Tag: travel

Buckland’s Newest Old Treasure

Posted on Posted in Art and Design, EnglandTagged , , , , , 10 Comments

One of the reasons I went to Buckland last weekend was this painting. If you live in the UK, you will probably have heard recently that its been discovered that a painting given to the National Trust in 2010, has been investigated by experts and found to be no less than Rembrandt self portrait. It shows the Master, aged 29, in a hat with white feathers, and it is signed and dated 1635.
The National Trust has a collection of some 13,500 paintings but this is the only Rembrandt. It has been valued at around £20m, but can never be sold, it belongs to the nation. There are no plans to move it from Buckland, so if you want to see this valuable find, you’ll just have to visit Devon.

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Buckland Abbey, a Few Inside Photos

Posted on Posted in England, History, Photography, UncategorizedTagged , , , , , 16 Comments

Hampered by not being able to use flash I’m afraid!

A Fireplace since 1576!
Edwardian chapel
The hob, each area a different temperature
A bored volunteer making sure we didn’t pinch the artifacts!
A room with a view
Spinning corner
Going down
Laundry
Kitchn doorway
Family crest
The Georgian dining room
Tudor dresser

Too Early for Gardens

Posted on Posted in Gardens, Photography, Travel, UncategorizedTagged , , , , , 19 Comments

Buckland Abbey is on the far west of Dartmoor and spring is late this year. It isn’t a garden with herbaceous border, more formal and functional elegance and sweeping grounds. There is an Elizabethan garden and although it’s box hedges have been damaged by blight in recent years, it has been replanted. The National trust have been working to establish a flowery mead since 2001 and its wild flowers attract butterflies and moths. Each September the mead is cut and to maintain the low nutrients in the soil that grassland needs the cuttings are rmeoved. In day gone by these cutting would have been animal fodder and also strewn around the floor in the house for its sweet fragrance.

A quiet spot
Cushion bushes
The Elizabethan garden
Spring is trying its best
Secret steps
A place for quiet contemplation
The dormant flowery mead

Buckland’s Cistercian Barn

Posted on Posted in England, History, Photography, Travel, UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , , 15 Comments

Buckland abbey was founded in 1278 by Cistercian monks on land overlooking the tranquil Tavy valley. The monks were responsible for building the great barn, an impressive building which would have been a treasure store of produce grown on the large estate given to them by the then Countess of Devon, Amicia.

The abbey thrived for two hundred and fifty years until the dissolution of monasteries by Henry 8th and in 1541 the monarch sold Buckland to Sir Richard Grenville who converted it into a home, tearing much of it down, but unusually for the time the church was kept to become the main part of the house. Here is the great barn.

It’s far bigger than it looks on the outside!
Towards the entrance
Small shafts of light.
Huge doors were built to allow carts to drive in at one and out at another so that goods and produce could be unloaded in shelter.
The far end.
Wooden vaulting, the exterior would have been thatch.
The barn’s vast interior
An ancient apple press

I’ll be back tomorrow with some photos of the garden.

Leading to Buckland Abbey

Posted on Posted in England, Photography, TravelTagged , , , , , 14 Comments

Today I’ve had the most lovely day out for my friends birthday! We went to a National Trust property across the other side of Dartmoor, Buckland Abbey, once the home of Sir Francis Drake. I think I will probably create several posts about it because I’ve just put 400 photos onto the PC. As I don’t know where to start with Buckland here are some photos of the journey across the moor. In the one with the smoke we were wondering if someone was swailing – controlled burning of heath to stimulate new growth, and now I’ve just seen on the BBC’s website that a few mile north there is a huge blaze covering six square kilometres. They don’t know how the fire started yet, swailing can be done until the second week of April, but with prior arrangement .The land is desperatle dry, I can’t remember seeing it look quite like it did today, so just the tiniest spark is all it takes, and the concern now is for nesting birds.. There are 100 firefighters at Chat Tor and they are being assisted by local commoners beating, I hope the fire in my photo, south east of there is quickly contained.

 

The Lazy Poets Thursday Poem, Seaside Supper

Posted on Posted in England, Poetry, Travel, UncategorizedTagged , , , , , 11 Comments

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my favourite ice cream entices me

 wrapped in woolly scarf and gloves

on an evening that looks like summer

 for a walk to Orcombe by the sea

a hoard of pulled along people

in the charge of manic dogs

young love displayed in the sand dunes

I wonder if they notice the view

of the waves tumbling and rattling

the shingle in their wake

or the gaggle of dark and white geese

resting on barnacled rocks and weed

the board paddling Poseidons hold me balanced

between entertainment and anxiety

as they reach the distant sand bank

then float on the current out to sea

hoping they won’t need the lifeboat

I find shelter from the wind

 sit back with my supper from Krispies

the best haddock and chips there could be

Maybe the Exeter Fountain?

Posted on Posted in Art and Design, England, Exeter, UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , 16 Comments

Now I shouldn’t be blogging today but I saw this new sculpture on Friday, learnt a bit more about it today and need a fresh way to procrastinate instead of writing an assignment. Exeter hasn’t had a fountain for several hundred years, since the Great Conduit, an ornate fountain through which water was available to the public was demolished, but there have been whisperings.
Enter Simon Ruscoe, a talented local artist with a passion for public art. Simon has been working on a large scale sculpture collective, for many years hoping that one day it would be on permanent display in his city.
The sculpture below, one of the seven figures hand cut from steel is twenty feet high and it symbolises the difficult times we are living through. If placed in a fountain as Simon hopes, it reflects society’s struggle to keep our head above water, a group united as it strives to survive.
Art is meant to be thought provoking, but the local newspaper reports that this sculpture isn’t getting totally positive feedback. Among the comments are that it is too modern, the city should have a fountain recalling the blitz in 1942 as well as some positive comments. Well I personally love it, and I wish Simon Ruscoe luck with getting it permanently placed, preferably in Exeter. This is our chance to gain an icon as powerful as the Angel of the North or the Damien Hurst’s Verity, currently residing in Ilfracombe. If not, I’m sure that someone with insight and an open mind will welcome it.
Tell me what you think, would you like it in your city centre?

http://www.simonruscoe.co.uk to learn more.

An Easter Day Out, Saltram House Devon

Posted on Posted in Devon, England, Photography, Travel, UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , 12 Comments

A lovely National Trust property, Saltram has been overlooking the River Plym for three hundred years. If it looks familiar, it was one of the settings for 1995 film version of Sense and Sensibility. I didn’t go into the house today but the grounds were beautiful, well worth a visit if you’re in the Westcountry.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Future Tense

Posted on Posted in Devon, England, Photography, TravelTagged , , , , , , , , 23 Comments

Michael Pick says, ‘We spend so much of our lives thinking back, or looking ahead, and even though a photo captures only one moment in time, with a bit of thought it can freeze the process of moving forward, or the promise of things to come. Your challenge this week is to seal one such moment in amber’ and invites us to share to join the http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/03/22/weekly-photo-challenge-future-tense/
I thought this was an impossible task at first, but then I came up with these.

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A connecting extension to a favourite walk.

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On the strip of ground between the river Exe above and the canal, out of sight on the left, Devon County Council are building a new world class outdoor education centre in Exeter. The spiral stairs to the left are the way up the abseil tower which was nearly completed when I took this photo in January and the centre is due to open in April. A real investment in the future.

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This is sadly a bit more worrying. The South West Coast Path is a 630 mile walk, one of Britains National Trails. The Devon Red Sandstone section here at Sidmouth which climbs sharply eastwards has been closed because of erosion. The path has become unstable in several places, and some homes are at risk of plunging over the cliff. Diversions are in place for walkers until more permanent plans are made.