30th August, 2013.... turning cooler!!

August is nearly at an end (don't forget the Medieval Fayre tomorrow!), and a chilly wind was blowing down here this afternoon. Back to school next week!!

Frank's got his back to school face on... I'm quite looking forward to it!

 

Grass cutting down here today..sprucing the place up for tomorrow.

 

 

 

And all accompanied by the piper today...it was like walking through Glen Coe!!

 

 

There are a few hints that leaves are beginning their slow death........

.......and more and more brown, ploughed fields!

Interesting piece in the Evening Mail tonight about Little Mill, one of the water mills built by the Cistercians...I'm not quite sure where the remains are, but we'd love to walk along and photograph it for the blog.

We've got starling turf wars in our garden at the moment, and they are vicious. We have seven collared doves coming for food and drink, but the starlings attack them as well as each other!

 

 

Not very ZEN, our starlings!! (I'm reading Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now at the moment!!)

What a peaceful, pastoral scene... Furness Abbey!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

25th/26th August, 2013...A scorching August Bank Holiday weekend!!

Frankie's birthday dawned warm and calm, with the sun beaming through his bedroom window. We went to the Abbey at lunchtime, and it was VERY BUSY which is excellent...no need to sit in bank holiday traffic jams when we live in Furness!

 

Frankie very happy to go into Abbey Mile Café for his usual lemonade, and come out with a birthday gift!! Many thanks to Jackie and staff... you made his day!

 

Lovely place for a power walk!

 

Tried to pick some of these for my classroom Autumn display, but they bit back!!

Thought we'd head over to Roa Island today, and do a bit of yacht watching..it was also very busy, but very pleasant in the warm sea breeze!

 

 

 

Again, why would you battle the traffic when you have all this on your doorstep! Frank's sister lived here for a while and she loved it. Frank has decided he'd quite like a second home here... as long as they've got high speed broad band obviously!!

 

 

We met Mr. Greenheartden down here..he was on a cycle tour of Barrow. The Green Heart Den, Marsh Street...that really is a place worth looking at, and right in the heart of Barrow too. Check it out!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

22nd August, 2013...a beautiful late summers day!

It was foggy at 6am this morning, but by lunchtime, lingering mist and drizzle had cleared to leave one of those summers days that are perfect, perfectly English!!

 

 

Lots of laid back activity down here today...families eating at Abbey Mill café, people walking, restoration workmen sweating in their overalls, ponies hacking..everyone just enjoying the sun and the ruins...there's always a tremendous sense of 'back history' down here...who has walked the walk before you?!!

 

 

 

Thanks to the Evening Mail staff for putting a piece together about our blog...I thought it was very well written...and you can now access the blog by following a link from the Evening Mail website too!

 

 

Plenty of these down here now!! I can't bring myself to be bothered about Internet Trolls or Simon Cowell's latest disaster but the news about the use of Sarin in missiles dropped on the suburbs of Damascus makes me livid. I hope someone can do something... and QUICKLY! Everyday I am grateful that we live in a part of the world like this. Peace is priceless!

 

Rant over!! And congrats to Al who got a whole bunch of A*s and As today in her exams!! Brainy or what!!

 

 

Couldn't resist adding these to the blog later in the day.....the old town doesn't look half bad, does it!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

18th August, 2013...Geocache!

Sunny but blustery day, much better than the heavy rain of Saturday (poor bride from the Abbey House wedding yesterday..she waits all summer through the beautiful weather and it rains on HER wedding day...she did look very happy though!!)

Nice to be back in walking boots again!. It was very busy down here today...everyone was going stir- crazy yesterday, having to stay indoors and stare out at the rain!

 

 

These bullocks are getting mighty tame...I make sure none of us are wearing red when we come down here for a walk...Frankie finds it hilarious!

 

I am doing my annual read of Robert Neill's Mist over Pendle at the moment. It is one of my favourite books, and the dappled woodland down here at this time of year reminds me of Pendle Forest....especially when Marjorie first finds herself a visitor there, and is taken for a gallop up to the Rough Lee. Alice Nutter... what a chilling character...she still scares me now!! That perfect, caring and compassionate front, hiding something altogether more sinister...woe betide you if she wants rid of you!! She gets her come -uppance in the end though!

 

 

 

A friend of ours introduced us to GEOCACHING in March. The global treasure hunt, using GPS on your phone. We have found a few different caches, but we've never looked for the Furness Abbey one. We had a walk today and followed the clues on my iphone. Frankie found it, signed his name, and we photographed it just to be annoying!! Give it a go... you just need to download the app.. there are lots of caches around Barrow, and we have found the How Tun Wood one, and the Dock Museum one too.

 

Frankie is FINALLY eleven on Sunday...two weeks of freedom left...!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

14th August, 2013..a little light rain!!

What was that strange wet stuff falling from the sky this afternoon...some uncharacteristic rainfall for Barrow..it was quite a pleasant change actually!

                             Doesn't stop people getting out and walking their dogs though!

 

 

 

We came down here a little later than usual today as we had visitors for lunch...baby D made his debut, and we all wish his auntie Em the best of luck in her new teaching job... reception age children.... ARGH!!!

A perfect rowan tree... you will have noticed how early the berries are this year...not always a sign of an impending hard winter, more likely to be connected with the amount of available water stored below ground! Plenty of huge rosebay around too!!

 

 

If you are a fan of Peter Robinson's DCI Banks novels, the latest one, 'Children of the revolution' starts off with a body on the railway lines by the cottage, here at the Abbey, I'm sure!! And to back that up, he mentions Barrow in Furness early on in the story, in relation to something else...

 

...he is originally from Yorkshire, but I'm sure he's looked at this view for his opening scene.. he may have even been camping down here...

 

...someone is!!

 

(Look out for a snippet about our blog in next week's Evening Mail!!!!)