Start of the Caldon canal

Here's the statue of Mr Brindley at the start of the Caldon canal.

Hanley church in the distance.

A bit of our industrial heritage.

nb Stella - Caldon Canal

This was the first outing this year for our shared ownership narrowboat Stella.
This is the view from our current berth at Festival Park Marina, Stoke on Trent.
A Toby carvery! Very good it is too - and excellent value of course.
We stayed where we were for the first night and visited the carvery!

Poppy's response to being 'found out'!

Phantom snorer...

I knew it wasn't me!

Lode Water Mill - Exterior

Water wheel in action.

Lode Water Mill - Interior

Here's the promised video of the working water mill.

Lode Water Mill

This is Lode Water Mill in the grounds of Anglesey Abbey.

They had quite a lot of eager visitors - some just eager to get out of the cold, I think?

The mill was in full working order grinding flour.

As a special treat next time- some video!

Back to Anglesey Abbey...

More of the colourful winter garden.

Aha! some snowdrops!

Very spectacular stand of trees.

We interrupt this blog....

Here are some photos taken from the St.Mary's church tower this morning.

A bit more down to earth.

Man and dog - not great quality as taken with the camera phone and them 'zoomed in' quite a bit.

Very good though!

Anglesey Abbey winter garden

Here's the spectacular winter garden at Anglesey Abbey as promised.
There were quite a lot of visitors around but I managed to get some good photos by being patient!

Anglesey Abbey snowdrops

On Sunday we went to Anglesey Abbey in Cambridgeshire for their snowdrop festival.
The snowdrops weren't really at their best, but as you will see later, we saw the best winter garden we have ever seen!
Here's the house and surrounding buildings.

Childwickbury history book

If you're interested in learning more about Childwickbury, I can thoroughly recommend this book by one of our Museum Friends, Christine Aitken.
Christine actually lived on the estate - so she knows what she's talking about!
The book tells the story of the estate from Medieval times to the present day.
If you want further details, please email me using the link on the right.
It's a fascinating read.

Childwickbury green

Some rather nice estate houses

The well on the green

Childwickbury estate church

Childwickbury is a large private estate to the north of St.Albans which sits between the A5 and the A6.
This is St,Mary's church on the estate.

Underground burial vault.

Inscription on top of the vault - click to enlarge photo

Cold outside - Warm inside

How often does Poppy have to move just to keep in the small shaft of winter sunshine in our lounge?

St.Albans - Samuel Ryder Trail 3

This was Samuel's first city centre office for Ryders Seeds. It was in the gabled bit on the right above a hatter's shop.

The first head office next to The White Hart. The original building was replaced in 1911. You can see the carved reliefs of sowers and reapers.

Now The Comfort Hotel.

The Exhibition Hall - an Art Deco building opened in 1931.

Now Cafe Rouge.