David Bowie Night

Dave Wilkinson and chums did a fantastic job of arranging and performing an evening of David Bowie songs. The evening was sensational and I was proud to be asked to play in some of the numbers.

Here's the band

Tim on drums did a great job of dressing up and makeup!

And so did vocalist Sharon...

...And Guy on bass

Here's Dave with his sparkling eye

And Steve on keys (and Stylophone in Space Oddity)




















Here's a link to a gallery with more pictures including a couple of the special guests.

Walking the South Downs Way

Day 1 - Winchester to Meonstoke


The official starting point is King Alfred's statue and Eastbourne is 100 miles east.


Here's the route for the morning (all routes are external links to Google Maps)


You'll see that we stopped at the Millbury's pub for a lunchtime drink and defrost

And here's the afternoon route

We stayed at the Buck's Head in Meonstoke

Day 2 - Meonstoke to East Meon


It was rather muddy! Here's Karin negotiating the damp path on the way up to Old Winchester Hill


Here's our day 2 route

Day 3 - East Meon to Buriton.


It rained. But there was a lovely pub in Buriton where we had lunch and dried out ready to walk another mile to our B&B at Nursted Farm


Here's the day 3 route

Day 4 - Buriton to Cocking


The start of the day was misty and it rained again in the afternoon. This time we got very wet and the pub in Cocking was just closing. Luckily, Sue and Steve at the lovely Malthouse B&B were more than happy to let us in early and we changed into dry clothes. We had a lovely meal there and it turned out that Steve plays English trad music, so we had a jam session to round off the evening. We also met the Four Amigos for the first time - a group of retired chaps walking the same route as us.


Here's the day 4 route

Day 5 - Cocking to Amberley


The sun shone and all was well with the world. We walked part of the way with the Amigos and stayed at the Sportsman in Amberley.


Here's the route for day 5

Day 6 - Amberley to Steyning
This route took us past Chanctonbury Ring, an Iron Age hill fort and we were fortunate to be able to see the stunning views from the top.


The Chequers in Steyning was our only B&B disappointment and we parted company from the Four Amigos here as well.
Day 6 route

Day 7 - Steyning to Pyecombe


This took us over Devil's Dyke, where we met old friends Collette, Dave and Molly for lunch and they walked a short way along the SDW with us.


The descent into Pyecombe is dominated by views of the 2 windmills, Jack and Jill. Jill was working that day so we could see the sails turning. The B&B here, Hobbs Cottage, was fantastic.

Here's the route we took in the morning

And here's the route after our lunch

Day 8 - Pyecombe to Kingston-Near-Lewes


We went past the windmills and off to Kingston, where we stayed for 2 nights so we could have a good look round Lewes, the county town of East Sussex.


Here's the route

Day 9 - Kingston to Alfriston


Another sunny day and we had a very pleasant walk to Alfriston where we had a cream tea and visited the National Trust's Clergy House (link to NT website) - the first house purchased by the NT for £10 in 1896.


The route for day 9

Day 10 - Alfriston to Eastbourne


The final push took us over the Seven Sisters - a series of folds in the downs with sheer cliffs dropping down to the English Channel. Whilst a bit scary, it's good that there are no fences and that, in this health and safety paranoid world, people are trusted to make their own decisions about acting sensibly.
Here's the route for that last day


So, overall, we walked closer to 130 miles after taking into account diversions for interesting things and the extra walk to and from B&Bs


There are many more photos in this gallery.


Maps were collected by running Google MyTracks on a Samsung Galaxy Tab - and it worked very well. 

The Cloud at the White Horse, Stony Stratford

I went to see The Cloud (formerly Cloud 9 but now trendier) and it was good! In spite of challenging lighting conditions, I managed to get some good shots

Here's Dave on guitar

Steve on keys

Ant on bass

Glen on drums

Guest singer Kelly

Guest guitarist Andy Fenton.


















And here's a link to more photos

A Springtime Walk

Milton Keynes has some excellent planting including drifts of thousands of daffodils which delight us for a few weeks in early spring.

Here's a drift near the Willen Tree Cathedral

Here's an "artistic" shot. It went wrong, but there's something about it...

Sunlight playing on the floor of the aisle of the tree cathedral

 A roadside drift

Odd one out

Moose Drool moored near Campbell Park

A Birthday Celebration

It was Stephen Wass's 60th. He invited ten of us to a private dinner at Ettington Park near Stratford on Avon. Ettington Park is a magnificent neo-gothic pile in extensive grounds with the river Stour running through.

The entrance hall with wellies

The house through the (possible) Saxon window in the ruined church. The church was abandoned when the gentry exercised their right to enclose - and kicked out the locals and cleared the village.

Dinner for 10 in the chapel

Stephen can't leave his archaeology behind. There's a dilapidated summer house in the grounds and he and Verna saw parallels with the one at Farnborough Hall and asked me to take some pictures.

A ruined tunnel system in the grounds. Possibly an ice house or maybe a grotto.

Here's the birthday boy

And here he is with Verna


















There are more images here should you be interested

A Snowy Trip to Farnborough Hall

A trip to Farnborough Hall with archaeologist Stephen Wass to record some details of the so-called dairy. The dairy is now used as an animal shelter. Its original purpose is unknown, but it can be seen from the house, the cascade and the terraced walk so it is thought that it is possibly a feature to do with the parkland. There is much more research to be done to establish its context in the park.

The cascade was looking magnificent in the snow

The purpose of the visit was to record some of the features of the dairy. The floor under the shelter has brick pavings and a stone channel to carry water (and other liquids) away. The brick has collapsed near to the wall, possibly into a culvert or opening below.

Stephen wanted a photographic record of the carpenter's marks on the roof timbers. It looks as though this timber has been reused a few times.

Inside the main section of the dairy in the milking parlour, the carpenter's marks take a different form. This time they're chisel marks of differing lengths to show which beams and king posts are matched

Here's an internal door with some interesting iron work.

Finally we had a look at the collapsed cricket pavilion elsewhere on the the estate. According to the head gardener, this was standing 10 years ago so it shows how quickly buildings can deteriorate when not properly maintained. This will be the subject of  a detailed survey during the coming weeks.




Loads more images can be seen in the gallery here

Stephen's website is here

Here's the National Trust's Farnborough Hall site

And there's some historical stuff here

Autumn Colours at Stowe

The house at Stowe, home in the 18th century to the Temple family and its head Viscount Cobham, is now an exclusive public school. The grounds, which were laid out by Charles Bridgeman, William Kent and Lancelot "Capability" Brown, are in the hands of the National Trust. There are miles of walks with temples, statues and stunning vistas.

Karin waiting patiently by the steps of the Queen's Temple. It was where Lady Cobham would entertain her lady friends and is now used by the school as a music room.

The memorial to Captain Cook in its watery surroundings.      

The Temple of Venus

The Temple of British Worthies - still a good place for a group portrait.

View from the Grotto, recently reopened after extensive restoration

You can see more images in the  gallery here

And here's the  National Trust site for Stowe
And here's a  Wikipedia article about the park and gardens