Amelia's photos with the keyword: HBM

Facing the sea means facing north. Here one can look at a scrubby putting green,in the sunshine sheltered for the cold north winds. But where is everyone?

To be honest, the photo of James, our youngest grandson, taking a breather by Cow Tower along the riverside path, would have been my choice for World Photography Day 2024, but it is a personal photo and so not really for public viewing. He is a 15 year old and quite autistic, as well as being much taller than Adrian and me, and he now walks much faster than we do

HBM everyone

The Dingle Garden is located within the Quarry Park in Shrewsbury and features ornamental season flowerbeds, ornamental grass areas, rockeries, shrub bed areas and various water features and is locked up and unlocked daily. For some reason it was totally locked yesterday, maybe because of the very strong wind, and the threat to trees, so I took this photo from one of the gateways. I think the pink tree is a type of maple, but I'll check the next time we are here.

We had 3 days of lovely sunny and frosty days, an absolute joy to be alive, Then it snowed - about 2-3 cm, yesterday, followed by fog and rain. Good old British weather. ;-)

We often go walking up this area, The Cliffe. It is a sandstone hill running from our village to Nesscliffe, and affords great views across the Shropshire countryside over to the Welsh foothills. There are quite a few benches along the way, allowing the less fit of us to have a rest during the climb.

Another view along my way to school, with the ruins of St.Rules tower in the background. It's just possible to see the red roof of what was the Fisher School, now a private residence. Some things do change in St.Andrews. Through the railings it's possible to spot the long stretch of the West Sands. This bench has a marvellous view out to sea, but does not look very comfortable. It wasn't there when I attended the Fisher School in the 40s.

Sit down and take it easy.

What appears to be a stone bench is actually carved from wood. A 200 year old Cedar of Lebanon tree, was blown down down on the 23rd March 2014. The National Trust and the Chirk Castle family commissioned the celebrated wood sculptor, Simon O'Rourke, to use the trunk to create the bench to commemorate the beginning of the First World war, hence the poppies. The bench was completed in May 2014, and a new Cedar of Lebanon was planted nearby.. The first PiP shows the carved poppies on the bench. The second PiP show the trunk of the fallen cedar. The third PiP shows the history of the cedar and the bench in greater detail.

This is a photo of the Church of St John the Baptist in Ruyton XI Towns, and it dates in part to the 12th century with the tower being dated from the 14th century. The structure in the left foreground is the remains of the site of a medieval castle. The bench is surrounded by dog daisies, Leucanthemum vulgare, which have spread throughout the churchyard and look stunning at the moment. The church clock hasn't worked for about 9 months. It needs a new battery operated winder to lift the small weights. The battery operated mechanism replaced the old hand wound system in 2008. We used to wind the huge weights up, and it was a very good workout. When we temporarily left the village in 2007 to live in Norway, no-one wanted the job, so a battery operated system was installed.