Middle Assendon & Henley 25 October 2015

Another walk a little bit further afield. There were only 3 of us on the walk and there were hills! All that Wikipedia has to say about Middle Assendon is that it is near to Henley-on-Thames and that it has a public house, the Rainbow Inn. Towards the end of our walk we chatted to other walkers who had had lunch there and said it was great. Anyone feel like visiting? I'll take you for lunch.

Lovely countryside in the throes of autumn.  This is a kissing gate - actually meant to keep livestock out, but kissing could be a side effect ..

Up a pretty steep hill with an interest tree effect.

The village green and such pretty houses.

Some were obviously very old but had been renovated beautifully.

Look at the espalierd trees! They must be very old, so old in fact that they've outgrown the wall.

On through the forest and the wonderful green light.

We got a bit lost at this point and ended up on a private estate. We didn't see anyone so no harm done. The deer were a bit startled though.

Then we got lost again and had to make a detour of about a mile, so no pics of Henley I'm afraid. We passed through some fields on the way back and saw livestock.

Sheep with their own jumpers..

And horses in blankets ..

Up another large hill and then this magnificent view.

This photo was taken at around lunch time and I was really taken with the shadows - it felt like late afternoon.  Also, the sky in all the photos is so washed out - I'm not sure how to improve that. Any ideas? The light here is so very different to home. Lovely though.

Battersea Park and the Affordable Art Fair 24 October 2015

While browsing online - as you do - I came across this amazing artist - Susanna Bauer.  She does things with leaves and sticks and crochet and wood that you would not believe. www.susannabauer.com - you should have a look.  Anyway, she was showing at the Affordable Art and I received a ticket from her. The fair was being held at Battersea Park over the weekend and I leapt at the opportunity.   More about the show later.  It goes without saying that it was a grey day!

This was my first visit to Battersea Park. One of the wonderful parks of London and it appears to me definitely a park for Londoners. It's on the south side of the Thames opposite Chelsea.  Crossing the river is always a highlight.

Be sure to look up every now and then.

Locals everywhere, exercising, cycling, walking dogs, playing rugby, playing tennis. There is also a zoo, but I gave that a miss. The locals were interesting enough and there was lots of wildlife.

Dogs of every shape, size and colour ...

The land was formerly used as market gardens but has been turned into an 83 hectare garden for the locals. There are so many aspects to it - the bandstand, sports fields, fountains, pools, fields and copses of trees, something for everyone.

The Peace Pagoda overlooking the Thames.

Then to the gallery - Battersea Evolution. Hundreds of pieces of work from recent graduates, art studios, galleries and workshops. It was rather difficult to take pics but I snapped a few.

There were some real bargains to be had even with the Rand at ridiculous rates. My favorite I think was the Plums.

These are Susanna Bauer's work - the precision is just awesome. How does she do it?

Just as I was leaving the heavens opened up so it was a hop on to the free bus service back to Sloan Square Tube station and home.

Boveney Chapel & Dorney Common 18.10.2015

Another grey day! This may become a theme. I do apologise and I'll try to inject some colour into these posts.

How about red?

 And some yellow?

Just spectacular

This was another walk with the Windsor Ramblers around Dorney Common and the Boveney Chapel.  The common is private land but with common rights and has been used for agriculture for 1000 years. It's covers 169 acres on the banks of the Thames, intersected by the Jubilee River and quite often floods during heavy rain. Not today, though it was a bit soggy. It's good to get out on days like this even though you may feel like this swan ..

Towards the middle part of the 5 mile walk, we passed Dorney Court and snuck a peek.

This is a privately owned tudor manor that's been in the same family for 500 years. It is open to the public, but only on the May bank holidays and in August. Damn, missed it! Next year. 

We stopped for tea at the Garden Centre. I didn't get any pictures, tea took precedence, but I did get a picture of this really friendly little dog. He was so happy for anyone to stop and chat. That tail didn't stop wagging as evinced by the blurred part of the picture.

Walking back across the common we crossed the Jubilee River.

And back to the parking lot. We had passed the chapel at the start of the walk but I left it until the end of the walk to go back and have a good look.

Friend's of the Friendless Churches - quite sad when you first see the sign but then you think - they've got friends!

Boveney Chapel

Windsor Great Park 17.10.2015

On this cold misty morning I left home early and parked at Queen Anne's Gate for a walk into the Great Park, to be confronted by this sign.

There were a few people around and they didn't seem deterred by the prospect of rutting stags, so I took my cue from them.

I headed up the long walk which, if you walk from Windsor Castle, is two and a half miles long and dead straight between avenues of trees. So the Castle at one end and a statue called the Copper Horse at the other. This is of King George III.  Yes, the mad one, dressed as a roman emperor and pointing towards Slough. An inscription on the base names him as Pater Optimo.  Big Daddy?

There were deer - lots of them. They really are quite ridiculously photogenic and not terribly preturbed by people, as long as you didn't get too close.

Lots of stags wandering around, trying to get close to the ladies.

There was one stag who looked older than the others, who was frantically protecting his herd. He made such a noise!  It did keep the others away though.

This is such a well used park - walkers, cyclists, horse riders.  No bicycles allowed on the Long Walk at all though. There's as much conflict here between cyclists and everyone else as there is in SA.  Some things don't change...

So up the small hill to the statue and a great view back to the castle.

Then back to the car as the weather was turning quite cold.  Back past the old stag protecting the ladies, who was still roaring and the forlorn youngsters looking for love.