Nammet

We've been eating out a bit recently. Earlier this week I took my Mum to Bluebell's Café at Briddlesford Lodge Farm for birthday lunch. This is usually very good, and today was no exception. I had a chicken and bacon club sandwich with salad, and Mum had a toasted gammon and cheese sandwich with salad. Both were made from 'doorstop' slices of granary bread and were scrumptious. The teenager had sausage and mash with gravy, which was also delicious, but such a large portion that even she was outfaced! After lunch we waddled across the farmyard to the farm shop and had a look round. Lots of delicious goodies for sale which were most tempting.

 

This evening I went to Ryde with a chum and we ended up eating at 'Ada Mediterranean Kitchen' in Union Street. Delicious! We had a selection of mezze, including pastry wrapped feta cheese, deep fried haloumi, falafel, lamb kofta, stuffed vine leaves, aubergine and other vegetables, and a sausage and tomato dish. We finished with coffee. Overall we were very satisfied, and the meal was good value for money, with excellent service. I shall go there again!

 

 

*nammet is an Isle of Wight word. I use it to mean any meal, but that may be a bit broad.

Concerts

I have been to a couple of concerts recently. The first was at Quarr Abbey, near Binstead, for a performance of Faure's Requiem and French Motets by Les Fauristes Chamber Choir, from London. The concert was to raise funds for the restoration of the Abbey organ, and was free with a collection at the end.

 

I have to say I wasn't overwhelmed. The soloist, Judith Charron, was jolly good, but the choir sounded out of tune in places which rather marred their performance. The organist, Hamish Dustagheer, was, however, excellent. The Abbey itself is austere but rather lovely and worth a visit if you are in the area.  

 

The second concert was by the Isle of Wight Cantata Choir, performing John Rutter's Magnificat and a selection of opera choruses. The venue was 'Aspire', Ryde, which is a former church now used as a community centre. It is in dire need of a lick of paint inside, but is a lovely venue none the less. I thoroughly enjoyed the Magnificat and thought the choir sang beautifully. In the second half they sang opera choruses by Bizet, Tchaikovsky, and Rossini, with solos by the talented Tressa Lambert. Tressa also performed a selection of solos by Flanders and Swan, and Gershwin among others. Finally, she performed the 'Flower Duet' with Rachel Tweddle, the choirs' conductor. A thoroughly enjoyable evening.

 

Altar detail, Aspire.

Roof detail, Aspire.

 

Bouldner and Thorley

Nice walk today, with no planning. We parked at Bouldner carpark again (I love a free car park), followed the promenade to Yarmouth, walked through the town and then headed across the green to find the footpath by the River Yar. We followed the path along the side of the river for a while, past the Mill House and the turning to the End of the Line Café, then went through a gate to follow a path towards Mill Copse. We paused and picked blackberries.

Neither of us had been to Mill Copse before; it was a small woodland planted with a variety of trees including Californian Redwoods, and was very peaceful. We found wayfaring marks on the ground, presumably left by Scouts, and followed them through a gate, across a field and eventually to a road.

After a while we found a footpath on the right leading to the ruins of a small church and graveyard next to Thorley Manor. Lovely and unexpected. We turned back as it was a dead end, retraced our steps along the road, found the next footpath and followed it until we got to the Thorley Road. We followed that back to the main road to Yarmouth and found the car.

We foraged along the way and returned home with a full tub of blackberries and pockets full of conkers! A lovely autumnal walk.

Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/walking/route_4178961.html

Distance: 4.4 miles

Footpaths: Y11a, Y16, Y1, Y4, Y5, Y6

Remains of St Swithun's Church

Brecon Beacons 2015

This year we tried a holiday on our own, just the two of us, Mother and teenager. About time too! Having seen a BBC documentary about Wales, we decided to try the Brecon Beacons as the countryside looked awesome. I found what appeared to be an idyllic campsite, and booked a spot. Good choice!

 

I heartily recommend 'Camping at Ynysfaen' near Trecastle, in Powys. it is, officially, pretty much the middle of nowhere, with no mobile reception or WiFi, but with a huge green campsite. Cars are not allowed on the camping area, but wheelbarrows are provided for carting things about. A small river flows nearby, and at night all you can hear are sheep and the occasional hoot of an owl. Heaven. Jane and Nigel, who run it, are lovely too. Oh, there are fabulous showers, a covered washing up area, and a communal fridge, so that you don't have to rough it too much! Go there.

 

We arrived on Sunday afternoon, post festival, tired but glad to have made it. The weather was still dry, so we chose a pitch and erected the tent and settled in. We woke on Monday to a beautiful, sunny day and decided to go walking while the weather was nice, and headed south for the famous waterfall walks. Good choice. We parked in the forest car park, then walked downhill through the forest for about half an hour until we came to the first waterfall. We paused to admire it and chat to other walkers, then carried on, following the red route. This encompassed all the waterfalls, all magnificent, and a lot of walking. The waterfalls were all down side paths, which led steeply downhill and then, of course, back up hill. At the end of six miles we were very tired and had extremely achey legs! Absolutely worth it though.  Back to the camp, and tea cooked on a trangea.

On the Tuesday we had a lazy morning, playing Frisbee and catch in the campsite before lunch. After lunch we set off to find the Red Kite Feeding Centre. And got lost, or had a grand tour of the countryside if you prefer. We drove up the lane to Trecastle and turned left, ending up in Llandovery. I asked for directions and found that if we had turned right instead, the journey would have taken 10 minutes! Ah well. We attempted to follow the directions across the hills, and got lost a few times before finding the feeding centre with ten minutes to spare.

The feeding centre was simple, consisting of a bird hide with an honesty box, facing onto a small paddock. At 3pm the farmer drove up, said a few words and then scattered chicken joints around the paddock. After about 15 minutes, kites began to turn up, flying around but not swooping down for some time. When they did swoop, they were magnificent! We saw 11 birds in total. Definitely worth a visit.

On Wednesday the weather changed and the rain poured down. I attempted to cook breakfast, under an umbrella, but it didn't really work. We headed off to The National Show Caves Centre, and spent the day exploring Dan-yr-Ogof, Cathedral Cave, and Bone Cave, then admiring the dinosaur trail. We went to the café for lunch and had a nice hot meal! Delicious. Afterwards, we toured the small farm which had alpacas, guinea pigs, rabbits, goats and pigs. There was also  Shire Horse Centre so we admired the horses. Once we'd left I headed down the road to find my old caving haunts, which was interesting to me, although not necessarily to the teenager. We went home via Brecon and got a Chinese takeaway. Yum!

On Thursday it continued to rain. We headed for the Brecon Mountain Railway and had a picnic in the waiting room, and a chat with a volunteer who was fixing an enormous piston. After that we got on the steam train and headed up the mountain admiring the view. On the way back there was a brief stop off to see the steam museum and café.  Once back at the campsite we packed up as much as we could as there was a lull in the weather, had tea and prepared for our final night camping.

On the Friday morning, we packed up the tent, paid our dues and headed home via the Chilterns and lunch in Gloucester. We got back to the ferry rather early but weren't allowed on so we lurked in Mayflower Park for a bit.

Random standing stone on a mountain.

Waterfall you could walk behind.

Dinosaur at Show Caves Centre

 

Crab Cottage

In a change of theme, we accompanied my Mum and her friend to view the garden of Crab Cottage in Shalfleet. This was open under the National Garden Scheme, and for a mere £3.50 (children free) each, we got in, having parked in the free car park on the way up the lane by the New Inn.

To our right was a perfect croquet lawn, with metal hoops, and a collection of wooden mallets and balls leaning against a low wall. Beyond the croquet lawn was a path leading through a wildflower meadow, full of flowers and grasses. Very pretty and something I aspire to having one day. At the end of the meadow was a row of sweet peas held up by twigs, and then the path led to a pond.

We then followed a path back through tree and hedges, dodged under a shrub propped up with an old wooden rake, passed the croquet lawn, and paused on the gravel driveway to peruse the bookstall and natter with some acquaintances we bumped into, looked at the plant stall and then headed round the side of the house. As we passed the front door, clearly rarely used, we admired dark leaved dahlias,  towering hollyhocks and a wisteria which was trained across the house wall. On through an archway and onto a less formal lawn in a walled garden, bordered with flowered, with many varieties of dahlia among other things. Here we stopped for a cup of tea and a slice of cake which was of high standard! Very nice.

After tea we pottered through another arch and into a sunken garden with many interesting plants, and a raised area at the far end with a summerhouse and formal pond; the latter had no plants in it, but had beautiful reflections of the potted lilies grown next to it.

 

This was a pleasant way to spend a Sunday afternoon; I do enjoy nosing round other peoples gardens, and of there is good planting, tea and cake, all the better! Crab Cottage is definitely worth a visit if you get the chance.

 

Plants bought: Sedum spectabile

 

http://www.ngs.org.uk/gardens/find-a-garden/garden.aspx?id=13779

View to cottage from croquet lawn

 

Afternoon Amble

We tried the Dark Lane walk again, with friends. Another beautiful sunny afternoon on the Island, so the cool dappled shade of Dark Lane was deeply welcome! I insisted that the teenager navigate this time so that we didn't get lost, and she did a jolly good job. When we got to the sweetcorn field we went down the correct side of the hedge, down a dusty, root-strewn path past a paddock of over-excited, barking foxhounds, and came out on Snowdrop Lane.

 

From here we turned right and followed the lane uphill. Snowdrop Lane is deeply sunken between steep banks topped with trees and was lovely. When we reached the top, at Garstons, we turned right along a footpath and eventually joined back up with Dark Lane and went back to the car. A very pleasant afternoon. 

 

Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/walking/route_4143541.html

Distance: 3.4 miles

Footpaths: G6, G7a

 

 

Bembridge Fort Walk

This was a walk we had long planned to do, but kept missing the date. The walk takes place every year at extreme low tide, from both St Helen's beach, and Bembridge Point. Now, I thought there was a causeway from both sides, so dressed in jeans and hiking sandals and was prepared to paddle. Unfortunately the causeway only goes from St Helen's, so we ended up wading almost waist deep through the sea for a while! However, the water wasn't cold and everybody was in a good mood. After a while we joined up with the causeway and strolled along to St Helen's Fort in the Silent, took photos and strolled then waded back to Bembridge. The tide was a bit lower on the way back.

 

I would say that at least a couple of thousand people took part, and it was a very sociable and enjoyable experience. Must do it again next year.

To supplement my terrible photos, here is a link to an aerial video made by someone else.... http://www.yoppul.co.uk/yoppulv1/2015/08/watch-this-amazing-aerial-footage-of-the-bembridge-fort-walk/