Postcards – Page 109 – TRAVEL WORDS

One Day One World Project: 10:00 – 11:00

a smoking goat?

On Saturday 20th September Taffy (formally known as Corporal William Windsor), the regimental goat, came to Ludlow along with the 1st Battalion Royal Welsh who were given freedom of the town to mark the 325th anniversary of the Royal Welch Fusiliers.

Ludlow mayor Jim Smithers said “As well as being the 325th anniversary of the raising of the Royal Welch, 2014 is the 100th anniversary of the start of the Great War, so this is the perfect time to commemorate the gratitude of the people of Ludlow to the soldiers past and present who have served this country, not least the Royal Welsh Regiment and its predecessors.”

No-one mentioned the hills

Who’s a pretty boyo?

Corporal William Windsor

The history of the regimental goat dates back to the American War of Independence when a wild goat wandered on to a battlefield and ended up leading the regimental Colours at the end of a battle.

There are perks to the job too because Taffy gets a two-a-day cigarette ration, (he eats, them as traditionally the tobacco is thought to be good for the coat) and Guinness to drink when he is older “to keep the iron up“.

Lisa of the blog NorthWest Frame of Mind has decided to run a different project over the next 24 weeks. To try to show what is happening in different parts of the world (if you all join in) at a particular time of day. If you would like to participate you have until next Saturday midnight to post a photo or write about what is happening in your part of the world. This week is between 10:00 – 11:00. I hope you’ll join in! See links for more details.

Never a dull moment in Ludlow!

One Day One World Project: 09:00 – 10:00

the food market

A food and drink festival is held in Ludlow twice a year. In spring and autumn. In addition a regular outdoor market is held every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday; a local produce market twice a month on a Thursday and sometimes there is a craft market on a Sunday. I have posted some of the window displays for the festivals, now let’s take a look at some of the stalls:

Cheese

I quite like a “Mojito” cocktail. Preferably in a glass.

Sausages, Sausage Rolls and Pies

Even those delightful heart-shaped boards can be bought from the market.

Eggs

Plenty of eggs to go around.

Jams and Preserves

and with so many jams and chutneys you are spoiled for choice.

…so many other delights

So drink up…

buy British…

and ❤ your local market!

Lisa of the blog NorthWest Frame of Mind has decided to run a different project over the next 24 weeks. To try to show what is happening in different parts of the world (if you all join in) at a particular time of day. If you would like to participate you have until next Saturday midnight to post a photo or write about what is happening in your part of the world. This week is between 09:00 – 10:00. I hope you’ll join in! See links for more details.

One Day One World Project: 08:00 – 09:00

The Bells of Ludlow

Oh, come you home of Sunday,
When Ludlow streets are still
And Ludlow bells are calling
To farm and lane and mill,

Or come you home of Monday
When Ludlow market hums
And Ludlow chimes are playing
‘The conquering hero comes’

~ partial from The Recruit. A. E. Housman (1859–1936). A Shropshire Lad. 1896.

The tower of St Laurence’s contains one of the finest rings of 10 bells in the country. The bells are rung in two distinct ways: by the bell ringers on Sundays and practice evenings; and by the church clock which is controlled electronically and chimes tunes four times a day. The clock chimes a different tune for each day of the week and it plays the tunes at 8am, 12pm, 4pm and 8pm.

Shaun Ward, clerk of works at St Laurence’s said “The clock tells people to go to work, have their lunch, have a break, go home and go to bed.”

Lisa of the blog NorthWest Frame of Mind has decided to run a different project over the next 24 weeks. To try to show what is happening in different parts of the world (if you all join in) at a particular time of day. If you would like to participate you have until next Saturday midnight to post a photo or write about what is happening in your part of the world. This week is between 08:00 – 09:00. I hope you’ll join in! See links for more details.

One Day One World Project: 07:00 – 08:00

6:47 AM

Sunrise in West Midlands, UK

I have been wanting to get up and take a photograph of the sunrise this week, but the weather has not been playing ball. Each morning that I have struggled to be awake this early (and those of you who have read my previous post for this project will understand that I am so NOT a morning person) it has been misty and the sky a total white-out. Not even a glimmer of colour in the east.

Light in the east?

As we are coming to the end of this time-frame, and I am already awake, I’m going to show you a bit of the area behind my house as well as the usual glimpse of in front. I live in a very quiet area in the old town of Ludlow and surrounded by quite a few holiday homes, so a lot of the time the houses nearby are empty.

At the back and not many straight lines here

Until a year ago there was a fully functioning pub to the left of me which was run by the Royal British Legion and the home of the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes‘ Lodge and things weren’t always quite as quiet then what with live music and noisy punters; talking (why do people talk so much louder when drinking alcohol? An interesting correlation between the volume of liquid consumed and volume of speech), arguing and sometimes screaming, who were outside in the smoking zone that was practically beneath my bedroom window – that wasn’t great. But there was also a well-tended allotment with runner beans, cabbages, onions etc. and a sweet little home-made lean-to potting shed against the red-brick wall which was rather nice. Sadly this year with the closure of the pub the allotment has been unused and nature has taken over. This has meant poppies have flourished and all matter of ~~weeds~~ wild-flowers have grown.

Wild flowers flourish

Nature reclaims

The demise of the potting-shed

When I started entering this project it was May and the blossom was just beginning and it was the time of the Spring Fair, now it is autumn and colours are fading and we have just had the Autumn Food Festival – where has the summer gone?

Lisa of the blog NorthWest Frame of Mind has decided to run a different project over the next 24 weeks. To try to show what is happening in different parts of the world (if you all join in) at a particular time of day. If you would like to participate you have until next Saturday midnight to post a photo or write about what is happening in your part of the world. This week is between 07:00 – 08:00. I hope you’ll join in! See links for more details.

Only a few more hours left!

Tilting at Windmills

Let me introduce you to one of the prettiest towns in the Kent High Weald, only three miles from the famous Sissinghurst Gardens created by Vita Sackville-West. You may enjoy the many types of weather-boarding and architecture, independent shops, the narrow medieval streets and some interesting buildings all within an easy walk of each other including a beautiful church and a smock windmill. It is the picture of a small English town and on a warm summer’s day with church bells chiming and white sails shimmering, let’s go for a stroll around Cranbrook.

Cranbrook means ‘brook frequented by cranes or herons’. The name is first recorded as Cranebroca in the Domesday Monachorum of 1070, but as the name of a stream, not a settlement.

Leave the car in one of the free car parks and head down the High Street to the Vestry Hall built in 1859 as Cranbrook’s court-house with the Old Fire Station below. Now the Weald Information Centre.

Head up the steps on the left to St Dunstan’s Church. Outside on the tower is a carved figure of Father Time. Local legend says that he comes down every night and scythes the churchyard grass to keep it neat and tidy.

Opposite the church is Church House, formerly Dence’s School, which was built in 1567 by Alexander Dence. It was used as an elementary school for 300 years.

Carry on around the church and through the churchyard which leads into another small car-park and back into the town.

Stop to look at the decorative bricks of the White Horse public house on the corner.

Straight on down Stone Street you will catch glimpses of the windmill ahead of you.

and lots of lovely shops…

On the right hand side several narrow passageways lead off Stone Street. One passage passes Hatter’s cottage, which was William Tooth’s water-powered hat factory.

Pop around the corner to see Cranbrook School. John Blubery (d 1518) bequeathed funds for “a frescole howse for all the poor children of the towne”. The school received a charter from Queen Elizabeth I in 1574. It is now a co-educational grammar boarding and day school and still State-funded.

Retrace your steps and turn left onto St David’s Bridge where you will find a delightful Arts and Crafts House which used to be a restaurant. Originally a temperance coffee house with reading room the Old Coffee Tavern was built in 1890 by Clement Cramp (1816-1894) for working men.

Opposite is a row of white weatherboarded houses and The Chapel of Strict and Particular Baptists. Built in 1785, this is the oldest existing place of worship for Dissenters in the Parish.

Continuing up Hill Road with Hill House on the right. Dating from the late middle ages, when the town was the centre of a thriving woollen industry, Hill House is a medieval clothier’s house. Note its lovely door.

We have now arrived at Cranbrook’s windmill which is the tallest surviving smock mill in the British Isles. Built in 1814 it dominates the town. It is still in working order, grinding wheat regularly to produce wholemeal flour which can be purchased from the mill shop. The Windmill is usually open Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday afternoons in the summer. Note: not on a Monday.