CORNWALL AND BEYOND: CASTLE COMBE to BIDDESTONE and BACK

Faithful Friends

Last day in Castle Combe and this beautiful manor house thats been more like a home than a hotel. Time to move on from the fantasy.

The weekend is here, Saturday night is coming. The place is full, the village is hopping. I've been here a week tomorrow, I'm ready to go.

There's no better way to draw a close to the southern Cotswolds adventure than with Nature Therapy. It turned out to be an Earth day, with animals, wildflowers - the pink Dog Roses are starting to bloom in the hedgerows and the blue Bee Balm - mud, fields, crops, villages, cows, sheep.... I loved it! To be in my element, the ground under my shoes is all I want.

Ok, that's not totally true, I want tea, and cake, and mugs with the Union Jack on them... maybe not that last one. And I'd like some clean clothes.

Morning Sun Through the Room Window

Moorhens

STORY: I went to sleep around 10, out for the count, when at 10.45 I was woken by screaming! Heart wrenching screaming. The screaming continued, I couldn't process the sound but it was coming from outside my window.

In the light from the garden fixtures, two HUGE Badgers were wrestling. They were mad as cats, in fact they were a lot like cats. One had the other in a grip, they were rolling and tumbling like one animal all the time howling and screaming. When they broke apart they stood facing each other like cats will, on their toes, a face off. Then one ran away and the other took off in hot pursuit.
I'd never seen a live Badger. I've seen roadkill, plenty of holes, and there was a "cull" last year claiming Badgers transmit bovine TB, sadly. This was a really exciting scene of what looked like a territory dispute between two strong males.
And a little unnerving. I don't want to meet up with one.

From My Window

Sometimes I just sit with my chair facing this scene looking at the roof. In those moments I like to draw in all that's the English countryside and make it a part of me, as if I could bottle it up and take it home.

The birds and animals seemed to comply today, they were everywhere.

Part of the 11 Mile Walk

Unknown Bird - Fishing!

Sweet Face

There are nooks and crannies, little cottage windows, angles and decorations. I like looking for surprizes like this red and white pitcher and bowl in the attic window. What little room is there under the old eaves?

Long Dean

Not Too Welcoming!

Weir at Ford on the By Brook

There were many footbridges and locks today. The locks look defunct but must have raised and lowered the By Brook water at some time for the many mills to transport their cloth paper product. There are the remains of a ruined mill where rags were boiled and processed to be made into paper at the other mill in the village. It's derelict now, just the remains of a cast iron boiler, and a water wheel, plus a few bits of wall with pipes jutting out, all hidden away in woodland. But I wasn't interested in the doings of man today, just the living of the plants and animals. See how the earth takes back!

A Bit Grand....

Packhorse Bridge at Slaughterford
This quiet hamlet was originally known as Slaphornford, from the Saxon slah-porn, meaning sloe thorn or bush. Legend has it that there was a battle here with King Alfred victorious over the Danes. And the same brook flowed on.

Illiterates. Where's My Mean Bath Traffic Warden?

Friendly Piggy Not Living in Such Good Conditions

And on the 6th Day There was MUD, Lots of Mud

This is a very old road to Biddestone called Weavern Lane. The congregants from Slaughterford had to walk this way to go to church in Biddestone every Sunday. There was a separate section in the church for them to sit. Maybe because of their muddy shoes?

Shoe Art: Note the Innersoles Screwed to the Rock, Originally Belonging to a Pair of Pink Stillettos, and the Older Leather Shoes to the Left Covered in Moss

Article: "The story of the stilettos is an odd one. They were initially pristine but, of course, over the years they have suffered from winds and weathers. I first saw them in, perhaps, the late 80s or early 90s. They have not moved as they are firmly bolted to the fallen trunk beneath."

Green Country As Far As the Eye Can See

The church of St Nicholas has a Norman doorway and a 13C bell tower. If you were to design a textbook English village, Biddestone would be the result. The elegant buildings, the duck pond, the water pump, the church and pubs - they are all here . There's a manor house, a home farm, cottages and gardens. The only thing it lacked was a village store, which I wanted because I was having a craving for Walkers Salt and Vinegar Crisps. 3.5 miles to go.