thank you

Why? Why put rubbish neatly in a plastic bag and then chuck it out into the countryside?

look outs at Luckett

Can we come for a walk too?

winter time is here

the Tamar, below Luckett, looking North towards Horsebridge, and Penny's piece (qv) in its autumnal colours.

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.

a Spot of trespassing

actually, June, the owner of this cottage called Greenscombe in the wood, gave us permission to go into her meadow which runs beside the Tamar. Not far from here today we saw a kingfisher, and a greater spotted woodpecker, to add to the general pleasure of being out and about. Spot and I are due to give a talk to the local group of WI's next month, and with any luck June will be in the audience and we will use this picture as an example of quintessential rural England.

little beauties

some eyebright (and canine hoof) still flowering, and a little footbridge across the stream below Old Mill, near Luckett

in greenscombe woods

It was a warm sunny day but not much to see apart from cornish bladderseed and the strange slender variety of betony that is only to be found in these woodland meadows.

sylvan settings

little stream running past New Mill and along Broadgate lane. Not sure what the red flower is but it looks like a garden escapee.

washing the dogs

washing the dogs in the stream just below Luckett village. Luckett is in a 'bowl' in the landscape, and the village stretches up hill on both sides of the bridge (see below, taken in 2002). It is hard to believe that this was one of the most industrialised areas in the world not that long ago. In fact mining created a large part of the local landscape, but it is slowly retreating behind thick ivy into woodland and ruin.

Luckett woods

It was a lovely, soft sunny light this morning, with a blue tinge to the mist in the Tamar valley below providing a marked contrast to the orange of the winter undergrowth.

on the road to Luckett

on the road to (the bottomless pit of) Luckett, taken for no other reason than to observe the pleasing contrasts between greens and browns.

broadgate

near Luckett on a sunny December day

Luckett woods

the woods were full of light today, it was very warm, and this brought out the butterflies.

thank you

I cannot tell you how much I hate the scum who do this, and the people who pass the laws that encourage it by taxing those who dispose of waste legally.

water logged

can your dog do this? Poor Cassie, this was the fifth take.

Old Mill by the stream

I met Freddy Fisher, our local post man, in the woods today with his springer spaniels. He told me a lot about the land between Old Mill and Luckett; after the first world war the land was used to provide gardens and allotments for unemployed local men. This explains why there are so many unusual plants in this area. Freddy is a mine of information which should be taken down and recorded for posterity.

Luckett and Townlake

we are still on the trail of that elusive photo of Luckett. This picture was taken near Townlake (in Devon) above Horsebridge. The Tamar is at the bottom. All this after a forced march through the woods to find lost keys that were still in the door of the Terrano. Life can be frustrating.

the pit

this is a picture of Luckett from Hingston. It is very difficult to find a good view of this little village. Mr Parsons, who is enormously important in Cornwall, says it is because Luckett is in a pit. It is certainly surrounded by mines. In the middle ground is Holwell House, and in the far, far distance is Launceston. Watch Tin decontrolled at the link to catch a glimpse of Luckett when it was industrialized.

Tamar river

autumnal Tamar, Greenscoombe woods between Luckett and Latchley, quiet river.