Sunday was "Beeley in Bloom" which was a fund raiser with various activities. For example this house sold Prosecco and other beverages by the glass. They also sold programs at most displays which raised about $3000.
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Sunday was "Beeley in Bloom" which was a fund raiser with various activities. For example this house sold Prosecco and other beverages by the glass. They also sold programs at most displays which raised about $3000. |
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Some houses just had pretty gardens |
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This had the theme "Wind in the Willows" with Mole, Rat, Badger and Toad |
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We voted this the Best Fence in the Village, made from rhododendron stems… |
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It also was the domain of the Queen of Hearts… |
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…next to the Mad Hatter's Tea Party |
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We also had a scary wolf with LRRH |
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Others were just pretty |
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Including the Old Hall. Strangely enough, when we were leaving for the US a lady next to us in line got talking and her Grandfather and Great Grandfather were both born in this building. Talk about a small world. |
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And "Church View" |
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Along Pig Lane… |
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…We discovered, who else? The Big Bad Wolf |
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The village itself has only three streets and 61 houses. Our cottage had an outside patio at which we sat playing Scrabble and greeting passers-by. The villagers were very open and at the end of our visit we had a dozen or so friends to invite to a little going-away party. |
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The church was founded in the eleventh century with some of it still original |
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It has a very small organ but very cute |
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Down the hill is probably the prettiest cottage. Note the blue color here and elsewhere. The Duke's estate owns all the land and most of the cottages. They were for the use of estate workers who lived in them for life to copensate for very low wages. Recently the laws changed so this is no longer the case and the cottages are being sold off. Blue indicates it still belongs to the estate and houses one of the workers. |
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The post office didn't get enough business so it was sold off. But they didn't take the mail box away. |
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The local brook runs along the bottom of the hill… |
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…in front of more cottages. There are 61 in the village. |
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Not all inhabitants need a cottage. One morning we were woken by a strange cackling and there were about two dozen young partridges wandering around across the road. We were also used to the daily mooing of cows, braying of a donkey and the clip-clop of the lady walking her horse in fromt of the cottage. No, we never found out why she walked it along the road and then back |
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And so back to our cottage. This is the back view… |
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…with our resident Shetland ponies which are very pretty but tend to attract flies to our open windows |
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Directly above the village is Beeley Edge with views back over the valley containing the village |
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Above it is a bronze age burial mound with earthworks around it. It is noted for being square which is very rare. It was taken into the custody of the State and it is ringed with stones inscribed VR (Vistoria Regina, which dates these to the late 1800s) |
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Close by, a stone circle was marked on the map in a large vacant space. By careful triangulation and dead-reckoning we found it. It also helped that a couple of lady hikers were able to direct us to it. |
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On the adjacent hill there is an even better circle. Legend has it that nine ladies were dancing in a circle against the wishes of their Puritan preacher. They were turned to stone. |
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One short trip took in a few more well dressings |
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As well as a hike along Curbar Edge which has wonderful views.. |
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…and heather… |
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and picnic spots |
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A day trip took us to Leeds, a large industrial town about 50 miles North.The City center is now all pedestrian walks… |
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…made very pretty |
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t also has a very large market with food stuffs, electronics, clothes and lots of other articles. One large area is almost exclusively for Pakistani and Indian goods indicating how many immigrants there are. These countries were part of the British Empire until the 1950s so their inhabitants have British passports |
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We continued on to Harewood House, another stately home that has been featured in a lot of British period shows on TV |
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It has impressive gardens |
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…and sculptures… |
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It also features a very impressive collection of caged birds such as these flamingos |
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And some that were not caged…. A falcon. |