Time to chill before moving on

Watch our Youtube video of 'Springtime in Gloucestershire, showing a frame a day of the trees gradually coming into leaf:  https://youtu.be/vYXQgC1de-0

A very sleepy Charlie cat sleeps on Jackies lap

Long time no blog as we had virtually a week with no guests and not such good weather. Not bad weather by any means, but a chill wind was certainly an excuse to stay in, relight the fire, jigsaw, read and crossword. We had a day out to the Forest of Dean where we started the sculpture trail through the woods, we started off with just the photo of the map and information on the sculptures, but got to the first junction and decided this was going to be too difficult, so B had to trot back to the shop to buy the walking guide – a whole £1! We saw the first 2/3 of the sculptures before nipping back to the café for a warming lunch. “Shall we do the rest?” “No, we’ll wait till Mum is here” which we did, and finished off yesterday.

One of the sculptures on the Forest of Dean Sculpture Trail

Carved railway sleeper sculpture on a disused railway line

The drive has been ‘done’ – edging slabs and stones and tonnes of gravel, fortunately we only had to watch and move the car around out of the way! It did however seem to upset little Lottie, the grey cat who lives downstairs. That or she just fancied a weekend away! Whichever, we didn’t see her from about 17.00 on Friday till 23.00 on Sunday (and she wasn’t in at 22.00) when as you can imagine we were very pleased to see her. She was very hungry so we suspect she’d been shut in at one of the two houses that hadn’t answered when we’d gone out looking, and then they’d come home from a weekend away!

Jackie points out that this sculpture says 'Silence'.What's the point of that!

Some old bloke sits with Fred the cat on his lap

Mum arrived on Wednesday for a few days, feeling much better than she had when she came when the kids were her, thank goodness. Wednesday we finally went to Ledbury (our nearest town) and met up with Richard, a friend of hers form Hanbury Hall National Trust house where she volunteers, it’s one of his favourite towns, so it was good to meet up and be shown a good lunch spot. We then all encouraged Mum in the retro clothes shop, providing lots of entertainment for the staff and other customers. We had a little bit of history in the painted house where we were taken by a lady in period costume we’d bumped into in the street.  All back home for tea and cake, before Richard returned home, and we whipped up a quick soup as none of us were really hungry.

STOP! The next photo is 'X' rated and shows the massacre at Redmaley D'Abitot. No cat owned up to it!

 

Innards and a decapitated mouse head with whiskers, little nose and open eyes.How horrible is that!

Fred and Ginger (brother and sister) share a quiet moment together

A leisurely start on Thursday, followed by a short walk from the house when typically it rained, only a few drops, but enough for us to take the short route. Followed by a little trip to Ross while the bread finished cooking. Home for fresh bread and butter and jigsaw, felt like we’d done loads of things. At bedtime we realised we hadn’t seen Ginger for a while which was slighty unusual, but they all come and go at will. We were just about to turn the light off when there was a little scratch at the door, Ginger came in, walked round, ‘apologised for missing the last bus so being later than expected’ and went again, very funny, and very reassuring. 

The ancient Market House in Ledbury

Richard, Pauline and Jackie outside Mrs.Muffins Cafe in Ledbury

More walking on Friday, finished off the sculpture trail and went to Symonds Yat to walk by the river, interesting watching the police and fire search and rescue team training in the river! 

Today we have started packing up stuff as Richard and Judith return tomorrow, we are staying and cooking for them as they will have had a long journey from the South of France in two days. That is assuming we haven’t changed the locks and just refuse to let them back in! 

The fabulous, very old and large church in Ledbury

They have asked if we can fit in a few days later in the summer and have the four dogs too……! That’ll be more of a challenge, but we’ve loved it here so much we really hope we can manage it.

Richard, Pauline, Brian and Jackie in front of the 16th century wall paintings discovered in the 'Painted Rooms', Ledbury

 

The splendid Ledbury clocktower

 

Jackie, Brian, Richard and Pauline back in time for afternoon tea and cake

 

Jackie and Pauline on the next days walk from the house

 

Home baked bread! The smell and the taste - wow!

 

Afternoon hot bread, butter and jam, tea and a jigsaw, how splendid!

 

Jackie and Pauline at The Chair sculpture back at the Forest of Dean sculpture trail

 

This is a plastic sculpture which is a copy of the old quarry behind

 

Help me I'm trapped!

 

Jackie reads out the 'purple prose' in the Sculpture Trail leaflet

 

Stained Glass Window sculpture. Probably much better with the sun shining through it

 

It is perfectly possible to get grannies to act silly!

 

Jackie goes for a crawl inside. No actually, she just took her shoes off and placed them there!

 

Hobbit Brian. Why have they got that orange paint on my tree!?

 

Watching the Police and Fire rescue practice in the cold River Wye at Symonds Yat