Catching up with friends

 

It was my friend Pam's birthday yesterday.  I drove down to Carmarthenshire to see her today, and take a card and a gift and some flowers.  I stayed for lunch with her and her husband, and we had a lovely catch-up and put the world to rights.

I stopped at the Post Office to get a drink, and a couple of my quilting pals were in there (one is a regular volunteer on the PO side) and so we had a lovely chat too.  Not long until the group starts up again next month.

The countryside is looking autumnal - already trees are changing colour, especially the ones on banks and at the edges of dry verges.  The countryside looks so parched and the hills are all dun, with bracken already turning gold or brown.  We will certainly remember 2025 for its Californian sunshine from April until ???  No sign of my Swallows again, and a friend up the lane has said the same.  The first (and only?) nest of House Martins have fledged and are on the wing.  That happened a couple of days ago and what a joy it was to see them flying in loops, dizzy with the joy of flying.

The insects are still VERY busy - my holly and shrub-with-tiny-pink-flowers was thrumming with them this afternoon, including several burly Hornets, minding their own business and hunting for food amongst the other insects there.

I am having an Outlander evening tonight, as there are two more Blood of my Blood episodes for me to catch up on.

Have a lovely weekend, all, and Sarah - I am thinking of you and S.  (((HUGS)))

Quick note for Billy Blue Eyes on the Wind Farm debacle

 Forest Fields are very involved with fighting this windfarm plan, and have a GoFundMe page.  I don't know if you are on Facebook, but this is their recent SOS.  Which pretty well sums up the situation.  I can see it already done and dusted before it goes any further because the Welsh Govt have pledged their pensions to fund it . . . :

Lighting the Beacons, our call for aid!

For 35 years we’ve built this place from the ground up. Family, friends, guests, and neighbours have poured heart and soul into turning a quiet valley into a living, welcoming landscape of lakes, woodlands, footpaths, and gathering spaces. Many of you have camped here, walked here, learned here, and found calm here. This valley matters to us and to you.

What’s happening

A large, industrial-scale energy and transmission scheme is being pushed onto our landscape. We are not against renewable energy, we are against badly sited, badly designed, top‑down projects that put private profit over place, ecology, and community. What’s proposed would bring oversized infrastructure, roads, heavy vehicles, pylons and substations into a fragile upland ecosystem and a working farmed valley.

We have tried to collapse this threat through reason and dialogue. After two long years of behind‑the‑scenes work (research, meetings, letters, and challenges) we are now being drawn into a legal battle none of us wanted or asked for. Meanwhile, the project grows more entrenched.

What’s at risk

* Habitats, soils, peat, watercourses, and the species that rely on them.

* The hydrology of the valley - springs, bogs, wetlands and hilltop seeps that feed our rivers.

* Farming livelihoods and the working rhythms of a rural community.

* Heritage, access, and the character of a landscape that thousands of families love.

Why this is wrong

This is green energy done badly - the same traits that got society into this mess dressed up as a virtue. Real climate action demands consent, good science, sound siting, proportionate scale, and honest partnership with local people. We believe this scheme fails those tests.

How we’ve fought so far

For two years we have:

* Commissioned and gathered evidence, asked hard questions, and challenged weak claims.

* Pushed for transparent consultation and community consent.

* Stood firm on access where appropriate and within our rights.

* Worked to protect wildlife, water, and working land.

We’ve done all we can with our own time and resources. To protect this place properly, we now need help.

What we’re raising funds for

Your support will fund proper legal, ecological, hydrological, and ethical action to defend the valley:

* Specialist legal counsel & representation in planning and property law.

* Independent ecological surveys (birds, bats, habitats) and expert testimony.

* Hydrological studies to assess water impacts and safeguard aquifers, springs, bogs and rivers.

* Planning, landscape and heritage experts to test claims and present better alternatives.

* Community engagement & transparency, including public briefings and open data.

* Accountability: clear, regular updates on spending and progress.

Our principles

* We support renewables done right: the right technology, in the right places, at the right scale, with community benefit and consent.

* We refuse corporate land‑grabs dressed as green solutions.

* We will act with integrity

What you can do now

We believe together we are stronger. Please help in whatever way you can. We know it's not an easy time, and you may change everything just by having a conversation with us, or making a suggestion.

1. Donate today to our GoFundMe so we can retain experts and act fast: ((link))

2. Share this appeal with friends, family, groups, and networks.

3. Introduce us to legal, ecological, hydrological, and planning specialists who can help.

We will not be crushed

We will rise above this. We will not be crushed under the weight of a corporate land‑grab. This landscape is more than lines on a map; it is a living place, a home and we intend to keep it that way.

This has sat like a knot in our stomach over the last few years, and we've done our best to put it behind us and keep the tone positive, your kind words and visits mean more to us than you'll ever realise! Thank you for everything you bring to this place.

With genuine gratitude for all we've shared. We might not be everybody's cup of tea, but we know so many of you ‘get it’

The Fforest Fields family

https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-land-protection-trust

I wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw them . . .

The energy company that is.  We had our meeting at the local village hall and it was good to see our Community so strongly supported, despite the fact that it was a last-minute thing.  We had been trying to arrange a meeting since May, but emails appeared to have "been lost".  Finally, a week before the meeting, they could fit it in but of course, farmers are busy people and can't just drop everything. In the event, by the time we got there they announced that initial plans had been passed and so of course, we no longer had any say in the matter.  Various members of our community took them to task and to say that the overall feeling in the room was hostile was an understatement.  People really spoke their piece and downright told them how we all felt.  They seemed to think that although delays on roads whilst the infrastructure was moved into place were "inevitable", they had not really looked at the viability of those very roads, with overhanging trees, volume of traffic on the more major roads and use of single track roads in this area.  

Now I am able to look at the Project Documentation, it looks like a wrecking bar will be taken to our stunningly beautiful landscape, and they clearly have no respect for nature or beauty, in the name of "progress".  Under "Assessing Significance" of landscape and visual effects, we come under "skylines that are highly visible over large areas or exert a large influence over landscape character."  The proposed area IS "visible from nationally designated landscapes" - e.g. the Brecon Beacons, and is "particularly tranquil, wild; spiritual; attractive; peaceful" with "low levels of light pollution/experiences dark skies".    This is an area where Curlews and many other wild birds nest and considering a local farmer said he had been told he could not plant trees because they would affect Curlews nesting in the area, what the hell do they think a 200 metre high forest of wind turbines are going to do?  

Needless to say, the documentation is split into so many parts and hedged about with so many points and words that it is difficult to boil it down to an erudite conclusion.  I will quote from an expression used to describe its impact on the landscape from any of the higher points here about (road use as well as from a farming or tourism point of view): Major (significant).  They reluctantly agreed to considering to read an e-mail about what the community feels about this industrialisation of our beautiful landscape, but I feel it's a waste of time as they aren't going to alter anything that is going to benefit them financially.  It was interesting to see the speed at least one of them departed the room at the end of the meeting - greyhound out of a trap just about summed up his departure.

But on to happier things.  All my girls were here yesterday, though Rosie is just starting a cold (with a nasty sore throat by the sound of things) so hoping we don't get THAT particular bug.  Gabby is off on holiday to Mexico in a fortnight and I am off to Malvern Flea on the Bank Holiday weekend . . .  Rosie is learning to swim at the moment - the very earliest stages - and seems to love it.  Other granny takes her in, and Tam went along to watch yesterday.  The teacher said she thought Rosie had been coming ever since she was a baby, not just starting!  I am about to get her a Montessori Busy Board, which has all sorts of learning challenges to help with hand-eye co-ordination and cognative skills.  It should keep her quiet for ages (Tam would be glad of that!)  She was even singing bits of Nursery Rhymes with us yesterday, bless her :)

It was lovely to see them, and we sorted out my plan of action for the middle week in New Zealand.  As I looked up each place on the computer, it was SO beautiful that tears came to my eyes.  I can't believe that I am going to experience this all first hand, and not just via a photo.  Holidays for me were non-existent when I was growing up, as money was tight.  We just went for days out, often in the New Forest, but with one pay-to-get-in type outing to the Zoo (twice) and Longleat (once) etc.  When married to my first husband, my holidays were a week spent instructing at Pony Club Camp each summer.  We never went away.  With Keith, we were doing up Ynyswen and money even tighter, and when we did have some money, we always camped or stayed with friends or family, and it was in the UK, not abroad.  I did suggest to Keith that we went abroad, but he wasn't interested (but then he had done lots of travelling when in the Army).  

Now, finally, I have some money I am going to dip into to travel whilst I still can, and NZ truly will be the holiday of a lifetime.  I worry about leaving the cats, but they will be fed and visited twice a day and I'll see if Tam can come across at weekends.  

I am still feeling tired after a busy week with my friend here, but will potter around today and it is finally cool enough to do some tidying up in the garden - 12 deg. right now, though it will warm up later.  

Learning - and another look at Welsh history

 Learning is something we do (or should do) throughout our lives.    Though when I happen to look at my dissertation on occasion, I always think, was I really clever enough to research and write that?!  I have certainly let things slip on the academic learning front, but a chance comment on an old (2014) post of mine about Gwyddno Garanhir and Cantre'r Gwaelod has led me down a rabbit hole where Taliesin and the Welsh Mabinogi have Irish roots.  Although Irish Medieval history is a mystery to me (as is much of Welsh Medieval history, since prehistory was my chosen subject at Uni when I read Archaeology), it is always good to learn and to stretch ones thinking processes again.  I have just spent an hour reading and trying to digest a very interesting paper about the religious - and other - influences on what the Welsh have always considered to be their cultural heritage.  It will take several more readings to get a better understanding, as I familiarize myself with the Irish landscape and placenames, as well as patronomics and the ecclesiastical history of Ireland.  It rankles a little to think that Cantrae'r Gwaelod may not/probably didn't exist and that Gwyddno Garanhir was Irish though! Yet at Uni the first thing we were taught was not to bring our own beliefs/baggage to the table or to start with the conclusion of an essay and then make everything else fit.  We had to keep an open mind - I guess having spent half my life living in Wales, it is hard to step back from what I have learned thus far.   Gosh, it is so well researched and written and clearly by a more educated mind than mine!

I am about to get ready to go to a talk/discussion about Bute Energy and what they propose to do to our beautiful landscape, by way of gigantic wind turbines and pylons marching across Builth fields, within sight of us all.  I know - beware of bringing baggage to the table but I am NOT open minded on this and like many others, we do NOT support it.

My other learning today was how to take out an old bulky pocket in a pair of velvet trousers (Tam's) and to replace it with more suitable fabric.  Let's hope my efforts look ok when worn . . .  It was a job I'd never done before.

Finally, the front of the house now all blue where it should be.  I need to crack on with it again tomorrow.

Berrington Hall

 

Beautiful Shropshire countryside (near Ludlow).  Taken from the house.

After the hall, this is the first room you enter, with its beautiful fireplace.  The architect employed, Henry Holland, used a version of Neo-Classical design in this Georgian house.

What a beautiful ceiling.

A nod to the Greeks and Romans with the Doric capitals in this room and a lovely shell-like arch above.

Such a good painting and a wonderful likeness, I would imagine.

The cupola sent light flooding into the centre of the house.

Whilst there is this painting of him, one of his wife has not come to light.

One of many intricate Corinthian capitals throughout the house.

We had fun in the Dressing (Up) Room . . . My friend Gay modelling a hat.

I should have done a close up of the pillows with a big black furry (pretend) spider!

Just in case you wondered how they managed with a big dress like that . . .

That dress again!

We ended with a walk inside the walled garden, with its wonderful orchards of ancient heritage apples.

It was another hot day.  We did try to find Pipe Aston church, but made the mistake of trying to put Orleton into the mix as well, and ended up driving round in a circle, so gave up and came home.  Just too hot to be exploring.

We stopped in Pembridge so Gay could take photos, and I picked some Elderberries, which are now in the freezer and will be made into something on a cooler day.

Today (it is now 1.30 a.m. on Monday morning and I can't sleep) I am off to babysit Rosie for the afternoon, then Gay goes home tomorrow.

Another church to squeeze in - St John the Baptist, Eastnor

 It looked a lovely church in the landscape, and it would have been rude not to visit.  It is Grade 1 listed, although "completely rebuilt" by George Gilbert Scott in 1851-52 for John Somers Cocks, the Lord of the Manor.  

Its roots were in the 12th C but it was rebuilt in the 13th.  Gilbert-Scott had intended to re-use the original stonework and had numbered everything as it was removed, but many stones were found too damaged to reuse.  Only the tower dates from the earlier period.

Apologies for the less than thorough photography of the exterior, but it was bloomin' HOT.  We just wanted to get inside, where it was cooler.

There were heads (various) at the bottoms of the windows too.

The new font, with beautiful marble legs and lovely carvings.

The Pious Pelican here, and I remember the Agnus Dei on another side.  The crispness of those leaves . . .

Fortunately they kept the old one, which looks Norman.

In the Somers-Cocks Memorial chapel, but I couldn't get a photo of the big memorial to John Somers-Cocks, who is interred here (covered over to keep the bat droppings off).  Sadly he died in 1852, before the church was fully restored.

Castleditch was the original manor house, now under the lake . . .

A beautiful memorial to the fallen of the parish.

The Bell-tower contained several wonderful memorials.

Yesterday we went to Abergavenny, and then back to Tretower Court, which you will have seen my photos of before - just as well, as I forgot my phone so couldn't take any.  We had a lovely long talk with one of the Marcher Stuarts re-enactment group.  My gosh, he knows his history and could do lecture tours!  We didn't stay in the period (they were 15th C yesterday) but talked about various periods, and learned so much.  17th C next month.  I still have a year on my CADW Historic Monuments pass, so can get in free.  £7.50 for 3 years is good value!

On Friday we had a walk around Hay, then went up the Golden Valley to Dore Abbey, where we had a picnic lunch in the orchard, and also popped into Bacton Church again.  Today it is Berrington Hall.  No peace for the wicked.

Oh, and would you believe I have been horse-fly bitten just about every day in the past week, latest one top of thigh and sending me NUTS with itching.  Just waiting for extra-strong anti-histamine to kick in now.  Blardy things.  I feel like a Marked Woman, high on the Horse Fly list of tasty Victims.