Last Sunday afternoon R and I decided to go for a short walk across the fields and take in All Saints Church on the way.  All Saints was a member of our benefice until the 1970s when it was deemed redundant and is now looked after by The Churches Conservation Trust which is a charity which helps to protect historic churches at risk.  The churches remain consecrated but no longer have regular worship in them.  I think we have a couple of services a year in this church, notably a Songs of Praise service in midsummer in which we sing a lot of favourite hymns or perhaps a collection of hymns with a common theme.  If people wish to hold a funeral there for example, special permission has to be sought before it can take place.  Many locals were upset when the church was closed and some would love it if it were in use again.  This would not be practicable unfortunately.  Our poor Rector has eleven churches to look after virtually on his own as it is, and bringing All Saints back into the benefice would not be a viable proposition.

The lichen and moss on top of our gate post.

 

The view of our garden from the gate,

 

and the view from the gate of the verge on the other side of the hedge.  This is common land but we try to keep it as tidy as we can.  Looking at the blackthorn suckers round the telegraph pole we really ought to do something about those quite soon.

 

We walked a little way down our lane and saw the church across a field of oil-seed rape.

 

We turned down another little lane off ours and noted someone mowing their verge.  Some people make their verges so neat and tidy they look like little lawns, with not a weed in sight.  They must get very disappointed when a tractor drives all over it.  We don’t mow our verge mainly because it is such a large area and also because the ground is so uneven and slopes down to our deep ditch.  R strims it every now and then and we try to keep the tree seedlings to a minimum.

We then walked through a yard and then through a gate into a field with a footpath at the side.

The view across the fields from the path.

 

Our rookery at St, Nicholas.

 

The strange looking bird to the left of the photo isn’t a bird but a bird-scarer kite.

 

A couple of cloud photos.

 

 

All Saints church.

 

A gargoyle waterspout.  This one looks like a lion.

 

A stained glass window.  Holes in the window have been patched with fragments of other stained glass.

 

Carved bench ends.  I’m afraid the third one is very blurred but I had to include it as it is the only one I have of the horse.

 

 

 

 

A beautifully carved door.

 

The font.

 

The altar.

 

Etched glass in the porch.

 

A gravestone with a very worn death’s head at the top left.

 

A view of the graveyard from a comfortable bench in the sun.

 

Tiny lancet windows in the tower.  Round towers are usually Saxon towers and East Anglia has more round towers than any other part of the country.

 

We then had a chat with friends who live in a farm house next to the church and who keep the church tidy and clean.

We had a lovely day today (29th March) and I was able to spend a little time in the garden this afternoon.  I won’t have time tomorrow as we have church, then I will be cooking lunch for us and my mother and then spending time with her during the afternoon.