Blog Archives - Jenny Wren Crafts

28th October 2021

10/28/2021

Nothing much to report yesterday. Mark drove home to collect Anais who was unable to come down with them on Saturday due to Uni. Went for a walk into town after lunch and again after tea. Did some more of my knitting. Have done some of the back and the two sleeves. Need to be careful with the wool as I only have just enough.

Today we went for a walk to Melcombe Regis, Newton's Cove and Nothe Fort. I took a few photos as we passed the marina. It never ceases to amaze me just how many boats there are, there must be hundreds. We walked through the town and over the lift bridge to the Melcombe Regis side of the old harbour Full of lovely old buildings and lots of character.

We walked up the hill and over to Newton's Cove and Nothe Fort. Lovely views. A different cruse ship was out there today, the Queen Mary 2, which is apparently classed as a transatlantic ocean liner (rather than a cruise ship) and is the flagship of the Cunard Line.

Anais was collecting video footage for a Uni project and wanted some pictures of waves, taken under the water. Luckily Roman has a waterproof video camera, Unfortunately Mark's feet were not waterproof!.

Walking back down through the gardens we encountered a very cheeky squirrel who was not bothered about us at all and in the harbour a Cormorant, or could have been a Shag, was drying its wings. Roman and Mark walked to the viewing tower at the end of the pier.

When we got to the bridge we were lucky enough to see it lift to allow a small sailing boat through.

26th October 2021

10/26/2021

Not quite so nice this morning, a bit overcast but still not cold. Went for a little tour round. First stop was Sandsfoot beach and castle. The beach is in a little sheltered cove and a few people were swimming in the sea.

Next stop was Bowleaze Cove and the Jordan Hill Roman temple. There was quite a range of different boats out at sea, from a beautiful clipper to a fishing boat, to what looked like a naval vessel, to a cruise liner, but unfortunately the visibility was poor. The cruise liner we discovered was the P&O Aurora and is the smallest in the fleet with just 930 cabins,1800 passengers and 900 crew!

Next stop was Ringstead Bay which has good views (on a clear day). We ate our picnic in the car watching some rather sweet and very woolly sheep! We could just make out below us an old bunker from WW2.

Final stop was the White Horse of Osmington. It was originally cut into the limestone hill in 1808 in honour of king George III who was a regular visitor to Weymouth, and was restored in 2012.

25th October 2021

10/25/2021

I read in the last edition of the Camping and Caravanning Club Magazine about some interesting places to visit in Dorset. Two of them were on the Isle of Portland and we had not heard of either of them so we thought we would check them out today while the weather was nice. We have been to Portland many times to the viewpoint and to the lighthouse at Portland Bill but its always nice to find somewhere new.

The first was Tout Quarry Park which, as the name suggests, is situated in a disused quarry. Portland stone has been quarried for centuries and many famous London landmarks are built from it including Buckingham Palace, Westminster and the Tower of London. Artists were invited to create sculptures among the rocks and there are now about 60 of them. The site is huge (40 acres) and we only walked round part of it so plenty more to see another time. It was also interesting to see features left from its days as a quarry.

The second was the pirates graveyard, Rufus castle and Church Ope Cove. It was not easy to get to and is not for the fainthearted or anyone suffering from vertigo. To get to the old church ruins and graveyard required virtually scrambling over rocks. The old church of St Andrews dates back to the 13th century as was the first parish church to be built on Portland. It is now just ruins but among the headstones in the graveyard is a chest tomb with a skull and crossbones on the front. Some of the other headstones had strange symbols too.

We then carried on down the rest of the 140 steps to Church Ope Cove, a small pebble beach surrounded by huts. The cove is reputed to have been used by smugglers which would not surprise me as it is really well hidden.

We still visited the viewpoint by the Olympic rings and the lighthouse. The rather hazy picture is looking back across to Sandsfoot castle.

24th October 2021

10/24/2021

Spending the next week here in lovely Weymouth. Staying in a beautiful apartment just off the marina. It has become a bit of a tradition to spend the half term week here. This is the third year in a row and have booked again for next year. Its really relaxing and I love to be by the sea.

We arrived yesterday, Mark and Michelle and Michelle's mom and dad and family are also here. Had a pretty good trip down though the traffic was heavier than expected, especially around Bristol. Weather is very mild. We went for a nice walk last night just as it was getting dark. The three blobs of light out at sea on the first photo are three cruise ships still anchored in the bay.

Had a nice walk round the town and the old harbour this morning. The Sea Cadet training ship the Jack Petchy was just putting to sea.

20th October 2021

10/20/2021

Finally managed to get my garden done yesterday and all the plants I bought planted. The guy who was supposed to be doing it let me down three times so eventually I had to resort to finding someone else. Their work was a bit rough and ready but at least the job is done, and, they took away all of my rubbish so that was a bonus. Just hope the plants grow now as some of them were looking a bit tired.

18th October 2021

10/18/2021

Met up with Mark and Michelle on Friday to visit a new scrapstore that has opened in Northfield. It's really good, full of all sorts of stuff and you don't have to be a member to buy from there like you do with the one in Worcester (which is not open anyway at the moment due to building problems).

On the way back I stopped off in Blackheath to get the car cleaned inside and out and popped to the market to stock up on goodies. (2 packs of Viennese whirls, 3 loaves of Soreen banana bread, 3 packets of Jacobs Cheddars and 2 large packets of McVities digestives £4).

On Saturday I finished emptying the caravan and drained down the water. I arranged with Dave (who looks after the site) to clean it for me. He makes a good job of it and it will be nice and clean to put the winter cover on.

When I left there I drove to Coleshill to collect some jam jars which were advertised on Facebook. I have been trying to get some used jam jars for ages without luck so drove all the way to Coleshill (45 mins) in desperation as I want to make more jam and marmalade, and I owe Michelle 5 jars as well. You can buy them new but they are about £1 each which I think is ridiculous when you can buy them full of jam from the supermarkets for about 50p. Even Blackheath market wanted £1 each. Anyway the people at Coleshill had 14 so I took them all and gave them a jar of damson jam as a thank you. I didn't realise how nice Coleshill was, it's right out in the countryside and opposite their house was what looked like the ruins of an old priory. Their address was Priory Cottages.

I washed all of the jars and spent ages getting off the labels. I soaked them, scraped them off with a knife, soaked them again and then used one of those silver curly scourers to get the rest off. A couple still had glue on so I had to resort to using spray polish which melts the glue and then scouring them and then putting them though the dishwasher to get rid of the scenty smell!

Anyway on Sunday morning I was scrolling through Facebook and what did I see ... someone in Stourbridge (just a few miles from me) was giving away a whole box of jam jars! To say I shot over there would be an understatement and I took them a large jar of damson jam. There were 42 jars in all and a lot of them had the labels removed already. I have left those with labels for now (I've had enough of label removal at the moment) and put the rest through the dishwasher. All sparkly and clean and ready for the next batch of jam!

10th October 2021

10/10/2021

Another lovely sunny day, though a slight breeze this morning made it feel a little cooler. Went for a walk along by the river and back through the town. No sign of the fair, all packed up and gone and the roads all open again. Was able to take some more photos as quieter today. Here are the ones I took on the river walk. There are two rivers that run through Tewkesbury, the Avon and the Severn. There were quite a few people fishing and they had some serious gear. I only saw them catch small stuff but they put everything in their keep net so I wondered if it was a contest.

I was glad to see they are doing some work to restore the Old Black Bear pub at the bottom of the town. It was a shame to see it empty last time I came. It is very old, said to date back to 1308. The buildings in Tewkesbury always fascinate me. Although a mix of styles they are all old. There are hardly any new buildings at all which is so nice to see.

9th October 2021

10/9/2021

Beautiful day today really warm. Went for a walk round the town this morning and again this afternoon. Picked up a few things from the charity shops including a pretty cut glass scent bottle, a jumper, cardigan, some mohair wool for my blanket and some pieces of fabric. Pictures later as they are packed away in the car.

Town was very busy with the mop fair so taking photos was tricky. I love all of the old Tudor buildings.

When I got back a couple of powered paragliders flew over.

8th October 2021

10/8/2021

Back in the van for the last time this year before I put it away for the winter. I am at Tewkesbury Abbey. I have stayed here before and I like it because you can walk into the town and along by the river so don't need to keep using the car.

On the way in I noticed some signs on the lamp posts to say that it is the Mop Fair today and tomorrow. I didn't even know that Tewkesbury had a Mop Fair. (I know Warwick and Stratford do). Anyway the main road to the site was closed and I had to find my way round the diversion to get here. Always a bit nerve racking following diversions with the van as they are not usually very well signposted and three point turns are tricky if you go the wrong way!. Anyway got here OK and weather very mild. Site is busy. I think everyone is having a last fling.

From my pitch I can see the tower of the abbey in one direction and one of the rides from fair in the other!

I have done a bit more to the little Jenny Wren. Needs a beak but I will have to do that at home as need glue to stiffen it. Also have to put some tiny white dots on the wings and not sure how to do it.

4th October 2021

10/4/2021

No blog yesterday as internet signal very poor. Weather was looking OK so drove through Bromyard (nice town) and headed for Tenbury Wells. Little walk round the town and a few photos of the river and some nice old buildings.

On the way back to the car I noticed a signpost to Cleobury Mortimer. I have been meaning to visit there for a while as I have ancestors from there on my mothers side (Wyre). My grandfathers grandfather married a lady from Mawley Hall in Cleobury Mortimer in 1845. Family legend has it that she was the daughter of the hall but I'm afraid she probably lived in one of the houses or cottages on the estate. My research found that her name was Margaret Reynolds (the family who lived in the hall were Blount) and her father was I think a carpenter. I think my great, great grandfather had gone to Cleobury Mortimer for farm work and I used to wonder why he had gone so far from where he lived in Wollescote (Stourbridge) but I discovered there were a lot of Wyres around there so I guess he went to family. His trade was actually chain making as was my grandfather, his father, mother, and sister.

Anyway I thought I may as well take a look at Cleobury Mortimer and see if I could find Mawley Hall which still exists and was actually up for sale a few years ago so I was able to get some lovely photos of it from the estate agents website. The estate agent's blurb gives some of the history and said the grounds contain five houses and cottages, one of those could have been my ancestors'. Pity I didn't have the £10 million asking price!

I did find it, at least the gateway to it but couldn't see the house and nowhere to stop for a closer look. Apparently the new owners are busy transforming it. My journey there took me over the Clee Hills, amazing views and I managed to get some diesel from a garage over there. Bonus!

Have done some more to the little Jenny Wren and have also discovered that I have a photograph on my calendar that will be useful to follow.

Back home now and unloaded the plants from the car. Was getting quite excited to have them planted when the gardener rang to say he was not coming today after all. Now have to keep them a bit longer. I hope they don't suffer. I now have 22 flowers ready for planting and 2 raspberry canes.