Clouds over the Garden Centre

Last week my wife & I went to a local garden centre looking for gardening items. Looking up you could not help notice the blue sky & clouds

Looking over towards Harwell

Clouds over the trees

Wispy Clouds  

Sky Panoramic

And to end the series my wife pointed out a Kiss in the Sky

Eyelash

Checkendon

Some photos from near the church I visited in my blog the last two weeks. Checkendon dates back since before the 7th century when records started and is mentioned in the Domesday Book

 

I parked up near the church and this is a small green beside it with the village sign

The village sign above one of the nicer ones in the area. I seen the like before and they remind me of  a pub one sign.
On the right one of the village cottages











An old barn now used for offices

 

Above looks towards the village recreation grounds while on the right the drive leading to Checkendon Court












Some of the Tudor stile housed in Checkendon

 
 

Pub which closed many years ago

The sign is a bit confusing as it says Quiet Lane on each pointer. On the right the road going through the village 

Tudor styled house

The Lych gate leads to the church  while the small path you see to the right leads to the Village primary School , you can make it out between the gate and trees.

That's it a little taste of  an Oxfordshire Village

 

One last thing I changed the background to the blog to show the Oxfordshire countryside Hope you approve

Taking Part in Our World Tuesday

 

 

The Church Explorer

This week we return to St Peter & St Paul  Checkendon for some photo's from around the church interior

Oxfordshire Sky

Another of my views fro Wittenham Clumps in Oxfordshire here looking over the Oxfordshire countryside

Catkins

Wittenham Clumps

I have teased you with a couple of photos from this local beauty spot in South Oxfordshire so this week I will show a few of the Views from Wittenham Clumps

A view of Castle hill you see from Round hill

And this is the top of Round Hill

Castle hill gets hits name as it was an Iron Age Hill Fort and on the left you ca see part of the defensive ditch that surrounded it

Here you can see what the ditch looks like from the bottom

The steps give an indication of how steep it is. Back in Iron Age times it would have been deeper

From The Clumps you can see various villages from around the are and above is Dorchester with its famous Abbey

The River Thames runs past the base of Wittenham Clumps and below you can see Day Lock, the lakes over to the right are the old Dorchester Gavel pits no used for recreation

Right below is Little Wittenham Manor with the church over to the right in the Trees. The Manor is owned by Sir Martin Wood

A little further afield you can see Culham and the JET Project

Last of all  Didicot Power Station and some of the remaining parts of the old power satstion, the new part is in the centre

Photosphere picture I took

Taking Part in Our World Tuesday

The Church Explorer

This weeks church from the Church Explorer is St Peter & St Paul Checkendon 

 

RAF Harwell Station HQ

This was taken back in 2011 a little after the place became accessible to the public after being off limits because the UKAEA owned the site, this was RAF Harwell Station Headquartes the Location for the Station Commander's office and Admin Staff. At the moment the building is being restored 

Bug Hotel

The Maharajah's Well

Sunday I showed a church featured in my Church Explorer Blog, it is in a Village Called Stoke Row, the village has a very unusual attraction a well which is called The Maharajah's Well here is te history of it from Wikipedia
"Edward Anderdon Reade, the local squire at Ipsden, had worked with the Maharajah of Benares in India in the mid nineteenth century. He had sunk a well in 1831 to aid the community in Azimgurgh. Reade left the area in 1860.
A couple of years later the Maharajah decided on an endowment in England. Recalling Mr Reade’s generosity in 1831 and also his stories of water deprivation in his home area of Ipsden^[ the Maharajah commissioned the well at Stoke Row and it was sunk in 1863. The originally intended site for the well was Nuffield Common. All work was completed by the Wallingford firm of R. J. and H. Wilder.^"

The well sits a little way back in it's own little area with block paving leading to it

It looks very impressive when you see it

Nearby you can read the history about it

The makers of the well were Wilders Foundry was in Crowmarsh, sadly the foundry closed many years ago though I was fortunate enough to see it as my friends father worked there. Not a place I would want to work but gave employment to many in the local area 

The Indian Elephant over the well

The well was hand cranked and the original buckets are still there

The ever watching elephant

Couple of wide angle views of the well

Side view of the well

I'll leave you with this picture of Well Cottage, this belonged to the Well warden who used to unlock the well and maintain it. It is now a private dwelling

Taking Part in Our World Tuesday