Wednesday 23 April 2014

Around the lake.

Here's an old photo that shows the position of the lake in our hamlet. It is small and would be described as a pond in America!  It was created in the Middle Ages by monks as a fish pond, when fish was an important source of food. When we first moved here the water bailiff, an old man, was still living in the tenanted house that abuts the water. I've marked his home with a red dot in the picture below and our home in blue.  The whole community was owned by and worked for the 'big house',  which is now a hotel. Fred, the water bailiff, was a cantankerous man by all accounts. He had fallen out with his next door neighbours and refused to speak with them, which was quite something given that their houses were semi-detached and they lived in such close proximity to each other!
Now most of the houses are privately owned and the lake is run by a fishing club. We walked beside it today in the cold and damp


on our way to the woods to see if the rainfall had brought the bluebells out.
It's a wonderful time of year to be in the woods, the fresh, new growth is soft and bright, the pathways are snag free, clear of summer brambles and the bluebells, fleetingly, cast a haze of colour.

And if the sun were to shine we could enjoy the most delicate perfume!

12 comments:

  1. Ah, such a nice walk! I can even smell the bluebells. Love the story and history of a different time & place than here. Still struggling with the "tidy" concept today -- so appreciate your thought to give it up! I'll be buried in chaos!

    Have a good day there or as good as can be!

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    1. there have been television programmes here in Britain about people who can hardly get in or out of their houses because they have accumulated so much junk - makes us two seem quite angelic!

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  2. This is a tight neighbourhood, almost as in our house with the apartments door to door.
    The blossoms in the wood remind me of Avatar. hehe. Your photos are becoming a movie Rorschachtest - in my eyes.

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    1. It's what is described as a 'close community' - just twenty-two houses. We can all fit together in one house when we want to celebrate. At other times we can stay within our garden gates with as much privacy as we might wish. It's good!
      No large blue figures in our woods. (At least, not as far as I know!)

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  3. Lovely walk with the bluebells already in bloom.

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    1. I'm making the most of it, Janneke, because they don't last long.

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  4. I think we all still work for the big house because someone else is sure getting most of my money. Oh dear, I sound just like old Fred.

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    1. Oh, Doc, you make me laugh we know the feeling! (You'll have to get a whole lot grumpier if you are to sound like Fred!)

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  5. Pretty pretty place now if you had sunshine it would be perfect.
    Merle..............

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  6. Wow... I've never seen so many bluebells together... it looks really amazing.
    Have a great weekend.
    Alex

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    1. It's a very evocative sight, and so fleeting. I never get over my delight in a bluebell wood.

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