. Wimpole's owners employed noted architects of their day to make alterations to the Hall

One of the interior rooms and the bathroom with shower. The bath holds 3000 gallons of water enough for 130 normal sized baths!

   

As is usual with visits to NT properties the volunteers are very helpful and some full of detailed information, sometimes we leave with info overload.

When we visited it was lambing time which accounted for the large numbers of people with children. Some of the new arrivals.

   

On Sunday we visited Anglesey Abbey a country house, formerly a priory, in the village of Lode, 5 miles from Cambridge.

The 98 acres of landscaped grounds are divided into a number of walks and gardens, with classical statuary, topiary and flowerbeds. The grounds were laid out in an 18th-century style by the estate's last private owner, the 1st Baron Fairhaven, in the 1930s. Lode Water Mill, dating from the 18th century was restored to working condition in 1982 and now sells flour to visitors.

We went almost to the top of the mill. The top itself was closed. A lot of work has gone into restoring the mill and its good to see it in working order. This mill was recorded in The Doomsday Book.

Lode Mill                                     Mill stones

   

Here are a couple of photos of the new guided bus route for Cambridge. I’m not risking life and limb by taking the photos because the project is 2 years late at the moment. If you want to know more about the problems there is a website called ‘no guided bus’. Many of the buses in Cambridge ask the question ‘Why am I not on the guided busway?’ printed on the rear of the bus.

      

South of Addenbrookes Hospital runs part of the National Cycle route.

The completion of the new route marks the 10,000th mile of the National Cycle Network and to celebrate this achievement, some innovative public art has been installed.
Over 10,000 colour stripes have been laid on the path, representing the genetic code for a vital human gene - BRCA2, which was sequenced at The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in nearby Hinxton.
The artwork is a unique series of stripes in four colours representing the different genetic letters that make up the vital human gene BRCA2.

The double helix is a representation of the human DNA magnified 750,000,000 times.

St. Vigor's Church, Fulbourn  -  after some rather dull weather it was nice to see a sunny day so we went to Fulbourn to do some geocaching and to get in a country walk which was lovely. The church dates from Norman times.

Altogether we had 2 weeks in Cambridge and enjoyed some very good weather. It rained only the once.

Cambridge – Week 1

We had booked into Cherry Hinton Caravan Club site for two weeks. We chose this site because if the weather was inclement we could visit museums, colleges, stately homes, etc. We were also expecting a visit by David and Carol for a few days.

The Caravan Site is in an old chalk quarry so it is set quite low down with high cliffs all around. This meant that it could be dark at some times during the day. We were allocated one of the better pitches.

Sunday art market opposite Trinity College

The Great Gate, of Trinity College, was built in 1530 as part of King's Hall and the largest of all the college gates, is the only one with two doors, one large and one small.

Above the Great Gate, on the outside of the College, is a statue of the College's founder, King Henry VIII. Some years ago, his sceptre was replaced by a chair leg as an undergraduate prank; its current whereabouts are unknown.

As we were passing through the Grand Arcade we just happened to be in the right place to see this fashion show (only 10 minutes).

          

On the left - The Mathematical Bridge, at Queens College, was built in 1749 by James Essex the Younger (1722-1784). It has subsequently been rebuilt to the same design in 1866 and 1905.

On the right some dodgy punting!

   

Sue and I were out geocaching at Wandlebury Country Park. We teamed up with a family who were new to geocaching and having problems, no wonder, it was a difficult cache to do for a first one. Anyway they stayed with us for 3 caches and then had to return home. Local hairy resident watching us at the cache.

   

David and Carol joined us on site on the Monday. Later in the week it was Sue’s birthday. Carol had come up with a novelty cake i.e. chocolate cake with opening petals and candles attached, playing Happy Birthday – it was great fun. The Happy Birthday tune played for the next 5 days, eventually it had to be dismantled so it could be disposed of safely.

    

                               Birthday celebration.              

Madingley American Cemetery is located in the heart of the Cambridgeshire countryside. Set in over thirty acres of beautifully maintained gardens and lawns, the cemetery contains the bodies of 3812 war dead from the world war two era. Every State of the Union is represented here. In addition inscribed on the Tablets Of The Missing are the names of over 8000 American service men who lost their lives during the war but whose bodies were never recovered.

One visit was to the Polar Museum.

Set in the ceiling a map of Antarctica.      Model sailing boat - Ojga

    

Left - Photography equipment of the day.        

Right – Scrimshaw – this is the name given to handiwork created by whalers made from the by products of harvesting marine mammals.

      

On one of the days the ladies went for a mooch around the shops while David and I took in a few nearby geocaches. 

Right - Having a rest in the local park.

    

Week 2 -  Coming Soon