Blaydon Races

D3 and I stood on Scotswood Road- ''twas on the ninth of June.......' to watch L. running in this year's Blaydon Race.



We clapped and clapped as the runners streamed past us.



Towards the back of the men and (lots of) women was a blind runner- P.C. David Rathband- blinded last summer by a gunman who shot him indiscriminately. Now that is real guts!

The National Arboretum

Where to start as we have been SO busy?



The National Arboretum at Westonbirt (near Tetbury- a pretty area with some wonderful/old houseses)is extensive, beautiful and a treasure store for the future.



H1,D & myself took D3 to a wedding there and spent the day on the wander.



First there was a picnic then the wedding was held in the Great Hall!



The trees from all over the world were all tagged (if you could find the tags amid all the foliage- a good game to entertain kids!)



An autumnal visit to see the acers/maples would be a real treat.

Come away! Come away!

Finchale Priory (or Abbey) near Durham is much underestimated as a place to go yet we thought it was tranquil and pretty earlier this week.The heron fishing in the Wear thought so too!



Sited on a meander, like Durham Cathedral, it is English Heritage, has a little cafe & picnic site. Bonny!


I wonder why Blagdon, home of Lord Ridley, has white bulls over gateways? We must research we decided (if we ever get time!) as we drove under the pale bovines in the dusky moonlight after a meeting there.



I can't tell you how I felt walking in the Cheviots with friends- a realisation that we were alone, saw no one, but were surrounded by nature; curlews with long, curved beaks silhouetted against the sky, calling to us to come away from their nests on the moors. Skylarks spiralled high above twittering at us for the same affect while lambs skeetered,bleating for their mams.



We followed a stream banked with foxgloves and newly colouring heather,



up over a waterfall



and lunched on cushions of white flowers dotted with tiny, yellow tormentil, speedwell blue and white stitchwort.



How much work has the farmer had to do to cut round areas of heather then fire them so each year the ling shoots again to give some fresh, green grazing for his flock? From our stand up at the trig point we looked down on a harlequin patchwork of diamonds on the sides of Cheviot and 100 metres below that on Hedgehope.



Waterproofs on, waterproofs off; fleeces on , fleeces off; T-shirts sweating, T-shirts suntanning...... a real mix of weather. So ... to the caravan then pub for tea.

Apparently the corner turning descent of Hartside offers one of the top 10 views in Britain- today the climb was being taken by trudging horses pulling vardo up from the Appleby horse fair.

A cuppa at 'Brief Encounter' then under the line to meet the gang to board the Carlisle -Settle train via Ribblehead viaduct.



What was the beautiful house wine at the pub in Settle?



Another lovely day....

Melee and manic milieu

I am fortified with porridge and a mug of tea so I am back!



Yesterday was frazzled amid me trying to bake a wedding cake (had to give in till today but I note the weighed out ingredients- especially cherries- are diminishing!!!).



We had worked out when we were going to at last decorate that small bedroom (which discussion H1 promptly forgot about and went into 'drift' mode again- drift mode can last a minimum of 7 years!) but threatened with no golf he remembered again but we have lost the carpet put aside at the showroom for us! thus H1 was emulsioning like the devil incarnate yesterday and was in associated mood.



Mayhem......In between moving furniture, moving house, reorganising the garage in order that we could store furniture there for the next house move, standing on upturned paintpot lid in dark, busy garage,myriads of phonecalls, lining cake tin, hairdresser visits, arranging hen party and- the best bit- visiting B in hospital (I could have done that the night before couldn't I when I paid my visit to Casualty but maybe 10.30pm wasn't such a good idea!).....



...oh!and a young folks party behind us which spilled out onto their lawn so their flashing 'interrogation' lights were on & off like yoyos lighting up the interior of our house at regular and scarey intervals. We couldn't even bribe the window cleaner to alter the angle down slightly to miss us!




But the room looks lovely even with bare floor boards!



Last weekend was the Late Spring Bank Holiday whereupon we visited-



the Grand Melee at Belsay. Introduced by the storyteller came knights , their Ladies, their squires, musicians and the jester who was hilarious.



Meanwhile in the calm of the rest of the gardens, the handkerchief tree and rhododendrons were resplendent in flower.



The laburnum and allium bed hummed and the croquet lawn cracked with the whack of mallet to ball.



England , my England; I should have hung out with John Betjeman who loved Edwardian England too


At Cragside we looked down on Rothbury through banks of rhododendrons (out much earlier this year perhaps because of the exceptionally dry, two months) and enjoyed the fragrance drifting from the last azaleas


before foolishly inspecting the Trim Trail.

NHS

H1 is 'popping' and I am unable to get back to sleep so may as well get up and write; apparently lots of writers put pen to paper with the dawn.....

Did I say gardens don't argue back? Thank the Lord for the NHS on Friday night! After watering my pots in the evening (& I got bitten twice so my leg is itchy and swollen) I noticed a weed ( when does a weed become a desirable plant?) and (unusually ungloved) pulled it but the feverfew? fought back; within minutes I was itchy, swelling , urticariaed, and ill! Yes I took my usual allergy tablet but various symptoms caused a rush to A&E (so where is it in the being rebuilt RVI?); the triage nurse took one look & rushed me into a flashing, beeping cubicle and ECG, oxygen monitor, questions......Eventually I deflated, stabilised, medicated and departed with instructions!



Did I show you the beehouse Rainbow K sent me from the Eden Project in Cornwall (a brilliant conversion of an disused claymine into biospheres which are so eco interesting)?

Talking environment...... we've been several times to 'Goats on the Roof'-(purely in the interests of supporting rural economy of course); the food is good,rare breeds fascinating, the views across Fontburn Reservoir are smashing and the new kid is climbing!



I think I will go eat breakfast; I shall return with a cuppa!

Here, there and everywhere

Durham- Land of the Prince Bishops- is a magnificent city. The meander of the river Wear houses the cathedral and across the Green from the sanctuary knocker on the Cathedral door lies Durham Castle; what a defensive site!



Durham's collegiate University occupies the Castle on the neck of the meander- which is probably how the Scottish army were kept securely imprisoned in the ecclesiastical stronghold- check out the fire marks on the cathedral floor! That is what they got for siding with Cromwell's Parliamentarians against the King!



We walked through the cloister which was 'snowed in' so Harry Potter & friends could attend lessons at Hogwarts in winter.



Out the back is another green with an old, tower bakery and lots of symmetrically built, Georgian houses. Such a shame that many Georgian multi fenstrated houses had to fill their windows in to avoid the 'daylight robbery' of the Window Tax.


Round the corner lie the monastic alms houses near the renowned Durham choir school.



Cut through a ginnel (tiny arched alleyway-we still speak Anglo Saxon and Viking up here!) and along past the city walls;



cross Prebends Bridge to look back at the river and the spires of the Cathedral above the treetops; listen out for the splash of students' skulling- preparing for the Durham Regatta.



One of the spires was replaced but the original has been resurrected as a monument on the bank. The ancient churchyard site above leads on to more monastic lands and a superb tythe barn (up near the prison!)


Ooh! Before I forget- I recommend to you a visit to the Hearth- a craft centre (& tearoom of course!)in Horsley; try the pea and ham broth! We went to the Hearth again for an evening at the Hexham Gathering- so much musical folk talent- and the cloggy was brilliant; I have a notion to try learning clogging- it's like hard shoe Irish dancing and infectious. Do I have to admit that for tea we had the best wrap there I have ever had?!
I need my beauty sleep so Good Night all.