The Founders Grave

 

This week the Church Explorer shows you the grave of the founder of a collage not far from where I live. I discovered it while walking through the grounds looking for a relic of WWII.  

Village Sky

 

A few days after I captured the Sunrise I happened to look out the back of the house around 3pm and noticed these wonderful clouds on a blue sky

The sky looked much better from the upstairs window

Looking over the house at  the bottom of the garden you saw this long fluffy cloud with the moon behind

Over the houses a cloud stretching towards where I lived, Take Care everyone.

Happy Skywatch

 

Garden Snowdrops

 

Walk along the East End

 

 This week I'm taking you for a walk in Cholsey's East End and telling you a little bit about it

This is where I'm starting looking down The Wallingford Road, white the building by the road you see on the Right was the Chequers Pub which was the oldest on in the village till it  closed, it is now an Indian Restaurant  

You head past the Red Lion which is one of Two pubs left in the Village though at the moment closed due to the pandemic

This is Red Lion Bend and leads onto the Wallingford Road straight. Over behind the fence is a house that originally faced the road which joined the bend. I'll go into that a bit later 

This looks back towards the house I mentioned, the old road most likely went through around where the entrance is

This is the Wallingford Road which is around a mile long an built around 1840 when the railway came through the village. In 1993 it became around a quarter of a mile shorter when the Wallingford by Pass went across it. I have walked this road many times in the past

If you look over to the right you can see a red brick house set back of the road 

It has a long drive leading to the house, believe it of not that is the back of the house as the front faced the old road so their drive runs through the back garden. The houses either side in the foreground are were built more recently 

There are few houses along the road like this, my favourite is this one Red Cow Cottage which I thought was an old Beer House. I used to live in a house that I could see this place across the field and have a photo somewhere showing it. That was when I realised some of the houses along the Wallingford Road were back to front

This is Caps Lane this part dates from the 1840s when it joined the old road to the new one.The caps lane area dates back to the Domesday book

The road takes you to Blackhalls Farm which is as far as I will take you today. Back after WWI a Danish Farmer bought the place and grew root crops to feed the hundred odd pigs he kept he had a processing factory in the next village which became the beginnings of the Danish Bacon Company. Well will be going on up this track next week.

The Caps lane turns left where I took the photo of the farm and runs this way towards the Reading Road. We will be going along there another time.

The Lane turns left around the bend in the distance. I cannot say if this is part of the original caps lane but it may well be part that just lead to the back of the farm and some barns as the houses around this part are more recent

This old barn is over to the left of the road and was part of the farm but many years ago sold and made into a house. Next week I will show you where the old Caps lane went and carry on back to the village.

Taking Part in My Little Corner of the World  Our World Tuesday and Imag-in-ing, you can find all the links in the right hand column Take care everyone.

St Nicholas Ickford

 

This week the Church Explorer features St Nicholas Ickford  a church I only spent a few moments looking around but have intentions of returning to

A New Dawn

 

Thursday 21st Jan the morning after  Biden was inaugurated  President of the United States I woke up to this beautiful dawn with the sun just coming up. After looking out the bedroom window and seeing this view I went and got my phone and took a coulpe of photos

 

Zooming back I captured the houses in the dawn

 

Hours later a the New Dharma Bums would be getting up to this in California 
 Happy Skywatch

Snow Dragons

 

 

Snow Day

 

Sunday was a snow day, first thing in the morning it snowed for a few hours, a welcome sight for some and dread for others. Personally I love seeing snow and have done since I was a kid but with climate change it does not happen often and when it does is not around for long. Once the snow had stopped I had no hesitation in going outside and getting a few photos around the garden before it disappeared.

 The patio was well covered as it snowed and sitting at the table did not look like a good idea

 

The holly tree looked good for a Christmas Card

The red berries showing for the birds if the needed them

The rose hips took on a coat of snow 

The Olive tree changed colour with the snow

And the apple tree had a layer along the branches, the bird feeder in the background providing food for Birds when they came down. The snow lasted a few hours but was mostly gone by the afternoon. I'm not sure when we will get more or weather is not so predictable now but at least for a few hours the snow was there to enjoy.

There is a bit more to Manor Farm but I will write another blog on that another time.

Taking Part in My Little Corner of the World  Our World Tuesday and Imag-in-ing, you can find all the links in the right hand column Take care everyone

A Church Tower View

 

This week the Church Explorer takes you on Top of a Church Tower to show the view from on the top, not something you get to do every day but something I have been able to do in a few occasions 

Farm Skys

 

Tuesday I Featured a barn at Manor Farm I stopped quickly beside the Church Entrance and looked over towards the meadows opposite and spotted a superb sky

 These are the meadows where I look over the meadow towards the Chiltons in the distance

Turning around This looks towards manor Farm and the barn I was visiting

Heading home I could not help take one more skyview  looking back through the village.               Happy Skywatch

Take Care everyone