Final Blog

As we are returning to Australia arriving in Melbourne on 21 April this will be the final blog entry.  With the shortened time in England we have been busy cramming in some of the sightseeing that we had planned to take later in the year.  We enjoyed a short trip into Wales and a three day excursion to Cornwall staying at Lands End.  On 19 March our son Trevor, daughter-in-law Tanya and their two children Bailey and Sam, arrived in England to stay with us for three and half weeks.   Since arriving they have visited Warwick and Kenilworth castles (a must for Bailey) and Mary Arden’s Farm.  Trevor and Tanya undertook a round trip to Whitby (North Yorkshire) and Edindburgh (Scotland) and three days in Cornwall while we minded the boys.   As an extended family we spent a couple of days visiting Norfolk taking the steam train ride from Aylsham to Wroxham and then a boat trip on the Norfolk Broads.  To finish off the holiday Tanya and Trevor are spending four days in London. Following their departure for home we have nine days to settle arrangements in England and pack in readiness to fly out on 20 April.  In this time we will squeeze in an overnight trip to Bath, our final sightseeing excursion.   So, our time in England is fast drawing to a close.  We have had a wonderful time and although returning earlier than expected we have done everything we planned, with the exception of attending two Olympic football (soccer) sessions at Coventry.    Thanks to all who have followed our blog for the duration of our time to England.   Feedback has been that you found the blog enjoyable.  We certainly enjoyed sharing our experiences with you and we look forward to catching up with you all on our return. 

North-west Wales

We spent two nights in north-west Wales this week.  We travelled through Shrewsbury to refresh our memories of this wonderful medieval town, and continued on the A5 to Llangollen.  This is where we travelled five years ago in our narrowboat on the Llangollen canal, over the Pontcysyllte aqueduct built more than 200 years ago by Thomas Telford.

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We then travelled on to Dolgellau via Bala and Lake Bala (seeing that there is Bala Street in Sebastopol).  We found many links between Ballarat and Wales.  Having booked into our b&b at Dolgellau in the early afternoon, we headed off for a further drive to Porthamdog and Tremadog where Di Hughes' father came from.

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Gary took more photographs here, before we wove our way through the valleys and hills back down to Dolgellau.  We ate Welsh lamb for dinner and rested up for the next day's adventures.  The Merionedd Archives are in the public library, a new and impressive purpose built centre at Dolgellau, where Joan was able to access the baptism, marriage and burial registers on microfilm for the parish of Tal-y-Llyn.  The slate-quarrying towns of Corris and Abercorris are part of that parish, and Joan's friend Kevin Rowlands is descended from the Rowlands family, several members of which emigrated from there to settle in Ballarat.  One founded the Rowlands and Lewis lemonade company which many years later was sold and incorporated with Tarax.  While Joan worked on copying all references to the Rowlands from the early 1700s, Gary walked around the amazing and unique town of Dolgellau, where the buildings are built in such unplanned order (or disorder) that every one has a name rather than a number.  There are no straight rows of buildings at all, but all are built very sturdily of stone.  We had dinner at a restaurant called Y Merionedd which used to be part of the town gaol, and Gary enjoyed what he claimed was the best blue steak he has ever eaten.  It was a lovely meal.

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 On our third and final day we drove south to Corris.  On the A487 we stopped, in pouring rain, at Corris Uchef (Upper Corris) to photograph the general surroundings, as the hills were covered in the remains of slate and stone quarries and gave a really good idea of what it must have been like when the Rowlands families lived here in the early and mid 1800s.

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We then drove into Corris itself, parked the car and walking along the main or Bridge Street.  Old stone churches and chapels were testament to the importance of both established and non-conformist religions in times past.  The River Deri (Afon Deri) flows west to east through Corris and Abercorris and into the Dulas River (Afon Dulas) and you can hang over the bridges or look between houses to enjoy the clear mountain water rushing and leaping over the rocks.

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Aber in Welsh means a confluence or joining of two waters, so in this case Abercorris relates to the confluence of the Deri and Dulas rivers, which occurs at the end of the little street of stone cottages which runs east-west along the Afon Deri from Bridge Street to the Afon Dulas.  This is the little street where various of the Rowlands family members lived for most of the 18th and 19th centuries, as blacksmiths and quarrymen, and one was a butcher.

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It was very wet and misty, and we were able to empathise with the quarrymen who had to work in all weathers, to produce the beautiful slates that we all enjoy.  Our mud-brick house at Scarsdale where we lived for 20 years had Welsh slates on the floors and walls of wet areas, taken from the roof of a demolished villa in Ballarat, so we had those in mind as we looked around.  The weather really improved in the afternoon but by then we were well on our way through Welshpool and heading east to Shotteswell Cottage, having thoroughly enjoyed our three days' exploration.

What a Great Day Hiking in the Cotswolds

Gary accompanied Nick Cronin on a hike around Daylesford and Adelstrop, in the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire which turned out to be an extremely enjoyable day’s exercise taking in the glorious Cotswold countryside with many surprises in store.  As we drove into Adelstrop we saw a group of horse riders all dressed up for the hunt with their dogs.  We later learnt from a local that the annual hunt was being held at Daylesford.  We set out on our walk along the public path between Adelstrop and Daylesford skirting the Daylesford House estate where we discovered the hunt was to begin.  We took the opportunity to cross the property and came up on the crest of a ridge that gave us a splendid view of Daylesford House, with the local gentry congregating in front of it readying themselves for the hunt.  Those mounted on horses were dressed in their riding finery,  the hunt master resplendent in his red riding coat taking control while a pack of excited hunting hounds were being put through their paces  by what seemed to be their handlers who were on horseback.  It was certainly a grand sight and left one wondering about how the other half live (or is it one tenth?).  We understand that foxes are no longer the quarry (it is against the law) and prior to the hunt a scent is laid down for the hounds to pick up and follow.  No doubt a jolly good time was to be had by all.  We hoped that a fox had not inadvertently crossed the path of the laid down scent.

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Having taken in the Daylesford hunt we then set off to walk to the small hamlet of Daylesford where another unexpected coincidence occurred.  Prior to the walk Joan had been in email contact with David Endacott from the Daylesford Historical Society and a resident of the Wombat Forest.  When David heard that Gary was planning a walk in the Cotswold that would take in the hamlet of Daylesford he asked for Gary to keep an eye out for a wooden plaque given to Daylesford UK from Daylesford Australia.  Arriving at Daylesford, Gloucestershire, it became evident how small the hamlet of Daylesford is with only a couple of houses, a dilapidated red telephone box which surprisingly was still working, a public hall and the permanently closed church of St Peters.  One wondered where the plaque would be located if at all.  David had been told at the time of the gifting of the plaque that it was to  be displayed  in the church. As chance would have it, as we entered the church ground through the lychgate two people arrived, Val McMillan and Patrick, who by luck had the key to the locked church and yes they did know about the plaque and where it was proudly displayed in the church.  So Gary was able to handle the plaque, photograph it, and with Nick was given a tour of the small church by Val and Patrick,  which is simply wonderful but is closed to the public because of its deteriorating state having been unused for some six years or so.  Val is on the Kingham PCC and she has been given the task of determining what needs to be done to restore the church and how to fund it.  A Friends of the Church is being set up and Val is rather hopeful that Daylesford Australia will become a friend and to this end is currently preparing correspondence with the Daylesford council.   The inscription on the wooden base plaque reads:

AUSTRALIA BICENNTENARY

1788 – 1988

Presented to the citizens of DAYLESFORD, GLOUCESTERSHIRE

By the citizens of the

Shire of DAYLESFORD & GLENLYON

Councillor J.M. Thomson Shire President March 1988

Mr K.W.Wilkie Chairman Bicentennial Community Committee


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Before arriving at Daylesford we passed the Daylesford Organic Farm Shop where we purchased some cheeses and quince jam.  The store has a beautifully prepared and displayed range of foodstuffs and obviously targets the wealthy.  We read on line that Viscount David Linley, son of Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon, shops there when he and his family are in residence at his modest cottage on the Daylesford Estate.   After leaving Daylesford we walked to the village of Lower Oddington  and Nick kindly shouted Gary lunch.  With tummies full on local lamb, roasted to perfection,  accompanied by a  pint of beer to wash it down we strode off, well maybe ambled, back to the car parked at Adelstrop. 


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  During the day the sky had been overcast but as we were driving home along the Fosse Way the setting sun broke through and gave off a beautiful mist filtered warm golden red glow  -  the perfect light for photography.   Nick diverted off the Fosse way to show Gary close up the Chesterton Windmill which stands on a hilltop overlooking the village of Chesterton.  Erected in 1632 from a design attributed to Indigo Jones, the machinery was extensively modified in 1860 and last used in 1910. Most of the gearing is of timber with the millstone on the first floor.  The sails are of the common cloth spread type.  As we arrived at the windmill a glorious sunset was occurring which the windmill stood silhouetted against.  The opportunity to get the camera out was not missed with Nick and Gary clicking away to their hearts’ content.  


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Unfortunately all good things have to come to an end and as Nick drove back to Southam Gary reflected on what an interesting day of activities, occurrences, and experiences they'd had, for which he was extremely grateful to Nick for providing the opportunity.  

Thame, Oxfordshire

We drove to Thame, an ancient and historic market town east of Oxford, as this is one of the places that are case studies in the course Joan is undertaking through Oxford University, an Advanced Diploma in Local History.  Before we came we didn’t even know how to pronounce it, but can assure you that it sounds like ‘a tame animal’.  Part of the main street is said to be the widest in England, with the Victorian town hall and other buildings standing in a strip down the middle.  The original Saxon settlement grew at a crossing over the River Thame (which is not the Thames), and the old town remained at the north end of the high street when, in the 12^th century, a new planned town was built to the south by the Bishop of Lincoln.  Strangely, the town was under his jurisdiction, even though it is nowhere near Lincoln; no wonder it is called a ‘peculiar’.  The old town area is very interesting: if you follow a street called Priestend you pass a beautiful building dating from the 1930s which acts as a gatehouse into the Prebendal, a large medieval house where the Bishop’s representative lived, and which is now the home of Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees.  His brother Andy Gibb died there in 1988, just 30 years old, and there is a memorial to him in the churchyard of St Mary the Virgin, opposite the Prebendal.  Parallel to Priestend is Church Road, running between St Mary’s and the High Street.  In Church Road is a tithe barn predating 1400, long and supporting a timber frame with lovely herring-bone brick filling, and a row of black and white timber frame alms houses built in the mid-1400s.  We had lunch at the Six Bells Inn almost opposite the mid-Victorian era Court House which is now the Thame Museum, owned by the Town Council.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/ukventure/sets/72157629475414511/ 
The excellent display there is curated and managed by volunteers, and the old photographs on Gary’s flickr site were taken there with permission. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ukventure/sets/72157629110866900/

First Flush of Spring Flowers in Southam

We seemed to have moved quickly into warmer weather in the midlands England with the maximum daytime temperatures around 8C to 16C.  Even with a week of winter still to go spring has sprung and over the last couple of days the bulbs are commencing to flower. 

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Despite the appearance of spring flowers the trees appear to be dormant but no doubt the buds are beginning to swell.  We have been told that the hedge rows flower so we are eagerly looking forward to the offerings that nature provides in spring across the countryside.  Gary is impatiently waiting for the appearance of the bluebells which form carpets of flowers on the woodland floors.  This coming Wednesday Nick Cronin is taking Gary on a ramble around Adlestrop which is a small Gloucestershire village deep in the heart of the Cotswold renowned for its surrounding countryside and fine walks.  Within the parish is Daylesford a village on the north bank of the small River Evenlode.   It will be interesting to compare Daylesford  Gloucestershire shire with Daylesford central Victoria.  Hopefully as we ramble we will see evidence of spring arriving.

London Visit

What a jam packed three days of entertainment we have just had in London. With the movie The Artist winning so many awards we were eager to see it and we were not disappointed. Then, on to The Old Vic theatre to see Noises Off which has been staged twice by the Ballarat National Theatre. The first Ballarat staging was directed by Sonja Kinnersly (which we did not see) and the more recent production was directed by Julian Oldmeadow (which we did see). We can report that the BNT production held up well compared with the London production.

It was great attending a show at The Old Vic, a theatre (in its various names) nearing two hundred years of existence. The passage to the auditorium contains photographs of famous actors who have performed on its stage such as Charles Laughton, Alec Guinness, Laurence Olivier and Richard Burton. If attending The Old Vic was not enough excitement for at least a week the following night we went to see The Lady Killers at the Gielgud Theatre. And what a brilliant show with actors that we recognised from television. On stage were Peter Capaldi who played the fictional Song of Praise producer Tristan Campbell in two episodes of the Vicar of Dibley, James Fleet who was Hugo in the Vicar of Dibley and Ben Miller who played son-in-law to be in the Worst Week of My Life.

While Joan was at the Society of Genealogists doing research Gary took himself off to see the photograph of the Scott /Stapleton lead expeditions to the Antartic at The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace.   The official photographer for the ill-fated attempt by Scott to be first to the South Pole was H.G. Ponting,  and for the later Shackleton transantartic expedition the photographer was the Australian Frank Hurley.  The Ponting prints exhibited were the prints he presented to King George V and are a part of the Royal Collection, as is Hurley’s.  To see the actual prints was delightful.  The comparison between the artistic nature of Ponting and the more technical aspect of Hurley was evident with Hurley’s photographs in Gary’s opinion being the sharper .   

Before catching the train home we visited The Tate Gallery to see some Constable paintings. Constable is our favourite British landscape painter and viewing his work reminded us of the several visits we have made to Flatford Mill at East Burgholt in Suffolk, which was his childhood home and where he painted many of his most well-known paintings.

Ramble around Brailes, Warwickshire

Hearing that I had taken up rambling around the local countryside, Nick Cronin, being a rambler himself offered to take me on a ramble around Brailes.  Unbeknown to him, and to me until I recognised the local church, I had already been to Brailes checking out with Joan the farm of her great great grandfather’s brother who was the local doctor.  It is certainly a small world and proof that Joan’s Hitchins ancestors lived everywhere in England.  The ramble took place on a rather brisk winter morning which felt colder once we were up in the hills and exposed to a biting wind.    Rambling is a great activity ambling across fields dissected by public pathways, climbing stiles, and pausing to take in sights  of the country side that are unable to be obtained from a car.   This particular ramble took a couple of hours allowing for a break to snack and have a coffee from the thermos.   It was good to see that we were not alone on the public pathway as a group of four, presumably locals, were out getting their daily exercise. 
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