Happy New Year!

 I ended up taking a longer break than I wanted to over the festivities. I'm afraid the Dreaded Lurgy struck all and sundry, and I didn't feel like doing much for a while. 

Then it was my turn this year to do all the cooking. American Daughter-in-Law took some time out, and went home for Christmas - first time she's managed it since she came to live over here. With Son having to go into his London Office frequently, it meant I had two very willing little helpers while I was doing the Christmas cooking!

If they weren't sitting hopefully by the kitchen door, then we were out for walkies! Anyway, I thought, nevermind, if it's as mild as it has been the past couple of winters, I'll get out in the New Year and see what I can find.

It's cold. Even with heated gear on the bike, it's been too cold to go anywhere. According to the Met Office, it'll be a little warmer next week........................Here's hoping.

Anyway - I wish you and yours a very Happy New Year, and safe travelling.

Nearly there...................

 I picked the wrong time of year to do all this re-organinising. However, in between Christmas shopping and everything else to do with the Festive season, I'm almost done. I'm on Derbyshire, and then there's just 5 more counties to do. .................................................................

And, there it is - done.

You can now select a county, and from there, select whichever city, town, village or feature interests you. 

I think everything has transferred correctly, but it you do find a problem please leave me a message

And it goes on................

 Day 3 of the upgrade, and I've added Somerset, Shropshire, Scotland, Oxfordshire, Northumbria, Norfolk, and Middlesex.

The next section to do is London. That's going to take at least 3 days - especially as I'm hoping to get out on the bike for a while tomorrow, and then possibly a trip to London later in the week.

More updates

 I seem to be doing 4 or 5 counties a day at the present.

So, today it was Tyne & Wear, Sussex, Surrey, Suffolk were done

Getting there slowly................................

Update on the improvements

 So far, I've done Wales (took me ages), Warwickshire, West Midlands, Wiltshire and Yorkshire. 

They all seem to be working the way I intended, but let me know if you come across anything that doesn't work

Onto the next one................................

A change is gonna come...........

 As this blog gets larger and more detailed, it's becoming harder to manage, and even harder for viewers to negotiate. 

I've been working out how to do things better, and gradually you will see the changes. It won't be quick, but I'll get there.

Starting from the bottom of the menu, I'll be changing the layout, so when you click on a county, you will only see a menu of the places covered, and clicking on each place name will take you just to that place, and no other.

I've just done the first one on the Yorkshire page (Aysgarth), and now I know how to do it, I'll get it done as soon as I can.

Not today though - it's cold, but sunny, and frost-free, so I'm off out on the bike (just for a ride, not to visit anywhere today)

Never too old to learn

 I'm not doing much riding at the moment. Can't go too far on these short Winter days, as I have to be home before it gets dark - got a temporary night blindness thing going on.

That, and the fact that it was very icy this morning, made me decide to hop on the HS1 Javelin train to London, and visit the British Library exhibition rooms. 

They have a great exhibition at the moment on the voice of medieval women - basically of beautiful illuminated books and manuscripts written by women who, at the time were treated more as chattels than equals. 

They are very enlightening, and it shows that women then had to deal with many of the issues we women today have. 

I've added a few samples to the chapter on the British Library (LONDON2), and others have been placed elsewhere if appropriate (e.g. a manuscript of part of the Canterbury Tales in the Chapter for Canterbury with the statue of Chaucer)

I have kept more back, which will be inserted as and when I visit other places.

Will it, won't it?

 Well it didn't, but i thought it might. Rain, that is. It was sunny but chilly when me and Graham left home. Hubby not very well, so I decided to let him rest and go for a ride. I should have ridden Twinkle, but at the last minute I opted for Graham, as the route I intended to take was nearly all main roads.

I was glad I did in the end, as when I got to Headcorn, the sky was as black as Dick Whittington's cat. So it was a bit of a quick look at the church and the top end of the High Street, and then run for home

However, the first stop was Biddenden (KENT1 page). The church had just closed when I got there, but the kind lady told me exactly when it would be open. Apparently it hosts the village library, and is open for two hours, three days a week, but not the same hours every day! I did have a good look round the village though. 

From there, it was a quick 4 mile sprint to Headcorn (KENT2 page) I will need to return here as well. As you can see, I didn't have a lot of time to look around.

It's lovely being able to spend time really poking about the local area, but I look forward to when the weather and his health improve, because I really need to get further afield.

The disadvantage (sort of) doing all this local stuff, is that I will Shortly need to start a KENT3 page!

Very mild for the time of year.

 Yes, today was mild and relatively sunny. Finding myself at a loose end for a few hours, I decided to go and visit one of the most beautiful villages in Kent, and a couple more in the vicinity.

Originally I had a list of 7, but as is often the case, I ran out of time, so the other 4 will have to keep. 

The first place was Goudhurst, right on the edge of the Weald of Kent. And the church was as beautiful as the rest of the village. I do wish though that they could build a by-pass for the centre. If you've been there, you will know that road has signs at each end saying that it is unsuitable for large vehicles. But they still try to force their way through the bends around the church and up and down the incredibly narrow and steep street.

I've updated the Kent1 page for this one.

Next, I took to the country lanes to find Horsmonden church - well, it ain't in Horsmonden that's for sure. It stands behind a farm about 2 miles from the village down a couple of very narrow lanes. It was well worth searching it out though.

From there, I went and had a quick look at the actual village, then went on to Brenchley for my third and final visit of the day. 

 That's a pretty place too, and another very interesting church. I was cold by this time, so I just covered the bit of the village where the church is, and left the rest for another day.

Horsmonden and Brenchley on Kent 2

walking into history

 Less than two miles from my house, is a small village that I never go to. And all because, when they built a new road to bypass the village, they effectively seperated it from the estate where I live.

However, you can see the village church clearly from anywhere in the locality, as it stands tall and proud on a mound at the highest point of the village. Every time I go down that road, I think, I really must go and take a look.

So today, I made time to do just that - not just the church, but the entire village. And I was amazed at what I found.

Now - I'm going to start putting up the pictures and writing the piece to go with them. I need to do a lot of research first, into not just the buildings, but some of the people who were obviously important to the village.  

There is a V.C buried in the churchyard whose name I didn't recognise, and there is one corner of the church that is purely in memorium of members of one family, who really were important to the village. I'd never heard of them either.

I'm going to paint a concise picture of the church and village, and then do some research on the people, and write my findings up as and when I can. Therefore, you may have to call back from time to time, to discover what I've found.

So - the village is called Great Chart, and it will appear on the Kent2 page.