A view across to the Watership Down (Inn)

 

Another fine view in Hampshire

One of the finest views in Hampshire......

NGS Open Day at Farleigh Wallop, view from the patio doors.

Walking in Wiltshire

Amazing part of the world, and on my doorstep more or less.

Lovely pub at the end of the 5 miles, I shall return!

I'm jamming....

Rhubarb & vanilla to be precise!

Bumper crop of rhubarb this year

So I think Saturday will be spent making rhubarb & vanilla jam!

Stranded.....

The road outside my house is being resurfaced this week..... no access most of the day today!

Fledged then dead

I found these two dead Blue Tit chicks on the driveway this morning whilst getting ready for my 08:00 appointment with the local Council Waste Recycling Centre (it's empty before 08:30 on a Sunday!).

I have lots of bird boxes around the grounds with lot's of activity this year, let's hope the parents can raise a second or third brood.

2nd crop of the day.....

And todays second crop from the garden is Rhubarb.... the pink stalks are now being prepped into julienne strips and poached in a vanilla & marsala syrup for a dinner party dessert tomorrow night served with a Panna Cotta. The rest will be served as a crumble.

The garden produce season has started.....

The sun is out, the strawberry plants have been thinned & the first crop from the garden this year is Asparagus. It will be lightly steamed later, then wrapped in parma ham topped with parmesan shavings & grilled, served with a small salad and a cheeky Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc..... happy days!

Bargain of the week.......

I know I don't need another camera, but this offer was too good to turn down....  Currys have this full HD, 12 megapixel, 20x optical zoom, GPS enabled digital camera for just £129.00 - more gadgets & features than you can shake a stick at, but more importantly, it takes really good, crisp clear photo's very easily.

The downside, I now have 7 different Canon battery chargers on my study desk.....

A stormy night....

I went for dinner at a friends house in Amport on Friday night - a non-Valentines Day evening, works for me.

After a couple of glasses of recently discovered Bourgogne Aligote I had helped my host purchase from BBR in Basingstoke, dinner was about to be served when the power went off, luckily it was only off momentarily, so the euphoric cheer of the dinner party guests probably masked what was going on outside, this tree had fallen across the road & rested on the power & phone cables. Needless to say the exit at 1:00AM to meet the taxi was a bit of assault course test, but we managed.

When I went back earlier today to pick up the car, I saw this sight, the water level has risen so far that water is spouting through the manhole covers along the road. Water was also spurting water through the vent holes the retaining wall if the garden creating a wonderful lake on the patio & a river coursing through the gravel driveway, nothing like the floods in Surrey, but worrying enough.

A little further down the road, the sound of chainsaws continued & this huge tree was next on the list for firewood..... makes my broken fence panels & posts seem an insignificant inconvenience.

A coveted item finally purchased......

I have for years wanted a KitchenAid Artisan mixer, but the hefty price tag & the fact that I had a perfectly good Kenwood mixer in the cupboard prevented me from logically purchasing another mixer.

But now, after a good number of years service & recent few weeks of bread making, the Kenwood has finally given up the ghost & blown up. So now I have an all white satin painted & frosted glass KitchenAid mixer, the spectrum of colours available was mind boggling, but I'll stick with the clean sharp white. The catalogue of attachments seems quite good & comparable to the old Kenwood Chef range that my Mum used to have, so I'm sure I will invest in a couple of those in due course... but in the meantime it comes with a dough hook, so more bread making is on the cards.

Salisbury Cathedral tower tour

The internal wooden scaffolding structure of the c1320 spire at Salisbury Cathedral which is hollow, as seen on one of their amazing tours. A windy day made for some exciting climbs up stairs with the whistling noise all around, some very scared tourists and some disappointing views from a vantage point atop the tower (209ft up!)

Salisbury Christmas Market 2013

Particularly quiet at Salisbury Christmas Market this evening, loads of stalls, fantastic selection of food on sale, lovely smells floating around of Mulled wine, hot chocolate, churros & even a Swiss Raclette stall!

A day out in Winchester.....

Lovely day off, spent the whole day in Winchester in & around the Cathedral. Lunch at the Old Vine and an evening shopping at the Christmas Market in the Cathedral grounds. The Old Vine is a A new find & one I shall be revisiting, a lovely pub in Cathedral square, an old fashioned dining room with log fire, excellent food, great service & good value.

Took a guided tour of the tower which included a rooftop walk, as we were the only 2 people booked and they were training a new guide, the 90 minutes turned into 2.5 hours with the guides showing us all of the hidden bits that bigger tours don't get to see. The photograph shows looking directly south from the very top of Winchester Cathedral, Winchester College to the left of the picture, the Wykeham Arms in the streets below, St Cross just below the horizon & in the distance on a clear day you can see the Isle of Wight, you could just make out the flares at Fawley today.









My photograph from the "most photographed spot in Europe" according to the guide. It is one of the largest cathedrals in England, with the longest nave and greatest overall length of any Gothic cathedral in Europe. It was said that Hitler didn't bomb the area, as he wanted to be crowned ruler of England in the cathedral when the war was won, such is the historical significance of this City as a powerbase for England. It is said that at one time one third of the available currency [gold & silver] was stored in the Chancery in the cathedral.

The Christmas market by night, lovely in the middle of the week, heaving madness at weekends apparently.

A tree reduced to logs......

... but only after it was struck down in the gales last month.

A local huge cedar tree felled by the winds has been converted to fire wood for the winter. Lot's & lot's of lovely slow burning firewood, makes me wish I had an open fire again.

The stark contrast of Autumn colour

A processed monochrome shot of a tree I used to walk past every day when a schoolboy, walking down from John Hanson to my father's shop behind the Station Hotel for a lift home when he had finished work.

A full colour of the same shot, I have only slightly tweaked the colours & contrast with Snapseed & Paintshop Pro, very beautiful even today without much sunshine. Lot's of the leaves have dropped, but still a load more to go.

I've used Snapseed on the iPad for a while, but was very unhappy to see Google had withdrawn the Windows version, fixed that problem now though!

MESMERiZE & 600000YT6ZCNQ9YF5CQRR7J48

Autumnal walk at RHS Wisley

Last visit here was in May, much quieter today. The colours were lovely, still quite a few things in blossom. I'm still discovering new areas of the gardens to explore, even after half a dozen visits.

The last of the fruit on the tree's, free pickings of the windfallen fruit could be had.

Restaurants were busy, but efficient service was had. Food as always was excellent, and actually not too expensive. Lot's of nice Christmas present idea's on show & the bookshop as always had a couple of stunning garden books to add to the collection of coffee table titles.

A walk in the (Royal) Park.....

A walk from Bishopsgate to Windsor was had today, 3.5 miles each way, it would have been better without the Windsor Half Marathon taking place, but nevertheless a nice, warm, sunny autumnal day was had. Saw lots of flora & fauna in the morning, the start of rutting season meant that the stags were barking & displaying, but as soon as the masses arrived everything went off to hide.

A return trip soon for the Autumn colours will be had.


Quite surprised how close you could get to this stag, I was expecting a Japanese tourist to go & sit next to it & have a photo taken.

The standard view from the George III statue looking north along the Long Walk to Windsor Castle, lovely spot, shame about the aircraft noise!

At the top of the Long Walk close to the Castle gates, these willow arches have been erected to commemorate something. Quite interesting, but not quite as interesting to note that in the 1800's this area was particularly known for the loitering prostitutes allegedly servicing the needs of the gated community within!