Fordwich, Britain's smallest town

We walked from Fordwich village along the side of the river Stour (isn't it lovely?) to the "highly attractive" Reed Pond (according to the directions) ...which currently is infested with toxic algae and not that attractive after all. Lots of invisible birds in the treetops but only one item of wildlife to be seen...

The walk passes through Ministry of Defence land which explains this sign - haven't seen one of these before! I didn't stop for long, honest officer.

The picture below shows the contrast between the public land - the side I'm standing on - and the other bank of the river which is somebody's garden. Gorgeous!

We then strolled around the village - which apparently is a town.

 A VERY small town, two pubs and a decommissioned church and fabulous architecture.

We had a drink in the George and Dragon, our table started life as a huge bellows, presumably from a blacksmith. Isn't it great?

The town sign shows the legendary Fordwich trout which was known to Izaak Walton who wrote the Compleat Angler in 1653, I'm guessing the fish is long gone :-)

One of many fabulous historic buildings - this was the home of artist Alfred Palmer from 191 till his death in 1951.

I really like the brickwork at the roofline on this next building, which according to its blue plaque was the home of  John and Gregory Blaxland who lived here between 1769 and 1806 in between exploring Australia. According to wiki "The government promised them land, convict servants and free passages, in accord with its policy of encouraging 'settlers of responsibility and capital" (not like the other settlers who had made the mistake of stealing a loaf of bread then.)

This next building, unbelievably, is the Town Hall. It's closed for the winter but has a ducking stool and is registered as a wedding venue (at which presumably the ducking stool is not used).

Th other pub - the Fordwich Arms - look at the chimneys! The window brickwork is great too.

I loved this little cottage next to the church, not sure how I would feel about graves next to my window but then I took a closer look...

I don't think I've seen tombstones with skulls before, aren't they wonderful?

One last architectural gem, look at the way these windows are leaded. Beautiful.

Snow!

We don't get a lot of snow in the south east of the UK, so when the first fall arrived overnight on Saturday we knew we had to get out there and enjoy it.


I love the way the snow softens the edges in some ways... but then


these trees look like they've been highlighted!


The fence reminds me of fake snow sprayed in windows at Christmas.
Nothing fake here though.


I was pleased with the "framing" around the sheep in this next shot


Wish I could say this was my garden pond, but it's the local trout farm.


I love the way the snow is coating each and every surface it could find here!


Texture!!!


Our local area is beautiful all year round, but I especially enjoy it under snow.




The sun is already working its magic and much of the snow has gone now. I'm glad I enjoyed it!

We're people magnets

Mr Nifty and I are desperate to move to the sea, but the property market isn't exactly buoyant right now. So while we're waiting for that elusive house-buyer, we have lots and lots of days out.

(click on pic to enlarge)

Today we walked along the cliffs at St Margarets Bay, just along from the famous white cliffs of Dover. not many people about - but while we picnicked, the people in the distance approached and sat down close enough to touch. WHY?!?!?!?!?! See all that empty countryside? What's so special about where we're sitting?

As I say - we're people magnets.

Unwind...

I don't know about you but I'm BUSY BUSY BUSY :-)

But I try to make time to walk each day - this photo is from Sunday's walk along the canal at Appledore. Gorgeous.

We saw a little egret, moorhen, swans, woodpeckers,plenty of fallen leaves and just one person during our couple of hours walking. Bliss!

Virtual friends...

Long ago (or so it seems) I had the most interesting commission, a very special meerkat indeed.



My new virtual friend was kind enough to share my work on her website Eco Enchantments, and finally I've got around to returning the compliment!

We found we had shared interests: we're both in Kent, both enjoy the outdoors. Viv's book is sited in the local area and I discovered I'd blogged about the wind farm which she talks about here.

There is so much to enjoy in Viv's website, especially if you are a fan of faerie. Have fun exploring!

Oh I've got a brand new Combine Harvester and I'll give you the key...

Anyone else remember that song?



This is what I saw on my walk today:

Nature's beauty

We walked around Hurst Green (just over the border in Sussex) yesterday.



The world is so lush and green right now!

I thought the highlight was going to be a patch of stunning wild orchids. I've left my finger in the shot so you can see their delicate size.



Later though, we saw a pair of buzzards (not that common down south) circling hig above and calling to each other. I did my best Ray Mears impression and called back to them, and I'm sure they answered. Husband not quite so convinced!



And later still - husband was in front and stopped dead, signalling to me. Sadly i thought he was telling me to stop - he actually wanted me to catch up! There in front of him were three little fox cubs playing in a clearing. By the time I got there I just saw the last one chasing his brothers. He barked at them to wait for him! We'd never heard a fox barking before.

I suppse we walked for 2 or 3 hours - didn't see a human soul in all that time. Bliss!

my house.....not.

mind you, if it really *was* mine, I wouldn't want a public footpath at the end fo my garden!

The Garden of England, my home.

In the first half hour of our walk today we passed:



hops (for beer making)



grape vines





cherries



plums...



oh, and we also picked up a geocoin in a cache nearby. A fruitful walk!

Litter louts part 2

Way back when I blogged about a litter-picking walk.

We've often taken a small plastic bag out walking since, but yesterday we did another marathon litter pick.



One bin bag and one largish shopping bag later - we had to admit we couldn't carry any more. In fact, a mile from home I gave up and sat with the rubbish while husband went to fetch the car.

Why do people do it? In one field we found what had presumably been a party, cans and bottles everywhere. the revellers had even left 2 full bottles behind, but there was rather too much mud to put them in my fridge.



This last "altered" bottle - hmmm, is it something to do with illicit substances?

Graffiti - I love it!

It's St George's Day today, patron saint of England, so it seems right to blog about our glorious countryside. At the beginning of my walk I came an unexpected find on a barn wall in a Kent orchard.



Mine's a pint! I rather like graffiti when it's more than just a scrawled tag.

The orchard itself is just starting to come into blossom, I love the way the flowers are deep pink as buds, and soften to a pale pink as they open.

GeoCaching...part 3

So far we'd only found microcaches...our next hunt was for a cache with "swag" in it. We filled out pockets with random bits and pieces (you know, the sort of things you get in crackers and put in a drawer cos you can't bear to chuck it away!) and off we went.



Once more we were walking through countryside we know well and have walked many times without knowing about geocaches.



Kent is at its best right now, the new lambs are finding their feet - literally! The world seemed full of baaaaaaing, as new lambs and new mums struggled to find each other.



We grew quite attached to lamb27 who was quite sure he could get mum3 to suckle him - but she wasn't having it!



We found the cache - and it was stuffed full of goodies! Protocol dictates that you swap items of equal value, so we swapped a flower eraser for a footballing one, and signed the log.



Sadly the sun disappeared and we remembered that actually it's best to wear jackets in March :-( so we scurried home to sign the virtual log and look for our next cache!

http://www.geocaching.com/