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Decision made

What to write? I had asked myself and now my decision has been made for me. The photographs from our holiday a couple of weeks ago, once viewed as a whole, had thrown up three possible topics. Whilst researching one I decided to query a magazine to see if they would be interested to see a piece based on the photos. As someone new to them I was not surprised to be asked to send some samples - this request came by return of email.   I selected some shots and emailed low res versions and again by return I was asked to send an article on spec - again not unexpected from a new market but the speed of reply was.   Now that I have a market clearly in mind - the main stipulation of the editor being that the article should be colourful as it is for a winter edition and the magazine is picture-lead - I can work on a first draft and see what further research is needed. I know I need to check the names of some of the churches for example.   This does not mean that the other topics are abandoned, simply put on hold until this one is completed. And I didn't have to make the dreaded decision for myself. I now have a deadline which always helps me to be motivated to write.   What has surprised me has been the speed of the response. I have pieces of work I have sent out to magazines months ago that have yet to receive a response. I have sent half a dozen other queries to various magazines that have yet to receive a reply. Other articles have been retained for possible use for months and even years. There really is no telling what will just click with an editor I suppose.   Anyway, must get checking those church dedications and make a start on the writing. I have a deadline to meet.

Assessing the situation

OK. Four weeks after returning from our unexpected Devon break I have shipped off the article I was asked to submit after an editor had seen the pictures. In theory with the visit still so fresh in my mind this should have made it easy but in fact I kept finding myself writing too much detail for popular consumption. When research is fresh in my mind I always want to include so much more than is necessary instead of paring the detail down to the bare bones. This was apparent when the first draft was 1800 words and the top limit was 1200.   Having edited that version down to size I was not certain it fitted the magazine and so I set out on a totally different tack and produced another article, this time only 100 words over limit so much easier to edit and that is what I have sent. Was the first piece a waste of time? I don't think so. I probably needed to write all that information out of my system and now I have distilled it all again. It was easier to write and I hope easier to read.   So what next? Reading a number of other posts I see many people have had success resurrecting older pieces of work and submitting to new markets. I have a number of such pieces. Some were straight rejections but others were written for markets that then disappeared and one item was praised highly by an editor who pointed out that much as he would like to use it I had included references to places in counties outside their area. Bad market research on my part but he did take a couple of other items I had suggested so if nothing else I had proved I could write in their style! Now two magazines have amalgamated and guess what, they unite all the areas included in that piece so maybe I should resurrect that one, dust it off and check for any editing needed. I am very keen on recycling after all.

Snowdrops

Over the past few years I have tried to photograph wild flowers in season and one of the first to show is the snowdrop. Often out during January in favourable spots, February and early March are usually the time to go looking for them. Their appearance was widely regarded in the past as a symbol of hope that the spring would come again after the harshness of winter.   I soon realised that they were a common sight in churchyards and this may be explained by their use during the celebration of Candlemas on February 2nd.  Candelmas was the feast of Purification of the Virgin Mary, being forty days after Christ's birth. Snowdrops, with their heads lowered as if in humility, were an appropriate symbol and this tiny lily was planted in churchyards. Many of the mass displays that can be enjoyed today are at the site of former Abbeys and monastic houses such as the National Trust's Anglesey Abbey in Cambridgeshire and Walsingham Abbey in Norfolk. Many places now organise snowdrop walks so it is worth checking out your local paper for details over the coming weeks.   To date I have photographed the snowdrops around this date in Hampshire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire and Wiltshire but would love to know just how widely spread the appearance of this flower is by Candlemas.

Compton Verney art gallery

Yesterday we embarked on a trip to visit Compton Verney in Warwickshire, a country house that now houses an art gallery and holds exhibitions, courses and talks. True to form it ended up as a pootle. When your route takes you past the site of the Battle of Edgehill you have to search for the monument to the event don't you. Well you do if that is one of the topics you tend to write about. Then there were the villages with their churches and monuments, pumps and wells. Anyway, we ended up arriving in time for a quick lunch and then a tour of the galleries.   The current exhibition is about the works of Francis Bacon, an artist I find hard to appreciate, and I have to say we both found the permanent exhibitions of more interest. The first room houses pictures by a number of artists with Vesuvius featured in every painting. Seeing the different ways in which artists had interpreted a common theme was fascinating. However it was the top floor with its collection of British Folk Art objects that grabbed the attention.   Inn Signs and Trade Signs are just two of my favourite photography themes and we were delighted to come across some very old carved 3D inn signs and a whole range of Trade Signs, too. Talking to the room guide - always a bonus to be picked up by picking their brains - we learned more about not only the objects on display but background stories and items gleaned from talking to other visitors. Sadly photography is not allowed and I had committed the cardinal sin of forgetting to take my notebook into the galleries with me so I have been frantically trying to recall all the gems we heard. Certainly some of the signs were much older than we would have given credit for.   I have to admit to being somewhat dependent on my camera for recording things we find on our travels but a notebook comes a very close second in aiding the memory. Now all I have to do is to think how these latest titbits fit into my overall research of these topics.

Close to home

It is a sad fact we are probably more familiar with places we have visited on holiday than our own locality. A few years back I sent a letter to a local paper asking for readers' help with a topic I was researching. The editor was intrigued and in turn interviewed me for his paper. When he discovered some of the topics we enjoy searching out he asked if I had taken any shots of an example in a town less than ten miles away and I had to admit I had not.   With this in mind we have been visiting local towns on Sundays. Why Sundays? Two reasons. In our area parking charges are quite high but many places do not make a charge on a Sunday. More importantly there are less people about and I am far more likely to be able to take the photographs I want without waiting for people to pass. This was something we initially discovered when visiting towns and cities on holidays. Sundays were easier for negotiating unfamiliar streets and strange road layouts, too.   This is proving very useful. I already have enough pictures to support articles on a couple of my favourite topics. Having had a few pieces published by a couple of local magazines I needed new articles to pitch to the editors who are now familiar with my work and I often find the pictures throw up the themes. Admittedly a few places were not open so return visits will be needed but by taking the photos while I could easily do so I have much reduced the time we will need to spend on subsequent visits.   There has also been another benefit. People seem more relaxed and several have stopped to chat and have passed on local knowledge leading us to make more discoveries we may never have made on our own. All in all this is proving to be an excellent strategy.

Spring into summer

There was no way we were going to pass up the chance to go for a pootle yesterday with the first really warm and spring like day we have had. Aiming for a National Trust property that didn't open until 2 meant we had plenty of time to explore villages on the way and were delighted to find all the churches open. Found plenty of interest from decorative tiling to an intriguing gravestone and with walking around each village in search of other treasures as well we didn't arrive until 2 and still had our picnic to consume before we visited the house and grounds.   Eating a picnic out of doors rather than huddled in the car for the first time this year enabled us to watch the antics of a variety of bee species exploring the violets that abounded in the picnic area. The huge bumble bees weighed the delicate violets right down to the ground but they sprung up as soon as the bee moved on. We watched a tiny beetle climb right to the top of a blade of grass and then fly off. All these things that generally go on quite unnoticed.   The grounds of the house were a mass of daffodils, some as tall as the toddlers that wandered through them at snail pace despite the entreaties of their parents. It made a wonderful cheerful splash of colour and made you feel spring was really here at last. Before we headed home we went into the nearby village and down to the banks of the Thames where we watched a pair of swans enjoying a Jacuzzi thanks to the water rushing through the weir. Every now and then they stretched up to flap their wings and then settled back to put their feathers in place. Curtains of pale green willow hung down and diffused the bright sunlight and it all felt wonderful.   Returning to our car we were absolutely amazed to see not one but two swallows perched on the telephone cables. Not having a telephoto lens I hesitated to even attempt a photo but did manage to get a distant shot just to prove what we saw. Looking back at our records for last year it was another two weeks before we saw swallows in our own village only about thirty miles away. So one swallow may not make a summer but how about two?   Calling in at the shops on our way home I checked some magazines I had recently submitted letters to - something I do whenever I have had a week with no submissions at all - and was delighted to see one of my letters in TV Times. It was even better to receive a message from Susan later that evening letting me know about the letter in case I had missed it. What a great ending to a really special day.   Today has been just as sunny but other things have occupied out time although we did get out for a short walk and found plenty more flowers to photograph and I also got some shots of various trees in flower.

A fresh look

Had intended being on holiday this week but have ended up pootling locally and enjoying another short break in the New Forest. We were there around this time last year so it was interesting to make comparisons. Although technically a fortnight later the trees are not as advanced and the wild flowers not as prolific but the ponies were as much in evidence as ever and we did come across one mare with her very gangly new foal. The ponies still have their rather rough winter coat in the main and were often seen nibbling their backs and rubbing against trees. We also saw deer from the deer viewing platform set up in the area where wardens regularly feed to roe deer.   Over the past few years facilities for visitors have improved dramatically with way marked walks, set areas for barbecues, building camps with fallen timber and a host of ideas for people of all ages being established. One sad thing was to see the recently developed Tall Trees Trail fenced off. This level walk through an arboretum in the north west of the forest had been designed for those in wheelchairs or people with young children or buggies to enjoy. It took in the tallest, widest and straightest trees and had information boards for adults and children to follow. Unfortunately when the arboretum was set up rhododendrons were fashionable and they have now had to be cleared for the effect they are having on the Oak trees in the area. The trees are subject to Sudden Oak Death as a result. Although a new route has been laid out this avoids three of the five major attractions. A shorter route is the senses walk with examples of trees that can be touched, smelt and even listened to. Great fun.   Surprisingly I took few photos although anyone looking at those I did take would probably be very puzzled as several involved litter of various types. Even in this beautiful part of the country people cannot be bothered to take home their rubbish and cans, bottles and plastic remain as an eyesore and even worse as a hazard to the wild life. Seeing this brought on thoughts for an article, hence the pictures. Thank goodness with digital you no longer send things off to be printed. I cannot imagine what thoughts might go through the heads of processors if they saw some of the shots I choose to take!   There was even inspiration at the hotel. Not only did the guests themselves provide several opportunities for people watching with some interesting results but the hotel room contained a copy of the local county magazine so I was able to do market research after dinner. Arrived home too late to take part in the Chat session last night. However, on checking emails I found a request to provide an article for a magazine I wrote for last year. In the words of an old Royal Mail advert, the editor stated “I have a slot free in our summer issue and wanted a piece on helping children with number and I thought of you.”

Heritage Coast

After two long weekends spent helping our son with decorating and the week between spent dealing with various appointments and so on we are back home for a while and able to return to some form of normality.   Despite a heavy schedule of decorating tasks to tackle at the weekend we did spend some time exploring the beautiful and generally overlooked Heritage Coast south of the M4 near Bridgend. Driving round by Ogmore Castle with the stepping stones nearby for crossing the river we came across a Village Sign. This was one of those decorative signs erected by the community rather than a council sign and proved to be one of three along this stretch of coast. We have been photographing these signs for almost twenty years after spotting them in East Anglia where they originated and indeed where they are now very common. In Wales there are few examples so it was great to find these.   Although it was sunny the wind was very strong so we had a bracing walk along the river bank before driving on to where it meets the sea. Lovely beaches, numerous walks available and all relatively quiet. A real calm in busy weekend.

Nothing ventured

I spent much of yesterday afternoon checking facts and trying to get background to some themes I was thinking of writing about after our recent Devon trip. I was going well apart from one thing. I was trying to date a feature and was having no luck.   Eventually I found a firm repairing these features so decided to contact them. I received an immediate reply. If I sent a few of my photos they would be able to help me. I sent a sample as I thought maybe they were trying to assess the genuineness of my enquiry - I had after all used their contact us for a quote route. When I logged on this morning, there was their reply.   Each photo was given a description with information as to how the feature was produced. In my ignorance all the examples were the same construction but I was clearly wrong. Not only were the materials used varied but comments were made regarding the quality of the products too!   I never cease to be amazed by the help I receive when sending queries and the generosity of complete strangers.

Well Spotted

Research is usually something I do for myself. All sorts of things may set us off on a new tack – an article read, a piece on TV or something we spot on our travels. If it intrigues and we want to know more I’ll spend hours on the research – it is why I get little actual writing done – and I am fortunate that OH also enjoys our “treasure hunts.” However, I recently had some research done for me as someone contacted me through my website with a sighting of one of our “treasure” items.   I have had a website for a year, now. I’d never intended anything like this but I won a year of web hosting and it seemed a shame to waste it. As mentioned before I am not really into technology but my son offered to give it a go, especially as up to 3 sites could be hosted so he could set up one of his own.   My writing interest really grew out of my interest in taking photos. Originally taking slides to illustrate talks, I soon found it  less stressful and reached a much wider audience  writing articles. Naturally I included photos on the website – after all I had virtually unlimited space – and although I have had no response at all to the writing aspect of the site ( no editors begging me to provide even a filler for their magazine) I have had loads of hits on the images and a few people have made contact.   One such person last week thanked me for helping him to identify a plaque he had seen on a local building. Him, thanking me! I was delighted he bothered to tell me of his find for it was an example of a jubilee plaque of which I was unaware. It is twenty years since we started trying to track down any of these plaques remaining. An article sparked our interest as it mentioned one in our own locality. Then we saw another and a third. But wait a minute, that third one wasn’t on the list. We had spotted one of our own. Over the years, as we have travelled around on our holidays we have checked out others mentioned in the original article and discovered several by ourselves. Sadly some originally listed have disappeared, probably due to redevelopment of areas.   So, I thought, who else may be able to help? Maybe if I put a picture on my blog someone may have seen one in their locality. On my website I say they have been found in England and Wales. Thanks to my helpful researcher I can now confirm a sighting in Scotland, too.

Pootling and photographs

An overcast day made it ideal for photography yesterday. Not so good if I wanted to take views ( blue sky best in those) but for close-up photos of details like tiled doorways and signs the lack of sun casting shadows was a boon.   My husband views our trips as a sort of treasure hunt. We set out with some locations in mind but soon become side-tracked into villages, often by nothing more than the name or a sign promising an old church. Yesterday proved one of those days. In fact we despaired of ever reaching our two furthest points where we had very specific items to record – a painted wall advert glimpsed almost five years ago when we had no camera with us and an inn sign, not painted on board, but formed out of tiles.   Having walked up and down the streets of two small market towns – always go up and back, preferably returning on the opposite side of the road so as not to miss details on the sides of buildings – we fully appreciated what ribbon development meant as each was around a mile in length. With these and all the little villages that caught our eye we had just an hour left to capture our intended treasures.   The painted advert was located and we parked quite near. As I took a number of shots an elderly lady passing by commented that she was delighted someone was taking notice of the sign. She knew for a fact it had been there 54 years as she had lived there that long and she had seen it repainted a couple of times, too. Little details like that can only come from chatting to people.   Parking was trickier when it came to the inn sign so I had to trek back alone. I took a number of shots again, including several of the building and the new hanging sign alongside.   As a result of this pootle I now have pictures that fit into a number of categories with potential to illustrate several articles. One of the reasons I take several shots from slightly varied angles is to have a range to offer different editors. One may want detailed photos and another maybe a more general shot for example. The treasure hunt comes in when you think less than half the things photographed were even known to us at the start of the day and I have spent some of today researching the background to a couple of these. Now where exactly did highwaymen come into the picture?

Autumn shades

It's been a mixed bag of weather this week but Monday was one of those bright sunny days with no wind and we opted to make further use of our annual pass to Blenheim Palace and take a walk around the grounds. This was a regular walk for us in the past as the local school supported a sponsored walk in aid of the Sightsavers appeal and we were able to use the school minibus to take children who wanted to take part but had no transport. A circuit of the grounds on the route we used was about four and a quarter miles and many of the children completed more than one circuit raising quite appreciable funds for the charity. That was held a couple of weeks before Easter each year and apart from attending a couple of the Horse Trials in recent years we had not walked the grounds for over ten years and never this late in the year.   My aim was to take pictures of the autumn colours and we were not disappointed. The beech trees in particular were in a jewel-like array and several other species had at least started to turn following some frost at the end of last week. One of the saddest sights was to see all the Horse Chestnut trees completely denuded due to attacks by the leaf-mining moth grubs. These turn the leaves brown early as they are eating them from the inside. Over the past couple of years most horse chestnuts locally seem to have succumbed. They leaf as usual in spring and we are able to enjoy the sight on the lovely "candles" of flowers and then around June they begin to show splodgy leaves and by September we have an early leaf fall and far fewer conkers than of old. This problem seems to be spreading countrywide now and there is a link from the Autumnwatch site of the BBC programme allowing you to report sightings and help them map the progress of the disease.   Strangely we didn't see much in the way of fungi but there were plenty of pheasants out enjoying the sunshine and feasting on the seeds and corn spread for them.   The sun gave us some spectacular moments. There were some aspen trees with their quivering leaves turned a buttery yellow and they were catching the sun as though gilded. Unfortunately, the still camera could not capture the effects of the moving image so well. At one spot we stood watching a sheep dog rounding up a small flock and the sunlight was just highlighting their silhouettes and I took some pictures, pleased when the dog started to urge them in our direction. At this time we were on a narrow bridge and fortunately we realised in time where they were heading and made our way to the side just as the sheep clattered past. The sheepdog did make an attempt to include us in his flock but moved on as the sheep disappeared over the hump of the bridge.   All in all it was a magical afternoon and we felt all the better for being out of doors enjoying it. Pleased to discover I can still cover the distance and still be able to move afterwards, too.

Shell Collection

In recent years the National Trust has widened its choice of exhibitions in their properties offering some intriguing and often surprising views of the families who once occupied them and Upton House near Banbury is a good example.   It is years since we last visited the house although we have visited the gardens in September in recent years as they have the National Collection for Asters (Michaelmas Daisies) and the gardens are quite spectacular at any time being set on a steep south-facing slope. This year we noticed on the leaflet for the property that there is now a Shell exhibition. Lots of properties have shell collections as it was a popular hobby in times past but this really warrants the capitalisation.   Upton House was the country home of Lord Bearsted whose family accumulated their fortune through the Shell Transport and Trading Company, the family business. The exhibition has many postcard reproductions of posters and some of the original art works, some in draft form with margin notes and comments. The posters and other advertising literature were produced by some of the prominent artists of the day including Rex Whistler and Paul Nash, more generally known as a war artist. There were also copies of some of the famous Shell guides to counties including a copy of the very first volume on Cornwall written by John Betjeman.   All the Shell art work is in complete contrast to the art work elsewhere in the house which includes some stunning works from earlier centuries collected by the family and displayed here where visitors can examine them at close quarters. Amongst the collections there are indeed a number of shell boxes said to have inspired the famous Shell symbol for the company.

Apple Day

This week sees the 21st celebration of Apple Day on 21st October. Originally aimed at drawing attention to our dwindling apple varieties it has become a fun event for all the family at many venues across the country. The celebrations have spread beyond the day itself and you may well find events in your area from mid September until the end of October.   We generally try to get to at least one event, either locally or on a break elsewhere, each year and this year we chose to visit Waddesdon Manor, a National Trust house in Buckinghamshire. There were numerous stalls offering pies, cakes and even sausages made with apples. There was apple pressing for juice and cider and apple juices for sale along with a whole array of wines made from fruit and vegetables. These reminded me of wines made by my parents using dandelion flowers - it was back breaking picking the heads, enough to fill two buckets - parsnips and rhubarb. I recall the parsnip wine exploding one year and it was always described as enough to blow your head off so I wasn't surprised to find many of the wines rated as 14.5% alcohol.   The central attraction was, of course, the display of apple varieties. There were pears, quinces, tomatoes and a host of pumpkins, squashes and gourds as well but the apples were centre stage. Each variety was labelled identifying the first record of the variety, the best time to use the apples and whether they were cookers, dessert or dual-purpose apples. There were some magnificent specimens that would make an apple pie with a single fruit whilst others would be instantly rejected by those used to perfectly shaped and smooth apples despite the fact they were absolutely fine to eat with far more flavour than many popular varieties. There were people on hand to help identify and fruits you may have in a garden providing you could supply a few examples including the leaves for them to examine. Great for those who have inherited fruit trees with property and the organisers always hope to find a new or rather long-lost variety.   This particular event did not include games and activities but many have longest peel contests, games of bobbing for apples such as we did at Hallowe'en before the days of trick or treat and cookery demonstrations. Each Apple Day event is different. A number these days are organised by National Trust properties but garden centres, farms and community orchards are amongst those setting up events. It may not be too late for visiting an Apple Day this year. Just Google Apple Day for a list of events by county. If not, make a note in your diary for 2011.

Domesday - 925 years on

Domesday - 925 years on   I have just spent some time looking up various places on the BBC Domesday Reloaded site (<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/domesday">http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/domesday</a>) and quite fascinating it has been, too. Back in 1986 there was a project aiming to make a modern Domesday survey 900 years after the original ordered by William the Conqueror. The country was divided into squares and photos could be submitted and short pieces of writing about things local communities thought would interest people in the future. Much of the writing was done by primary aged children in local schools and the one where I was teaching was involved.   It is disappointing to find that only photos appear for the area covered by our school. I know there were some problems with producing the final Survey which was to be stored on two huge disks. I believe the technology did not really take off and it is only recently that the results have been available on-line. At the time our villages were threatened by the extension to the M40 from Oxford to Birmingham and in fact the route was changed somewhat after the Survey was completed but here you can read some of the concerns of those living in its path. A similar situation is currently going on not so far away as the route for High Speed train is debated.   I have already found accounts of major cattle markets no longer trading, companies that have amalgamated or lost altogether and events that no longer take place. Considering the time scale this is quite revealing. Well worth checking out for places you know and maybe even a resource tool to consider.

It's all in the detail

Visiting Reading recently, a town we know have known for many years, I finally remembered to pop a camera in my pocket with the aim of photographing a couple of details we had noted before. I always mean to take a camera as you never know what you may see and so often the unexpected happens when you are unprepared. The shopping area was surprisingly quiet, especially as it was a sunny day, but it did make it easier to take shots almost as soon as we spotted opportunities. (Even so, we still had people ducking down in an exaggerated manner as they walked past despite the camera being aimed way above their heads!)   With old themes I like adding to the photographic collection to widen the possible outlets for articles, especially local titles. Besides topics I have researched and written about for some time, I'm always on the lookout for new themes to follow up. In recent years I have added inn signs to the list. Pubs and inns are closing at an alarming rate and generally the signs are removed when they close. These pieces of street art have long helped add character to towns and villages but many of the pubs owned by the big breweries are losing their artistic signs in favour of bland text-only boards. I suppose this is meant to make them seem more up-market but they don't have the same impact. Only slightly less exciting are the screen printed Red Lions and other popular titles that appear outside many hostelries. So, if nothing else, do record the signs adorning your local before the art form disappears completely.   One thing Reading has in abundance is buildings of the Victorian era adorned with decorative terracotta plaques and swags and swirls. It was the number of these that had prompted me to take the camera. Besides many I recalled we found a number of others, some thanks to passers by realising what the camera was trained on and adding their own suggestions. (I've mentioned before that it pays to talk - and listen.) When examined in detail, of course, it is easy to see that many of these decorative pieces are not manufactured in one piece but are made up of many moulded sections, fitted together like a jigsaw. One benefit of using a camera with a zoom lens is being able to examine these decorations in more detail and the skill involved in creating these items that are purely decorative can be appreciated better, too.   We ended our day down by the Thames at Caversham where we were entertained by swans, ducks, geese and pigeons, all looking especially fine in the late afternoon sun that brought out all the colours in their plumage. Whoever said that British Birds were dull?

Out and about

This year Hatfield House in Hertfordshire celebrates its four hundredth anniversary. Not that we were aware of this when we planned our recent visit but it did mean we saw the exhibition of Henry Moore sculptures that have been brought in for this year. Seeing them in a garden setting seemed more in keeping than in an indoor exhibition. The house is the star, of course, and with the Great Hall being almost the first room you encounter you might expect the rest to disappoint but we met so many informative guides, willing to chat and impart the little details that make the place come alive, that we found it a delight from the formal rooms right down to the basement kitchens and domestic quarters. In the kitchens we saw sample menus and admired a display of thirty odd copper kettles which we learned were used by maids to take water to the upper floors for baths. No doubt many repeat trips were necessary and the baths lukewarm on really cold days as a result. We didn't have time to explore the park on this occasion but the gardens were a pleasant place to stroll and enjoy the sunshine. We were able to view the new sundial in the Sundial garden (only formally unveiled on Thursday - and enjoy displays of herbaceous plants and herbs, water features and knot gardens before wandering out into the "Wilderness" where the majority of the sculptures were displayed. However, as is my wont, it was the details that really took my eye. . We found many examples of green men masks, both indoors and out and from different eras. Symbolism was very important to people in Tudor times and once these had been pointed out in one painting we looked for the tiny details in others. The building that Elizabeth I would have known is the Old Palace, only one range of which remains, the other three sides of the courtyard being demolished to build the new house. Re-using the bricks of course - recycling is nothing new. Close inspection shows the bricks are laid differently to a modern wall. One row shows the long side of the brick much as we lay them today but the row above shows the small end of the brick with the bulk going back into the wall. Known as English bond, this is apparently the strongest way for a laying bricks for a single wall. Our staggered brick patterns are more recent being used for double walls. Our first visit to this particular house but hopefully not our last.

Poetry in the landscape

We have become used to seeing sculptures in both town and country settings as we travel around. Local authorities seem keen to support the visual arts and no new development is complete without its piece of sculpture. Bland shopping malls all containing the same mix of shops can often only be distinguished by their art work.   A number of these art works also support poetry, usually highlighting poems written about the location, or inspired by it in times past so it was refreshing to see some new poetry inspired by a very old landscape, one of the oldest in Britain in human terms. We recently revisited Grimes Graves near Thetford in Norfolk. Found within the confines of Thetford Forest the "graves" are not burial mounds as you might expect but the remains of some 400 flint mines where flint was mined for the production of flint tools. Using deer antlers the flints were dug out and ,as with nineteenth century industry, the flints were taken elsewhere to be manufactured into tools. Who says there is anything new?   When English Heritage wanted to update the display to cover the human aspects of the site Michael Rosen, Children's Laureate and poet, was asked to write some poems or charms to suit. These poems do not rhyme but have a rhythm which is quite haunting and is more typical of the poetry of old. One device used is the Kenning, a Norse form that I found very popular with children, and Michael Rosen has used this to great effect in one of the charms. In a kenning an object is not named but is described in a two word phrase so a cat may be a milk-lapper and some have been absorbed into our language as single words such as beachcomber. Rosen uses a number of these kennings such as pick-handlers and sky-watchers.   The display has an interactive section and one of the options is to hear Michael Rosen explain the background to the poems and to read them, allowing the full effect of the rhythm to be appreciated.   The challenge of the site lies in visiting the mine that has been completely excavated. Access is via a steep ladder with hard hats obligatory. “It's thirty two steps down and thirty two steps back up,” you are warned. We had made a previous visit years before with the children and knew that from the base of the pit a number of tunnels radiated out. What we had forgotten was how close to the ground they lay and with limited mobility from my hip I could only manage to access three of them but did manage some pictures and OH viewed them all. Although children under five are not allowed to descend the mine it does make a great place for children to visit and is quite unlike anything else around. However, on this occasion, the poems were definitely the icing on the cake

From the horse's mouth

Over the past few years OH and I have dabbled in tracing the history of our families simply using information from the family and those records that are increasingly available free on the net. One of the lessons we have learned is equally valuable for writing.   When the 1901 Census appeared on line I found a great uncle of mine listed as being a tailor’s lepe. I couldn’t find the word in the OED which at that time, thanks to a fascinating programme on words called Balderdash, was also free to search on line. I took it to be simply a local dialect word and left it at that. Of course, the free searches only offered access to the transcriptions of documents, not the scanned documents themselves. Anothe family branch seemed to have changed surname following a move to London. This lead to much speculation.   With at least two mysteries created we bit the bullet and decided to study the actual documents and there we found the simple solutions. My uncle was not a tailor’s lepe after all. The word was actually "help" and had been transcribed incorrectly due to the handwriting. With this discovery we were not surprised to find that the other family had not changed their name at all. Their unusual surname had simply been written badly and the Jones substituted, presumably as a best fit.   When researching topics for articles I have found lots of inconsistencies, especially with on line resources, and have found it most helpful to contact publications, record offices and so on direct to make sure the information is accurate. For the most part I have found people only too willing to send information – even research something locally – and on occasion have been sent copies of clippings from old newspapers or magazines and a whole range of data. If you can narrow down specific queries it is well worth trying this route. Editors do not want a host of letters from readers anxious to point out the errors in their publication. In this, as many other things these days, back to basics is the key.

Search for inspiration

Various things have conspired to make writing difficult this past week, not least having the whole family visiting for a celebration at the weekend. In fact the only actual writing done in the past week was undertaken whilst waiting for an appointment and I ended up using a number of scraps of paper for this from till receipts and shopping lists to the envelope for the appointment. I have still to transcribe that lot.   Meanwhile we spent one day visiting the Heritage Motor Museum with family members. This might not have been my choice - vehicles have no interest other than their ability to transport on the whole  -  but I could appreciate the historical details and confess to even trying out some of the activities. Of late I have become increasingly aware of how much is now provided to keep all the family amused at such venues. Here there were regular tables with tracing and colouring activities, paper car models to make and other fun crafts in addition to the hands-on machines and vehicles that could be clambered over. A recent visit to the River and Rowing Museum at Henley revealed numerous activities around the museum and even a rucksack of items for children to carry allowing them to do puzzles or crafts in any location. Mark you most would not want to leave the wonderful Wind in the Willows display or the activity room with rowing boats and rowing machines and puzzles galore.   So, activities for children or the way in which venues attract families is definitely one area to consider for an article. However, I often find something quite small can spark an idea. In this instance it was two menus for dinners to celebrate milestones in car manufacture. One for a group of dignitaries was written in plain straightforward English. The second, for a works dinner, was all in French although a rough translation I managed suggests the fare was pretty basic nonetheless. I began to recall menus I had seen at other venues and realised there must be an article in this. With our own celebrations in mind I suppose this was bound to spark the idea but I know what I shall be on the lookout for on our trips now.

Another case of serendipity

I recently wrote an entry on my website  about the things one finds when visiting a church. Whenever we explore a location we always try to visit the church as, besides being most likely the oldest building in the community, so many other things are housed there these days. We have seen at least three old fire engines - well fire pumps really - in locations nationwide and more than once we have learned of local customs from artefacts or photos in a church.   Earlier this week we went out to take a specific photograph for a piece I was writing, combining this with fetching in some groceries. Never liking to take the same route both ways if we can pootle we returned via a village we had explored some years ago and decided to walk round again and take new pictures. We parked near the church but this was our last port of call. As I was reading a notice in one area OH was browsing the publications searching out a copy of the church guide and he spotted a free local magazine. This was new to us and glancing through I could see possibilities.   It seems it is not just new to us but this was only the second issue. An email to the editor for guidelines received an almost instant response - maybe because as yet he is not commissioning work but is looking for this for later in the year. However he has been back to me after checking out the website (first time I have had an evidence of this happening despite quoting it on all queries) and has asked for some suggestions. Early days I appreciate and maybe come to nothing but you really don't know what you may learn in church. Yet another case for serendipity at work this year.

The Benefits of Conservation

No doubt when the various bodies involved in the conservation of historic sites set about their task the consideration of the natural world is not a high priority yet we are acutely aware on our travels that these sites are often the best for observing wild-life, especially of a floral nature.   The steep banks of castle mounds for example allow a multitude of species to flourish and the ruins themselves support a wide range of opportunistic plants. On one site we recorded over thirty species that we could identify easily and there were others that will take some more research to name with confidence. One thing that becomes obvious when looking outside your own location is the diversity of flowers that grow in this country, some growing only within a very restricted geographical area. Whilst I am reasonably confident naming plants locally a trip of only fifty miles can produce a number of puzzles to solve.   The flowers are the obvious indicators of the benefits of these historic sites but they in turn support insects, birds and small mammals. Without these areas free from pesticides and other human activity there would be many more species of flora and fauna at risk.   Next time you visit a castle or even a stately home look around for signs of nature. Don’t overlook the obvious species such as daisy and clover but look out for others, too. We have found a camera an excellent tool. When locating an unknown flower taking a quick photo usually provides sufficient information to make an accurate identification from a field guide at our leisure. In fact a camera is becoming as indispensible as a notebook on our travels and is used for far more than simply an aide memoire.

Windfalls

Talk about a windfall these days and people probably think of financial gain yet for many country people in particular a windfall offered easy pickings for fruit as the wind had done the picking job for them.   In the past week we have seen several crab apple trees with a sea of red or yellow fruit at the base and in one village a large plum tree with deep purple fruit overhangs to road and was busy dropping its burden yesterday as we passed. Along the canal a round yellow plum attracts a mass of wasps on sunny days but will now have deposited much of the crop on the tow path. No doubt with the strong winds forecast for this week much of the crop of all these trees will become windfalls.   In cider-making country there may be a demand for these apple windfalls and those from trees in the gardens as it takes around 20lb of fruit to create a gallon of juice for cider. Other uses for the fruit include crab apple jelly or chutney.   Fruits from cultivated varieties can be pressed for their juice, combined with blackberries for bramble jelly or even bottled. I recall seeing shelves of bottled preserves when I visited a great aunt at the country residence where she was cook and her husband the gardener. It was a colourful sight.   Summer holidays were spent largely at the home of a maiden aunt. In the garden were several dessert apple trees, a cherry, a pear and a Victoria plum tree and two large Bramley apple trees whose branches were far too high for safe picking and the fruit regularly fell to the ground towards the end of the summer holiday and attracted the wasps. My aunt used to encourage local families to come and fill bags with the windfalls to save them going to waste. I can remember being very indignant when some of the children picked apples from the tree as well as picking up fallers but my aunt was happy to turn a blind eye! She made wonderful apple pies and preserved what she could but there was no way she could keep pace with the quantity. Her plum jam was also a delight and quite unlike the bright red version supplied by the local grocer.

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