22nd December, 2012

What a difference in the weather from 24 hours ago....and once again it is flooded down here!

The ground is so saturated that even a few hours of rain is causing this amount of flooding...AGAIN!

The other little river that runs through the Abbey cloister area has broken it's banks and is overflowing.

Should have stayed at home and watched 'White Christmas'!

Mr. Hillman is glad he is not shooting the wedding that is happening at Abbey House today- what a shame- you book your wedding for Christmas week, hoping for frost, a sprinking of snow and a winter wonderland, but you get 'soggy Saturday' instead!. Never mind, here's something festive to finish with...!

21st December, 2012

Hooray! The Christmas holidays! It was very quiet down here today, with just a thin sliver of blue sky, but air that felt dank and quite close.

As you can see from these photos taken on Thursday afternoon, the rain had caused water levels to rise again, and the Red River is now very fast flowing and full.

We have heard this goose(I think it is a Canadian goose?) honking in the back garden of the cottage for months now, but he finally showed himself to us today!

It was so quiet and calm down here today, it was amost ghostly- it made me think of that poem by John Keats-'La Belle Dame sans merci..' "Oh, what can ail thee, knight-at-arms, alone and palely loitering,The sedge is whithered from the lake, and no birds sing". These photos match the mood I think... look it up and read it!

Very ghostly...!

16th December, 2012

A sunny but quite cold day, and we thought we'd take a different route today so we went past Bow Bridge from the Yarlside end. The fields are quite flooded along here.

We spotted this bird of prey waiting high in  the trees. We think it is a kestrel but we're not sure.

Nice day for a bit of 'hacking'!

We also met 'Itsy' and 'Bitsy' up in Abbots Wood, with Neave, their dog.Funny who you bump into when you are down here. Last summer we came down here for a walk- it was before we started the blog- and Sir Chris Bonnington was sat outside Abbey Mill with two companions, having a cup of tea!We went in to tell the staff, who had no idea he was out there, and then they came out to make a fuss. Poor guy was only having a quiet drink!!

Frankie and I are contemplating our last four days at school befor the holidays- and then we will be able to come down here every day-even Christmas Day we have decided!

This photo was taken high up on the Abbots Wood footpath.

I was thinking about how massive the bell tower of the Abbey church must have been, and what a feat of engineering it must have been to build it. I wonder what the stone masons involved would have thought about Furness General Hospital looming in the background over 500 years later??

15th December, 2012

A mild and pleasant day- very quiet down here at 1pm. We parked the car we have next to the one we want!!

When we looked out of the window very early on Wednesday morning, there was a deep layer of ice, and freezing fog, so 'true to form' when I left for work at 7.30am, Steve Hillman and his trusty camera had to do a quick trip down to the Abbey to capture it in the fog!

Frankie has been a true hero this week, taking one of the lead roles in our Christmas show- he now thinks he might be an actor instead of a doctor!!

Our little friend the tabby cat was out today, trying to catch coal tits for it's lunch, and the sheep have been brought down into the fields near Bow Bridge, presumably before the cold really sets in.

There seemed to be quite a bit of helicopter activity overhead down here today- it wasn't the huge SeaKing helicopter, but we can't tell which type it was?

All's well with the world- not long until Christmas!!

9th December, 2012

After a busy morning of tree buying, we got here at about 1pm. Very windy, and strange looking skies!

The walkways were quite busy, and as Last Resort Mike's isn't open on a Sunday, we had a lovely bowl of soup in the Abbey Mill Cafe instead!

Steve Hillman at his very best today, taking shots of wierd views down here- I especially like the brooding Rook in a tree, waiting to pounce....

Frankie's looking more and more like Ranulph Fiennes everytime we come down here- he has perfected the art of wearing outdoor clothes stylishly, don't you think!!

There is always something to look at down here-is this called bracket fungi?

Eerie looking photo at the end of a cold winter Sunday!A fortnight on last year, snow was falling!!