St Stepan Llanstephan

This week the Church Explorer takes you to St Stepan Llanstephan 

a beautiful little curch set up in the hillside of the Wye Valley

Sky though the Roses

Thought I'd show you the sky through the roses in my Garden this week

 Roses growing over the Arbour

 Bit cloudy then

But much nicer through the two roses here

Happy Skywatch

The Wrong Trousers

Erwood

So I stopped off in Erwood after visiting a couple of churches mainly because I needed a pit stop so while I was there I took a few photos around the village.

 Back up along through the village, turn right in the distance and you will enter another paart of the village

 This way takes you to Builth Wells, the building up on the left is the village hall

 The pit stop where I went, I like the little race cars. You might notice a couple of boxes by the entrance where you can make a donation to the upkeep of the loo's. Inside you will find a notice urging you to spend a penny and leave a penny in return.

 This little area was built to celibrate the Millennium

 The building opposite I think was the old post office

 It still has the post box in the window, a very unusual place, and it is still in use

 But I had to get a photo of this painted door in the building. I've always admired it when we drove past

 It is also signed by the artist

Time to head back to my Van

Enjoy your week

Kennerton Church

This week the church explorer takes you to Kennerton church, a small church not far from the boarder in Wales

Sky at Broughrood

I visited this church in Broughrood the other week for the Church Explorer so you are getting a taster of what is to come. On my way back to the car I stopped to get a photo of the church then noticed the cloudy sky overhead, very dark & ominus, and later it did rain heavy

Happy Skywatch

Robin in the store

Creepy Critter

A week or so ago I showed a few roses from my garden. Problem with roses is the collect Aphids from time to time but i nocied a little helper today sorting them out.

 This creepy little critter is called a ladybird nymph, this one was on one of my Clematis 

 Then I spotted another one on my roses

 Making a meal of something

 It was really chowing down on it

Later they was very little left and when I looked a little later it has eaten it all

That's one bug which will not be eating my roses.

Photos were taken with my Canon EF100 Macro lens

 

St Mary the Virgin Kington

This week the Church Explorer takes you to St Mary the Virgin Kington a village a mile or so from the Welsh boarder. This wonderful church dates back to the 1300th century and has a link to the Hound of the Baskervilles 

Fairacres Clouds

 This retail part opened some time in the 1970's and has a been a very popular place for people to go. on a recent visit I was shocked to see this store was closeing

 Looking around the rest of the place looked busy

The building which is closeing has been there under various owners as a DIY store since it opened

The whole block you see belo will be demolished and a new low cost supermarket built

We just lost a little bit of history and a very useful place

Cup of tea anyone

St Mary's Street

Today I popped into Wallingford and while waiting for the bus home had a quick walk down St Marys Street

 This restaurant is on the corner of St Marys Street and High Street, it has changed owners on many occasions and this is it's current guise as the Shelfish Cow. The last time I noticed it was a tea shop

 Heading up St Mary's street you find it is full of shops and places to eat and drink. To the left of me is a Wine Bar with the Dolphin pub just past it. The place on the right of the photo is an Opticians. Back before the 1970's  you were able to drive along this street but after some poor lady was killed in a accident with a car the street was closed to traffic and made a pedestrian precinct

Further along the street you will go by a shop that is very hard to pass and not stop to go in, at least with a child. Mr Simms sells traditional sweets like I used to buy in sweet shops.

I will leave you with that thought till I visit the street again for some more photo's

Taking Part in Our World Tuesday

St Michael & All Angels Lyonshall

This week the Church Explorer takes you to to Herfordshire and the first of three churches in the county I visited. St Michael & All Angels Lyonshall in an interesting church that dates to the 11th century.

Toad Hall Sky

The other day I was back at a garden centre in Henley on Thames with my wife and I could not help taking a photo of the fountain again with the blue sky in the background

 It's a shame you do not get the full affect of the water cascading down

 Turning left I saw these wonderful clouds over the greenhouses

Wispy clouds on a blue sky

Happy Skywatch everyone

Window Quote