Folly Farm and Chew Lake

Sunday 14 March - We revisited the chew valley area this weekend. This time we went for a nature walk at Folly Farm, an old stone farm building that has been converted into a conference centre and nature preserve. We took a leisurely walk and noticed some high flying hawks as well as lots of sheep. We also had some excellent view of Chew lake and the Mendip hills. When we finished our walk at Folly farm, we drove down to the lake and walked along the water where we saw a variety of ducks as well as a number of sailboats enjoying the sunny weather.

Snowdrops Galore

Saturday 13 March - With the aid of another rental car Ian and I were able to take a trip to the Queen of the Cotswolds, Painswick and visit the very lovely Rococo Garden. The fashion for Rococo gardens was short lived and Painswick is the only complete survivor in the country. It has many lovely features including a duck pond, hedge maze and many benches tucked in among ornate architecture, however the most stunning part of the visit was the thousands of snowdrops which carpet areas of the garden as well as the enclosed woods.



We had a thorough stroll through the gardens before driving to the village proper and having a nice pub lunch at a pub which boasted the country's oldest bowling green. After lunch we meandered through the village and the churchyard with its famous yew trees. There are two legends about the yew trees the first is that if you count them you will never get the same number twice ( a legend somewhat lessened by the fact that each yew has a numbered plaque on its trunk; the second legend is that there are only ever 99 yews as the devil always shrivels the hundredth.

A Chew Valley Drive

Sunday 27 February - Taking full advantage of having a car we drove to a garden centre in Cleeve but found little to tempt us. Since it was a rather grey and chilly day we decided to take a meandering drive through the countryside. We drove through Chew Valley stumbling upon a charming walled garden with cafe, which although lacking in any real spring growth, had a gorgeous view and promised to be a must visit place in the summer. We saw a number of lovely houses and vistas. We passed by Chew lake and stopped in Chew Magna hoping to get lunch but since the cafe was closed we made our way back to Bristol where we spent a long time in Ikea trying to return an item and ended up buying a dining table. The afternoon was spent assembling out table and potting up plants with compost bought earlier that day.

Oxford Again

Saturday 27 February - We rented a car again this weekend and drove to Oxford where we spent a very nice day, despite a few heavy rain showers, exploring the sights and shops of Oxford. It was nice to be in a flat city where bicycling is encouraged and are cars are not. We re-visited the Natural History Museum which is always fun to visit and visited the recently re-opened Pitt Rivers Museum which is jam packed with art and oddities from all over the world. We had lunch at a nice little cafe then took a tour of the Bodeliean library. An amazing building and library, beautiful architecturally, and seething with the charming traditions of an old university. Two of the rooms we visited were featured in the Harry Potter movie series. I was quite enchanted with the old books and floor to ceiling shelves, and was missing the comfort and charm of the Vassar library. I may have been missing the student life until later that night when I had stress dreams about writing and essay and having it in on time.

Avonmouth to Severn Beach to Avonmouth

Sunday 21 February - we decided to end a fairly laid back weekend with a nice stretch of the legs along the water. We took the small local train to Avonmouth, not realising that we actually wanted to go to Severn Beach. Avonmouth is an industrial area along the docks whereas Severn beach is a nice residential area with a lovely path along the Severn. Thinking that the two rail stops were not far from each other we decided to walk. The first two-thirds of the walk were less than picturesque as it was mostly industrial parks. We did walk through one Industrial estate with a well maintained meadow/garden area where we collected some pussywillow for our Easter tree. Eventually we made it to a more scenic path along the water and heading toward Severn Beach. We were quite pleased to have finally made it and it seemed a pleasant end to a long and tiresome walk. However upon reaching Severn beach train station we learned that there was no Sunday service and we had just missed the last Sunday Bus back to the city which meant we had to speed walk all the way back to Avonmouth in order to catch the last train home from there. After our 10 mile leisurely stroll, returning home in the dark with sore feet and aching joints we learned a valuable lesson about checking train schedules.