Out into the birdsong morning . . .

 For the last year or more we have been sensible and holed up, having everything delivered and half-scared of our own shadows - Project Fear worked very efficiently.  Not to say that we didn't carry on as normal going out for walks and whatever, but the notion of going to a car boot sale last summer didn't appeal to me, since I had to Shield, being Clinically Vulnerable.  (Giving someone a distinction like that is guaranteed to put the wind up you.)

    In recent weeks I have stopped having an Asda delivery and instead chosen to shop in Llandod (Llandrindod Wells) about 7 miles away.  There is an Aldi there, and a big Tesco.  I feel more comfortable in the Tesco as the Aldi shop feels crowded and poky, but I am quickly in and out.  I get odd bits we need in Builth.

 Anyway, regular visitors to my blog may well recognize the view above as the Malvern Hills, and yesterday we walked out into the birdsong morning, climbed in the car and went to the first Malvern Fleamarket we had been to in about 18 mths.  This was the result of much deliberation and discussion.  We are both as protected as we are likely to get, having had both our jabs.  Tam has had her first.  We agreed that if it was absolutely heaving with people and didn't feel safe, we would just turn round and come out.

These animal sculptures made from oddments of wood, once the produce of skilled artists only, are obviously now being commercialized somewhat.  The rows of stalls were single-sided (normally there is just a pathway about 6 foot wide between stands for you to walk along.  Covid restrictions have spread everyone out and it felt safe as we walked up the middle of the new pathways, checking out stalls for anything of interest.  To be honest, there were stalls with good stock on and a lot of very junky ones which looked like car booters with no-where to go who had trebled their prices because it cost then £40 for a pitch. . .  The photo below gives you a better idea of the layout.  I took it to try and identify the trees there, when we got back.  Whitebeam possibly although the dome not compact enough, looking at online photos.

Below: the view in the car park.  Spring was a lot further advanced at Malvern - probably a week ahead of us here in Powys.  It was SO GOOD to see the trees out.  I can remember about Settlers in the prairies of  America and one woman (a quiltmaker, as it was in a book about American quilts and design influences) missing trees SO MUCH and when after some years, they travelled to somewhere that trees grew, she flung herself off the wagon and ran to a tree and hugged it.  I had something of that feeling yesterday, especially seeing oak trees well-covered with leaves on the way home. Here only the smaller shrubby trees have leaves, the Chestnuts too and the Limes in the park are just putting out leaves, and the Sycamores here around the house.  Our Beech trees are holding out though . . .

Below: Oak trees near the Welsh border (just in Herefordshire there I think).  I even saw May (Hawthorn) in bloom on the way back.

Below: views from Malvern across the Worcestershire countryside.  I always stop at this spot and take photos in every season.

This is the Market Hall, work on which commenced in 1617 and it was originally a grain house.  In 1645 this was the site of a battle between Cavaliers and Roundheads, with the Royalists winning the day.

HERE is a potted history of the architecture of Ledbury, worth reading.

The cobbled charm of Church Street in Ledbury.  Next time I will walk up here again and take further photos.

The Feathers Hotel in Ledbury.  The highlighted link gives a potted history.  The older part of the building dates to 1560.

Whitney Court.  Any followers of the diaries of the Revd. Francis Kilvert will recognize the name.  He knew the Dew family who lived here in his time (1870s) - Mary Dew was related to Wordsworth's wife, Mary Hutchinson.  Read an appraisal and the history of Kilvert's diaries HERE.  

In case you are wondering if we bought much at Malvern, the answer is no.  Tam bought a silver ring, Keith bought a couple of Militaria bits and I bought an Islamic copper pot and an interesting old horse bit.

This is a Buxton coaching bit which someone had modified by the blacksmith to give a Hanoverian mouthpiece with rollers and VERY high port (for control) and then the mouthpiece was covered in leather.  Guaranteed to stop a train . . .

Meanwhile, time to feed the birds and pot on the little Fig tree I bought off a fellow dealer yesterday for £5.