July 23 Old fogeys of the New Forest

Thorney Island, Lyndhurst, Beaulieu

Those of advanced years might note in the title a backhanded reference to the book "Children of the New Forest" which was very popular in my childhood despite being published in 1847.  I had thought this was due to Churchill and McMillan's interest in restoring a quasi-feudal society in the UK.  Rather than denying this theory, noting that the BBC last televised it in 1998 makes me reassess Tony Blair's intentions.

It appears that Ms Cambridge provided a third generation of succession about 4:30pm yesterday.  Sky News was full of it (idiomatically, Sky News is usually "full of it" but this was specific not a scatological geeralisation).  It would have been fun to see how conflicted they'd have become if the event had coincided with the finish of Le Tour!  The masses – OK a bit of a crowd – were gathered out the front of Buck House, presumably to read the notice because there was nothing else to see.  I have just watched a guy from a ceramics company talking about all the sales they are expecting.  Apparently it will take them 4 days to get all the stuff made and distributed with the name etc.  So we may be able to find the Engraved Gazunder before we leave

This morning I went for a run around the whole of Selsey.  (In a cryptic crossword, the word 'whole' would be preceded by “sounds like”.)  After getting up to the main street I took off to look at the holiday park area.  There are at least 4 Parks and the one I ran through (West Beach) seemed from a map to have some 1,000 chalets.  This makes sense of the information sign suggesting that the population of Selsey at 12,000 in Winter doubles in Summer.  While it is very much the sort of place we avoid like botulism (although I didn't find the mini-golf I am sure it was in there somewhere) there was at least a reasonable amount of turf between them, unlike the Butlins Camps of the 1950s and 60s which were modeled on 1940s camps (in Eastern Europe).

When having a whinge one should never reject targets because they are too easy.  Yes, I am going to give British Telecom a serve.  I looked up the phone book to find the overseas access code when calling from the UK.  I am told to check on line – great if I had internet access in this country (at less than the £4 a day which BT charge).  Then I could buy – like spoilt kids in Africa, telcos are always crying “Give us money” - a book!  Or I could ring them – at premium call rates to find out.  I took a guess at 0011.

The weather looked reasonable so we decided to:

1. go to the New Forest for a look round; and
2. do a load of washing.  

In fact we did 2 before 1 and while waiting for the machine to finish its stuff went and sat above the shingle.  We observed the meeting of the mass of dog owners 

which was most amusing: the owner of the fox terrier was heard to say that the way his dog pounces on its ball indoors has worn out the carpet.  Just imagine such behaviour from a small terrier.

Moving East to see if there were any interesting birds around we spotted this small trawler coming in.  

It would appear the fisherperson had been chucking guts etc overboard.  When he landed he had two largish boxes of skate bits, which I reckoned to be worth about £100.  Not a great return if he been far out or for very long.

Heading off we zipped along the A/M 27 and M271 and first stopped in Lyndhurst.  This is described as a pretty village in the Forest.  Which it is.  The only problem with this is that two A class roads meet there and as a result it is clogged with traffic.  

What it will be like in a couple of weeks when the holidaying hordes really kick in is beyond belief – and possibly beyond imagination.  From our view the best thing was grabbing some brochures about the area (noting how astonishing it was to have to pay for parking at the Information Centre) which suggested – as well as a lot of retail opportunities - a visit to the Church of St Michael and All Saints.

This pub sign on the way to the Church was the most amusing I noticed while in the UK:

There were two excellent + things about this church:

• Much of the design and glass were by prominent pre-Raphaelites (and I m sure you remember them from Brum);

• An Alice Hargreaves (nee Liddell) is buried there.  She was the catalyst for Alice in “Through the Looking Glass” and “Alice in Wonderland”.

As well as her grave – a simple monument made very picturesque by the rose bushes –

 I had already taken a photograph of this memorial plaque

not realising the guys commemorated were her sons.  She seems to have been a very active and respected member of the local community.

We then headed off towards Beaulieu to a birding spot recommended in my birding guide.  We were barely out of town before finding our first New Forest ponies.  

On my childhood visits, accompanied by an equiholic cousin, I seem to remember having great trouble finding any ponies.  Today they were everywhere, including the place we stopped to go for a walk: as they seemed to be looking longingly at our baguette we didn't get out until we had finished eating.  It was a lovely walk adding a few species of bird (including Stonechat) to the trip list and getting good snaps of a few of the flowers in the heath.

The forest was also very appealing.

 Here we have a carollic image including both holly and ivy!  Possibly they can be regarded as both well grown.

We then rumbled off to Beaulieu where handing over gelt seemed to be required to do anything. We didn't wish to go to the Motor Museum (a working racetrack, or display by a bunch of enthusiasts is one thing but handing out our hard-earned to look at a static collection is very different).  So we moved on, stopping briefly at a small church in Exbury which had a couple of interesting memorials.  We had never heard of this GG of Australia!

The kneelers were also interesting as the first example of this form of community art seen on this trip.

These ponies seemed undisturbed by the distant industry (nor by the dog being exercised in the background).   
I commented on our last trip that the definition of a National Park in the UK is very different to Australia: whole towns are within the Park as are farms and  recreational activities.  (I'd love to see the Head Canophobe from the NSW National Sparks and Wildfires Service react to a dog running around near iconic wildlife!  A defibrillator would be needed.)  Our final pause was a beach at Lepe where we took a hazy image – the camera doesn't lie – of the Isle of Wight.

We then headed off through some very, very confusing signs which I got wrong a couple of times, to the M27.  Our final destination for the day was a site marked as RSPB on our road atlas but try as we might we couldn't find the place.

So we went home for a cleansing Ale or, in Frances case, cider.  My ale was the third sample from Arundel the dark and stronger (5.5%) Old Knuckler: this was a very chewy and complex dark ale indeed.  Well done that brewer!  After this we toddled off to the Seal Pub (in the Good Beer Guide) for tea.

I was initially put off by being asked if we had a reservation, but then things settled down and we had an excellent locally caught crab salad, washed down with a pint of Hophead beer (from Brighton, so nearly local).  It was quite obvious why it is called HOPhead!

Bird of the Day:  Stonechat

Building of the day: Church of St Michael and All Saints

Garden of the Day:  Alice in Wonderland's grave

Bad taste of the Day: The traffic in Lyndhurst

View of the Day: Most parts of the New Forest

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July 24 Hunting Woolf near Brighton

Towards Brighton.  Ditchling Beacon, Monks House (V Woolf etc),  Charleston House (more Bloomsbury), Brighton

I started off with a run to the West of the lifeboat station.  To my surprise I found lots of exposed sand a few hundred metres into the run.  It turned out to be quite good running, although the frequent groynes made it a bit challenging at times.  

After getting to the Coast Guard tower – effectively at the edge of the huge caravan Park – I turned back inland and found a nice old village: the folk who lived there must have hated the appearance of the caravan park.

I decided to go back with my binoculars to check for waders and my camera to photo algae 

( especially that growing on the groynes).  

There were few birds, possibly because the dog-walkers were  out in large numbers.  I asked one of them if the sand was usual and apparently it was: this just seems to have been the first time I have been there at this stage of the tide.  She commented that the area where we were was often lined with  Twitchers in the migration season, and certainly Selsey Bill is mentioned as a good sea watching spot in my 'Where-to' book.  In a subsequent conversation I was told about 'Mr Seal' who is often seen in the afternoon in this area.

After breakfast we took off to the East along the A27.  This seems to be one of the two trunk roads South of the Thames (the other being about 20miles North). so if you wish to drive East- West or vice versa this is effectively the only game in town.  It is fine while 2 lanes each way (although tail-back can arise rapidly at roundabouts) but when you get to places like Worthing - which ended up being nominated, and elected as the place on this trip most likely to get the tube when the earth is given an enema - where the road drops back to 1 lane it becomes stop start even in the middle of the day.  At one point there were signs about road works, but it appeaered that rather then carving an additional lane out of the 4m wide nature strip they were making a garden!   I was amused by the name of this area which appeared to be Sompting (faith and begob, to be sure!). 

We found the small road to Devils Dyke which was our first objective for the day.  I wondered why these geological features are always called Devil's?  'Perhaps it is because they are usually downwards orienting – I shall have to check for mountains etc where the name refers to god! In the 3 or 4 miles from the highway to the site we passed 2 golf courses – a little devoid of trees but with brilliant views over to the Channel .  The walk alongside the Dyke was very pleasant.  Apart from the Dyke itself

there were lots of flowers and insects, some photographs of which are in the thematic pages below.  Towards the end of the walk we found a few rabbits – the first since Brum -  and a bouncy fox.  The latter caused me to think that I have yet to see a dead badger, whereas on our previous trip, not that far West, the roads were lined with potential shaving brushes.  Has the infamous cull had an effect already?  (Roadkilled badgers did appear in Shropshire and I was told that the cull was now a test project being undertaken near Cirencester.)

This walk was part of the South Downs Way which is one of the Long Walks that have been developed in the UK.  Several of the other punters we crossed  with seemed to be carrying packs for serious walking. 

Our next objective, Ditchling Beacon, was also on this route.  At the car park was a NT notice 

explaining that this area had been given to the Trust in memory of a WW 2 pilot who had lost his life in the area, which made me realise that this was looking over the Weald where much of the Battle of Britain took place.  There were great views from the Beacon, 

which was the reason it was a beacon, so that the bonfires could be seen from a long way off (if, for example a bunch of supporters of the Real Madrid Bowls Club were spotted on the horizon). Again there were many flowers but no orchids (a photographer told us they had 'gone over' in this area). 

We then trotted off to Lewes from where we headed to Rodmell to check out the Monks House,  at  one time the abode of Virginia Woolf VW - such usage in this post refers to her, not our car!).  Parking was an issue (as everywhere) but we managed.  

A head of VW 

was in the garden of the Manor referring to the place where her ashes had been placed under an old elm tree (rather than the magnolia in situ).   Apparently the elm trees were long gone and the plaque had been shifted to a different position.  There were a lot of interesting things made by members of the Bloomsbury Set around the house   This portrait of VW

was done by her sister, Vanessa.  As usually seems to be the case with NT the volunteers were very helpful and interesting.  In one room there were a bunch of books but only a few, VW's set of Shakespeare  were original.  At some point Leonard Woolf's library of some 7,000 volumes had been sold to Washington State U so had been replaced by some “books by the metre” samples to fill the shelves!

The village of Rodmell was full of interesting looking houses as exemplified by the Rectory.

The small stall seems to be some locals raising money for their village projects.

Our final stop was Charleston Farmhouse which was also linked to the Bloomsbury's.  This is run by a Private Trust rather than NT.  When we got there found we had to do a tour – for which we would have to wait for an hour and a half, so we passed on that and just had a look round the garden.  It is surprising that they talked about the place being unusually busy while the car park wasn't full: I suspect more private sector jobsworthiness.    We were allowed to go and look at some posters one of which included a "family tree" of the Bloomsbury Set.  If you click on this image to see it larger you will understand why there are quotes around the word family!  

The drive home was OK,as far as anything involving Worthing can be "OK", with good views pf Arundel Castle and Cathedral from the highway.

On the way Frances commented on the number of Ford Transits we were seeing on the way.  So it was interesting when we got home to hear that the Transit factory was closing.  On the breakfast program the next day they commented that the production was shifting to Turkey and there would be no Ford production in the UK.

Frances and I trotted off to look for Mr Seal.  As we approached the designated area I noticed a large grey lump on the beach.

This was Mr Seal and a guy wearing a polo shirt announcing he was a Mammal watcher (or similar) explained that its name was Trevor

and it was somewhat controversial since he has been known to bite folk who behave stupidly around him.  He just lay around peacefully while we were there, and all the punters were well behaved – possibly because an official was present.

On the way back I noticed a Heritage sign about Gibbet Field.  An English form of 'Encourager les autres”.  I also remembered to photograph one of the yuccas growing in a garden near the cottage. 

Beers: Freeminer ”GoldMiner”  Normal pleasant bitter;  Shepherd Neame “Spitfire – fuller boided and very pleasant.  Labelled “The Bottle of Britain”with photos of a couple of RAF types.

Bird of the Day: Yellowhammers at Ditchling

Building of the day: Rodmell rectory

Garden of the Day: The Monks House

Bad taste of the Day: Waiting for tours at Charleston Farmhouse

View of the Day: Devils Dyke, narrowly over Ditchling Beacon

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July 30 The Bard and The Borders

Stratford on Avon,  Hidcote Manor.  

I was a wake at 5am and it was well daylight so I decided to go for a waddle round the lanes.  When driving I hadn't realised how hilly they were!  It was a very pleasant start to the day especially at the top of the hill out of Bouldon where there was a great view (if one is into irregularly shaped paddocks with grain at various stages of ripeness giving a very variable palette.  (I was also going to fit the word 'texture' in there somewhere, but my gag reflex cut in.)

We left quite promptly on a trip aimed to get to Hidgrove garden.  This is a fair way from Tugford and we had wondered about calling in there on our way from Brum to Selsey.  I had felt that it was better to come back since we wouldn't be able to spend much time at the garden in the middle of a long drive.  Although I realised it was still going to be a longish day in the saddle doing it this way at least we weren't faced with setting up a place at the end.

It was also a chance to check out most of the route back to Birmingham Airport and it didn't seem too bad.  (Subsequently checking out Google Maps suggests this wasn't as good a route as I had thought.  We shall decide later!)  The major problem on the way out was a tractor dragging a trailer load of wheat up a very steep hill: it was so underpowered it was down to 5mph – and belching black smoke – at one point.  We had to follow it for about 2 miles which seemed to take for ever. 

On the other hand we found Clee Hill which gave stunning views over a huge area.  There were a number of signs saying “Don't feed the sheep”.  The woolies were evident in fair numbers grazing beside the road, but I felt no need to stop and vary their diet.  On the way back we did stop for a photograph.

Kidderminster was transited with no problems as was Bromsgrove.  Our intermediate target was Startford on Avon, mainly because I'd never been there and it is a big ticket tourist item.  This is of course to do with William Shakespeare and as we approach the town saw a sign to Ann Hathaway's Cottage so followed the signs into the parking lot for that edifice.   We parked – at £1 for 3 hours it was good value – and walked up the road to the cottage itself.  We swiftly decided that at £9 a head this was not good value and walked back towards the car, taking a couple of snaps of the place as we went. 

It was pleasant looking, just not £18 worth!

Knowing as we do that most places in the UK are very short of parking (and charge like wounded bulls for the privilege) we left the car where it was a walked the mile into the centre along a signed footpath, getting a good look at non-Shakespearean Stratford as we did.  The most intriguing bit of this was an intersection with another path where the alternate route was blocked off by police tape, with Mr Plod X 4 standing just a little bit down the path.  No idea what was going on, but the other punters on our path were all muttering about it: obviously no-one was game to ask Mr Plod for fear of spending some time assisting them with their enquiries or having to buy tickets to the Policeman's Ball.  (For similar reasons I decided taking a snap was Not a Good Idea.)

The town centre was quite attractive with a bunch of old buildings with a couple announcing tenuous connections to the Bard.  

Passing by the Garden of Rememberance – noting the soldiers prayer

- we carried on to Trinity Church and Shakespeare's grave.  The grave is actually in the church and to really look at it one had to throw £2 to a guy handing out leaflets.  Or, if you were taller than the coachload of ragazzi (Italian schoolkids) in the area, you could take a distant photo. 

The church was very good to look at and seemed to be reasonably similar to a 17^th century painting (except for the added organ).  The organ was being played very well, but the organist didn't take requests.  Some interesting War Memorials were snapped and are included in the relevant post.

We strolled back to the car noting that Mr Plod was still evident, although only 2 rather than 4.  As they might still have a few tickets to issue or sell I still didn't pursue my interest in their activities.   We fired up the car and headed off towards Hidcote which seemed to involve going though the centre of Stratford.  It appeared that the main street had a function of car park rather than thoroughfare but it gave us a good look at some parts we hasn't been to.  We ended getting a double look at one area as the people responsible for traffic signs had stuffed up a crucial one, burying the phrase “All other routes” in the middle of directions to car parks.  Whatever: we found our way out.  As we drove down the road I marveled yet again at the ability of British 'drivers' to go down a small road at trivial velocity and then, once overtaken, turn off.  They get a walk down the red carpet in the awards section of this post.

With a little fiddling around we got to Hidcote Garden.  The car park was pretty full with volunteers directing visitors.  As a guide I spoke to later reckoned the place was 'very quiet' we wondered where people parked when it got busy.  We had a look round part of the garden before attending a talk about the history of the garden.  Here are a few of my images.

This cedar is one of Johnstone's originals in the 'room' (yecch: for some reason I hate that word in this context) now called the Old Garden.

A first border!

The developer was Lawrence Johnstone and rather than B S Johnstone (referred to earlier) I would rate him as Bloody Clever Johnstone.  His mother was a wealthy American who had bought him this place to indulge his interest in gardening.  It is possible she hoped it might also interest him in starting a family.  (She also gave him some procreational encouragement with her will, in which he was to get to income from her estate – about $900,000 per year – but he only got the (very serious) principal if he had an heir.)  Alas, he seems to not have been interested in the basic strategy for breeding humans, and on his death a bunch of US based nephews and nieces got lucky.

It really was an excellent garden.  Quite possibly the best we have ever seen anywhere.  Since Johnstone was in financial difficulty by the time of his death he had clearly been putting a lot of the $900k into the place every year.  He left the garden to the NT (who took some persuading to accept it as at that time, but not now, they only took houses, some of which had gardens).

The vegetable garden had particular interest as it was surrounded by a solar powered electric fence. We wondered what was being kept out, and it turned out to be rabbits (in the past) and badgers.  

The rabbits are no longer an issue as myxomatosis wiped them out two years ago and they haven't repopulated.  Also of interest was a photograph of some pigs which had been used to stir the soil up and fertilise it.  They had been kept on the area for too long and rather than loosening the soil had compacted it.

A few more pictures of aspects of the garden.  There were many forms of dipterid (flies to you) around the garden.  Here is one.

We were pretty certain this is a form of Eryngium, another species of which, E. ovinum, grows in our paddocks, being known as Blue Devil.

I thought this Delphinium got my prize for stunning flower head of the day.

 It is not often that one is able to get a snap showing a bumble bee coexisting with a European wasp.

On a personal note the guide who spoke mention that Johnstone had corresponded and exchanges plants, with many other plant collectors.  I asked if that had included E A 'Gussie' Bowles for whom my Dad had worked in the 1930s.  It turned out that he had particularly with the rockery plants .

I spoke with several of the workers and guides around the gardens and the were all both charming and knowledgeable.  We concluded that we had definitely made the correct decision in not coming here on our way to Selsey.  We spent somewhat over 3 hours in the place which would not have happened under the alternate strategy.

After getting home including a stop on Clee Hill to check the view ...

...  we went for tea at the Tally-Ho pub in Bouldon.

A really nice pub which was doing good trade.  I had an excellent steak and kidney pie

while Frances had fish and chips, which she rated as OK (because the fish component was good on batter but a trifle thin in the matter of cod).  Beers consumed were:

•                     Ludlow Gold - a bit fuller bodied than many of the beers I have tried on this trip but definitely potable) and

•                     Woods Wonderful – somewhat stronger than many I have tried at 4.8% but an excellent sample.

As might be expected the décor was somewhat hunting oriented.

Bird of the Day:  Pelican: refer discussion of British drivers around Stratford.

Building of the day: Ann Hathaway's cottage

Garden of the Day: Hidcote, Hidcote, Hidcote

Bad taste of the Day: The plastic lion outside a safari park at Kidderminster.

View of the Day: from Clee Hill.

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