Ringwood Grand Prix 2010

On the weekend of the Silverstone Formula One Grand Prix there was also the other well known Ringwood British Pedal Car Grand Prix.

This takes place around the centre of Ringwood, which of course is closed to traffic for the duration of the event, 2 hours. The event was run alternately in Pont Audemer (Ringwood’s twin town) and Ringwood. Over the years with Ringwood winning away from home and the eloping of the young lady, responsible for the event organisation, with another councillor Ringwood now shares the event with New Milton instead of PA.

The afternoon was superb, weather wise. There were 54 entries. Some of the cars were extremely well built with high quality graphics and others left rather too many bits around the course. The noisiest car was the police entry with chequered livery and fully functional ‘blues and twos’. There were a few imaginative names for the cars ‘Squeals on Wheels’ a ladies team, ‘Team Prawn’ Ringwood fisheries, Patterson Bangers’ the butchers.

In the absence of telemetry lap counting there was some dispute over the number of laps completed. The declared winner was number 13 Apollo Racing 1. Well done to them!

             

Most local people walked to the Grand Prix. Others came by more unconventional methods.

On the same weekend Sue’s sister Pam came to stay for a night. She had come straight from her final assembly at school – retirement starts here.

Pam with the bouquet presented by the school.

Unknown to most people we have a budding Alan Titmarsh living next door. Peter has grown 4 giant sunflowers from seed and this is the largest one to date. At a guess it is 10 feet tall (3 metres).

 On the weekend of 17/18th July we went to Mottisfont Abbey to see the Beatrice Potter exhibition.  This exhibition of 25 original watercolours and drawings, featuring some of her best-loved characters. This rare collection, which forms part of Beatrix’s legacy to the National Trust, can only be shown every ten years, due to the fragility of the illustrations and potential damage from light exposure.

Jemima Puddleduck

Mottisfont Abbey Grounds

Sue at the walled garden – don’t know who the old bloke is.

We have not visited at this time of year before, so had not seen many of the plants in flower.

This I think is a pom-pom. Maybe one of you horti-wotsits out there can help – Sybil!

  

There were plenty of bees around going about their business.

 

Rear garden of the Abbey.

 Stuart – the one with the clothes on!

Sue with Jemima.

Dartmouth and other places – Part Two

The Slapton Sands disaster - Operation Tiger was a rehearsal for the D-Day landings. It was meant to be a training exercise in preparation for the D-Day landings, but Operation Tiger off the coast of Devon went wrong with disastrous consequences.

A fleet of eight German E-boats attacked the allied forces and as a result, more than 700 soldiers and sailors died. The incident, which was kept secret until the 1980s, struck during an eight-day exercise, which used the beach in Slapton, south Devon, to practice for the D-Day landings.
This small section of the South Devon coast was transformed into a battlefield. The locals moved out and thousands of American Army and Navy troops moved in. There were full scale rehearsals, carried out using live ammunition. Vital practice for the planned assaults on Omaha and Utah beaches. Just 6 weeks before D-Day,
Here I am at the memorial tank which was recovered from the sea bed.

    Slapton Sands








 Slapton Sands in about 1910 taken from Tor Cross










 Seen in Tor Cross

Blackpool Sands – this is probably one of the best beaches in South Devon. The photo was taken from the top of the bus. We used the buses for the majority of our journeys, it was stress free and we didn’t have the problem of parking and the big plus was the views.

Geocaching on the edge of Kingsbridge.

Kingsbridge

One of our days out was to Greenway. This visit gave us a glimpse into the private holiday home of the famous author Agatha Christie and her family. The relaxed and atmospheric house is set in the 1950s, and contains many of the family's collections, including archaeology, Tunbridgeware, silver, botanical china and books (guess the author?). Outside we explored the large, steep woodland garden, with a restored vinery, wild edges and rare plantings.
The house has very limited parking so it is recommended that you arrive by boat, bike or on foot. We went by boat.
View of Dartmouth Quay as we leave.

Sue outside Greenway.

View from the gardens down the River Dart.

Our transport arriving for the return trip.

The boathouse at Greenway. This had a saloon upstairs and a plunge pool below. The pool could only be used when the tide was in and didn’t look at all inviting (muddy).
 
The Harvey family who lived at Greenway from 1851 –1882 had fought a proposal for a railway to run across Greenway land down to Greenway Quay from where passengers could travel on to Dartmouth by boat. A compromise was agreed with the building of the Greenway tunnel that runs under Greenway and today transports tourists along the steam railway from Paignton to Kingswear. Unfortunately the station restaurant was built on the Dartmouth side of the river before permission was refused for the railway line to terminate in Dartmouth. The railway company used to run a ferry service to link the railway with the restaurant. Nothing’s changed with today's planners!
The low point of our holiday was that I (Stuart) was mugged on Dartmouth Quay. Sue and I were sitting quietly on a bench and just about to eat our picnic lunch when he pounced. Coming in from behind we had no warning and then part of my sandwich was gone! To make matters worse the mugger didn’t even take the cling film off!
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HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MUGGER?