Sky Over Cotswold

The Rhino's at Cotswold Wildlife park a few weeks ago.

Eating an Apple

A couple of White Horse Legends

In last weeks OWT I showed some photo's of White Horse Hill As with many other places it has it's local legends or myths and as you would expect this place has many but today I will tell to two associated with the hill

The local legend is if you stand in the eye of the horse with your partner and rotate three times you will be blessed with a child. Got to love that one and no doubt it went on a lot in the superstitious past  and I am sure it still happens today

 

 The small hill you see here beyond the eye is called Dragon Hill named because local legend has it that St George Killed the dragon here. The white spot is where it was the Dragon was slain and where the blood fell no grass grew, if you look you can see some lines running from the spot, this is where the blood flowed down the hill. I love hearing these story's. I had heard of the Dragon Hill one but the eye one was new to me.

Not far away is a place called Blowing Stone Hill and this is the bottom where the Inn used to be

And in the garden of the last house is this stone, well it used to be in the garden it's now outside, I might add there used to be a huge tree beside it as well but that has gone now

This is the blowing stone and would you believe it  there is a legend surrounding it as well

See that hole well if you blow in it you get a sound. Legend has it that King Alfred the Great blew in it and called the Saxons to war against the Danes. Mind you it also used to be up on top of the hill but the local blacksmith brought it down and kept it outside the forge .  BTW you can get a sound from the stone if you do it right .

Taking Part in Our World Tuesday

A London Experience

No photo today, instead I am going to tell you about the experience my wife & I had

when we went to London on Saturday where we went to the British Museum. The trip getting there was uneventful and we made our way to Holborn underground station where we got off and walked to the Museum. After turning up a road near Holborn Town Hall we passed this guy stood on the opposite side of the road which a load of luggage looking like he was waiting to be picked up. We paid little interest carried on to the museum and joined the throng of people going to visit the British Musum

After going round the exhibits we wanted to see we left feeling a bit ripped off

(I’ll tell more about the museum in another blog). On getting back to the Town hall we passed 

the guy I mentioned in a few sentences ago, he had not gone far and looked to be lost, not only that

 is pants were wet from where he had pi**ed himself. My wife turned to me after we had passed

him and said did I smell him I said no but noticed his pants. I would not be surprised if he had

 not done something else in his pants as we noticed some Human excrement behind a parked car

 on the way.

The next part of the journey was the tube and we had just gone a couple of stations on the 

Central line when a woman placed a package with a note on the seat opposite. My wife and the

 lady looked in horror thinking It was something sinister only to have their minds put at rest when

 the lady’s husband told them it was a beggar expecting someone to pick it up and give her

 some money. She came back collected the package which tuned out to be a pack of tissues

 and hopped off the next station going round to the next carriage that was when I noticed the 

Dope. I’ll call him that because it was written on the back of his red baseball hat. It turns out he 

followed her around but the door was locked between carriages and he could not get to her. 

He eventually hopped off at the following station and we carried on to Paddington talking about 

what we had just experienced.  

We got to Paddington managed to catch our train home with moments to spare and settled in for 

the journey home. The train was a stopper stopping off at some of the stations. At one a guy with

 a rucksack got on and stood in the middle of the carriage looking both way’s. A woman also got 

on looking rather apprehensive. She sat down a moment and checked round looking at the guy 

who was in the middle for the train. He looked at her and nodded then walked to the back of the

 train behind where we were sat. She then quickly walked up the train placing packs of tissues

 around with a note even offering me one. She got a sharp NO and F**k Off from me and walked 

off and collected the packs again. The next station the two of them go off.

To say the least I could not believe what I had experience twice. People were blatantly trying to 

 rip me off. My wife looked the scam up when she got home and found it was happening all the time.

The guy who I the minder gets on the train with a rucksack and the woman who has a messenger

 bag follows. He checks out if it is safe and she goes round leaving the tissues and collects them 

and any money she can get. They then get off and he collects the money from her. Usually

 this happens at unmanned or berried stations. They tend to be East European and no doubt 

illegal immigrants trying their hardest to scam money out of people.  The answer is do not

 give them money it’s going to criminal gangs who are operating this scam  Just be aware of this
 if you go to London if you see this going on.

Sky at Long Lake

Taken at Long Lake Fforest Fields

 Resting Swans

 Reflective clouds

 Long Lake

Red Deer

White Horse Hill

Today I thought I would show you a local landmark and a very old one dating back to the Bronze Age. I had been wanting to go here for ages and badgered my wife into going for a quick look round. I'd been to the place when I was young and again with my Children when they were in the Cubs but nver took any photos. So one Grey Saturday morning we went off to get some.

 This was the place we were heading, White Horse Hill which at one time was in the County of Berkshire till Oxfordshire got greedy it was also part of Wessex long ago

The other place I wanted to visit was Uffington Castle which is an Iron Age Fort

we passed this on the way there showing all the local landmarks

And rather than post a load of photos this is what you will see

 When you get to the horse there is not a lot to see  though you may get a better view from Dragon Hill below

Look a little to the left and you see a view of the Manger

At least you can get a good view of the Horses Head

We headed off from the Horse to the castle not far away which is guarded by some fierce looking sheep who stood their ground till the last moment

 The signage on the castle is nearly as old at the place, I'd not see a Ministry of Works sign in years The national Trust looks after the site now

 This is what Uffingtion Castle looks like. You see it here from outside the ring ditch

You can also see the castle from the Ridge way which is where the bushes are

It heads off in that direction towards Swindon, Nearby is a place called Wayland Smithy which is a place I will be coming back to visit

we headed back down passing this

 which is a more up to date version of one in photo three

It's along the path in front of Uffington Castle. 

It was nearing lunchtime so as we were cold we headed off to the car past the empty picnic benches and the drive home

Not the best day to visit but I will return again and a better day 

Taking Part in Our World Tuesday

More Medieval Murals

Last month I visited five churches for my blog on the fourth  I was taken back when I walked in the church and saw these Medieval Murals

You can see them through the roof joists

Looking up at them from in the nave

Closer view

Not only high up in the church but also along the walls, this was the most clear of them

Changed the setting on the camera to take this one

I tried a couple hand held

but they did not come out so well

Taking Part in Monday Mural

Jumping the World

Sculpture in the gardes of Cotswold Wildlife Park

From little Acorns

Newts under the Groundsheet

Last week my wife & I spent a few days at our caravan. As it was the end of the season I decided to take down the Awning. Once it was packed away I started to take up the groundsheets and came across some newts hiding under them. I wondered it they thought it was a good place to hibernate

 The newts varied in size as you can see from the stones. The one above is about 30mm long

 Others were a little longer

 I found around a dozen newts in various places some not far from each other

 This little fellow was one of the bigger newts

It was not long before they all disappeared off somewhere else to hibernate

Taking Part in Our World Tuesday