26th January, 2014...Furness Abbey and Dalton, the ancient capital of Furness!

The weather forecasters were 'spot on' today, so we had our wellies at the ready at mid-day, and sure enough...the rain stopped.

 

 

It was totally soaking down here today though...!

 

 

 

 

Someone had even ditched their Vans and decided to go barefoot instead!!

 

 

We spotted some very hungry long-tailed tits at the bird table today, and also had a fleeting glimpse of the Little Egret before it was disturbed in its fishing antics!

 

 

 

Oh, and Mr.W's class have made some woodland creatures that would fit in well with the nature down here!!!!

 

 

We had a walk up around the Castle area of Dalton today too!The castle is a 14th-century peel tower, owned by the National Trust now I think. It was constructed by the monks of Furness Abbey for the protection of the nearby town, and was the building from which the Abbot administered the area and dispensed justice. There are some interesting buildings around here aren't there!

 

 

 

And it got 'Idle Jack' out for a walk too!! Who wants to vegetate on a sofa, gaming all the time any way (ME!! says a little voice!).

 

There are some little signs that spring is on its way....although we haven't even had ONE of those crisp winters days with dazzling sunshine and your breath coming out in clouds...what happened to those I wonder??

 

Lots of bouncing hail storms- predicted for this week.....Abbey House tomorrow with my colleague, so school will just have to function WITHOUT us (Ha ha....TEAM GREENGATE will cope I'm sure, as long as it doesn't SNOW!!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

January 19th, 2014...lots of whacky goings on!!!

We decided that whether it was wet and cold OR NOT, we would make it down to the Abbey today, and we did....though torrential rain started to fall at 2.30pm!!

 

 

Lots of viewings on the blog lately, with some of the most popular posts being mid-summer and Christmas, so I had a look back at the Abbey buildings through the seasons, and here are the results...

 

 

...Spring...

 

 

...Summer...

 

 

...Autumn...

 

 

...Winter...what a stunning place!!

 Mr H, Frankie and I attended a stunning wedding last weekend, with a rather whacky twist...it began as a christening and ended in the baby's parents getting hitched...and what better backdrop for the photos than...Furness Abbey!!

 

 

Ahhh...what lovely people...their little boy is a Frankie too!!

 

 

Mr H had been out and about, looking at Ulverston and the canal last week... I think the 'Friends of Ulverston Canal' have set up a support group to try and preserve some of its history and natural wildlife ( a very good friend of ours is involved in this), so good luck to them.....they need to BLOG about it!!

 

 

 

 

Isn't Furness a lovely place!!

 

Very hard to get Frankie off his phone to actually notice how lovely Furness  is......technology is taking over the minds of the younger citizens of the world!! When I was his age, and living on Walney, I used to go off on my bike for three or four hours and just enjoy the solitude of Biggar Bank or West Shore...now they view it all from behind a screen!!

 

 

Greengate are invading Abbots Wood on Tuesday so watch out everybody... there will be a battle re- enactment...but don't get run over by the train!!

 

 

So, as I say to Frankie.......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5th january, 2014....back to school Blues!!!

A cold, wet day and Frankie REALLY doesn't want to go back to school tomorrow, even though he has had a new haircut, especially for the occasion!!

 

 

As always, I am looking forward to returning to work, although our kids don't start until TUESDAY... our staff are all attending a conference at Furness College tomorrow, with Sir Tim Brighouse and the OTHER David Cameron, so it should be interesting! Very quiet down here today...some iron shepherds did turn up later tho'!

 

 

 

 

To add to the mystery of the heron, we saw this ghost version flying overhead today...it is definitely a different one, but I didn't realise there was a white variation....unless it's not a heron??

 

 

 

No, it's not a seagull...zoom in on the photo and you will see! I was listening to Sir David King (the minister for climate change) talking on the radio this morning. The presenter was trying to pin him down to say that climate change was the direct cause of all the supposed freak weather we have been having in the last two or three years, but he wouldn't be pinned down. I agree with him in some ways....I can remember being about five, and living in Woodstock, in Oxfordshire, and my mum having to dig us out of the house because of three or four feet of snow. Also, when we first moved to Barrow, I recall my dad taking us all for a walk from West Shore to Biggar Bank during the Christmas holidays, and the waves crashing over us up on the walk way (my dad was mad like that!) so this type of weather isn't brand new for the 2000's is it??!

 

 

Trees have been snapped off by the freak weather for thousands of years, I suspect! Trees were here before benches!

 

 

 

Frankie spotted a hungry dipper fishing in the river today, and finally managed to raise a smile!!

 

 

 

 

We were woken by this lovely sunrise at about 7.30am, photo taken from our bedroom window...'Red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning...' said my mother!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2nd January, 2014...Happy 2014!!

What has the weather been like!!! Even the intrepid, wolf skin wearing Hillmans, have been sitting in the lounge staring out of the window  and waiting....and waiting... for the rain to stop!! Finally, it did, so we headed out quickly for a stroll!!

 

Took the binoculars with me today, as we haven't seen much in the way of bird life lately down here...little did we know we would have a fantastic photo opportunity later on!!

 

 

No coat for Frank, as usual!!

 

 

Lots of families down here today, walking and cycling, and we met our old friend Ady, with his girls, and had a little chat. What a fantastic new TV show, Neil Oliver's Sacred Places of Britain....I hope he includes Furness Abbey in the show at some point...I'm a bit of a fan of his, and would love to meet him, if anyone knows him!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

The fallen tree has been chopped about a bit, and I did wonder about stealing some of the logs for my log-pile mad colleague....but these were just a bit too big!!! Poor old tree, it looks as though it had been standing for well over 80 years...."Nearly as old as you dad" laughed Frank!!

 

 

The river is running very high at the moment, and we were just strolling along the banks, talking about how fantastic it would be if the heron was quietly fishing as we walked by. It wasn't, unfortunately.........but.........

 

....suddenly, there it was, flying just overhead!!!

 

 

Superb!!!

 

We also spotted this very well-fed Jay in the trees above the Railway Cottage...a fresh batch of fat-balls had been put out, and were attracting much bird attention!!

 

Robins are never far away from fat-balls!!

 

Talking to my colleagues today about events to commemorate the 100 year WW1 anniversary this year. We've decided a vintage type garden party might be nice, along the lines of the Downton Abbey one, in the episode when they found out about the start of the war!!!! The kids would love it, so anyone who has ideas and artefacts to donate, get in touch!!! Onwards and upwards, that's the GGJ motto!!!