August seems such a long time ago now and the weather here is becoming
autumnal with a vengeance.
Carrying on from my Ironbridge post, once home from
Ironbridge, we all stayed at our house and planned what places we would like to
visit, using our house as a base, during the rest of the fortnight’s holiday. There are a number of interesting places
around here which are close enough to make them an easy afternoon trip.
Our first trip we decided upon was to Lacock one of the more
frequently filmed places in the south west.
It has been used for many BBC period dramas, including Cranfield, Pride
and Prejudice and even three of the Harry Potter movies used locations
here. Slughorn’s cottage is on the
outskirts of the town, the pub, the Sign of the Angel is part of the backdrop
in certain scenes and various interiors and the cloisters in Lacock Abbey were
used for Hogwarts school. Several other
movies and TV series have used the place because it is still very olde worlde.
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| Thes street was used in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince |
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| Lacock with cars |
Two of our party were intent on going fishing, so after lunch,
The Son-in-Law (TSL) and The Granddaughter (TG) went down to the nearby river Avon
and spent some time catching the occasional fish, The Better Half (TBH), myself
and The Daughter (TD) wandered around the town and then visited the Abbey.
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| Another view of Lacock |
Although the houses are ancient varying in date from Tudor
to Edwardian, the town is not quite as olde worlde as one is led to expect,
since the streets are full of parked cars but with a bit of imagination you can
see what it would look like without them and so see why filmmakers would want
to use it for period dramas.
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| In a side street, we cama cross this odd looking car. Looks as if it should belong to Boris Johnson judging by the number plate |
Lacock Abbey was founded as a monastery around 800 years
ago but was dissolved by Henry the eighth and sold to a private owner around
1539. Later it became the home of the
Talbot family. It was donated to the
National Trust by the Talbot family in 1944 and contains the Fox-Talbot
museum. Fox Talbot was one of the early
pioneers of photography in this country and the earliest known surviving
photographic negative is held in the museum.
For people like me who are gadget freaks, the museum has a really fine
collection of cameras and early scientific devices that Fox Talbot used in his
wide ranging research. I would much
rather view a fine old camera or 200 year old static generator than a set of
genuine Queen Anne chairs and a library full of books no one is allowed to
touch.
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| Entrance to the Abbey grounds |
The building has the usual kind of Stately Home interiors,
filled with various kinds of antique furniture and with paintings of the family
members around the interior. As you pass
through, you see each room decorated in the various styles that the family had
put in over the years.
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| Outside view of the building |
On re-joining the fisher folk, we were told with great pride
that TG had managed to catch her first fish all by herself. Not being a fan of the sport I may have been
less enthusiastic about this news than her parents.
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| Much of this stone angel was buiried in brickwork until recently |
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| One of a set of recovered gargoyles |
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| A nice warm patch for an afternoon snooze |
Anyway, we had all had a good day out each in our own way and
the weather had been kind, staying sunny and warm. We had, for the first time
this summer, been able to eat al fresco at the local café, actually avoiding
the hot sun since it was strong enough to need to seek shade.
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| Warm enough to eat al fresco in the local cafe grounds |
Slimbridge
The following day we met up with TD’s aunt M who still lives
in Gloucestershire where TBH’s family grew up and so our
next trip out was to The WWT.
Not World
War Three, but The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust at
Slimbridge (follow the link to see a live webcam). Slimbridge WWT was
founded by the well known conservationist and TV presenter Peter Scott and is quite close to where TBH and TD lived when TD was a child.
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| Slimbridge headquarters and viewing tower |
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| I'm only a bird in a guilded cage |
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| Ready! |
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| Going... |
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| Going... |
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| Gone! |
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| Tame enough to feed by hand |
The birds here are not all captive as in a zoo, but many arrive
seasonally to nest and breed according to their species all throughout the
year. The area is maintained as a
natural habitat for many kinds of waterfowl and the conditions are carefully
maintained to encourage as many different species as possible. For bird watchers it is a haven with sightings
of rare birds happening often enough to attract enthusiasts from all over.
For ordinary folk, there are walkways and foot paths which
wind through the various compounds where non-native birds are kept.
In one part of the grounds we encountered some White Faced
Whistling ducks. One of those names that
is so obvious you wonder why everything is not named so simply, although if you
want to get technical its scientific name is
Dendrocygna viduata. These
birds make the most piercing whistle instead of the more common quack one
usually associates with ducks. There
were plenty of other kinds of ducks that went quack, but later we encountered some Brown Faced
Whistling Ducks too. A relative of the white faced ones and just to make a
change, there is a black bellied variety, which we did not encounter, possibly
because we were looking at their faces and not their bellies.
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| Whistling fit to bust |
I recorded some of the sounds they made but have not
included them, you can find whistling ducks on You Tube if you are really
interested.
One of the attractions there is a colony of otters which are
fed twice daily by their keepers and the public are invited to watch. They are not native British otters but a
larger variety of North American river otters which had been rescued when their
habitat was destroyed and brought to Slimbridge for preservation purposes.
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| They know what time it is and are ready for their food |
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| I bet you can't guess what she has just seen. Correct, a bucket of fish arriving |
Around the main area of the Trust are paths that lead off to
distant viewing hides where the true bird spotters can glimpse rare species, if
they are prepared to slog through some less well paved areas. Because one of our party requires a
wheelchair if we are walking for long periods, we stuck to the paved paths and
there is a lot of the site you can explore this way.
Once more, the day was hot enough to seek shade and after
spending the afternoon wandering around this part of the Trust, we went for a
meal. Nearby is the Tudor Arms, which
has a restaurant that is highly recommended and so we ate there. It has some really interesting sweet courses
on the menu, which soon after our main courses somehow materialised on our
table.
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| Just one of the sweets on offer |
The Tudor Arms is close to the
canal and the water was so still the nearby buildings produced some great
reflections.
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| Boats on the canal |
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| Time to go home. | | | | | |
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The River Severn in the distance with the hills of Wales behind.
