1. Lavender Fields Forever (to the Beatles tune Strawberry Fields Forever) . . . Beautiful Purple fields all over as we approached what appeared to be a large nursery with a restaurant and gift shop all attached.
We piled out of the car after an hour drive and walked along a walkway with tall shrubs along one side as we approached the grounds and buildings. A country feel and nursery smell greeted our senses along with many different colors . To the left was an extravagant herb garden, a 15 ft wall of shrubs with an archway cut thru and a neat green grassy flat with picnic tables on the other side. On the far side was a field of Lavender, almost iridescent. Too many details to recount but we walked through the gardens, inside the shops and nursery and Donna gave us a tour since we missed the tour they offered later in the day. The kids (Heidi and cousins Kalai and Marty) darted off over the rivers bridge onto grassy knolls to burn off energy. Meanwhile Donna pointed to mini versions of a wheat columbine they use to Harvest the Lavender and a still used to boil down the plants to extract a relatively small volume of Lavender oil. Very worthwhile trip.
We bought a (train) "Station Clock" replica there to bring back home. Piled everybody in the car and left for the beach !
2. Old Hundstron Beach : About an hour and 20 minutes from home base in Brandon England (Suffolk Co.). It was mostly warm at 70 F at 2:30 in the afternoon (gets dark at 10 PM). This beach was nice, as most are, with 30 to 40 ft cliffs that have several stratta layers that include bright Red/Orange layers of "Carr stone" near the bottom. The Carr Stone is characteristic to that area of England, and the world, which is used in many area buildings and houses . . . .think "old world" construction hear as everything IS very old.
The beaches were lined with sand and rugged rocks which include flint ! A dark black or brown stone encased in a white outer layer, also used on exterior of houses. there were a lot of shells, mostly familiar and some very different. there was a rusting ship wrecks hull on the beach also, about 60 ft long end to end. I had been collecting some rock and shell specimens in an orange bucket Kalai found discarded (see below).
Dena and Donna broke out their micro-kites which were colorful plastic butterflies about 5 x 3 inches with a 10 ft stabilizing tail-ribbon. They flew together, side by side at heights up to 10 or 12 ft AGL (above Ground Level) as passers by awed at the sight and pleasingly chuckled. Meanwhile, Kalai got down to serious business with his kite which soared very high in a brisk wind. It slipped out of his hand and he chased it 75 to 100 yds down the beach as the handle was dragged across unsuspecting sunbathers by the escaping kite! We laughed pretty hard watching it all happen. Good thing the beach wasn't very crowded. It was warm but cloud cover was about 50% so it chilled quickly at times. Oh yes, during low tide the waters the water receded about 200 yds plus some. Tidal pools would have small flounder, crabs and other creatures. No starfish though. I wanted to walk down and go into the water after walking the beach however, when I got back, everyone was gone back to the car for shelter from the 60-ish chill & overcast sky. It was almost 5 PM, there was just enough time to catch the Rising Castle on the way back home if we hurried.
3. Rising Castle :
The pictures don't do it any justice but, give some feel for the castle ruins. It was a quick walk through in about 40 minutes. There were about 5 to 6 levels with multiple rooms in this 1300 century castle. An archaic kitchen, living rooms, bedrooms and court areas. The bottom floors court area had a well shown below (sorry, not rotated yet).
3 comments:
So glad you all are enjoying your trip. Waiting for pictures from Ireland. Love your blog. Talk with you after your trip to Germany.
Love you all.
Very nice! Beaches and castles
-- very fun topics indeed to imagine what has gone before you in both those places.
Great choices of items to display and explain
-- since I've only seen London, will be fun reference if future travel allows to check those places out.
Hot & humid here, time to go for a Sunday afternoon sail to stay cool and be relaxed before another week of work starts. Thanks for continuing the fun notes.
Well written article.
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