Tewkesbury – Part 1

Tewkesbury is an attractive, historic town dominated by timber-framed buildings with overhanging eaves and has a fascinating maze of small alleyways behind the main streets. It is situated on a spit of gravel just above flood level at the junction of The Severn and Avon.

We were booked in for 18 nights so were hoping for good weather so we could get out and about. The advantage of this site is its proximity to the town and local bus services which go to Gloucester, Cheltenham and Evesham.

Here is the reception for the site – notice it is raised up so the floods don’t affect it.

Tewkesbury's glory is it's Abbey, founded at the end of the 11th Century as a Benedictine Monastery. The spectacular central tower, which stands 148 feet high, is the largest surviving Norman central tower in the world. With the exception of Westminster Abbey,

The first few days were sunny and warm, but that soon deteriorated to dry and cold and some days there was frost in the morning. This is May – Global Warming, no way!

Sue just practising for the rest of the holiday.

66 Church Street - An example of a recently restored timber-framed building which has been dated to 1475. The outside has been redecorated in a traditional limewash whilst the interior retains the original ceiling decoration.

This is one of the 11 (about) alleyways which can be found in Tewkesbury.– The Old Baptist chapel can be found down this alleyway along with the Old Baptist cemetery.

The historic Abbey Cottages, over 500 years old, were rescued from dereliction in the 1970s; one houses a museum, the others are residential homes and commercial offices.

The first weekend we wandered across to the Food Festival. Not having to drive I had to sample some of the local beer – not bad.

An interesting label, don’t you think!

Vegetable display.

Tewkesbury Marina has 400 flood protected berths. Located where the River Severn and Avon meet, there is a choice of cruising areas including the River Avon which meanders gently to Stratford-upon-Avon. The larger River Severn flows down through Gloucester to the Bristol Channel and up to Worcester and Stourport.

The local tourist boat close to the centre of Tewkesbury.

A tight fit – they only had inches to spare either side. What happens if you wish to return this way and the river has risen – problems I think!

Mill Bank – spot the swan on her nest.

The original Abbey Mill, built by monks and with foundations dating back to the 12th century, managed to escape dismantling during the dissolution. Once thought to be the largest and most modern flour mill in the world it has long been converted into houses.

Later that week - we think there are 8 cygnets in all.

This is a very potted version of in and around Tewkesbury. We spent ages exploring all the nooks and crannies and doing longer walks in the vicinity, usually with a geocache or two included

Part 2 will be coming soon, this will include all our away days.

Trains and Horses

Sue, taken on Easter Sunday afternoon. It was sunny, but a little chilly. Recently the weather had been very wet and we had been negotiating many flooded paths. Needless to say we were geocaching and this was our last one of 5. The clue was ‘are you feeling tyred?’
 It was a short walk from the cache to Moors Valley Park and the miniature railway. Being such a nice day they had out many of the engines and business was brisk with trips around the lake.



At this stage there should be some photos of Maggie and Brian from Poole, who joined us for a lovely evening. Unfortunately the hard drive on the computer had to be replaced and some of the photos have gone with the old hard drive. I didn’t know anyone to do the repair so picked someone who had Checkatrade accreditation, they were excellent. If you want any type of work doing go to Checkatrade.com and read about the people first.
This last Sunday, 18th April, we went to a heavy horse event in Harbridge, near Ringwood. The blacksmiths making shoes for the horses, big horses need BIG shoes.
 
The Jane Wordsworth outfit.

Ploughing demonstration. It’s amazing what commands the horses manage to learn.

The return journey.

The steam boiler weighed about 5 tons.

Carriage racing – it looked rather dangerous around such a small course

Sue with one of the heavy horses.

I’ve been out in the New Forest checking out some walks recently. Having had biblical amounts of rain I have been rambling in wellies. With the lovely weather of late the forest is once again, very dry.
Here are a couple of photos from a walk I am leading on the 21st April.


Recently we were in the middle of the forest doing a geocache, which was placed in this yew tree. The tree was unusual because a square portion had been cut out for an oven door (see to my left). This tree had been like this for well over 30 years. Another couple arrived, also cachers, with their 5 month old dog which was a real bundle of fun. Control – what control! They call themselves Bella’s Pack. We had a long chat and walked back to the cars with them. They have done over 2500 caches.

I had my motorbike serviced this week and wanted to give it a good run out while the weather is good. I went to Calshot, about 30 miles, to see what ships were leaving Southampton and this huge container ship was just entering the Solent.
You can just see my bike with the now defunct coastguard tower in the background.

That’s it for a while now, we are off in the caravan on the 26th April for 2+ weeks so hopefully will have plenty to write about when we return.

March Manoeuvres

After the nose job came the forehead job. It all looks very neat and at the time of writing it is healing up well. It looks as though there are loads of stitches, but it is just one. Don’t know how the surgeon did it but it looks clever.
 
Trish, Colin, Jane and Ron came for a meal chez nous. It is quite a while since we all met up so there was much news to catch up on.
 
It was that time of year again when Sue had to add a one to her age. So without ado I pulled out all the stops and took her out for lunch at Harry Ramsden’s for the old fogies’ menu.
Below is Harry Ramsden’s on the under cliff at Bournemouth.

Sue outside the new beach huts on the prom.

Harry Ramsden’s

 
Rambling during the winter months has had to be curtailed due to the weather. Many were cancelled and others I didn’t go to because of the poor conditions   …..’wimp’ I hear you say! I wouldn’t disagree.
One walk I wanted to do was to recce a new walk and at the same time put out a new geocache and check another that has had an accident. The new geocache I put out is at Leaden Hall in the New Forest. It is on the edge of what was No.2 Wall Target on the Ashley Walk bombing range. The target was 6 acres in size and was covered in concrete. The concrete has been removed and has left a rather barren patch – see photo below.

Bailey – my companion on the walk.

The other geocache was caught up in the fire below. Throughout the forest they have ‘controlled burning’ to clear areas. I think they might have overdone this area as there is very little left.

The geocache after the fire, the contents survived. The box has been replaced.

At the end of March our friends from Portsmouth visited for the day. Fortunately we could use the conservatory. It was a good day.

Brighton & Beyond

Sue and I are having our first outing with the caravan for 2010. It’s been serviced and has new tyres so should be OK for this year. We are staying at the Caravan Club site in Sheepcote Valley to the east of Brighton. I was about to give you a little bit history here, but because it goes back to Saxon times it is rather too long. So here is little bit that covers 2000+.    
Brighton and Hove was made a city in 2000. In December 2002 West Pier partly collapsed when severe weather hit Brighton. Unfortunately Brighton's other pier the Palace Pier was damaged by fire in February 2003. Today the population of Brighton is 141,000.
Some of the wall art in the North Laines. These are the height of a house.


We were lucky enough to catch the last day of The Quaker Tapestry Exhibition at the Friends Meeting House in Brighton. There were 35 of the 77 panels on show. The tapestries show some of the Quaker story and beliefs.


We spent quite a bit of time at Brighton Marina, because it was a 20 minute walk away. It was downhill going, but the return could be a bit of a struggle.  Cafe Rouge had most of our custom because there was atmosphere in the cafe, unlike some. 

Brighton Marina. One section is for fishing boats and the other pleasure boats – some of them very expensive!

Underneath the arches. This area is not too far from The Grand Hotel (the Conservatives were having their conference while we were there) I was hoping to have a snack from the smallest smokery in UK, but it was closed when we were there.


This is a sculpture designed by Charles Hadcock and weighing more than 20 tonnes. It was installed on the beach in 1998, the skeleton of the West Pier can be seen in the distance.
There are some of you out there who think we are very lucky with the weather. We wouldn’t disagree with that, but it was very cold dipping to minus 5 at night. Most caravanners would agree that it is better cold than wet.
Here we are at Devils Dyke a high point in Sussex and an ideal place for throwing yourself off a high point. Today was a perfect day for paragliding. It was quite a spectacular sight and thank goodness there were no mid-air collisions. At one point we counted 27 paragliders in the air at one time!


Jack and Jill windmills stand on top the of the scenic South Downs with spectacular views of the Sussex Weald. They are seven miles north of Brighton. Jill, a post mill, is the first mill and Jack a five storey smock mill is the second mill.

Near to Jack and Jill we did a geocache at Patcham windmill. This has been Bob Baker's home for the last 12 years. Unusually, it still has its sails and full working machinery, housed within one of the tower bedrooms.

The geocache is part of a series linked to dew ponds found in this area. These dew ponds, not filled by dew, but rainwater, were used for the provision a drinking water for the flocks of sheep found in the area.

The Royal Pavillion built for George, Prince Regent, at the turn of the 19th century is remarkable for its exotic oriental appearance both inside and out.

 We had a visit from Sybil and Roy for a day. Sue cooked a crock pot for lunch, but had to get it going at 5 am, rather early. It was worth it though. We did go back to bed.
We had a great time chatting and catching up with their news.
Altogether we spent 14 nights at the campsite, we had mainly dry, but very cold weather. We used the local buses as much as possible which meant we didn’t have to find parking in Brighton which is like looking for hens teeth!