Monday 26 April 2021

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.



20 comments:

  1. I voluntarily shielded, and am always oddly relieved to know there are others like me who are thankfully proceeding as cautiously as we can to reclaim some semblance of normality. It's not easy, but it's time to accept this isn't going away, we have to learn to live with it best as we can. Those landscape views are phenomenal!
    Waving from my little corner of Wales!

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    1. Waving back to you RP. You live in a beautiful area. I have been reasonably confident about going into town most days for the Newspaper and anything we might need from the ironmongers or Co-op - rarely were there more than one or two other customers. Boots gets busiest though, and if I see it is heaving, I come back later as it's a small shop.

      The landscape views are from the hill as you come out of Malvern (forgot to put that). I normally take photos there in every season. One of these days, we will drive into the view and explore.

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  2. So good to see you got out and about and enjoying a fair again.

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    1. Half way through I was thinking, WHY did we bother?! The good (e.g. interesting) stalls weren't there, but then I found a couple of bits towards the end of the sheds and we had a late breakfast/early lunch back at the car and went in for round 2 of the outside pitches we'd not stopped at earlier as they were just parking up. It was a great day out though and SO GOOD to see spring further on there.

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  3. Happy you were able to get out and about on what appears to have been a beautiful day. I did laugh a bit when you talked about seeing the different trees. Back in the 1950s, we lived for one year in Texas (having lived in UK in the years before and after...so lots of trees). West Texas was pretty barren. I remember my parents talking about how we once drove 100 miles before we saw a tree and like the Settler woman, we were excited to see it. Sadly, it was dead. We were all happy to get back to green UK. :)

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    1. When you are used to trees, it's hard to live without them. One of my specifications for our final home was it needed plenty of trees about, for the joy of seeing them through the seasons and for the birds.

      I can see why West Texas wasn't for you! I don't do barren and arid either.

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    2. When we lived in West Texas, there was actually a tiny community named Notrees. It was a very apt name!

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    3. Oh gosh! It must be pretty barren looking then. I was counting the trees close to the house, that I could see from our bathroom window - a good dozen, complete with birds flying to and fro.

      Here we have a place called Evenjobb on the Welsh borders which always sounded a strange name to me.

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  4. That is a very interesting bit and very similar to the ones we use to control two of our horses. We use a curb strap for one and curb chain for the other.

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    1. The port on this is a hefty 3" and the cheeks 9" from bridle loop to bottom rein fastening. To my mind this would just make a horse frantic trying to get away from the bruising on the roof of his mouth. I used to specialise in bits (and give talks to Pony Club on the subject) and this would have definitely been in my House of Horrors. I know American bits are often high ported and long-shanked, so you would need good hands to use those (I used to hate to see horses yanked to a stop in cowboy films.) I think this was made up for a horse with a ruined "unstoppable" mouth . . .

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    2. As I read about the bit, the first word that popped into my mind was torture.

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    3. A bit is all about the hands that use it. We ride with a loose rein and pick up the reins to stop and slow down. It is a much more subtle signal than riding with contact and works very well and much better than a snaffle.

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  5. Good news that you now feel able to go out and about more. Must admit we have skulked at home a lot in the last year and had online shopping. In fact, I haven't been in a shop for over a year. I do feel safer when we come to Herefordshire and we have gone out and about more here. Small steps needed I think to regain confidence.

    Lovely to see the photos of Ledbury which is on my list to visit and I loved the Kilvert reference.

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    1. We didn't go regularly in to shops (apart from our local PO) back in Carms. Here in Builth, things were very much quieter although since Lockdown has ended it is difficult to park in the town, so lots more people passing through and then stopping for a quick look in shop windows etc.

      You will LOVE Ledbury - and that has a link to Elizabeth Barrett Browning as her family lived in a very strange-looking house just outside of the town. Think towers like Smarty-tubes!

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  6. Asda here is the best organised, our Aldi can be a bit crowded too

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    1. We had Asda deliveries, but they came from Merthyr Tydfil, so not exactly local. Aldi always seem to have small shops with a lot of shelving and not much room to perambulate. Prices are good though . . .

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  7. Is there a way to subscribe to your blog so I receive it in my email inbox? I like your blog!
    Catherine

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    1. Hello Catherine. I shall have to look into that as haven't a clue! Glad you like it anyway.

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  8. So glad Project Safe has kept you well. You are now even safer by being fully vaccinated. Hurray!! I am fully vaccinated also but still intend on wearing a mask when out in public & keeping hand sanitizer in the car for between places. I love Aldi too! ~Andrea xoxo

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    1. I am still trying to be careful and HATE touching door-handles still, despite having hand sanitizer to use etc. I always use disposable gloves when I am putting in fuel (daughter thinks it unnecessary). Another Aldi fan I see.

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