2017 Revisited

17 Wed Jan 2018

Posted by Clare Pooley in Days out, Norwich, Rural Diary

Tags

crossbow, Doll's House Exhibition, Iceni artifacts, needlework, Norfolk, Norwich, Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery, stained glass, teapots

As I have mentioned before, we didn’t manage to do as much walking and we didn’t visit as many places as usual last year and, for the same reasons, I also didn’t write very many posts. I have photos from the few excursions we did make and some pictures of interesting things I saw that I haven’t posted yet, so I thought I would put together some retrospective posts whenever I have spare time.

This is the first of a series of posts.

ooooOOoooo

Last spring, Elinor was asked to write about an exhibition she had visited. Unfortunately, she hadn’t visited one for some time so we looked about us to see if there was anything on locally that appealed to her. We were pleased to see that at the Castle Museum in Norwich there was an exhibition of doll’s houses – so that’s where we went.

The exhibits were difficult to photograph because of the lighting and the reflections from the glass cases. Here is a slideshow of photos of some of the houses.

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Elinor stayed in the exhibition hall to sketch a few of the houses and make some notes while I wandered round the rest of the museum. I spent some time in the art gallery where they have a fine collection of paintings and drawings by local artists: Gainsborough, Constable, Crome, Munnings, Seago and others. I took no photographs there nor in the natural history section where there are a number of dioramas featuring lots of stuffed birds and animals mainly collected during the 19th century. I don’t like stuffed birds and animals.

The museum has a collection of antique clothes and costumes which I enjoy seeing and also pieces of needlework and embroidery.

Here are some examples of Jacobean needlework and also a lovely lace collar.

I took a photograph of a splendid crossbow.

The museum has a large collection of teapots. Here are some of them.

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I wandered through the Boudica and the Romans gallery and took some photos of a few of the artifacts that have been discovered.

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There are a few display cabinets in the large central area in the castle keep.

Castle keep

I like these examples of medieval stained glass. Top left shows winter pruning, top right is a feast, bottom left shows a gardener hurrying indoors out of a spring rain or hail shower, bottom right shows a man harvesting bunches of grapes.

I had to go back to meet Elinor then before I’d finished the whole tour of the museum. We returned a few weeks later with Richard so he could also see the exhibition and for Elinor to check on a few details. We all enjoyed the exhibition very much.

Thanks for visiting!

Homersfield

04 Thu Jan 2018

Posted by Clare Pooley in Rural Diary, Villages

≈ 85 Comments

Tags

Homersfield, Homersfield church, Mark Goldsworthy, Millennium Sculpture, Sir Robert Alexander Shafto Adair, St Mary's church, Suffolk, Waveney River, Waveney Valley, Waveney Valley Line

For the past few days I have been looking at flood water and driving through deep puddles on the roads but until Monday had been unable to take any pictures of what I’d seen. On Monday afternoon I decided I’d take a five minute drive to Homersfield, walk round the village and see the flooded watermeadows.

The day was very grey and gloomy but apart from a short shower of rain I managed to stay dry for most of the time I was out.

The Millennium Sculpture. (Not a clear photograph as the light was very bad).

I parked my car on the edge of the village near to the totem pole-like millennium sculpture carved from wood by local artist Mark Goldsworthy. At the top of the sculpture is a man in a small boat and below him, water with different species of fish swimming in it. Near the base are the words ‘I dreamed of a beautiful woman who carried me away’ and below those words the name of the village is carved in capitals. The sculpture has been signed by the artist. I believe the beautiful woman referred to is the River Waveney which flows past the village and forms the border between the counties of Suffolk and Norfolk.

Fish on the sculpture

The man in the boat

An eel

More fish

Looking northwards over the river to Norfolk

I walked through the village to the further side where the road starts to rise away from the river on its way to the village of St Cross. From here I could look out over the water meadows.

Waveney River valley

A soggy scene!

The water level had gone down a little during the last twenty-four hours but the fields were still inundated.

The nearer channel is the old mill race cut to provide water for the water mill in the village. The mill was demolished some time ago.

On the other side of the lane is one of the entrances to the Community Wood.

Community Wood

Homersfield Church and churchyard are at the top of the bluff.

The two photos above were taken last February.

Homersfield Bridge

This bridge is one of the oldest surviving concrete bridges in Britain and was constructed in 1869 at the request of Sir Robert Alexander Shafto Adair, Baronet of the Flixton Estate. Here is a link to a description of the bridge and its history.

View from the bridge

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Looking across the river to the Norfolk side where the old Homersfield railway station had been.

A number of seagulls were floating on the water. The buildings just beyond the far bank, line the A143 road which was built in the early 1980’s along the former route of The Waveney Valley Line. This was a rail branch line which ran from Tivetshall in Norfolk to Beccles in Suffolk but was closed in 1966 and the track removed soon afterwards. The red-coloured building on the right of the picture is a garage which I think used to be an engine shed.

Here I am standing on the Norfolk side of the river looking towards Suffolk.

After having viewed the river from all points I walked back through the village. It is a pretty place with lots of attractive cottages. As it was getting late I only took a few more photos.

The path from the old Homersfield Bridge back into the village

The village pub, The Black Swan

The childrens’ play area on the green.

We used to bring Elinor here when she was very small!

Barnfield Cottages

These pretty thatched cottages were built in 1925 to house elderly workers on the Flixton Estate.

Thanks for visiting!

Happy New Year!

01 Mon Jan 2018

Posted by Clare Pooley in Rural Diary

≈ 67 Comments

Tags

candlelight, carol service, Christmas, garden, greylag, midnight mass, New Year, snow, Suffolk

Taken at dawn on 12th December

We had a few days of cold and snow in mid-December but the year ended with much milder temperatures, wind and lots of rain. All our local rivers have burst their banks and everywhere is wet and muddy.

‘Evereste’ crabapple tree in the snow

Crabapples

Once the apples had been frosted it took no time at all for the blackbirds to eat all the fruit on the tree! The deer helped themselves to the apples on the lower branches.

Female Muntjac deer

2nd Sunday in Advent

We had a Sunday service at our church at Rumburgh on 10th December. The day started with heavy rain but as we got the church ready for the service the rain turned first to sleet and then to snow. The Archdeacon arrived to take our service, his cloak covered in snow. He preached and played the organ too but sadly, not many of our mainly elderly congregation turned up.

A snowy churchyard

Our damp, but festive church porch

Snow covers a multitude of sins and our garden looked almost picturesque!

The view from our front door

Our larger pond. This was before the rain added a number of inches to its depth

We have also had all the willow saplings and brambles on the little island cut down since this photograph was taken. The greylags should find it easier to make their nest there in the spring.

Here is a female greylag with her goslings in our garden a couple of years ago

The path round the pond

Looking across the field from our garden

After the sun had risen I took this picture from an upstairs window

We haven’t had much snow in the last couple of years and we don’t know if we will get any more this winter either. This might be all we get!

We held a carol service at our church on 20th December.

I took this photo a while before the service began.

Our Christmas tree at church

The service was taken by Maurice our hard-working Elder who has taken on most of the admin duties for the benefice since we have been vicarless. We heard the Christmas story in some readings from the Bible and we also listened to a few seasonal poems. We sang lots of carols and then ate sausage rolls, cheese straws, cake and mince pies and drank sherry or fruit juice.

Kneeler at church

Richard, Elinor and I went to Midnight Mass at South Elmham St Peter’s church on Christmas Eve and we spent a peaceful Christmas at home, my mother visiting us for lunch and for the afternoon on Christmas Day and for an evening buffet meal on Boxing Day.

Christmas tree decorations

Alice stayed in Sheffield for Christmas but came to visit us for a couple of days, arriving on the 28th December. It was lovely to have her with us!

I took this photo with my phone on Boxing Day during our walk in the late afternoon

We don’t party on New Year’s Eve but stay at home quietly. I had taken my mother to her church in the morning while Richard went to Ilketshall St John’s church in our benefice. The roads were all awash but the rain held off for most of the day. Richard, Elinor and I went to Southwold in the afternoon to walk by the sea. We parked by the pier and walked along the front to the far end of the town where we bought some chips. We walked back to the car as it got dark and came home again. A pleasing end to the year. No photos from Southwold as I left my camera at home.