Wednesday 19 April 2017

Across those well-loved fields - Malvern and Dymock


Easter Monday saw us rising at 3.45 a.m. to drive to the huge Fleamarket at Malvern.  It was dry but cool and the Fleamarket was packed out with buyers and sellers alike.  We bought some good stock and then, after a rest, headed back via Dymock, as I am compiling photos for a talk I've been asked to give on the Dymock Poets next month.

Above and below are photos across Malvern Vale.  a little fuzzy probably as I wasn't letting the camera focus properly before I took a photo.  Tiredness (I hadn't slept the night before, which was par for the course!)  The bright yellow fields of Oilseed Rape stood out well.



Above: long distance shot of walkers on the top of the Malvern Hills.  I've been up there but the once, over 35 years ago now.


I stopped the car on the road out of Malvern (which heads back down to the market town of Ledbury).  Some views across the fields.


Rain was heading our way!



Above: the cottage loaf type top of British Camp, which is an Iron Age hillfort.  I will direct you to the Wikipedia page, as that gives much better photographs than I could manage.  One of these days we will go there and just walk, instead of heading for home, exhausted by our early start and walking round the fair. We clocked up 18,000 + steps on Monday and walked for 5 hours.


A slightly blurry photo (again) of Bluebells in the woodland beside the layby.


Farmhouse just outside Ledbury, showing Oasthouses and newly-planted orchard.  There are new orchards being planted up throughout this area, as cider is so popular these days.  It is good to see the land being used to grow fruit trees, fruit bushes and vegetables.


The old train viaduct heading towards Ledbury.  It was completed and opened in 1861 and built by the respected Colwall engineer Stephen Ballard, who died the same year it was opened.  The 5 million bricks used to build it (by Ballard's brother Richard), were made on site, and the viaduct has 31 arches.


On to Dymock, and I stopped for photos whilst we were looking for the Dymock Poet's cottages. This may be May Hill in the distance (sorry for the pun!)


I dare say this landscape would seem quite alien if the Poets were suddenly to be reincarnated there today.  The fields would be much bigger, and the oilseed rape quite alien.



This tree would have been unrecognizable but makes a lovely shape in the current landscape.  More photos of the cottages will be over on my Edward Thomas blog (see sidebar) when I can get back to it.  We have a 2 day Antiques fair at the Botanic gardens this weekend, and sorting everything out for that is taking priority, with "spare" time being taken up with working on the Dymock Poets talk, gardening, and if I work the night-shift, redecorating down in mum's flat . . .  I think I need to be cloned . . .

14 comments:

  1. About 62 years ago, I with a friend decided to run down the Malvern Hill, at some stage my legs could not keep up and I somersaulted over and over until I ended up in a soggy place at the bottom. That was an experience I have never forgot and whenever Malvern is mentioned the memory of the British Camp returns.

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    1. I can just see that in my mind's eye! I had a similar experienced (fueled by VERY good cider) on a steep hill in the Purbecks. I ended up in a big patch of Ramsons, so was very much on my own on the bus coming home!! I am glad I have evoked a memory for you.

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  2. Loved these photographs BB, when I lived in Wolverhampton (formany years) this was a place we often visited for the day.

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    1. You would love it there at the moment Pat. The countryside is just SO beautiful, with the trees coming into leaf and the Bluebells just starting on the rampage. We never go down the town as my husband never feels like exploring after we've walked 7 or 8 miles round and round the Fair!

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  3. Hope you found some good things to buy ..........7 or 8 miles round a fair sounds exhausting!
    Lovely photos

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    1. Exhausting it was - we walked for 4 hours before we had a break, and by then I certainly needed one! We got a couple of really nice things, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Glad you liked the photos.

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  4. Wonderful post - so interesting and loved seeing all the photos. By coincidence thought of going to the Dymock area earlier this year to see the wild daffodils but never had the time!

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    1. Hi RR - make a point of going to see the apple orchards blossoming instead (but try and go next year for the Daffodils, as they are a sight to behold, they truly are - millions of them). If you go that way, also look up Kempley Church, with its Medieval wall paintings, and special atmosphere.

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  5. Wonderfully beautiful post today.
    Loved the (outstanding beautiful) "farmhouse " with the orchard !

    cheers, parsnip

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    1. That is certainly some farmhouse - it would have a LOT of land with it, that's for sure.

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  6. A lovely visit to where I went to school (1959 -1967).
    What great photos and how much I miss that lovely, lush landscape!

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    1. I hope it brought back happy memories Elizabeth. Lush, it certainly is now that spring has arrived. I see you have come a LONG way from your roots here in GB.

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  7. Lovely photos and the misty distances only enhanced the atmosphere to me.
    Happy memories of walking the Malvern Hills when I used to stay with a friend in Worcester, back when we were both students in London. I remember the amazing views on the walk to British Camp.

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    1. Hi DW - glad the photos brought back happy memories for you too. I WILL get up to British Camp one day - perhaps we will just have a leisurely day out there this summer, when we AREN'T going to the Fair.

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