munch time

more scrumptious scenes from the flower show

the mysteries of Judgement

 

at Stoke Climsland Flower Show 2013, spared by the rain, blessed by a huge entry and a happy gathering. It's not the winning but the eating that matters.

love at first sight

Francis, ever the gallant, gives her a warm welcome. It is love at first sight as they swim away into the setting sun.

Let's hope they enjoy a long and happy life on our village pond.

Elizabeth the first arrives at Venterdon

Harriet arrives with the new duck, now named Elizabeth . At first she (the duck, that is) looked a little lost after the long journey from Launceston, but she was soon to meet the handsome Sir Francis, and life on the Venterdon duckpond would never be the same again.

a Spring walk 3

This is an unusual view of the little hamlet of Oldmill, until now hidden behind conifers. In the distance towards the skyline is the Temple (the folly, see some pictures earlier in the blog), the sheds of Alren farm below, and note the little pink house (Owl Wood) to the left, whose front door and avian inhabitants are shown below. A front door to die for I think.

late opening

well, something is trying to get out and pretend it's Spring. And what about this for an amazing discovery in the parish (link to Old School News, Stoke Climsland, April 2013). Can't get enough of old bones myself.

after the show

elegy on a steam engine

The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The plume of steam winds slowly o'er the lea,
As the engine homeward plods its weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.

two herds and a tractor

It was Duchy College open days this week end. I am not sure what the equine students were doing but they enjoyed it, including Daisy and the boy in a tutu.

Royal Cornwall Show 2012 3

we always like to check out the opposition (no lurchers allowed, pedigree chums only)

and one of the highlights are all the old steam and traction engines, alongside massive new tractors, a snip at £150,000.

Royal Cornwall Show 2012 2

Prime beef big boy exhausted after taking first prize, and sheep walking. Even by our grim standards the weather has been foul, and the sheep marquee was wrecked by the wind. Not that that stopped anyone from having a great day out.

Royal Cornwall Show 2012 1

prize winning pigs taking a quick nap, and some pig fanciers in a nearby stall (taken with permission!)

the call to jubilate

the beacon on Kit Hill casting a fiery light into the heavens

tent moving day

And Diamond Jubilee Day as well. Our community spirit to the fore, the tent was moved to its new site on the school playing field. You can tell that the roads around here are fairly quiet, but a space was left just in case. Not even the rain could dampen our spirits entirely, thus providing a truly British spectacle. The best moment? The choir singing Jerusalem in the rain (see link)!

a reigny day

we are celebrating the Queen's Diamond Jubilee this weekend. Unfortunately it looks as if it is going to rain on her parade adding pointed meaning to the words of our National Anthem, it does seem to have been quite a wet 60 years. Another major event in the calendar also falls on this weekend, Luckett duck race.

proper job

Native bluebells showing off their characteristic deep blue violet colour. I hope they last until May. In local Cornish dialect "proper job" is used to describe anything truly appropriate or fitting to the task or well done. "Heller" is anything very bad or very good. And of course there is "dreckly" which notoriously means the same as manana but with less urgency.

Pentillie

Pentillie Castle is an interesting place not unlike its better known cousin Cotehele. It has a strange history (see link). The top picture is of old squireTillie  sat in his mausoleum. I felt like calling the picture below the sermon on the mount, but in fact it is the Saltash walkers listening attentively to David Readman. It was very congenial, even if Spot was not allowed to join in! More AONB events at this link.

Oscar's great adventure

Sometimes, just occasionally, something out of the ordinary happens. Today for the first time for a while we went for a walk along the Inny. It was cold and frosty and this makes the walk much easier where the cattle have churned up the ground. As we walked through the long meadow I could hear a dog barking in the woods, nothing much unusual in that. We went on to the little ruined cottage to see if there were any snowdrops out (there were indeed). There were also some frost flowers on fallen twigs.

As I walked up to the ruined pigsty behind the cottage to look for more snowdrops (see above) I could still hear the dog barking. "Odd" I thought. I decided to walk back along a track above the meadow to see if I could discover what was going on. I realised I had walked past the nearest point to the dog, but there was no sign of it which, if you know dogs, you will appreciate is unusually unsociable. So we back tracked, and then eventually up a little fork in the track I could see a little brown coat, but not moving. we walked up to the spot and there was a little long haired terrier seemingly tied down very firmly to a variety of root stubs and bits of undergrowth (see link for google map to get an idea of how isolated this place was). Cold and somewhat subdued the terrier was very pleased to see us even if he was dwarfed by two lurchers and a collie. I was very puzzled by this situation. It looked as if he had been tied up deliberately while his owner went off to shoot pigeons or some such. I couldn't leave him there though in case he had been abandoned, or his owner had dropped dead in the woods. After hollering for some time with no response, I disentangled his chain, and we slowly made our way back to Beals Mill.

Oscar plus chain

He was obviously very thirsty. When we got to Beals Mill we asked the owner (Mr Page, ex RM) of the fearsome pack of dachshunds if any one had lost a dog. He told me he had thought he had heard a dog barking in the woods over the previous two nights. Now, in these situations there is only one place to go, the village post office at Stoke Climsland. So we drove there (with found dog sitting in my lap gazing adoringly at me). Lo and behold only that morning someone had been in to put up a notice with information about a terrier called Oscar who had gone missing three days earlier. A quick phone call and a five minute drive and Oscar was reunited with his owner, Sally (strangely enough next door to the house where Cassie was born and Bracken still lives). It seems he had done a runner plus chain on Friday evening. How on earth he had got two miles or so through heavy undergrowth, meadows, woods, fences and streams with 15 feet of chain trailing behind him is anybody's guess. Maybe there is a shorter safer route to the spot where I found him.

Oscar reunited

Several things come out of this tale. Terriers are determined little dogs and nothing is going to stop them going for a ramble. Lurchers are very friendly to other dogs in distress. Oscar is very lucky it was a frosty morning. The post office is the centre of our social network. Always ask at the Post Office! Clean your lens before taking photos.

a good place to visit

some of the stars of the donkey park at St Anne's Chapel (see link). It is in a good cause and good fun for small children although Spot wasn't allowed in! Mind you he is contemplating taking in some donkeys.

it's that time of year again

It's the Flower show, it must be August again. It feels like the hand on a giant clock, ticking once a year. The criteria by which these apples came third are not clear; I would have eaten them.

wedding weekend

two images from our village life during this very special weekend. All of the food (and much more out of sight) was prepared and  provided by local people for free (and eaten) as part of a day long celebration of the great wedding, followed by dancing late into the night (we even have our very own band of ageing but extremely good bad boy rock band, the Mets). The church fete took place the next day and a flower festival was held in the church. Local couples provided images of their wedding day and some 20 women allowed their wedding dresses to be displayed. All in all a beautiful and satisfying time for all.

z