Me On Monday: A Full Weekend

The idea of Me On Monday was created by Sian from High in the Sky whose blog I regularly used to follow. Sadly she has had a prolonged break from blogging and I am pretty sure that I am not the only one to miss her. The purpose of her Monday slot is that everyone recounts their new experiences of the weekend. It is a long time since I participated but after a busy weekend with no time for blogging it seems like a good time to pick up the thread.

Saturday morning I took the train to Cardiff for the day. I like travelling by rail for a bit of a change and I knew I wouldn't need my car when I got there so I could sit back and relax. I met up with Student Daughter and we headed to one of the Victorain Shopping Arcades for brunch in Barkers Tea House. We were not disappointed.

SD insisted that we chose different dishes so that we could do a swop half way.

                 

Then it was off to Cardiff Castle  for a good look around.  I have passed the gates many times but never been inside. Here is a taster photo but there will be more later in the week.

We then headed by taxi to Cardiff Bay for a bit of a wander.

The bay consists of a large freshwater lake created by a barrage where the old Cardiff Docks were situated. Once a busy dockyard exporting Welsh coal it fell into disuse before being regenerated at the turn of the century.

It is now a thriving collection of shops, restaurants, recreational facilities and upmarket housing. Some old buildings remain such as the Norwegian Church where Roald Dahl was christened.

Another building of some note is the Pierhead Building which used to be the headquarters of the Bute Dock company.

It was then time for further refreshments.

Suitably repleted we headed to the Cardiff Millennium Centre to see The National Theatre's War Horse. We had both seen it some years ago but it held up well to a second visit.

It was then time after a quick supper to return home.

On Sunday we had 11 for a family lunch with several more family members in the afternoon. Fortunately I had prepared most of the food earlier in the week. My brother entertained all with his model steam traction engine.

There were rides for young and old.

Plus a bit of competition from a plastic tractor.

A good time was had by all.

Colours in Close Up

I still haven't had a chance to show all the pictures that I took at Dyffryn Gardens a few weeks ago. Today I have chosen a few, mainly close up pictures of flowers that cover some of the colour options in the SPSH.

The fernery was an ideal place for plenty of green for No. 6 Glorious Green.

The delicious looking vegetable garden is another option although I also half expect to see Peter Rabbit and Mr McGregor lurking in the background...

The rose garden gave plenty of Pretty in Pink options for No. 11.

The recent shower of rain left drops of water on the flowers.

The lily pond had some more possibilities.

Blue Hydrangeas are something that we can't grow with our lime soil but this one in the gardens is a candidate for No. 15 Out of the Blue.

Then finally No. 20 Mellow Yellow. 

I particularly like this Tulip tree flower with it's fabulous markings.

I can see that the final choices are going to be tricky this year.

Take Three Thursday: The Combine Harvester

There is only one theme that I can choose to join in with Mary-Lou's Take Three Thursday. The last couple of days I have talked about harvesting the barley. Today the combine harvester was back in action after a day's break. It has not finished yet but has cut a good amount.

So here are three pictures taken yesterday of the barley harvesting.

1. Long distance view.

2. The combine close up

3. Downloading the grain which is taken back to the farm to be stored.

It's a little early this year but it's good to see the end result of a year's hard work.

The Harvest Begins

The Combine Harvester did start on Monday and one field of barley was cut before the heavy shower of rain came. Tuesday saw the combine parked up waiting for the next field to dry out. Hopefully it will start again tomorrow.

Can you see the unexpected reflection?

Meanwhile the straw is all being baled ready fo use as bedding.

We make all small bales, a lot of which are used for horses.

This year it is a good golden colour.

Soon all the bales were stacked up ready to transport in.

It now all has to be stacked in the hay barn.

Treasures in the Attic

We have started the rather sad task of clearing Mother in Law's house. It is a bit of a roller coaster of emotions as snippets from her life are revealed. It has also proved to be an insight into previous generations. We have found a small case in the attic which we believe belonged to the first generation of the family to live at the farm namely Florence who was my husband's paternal grandmother.

Amongst postcards, greetings cards and school exercise books we found some photos. These that I have chosen show life on the farm decades ago.

The arduous job of haymaking.

We think this shows Florence herself but have not been able to identify the child.

There are several school photos including this one which was at Winford School, we think probably in the 1920's soon after they came to the farm. We assume that some of Florence's children are amongst these pupils but haven't been able to identify them.

Then this last picture shows Florence's youngest child called William who was born just after they arrived at the farm. Known as Bill he was Farmer Husband's dad and sadly died in his 50s. Seen here he is stood in the yard which is now tarmac showing the barn behind which is now our house.

Priceless pieces of our family's history.

The Season of Plenty

The weather as I have often said can be the main topic of conversation with our customers. We are either having discussions about it being too wet or lately about it being to hot and dry. It seems we are never satisfied. It's rather like that in farming for example at the moment it is good sunny weather to mature the grain but rather hot and dry to plump up the potato tubers.

Equally too wet a spell can result in potato blight causing havoc to the crop. Are we ever content?

It's now time to start harvesting the barley and the combine harvester is due to start cutting today. I thought I better get a picture for Field of Plenty for No. 10 of the SPSH before the barley disappears.

Perhaps even a choice for  No. 6 Glorious Green too.

While I was out there I had a go at No. 9 Appears smaller than you. It took me quite a while to click my brain into gear as to what this prompt was all about but I finally found a tree which will sit on my shoulder...

A Spectacular Interior

Last Wednesday I posted about Kedleston Hall , a grand house in its own parkland on the edge of Derby. Today I am taking you back there to give you a little taster of the spectacular interior. We arrived before the house was open and so were able to join a talk in the marble hall on the history and architecture of the house. This also gave us the opportunity to enter by the great north portico which is reached by stone steps as shown in the external photos shown the other day. We had a little wait for the beginning of the tour during which Student Daughter took this view of the ornately carved portico ceiling. I might add that the bulge in the pillar is just an optical illusion created by the camera.

We then entered into the first of the rooms on the 'piano noble' notably this grand hall.

It was designed you Robert Adam to give the impression of an open courtyard in the Roman style lit mainly from above. The grand Roman theme is added to by the statues in the alcoves and the remarkable alabaster columns.

Perhaps even a possibility for No. 2 of the summertime photography scavenger hunt Stripes.

The inlaid Italian marble floor is now posing quite a few problems for the National Trust. The weight of all the columns is taking its toll on the floor and the ceiling below and the public are no longer allowed access across it.

This means a detour through some of the other rooms to reach the saloon at the far end. The wait to get there is worthwhile to see the fabulous ceilings at the full height of the house.

Then a look back through the doors to the hall and entrance.

A few further photos taken by Student Daughter show the grandeur of the rest of the rooms.

Grand but certainly not cosy and comfortable!

The ground floor also has a large exhibition of some of the collection of items brought home from India by Lord Curzon who was Viceroy of India in the beginning of the 20th Century. Many of these are very interesting but not considered PC in this day and age.

I don't think I would want that in front of my fire!