Blanchland calling!

Blanchland is a village around 10 miles or so away from Corbridge in Northumberland.
We ended up going for a walk there because a friend recommended we visit the Lord Crewe Arms hotel there for lunch.
The restaurant/pub was full until an hour after we arrived so we went outside and calling in at the Post Office, CBC asked if the lady could recommend an hour's walk and she instantly gave us directions for a walk. Walking boots on, we set off towards the river.

Because the skies above us were so grey and lugubrious, the colours of the grass and foliage was by contrast, bright and cheering.

It was rather boggy and muddy walking by the river, but just the sound of a river is calming to the soul.

The sight of a path of crisp leaves amidst the mud was a most welcoming carpet, rather like a Sir Walter Raleigh cape to Queen Elizabeth's path.

The path took a right at one point past this dry-stone wall

The canopy of trees above our head was a sea of golden bells in bright harmony.

Even the green moss adorning the walls had the quality of green velvet and rather suggested opulence rather than decay.

Rain upon green blades resembled sequins and beads.

Here, where the branches were much sparser than those we'd seen before, the appearance was pleasing and resembled sparklers on Bonfire night in my mind.

And the tree below with its drapes of yellow made me think of the story we were told in primary school of a poor Christmas tree which the family could not decorate. Some spiders spun their webs all over it in the night and an angel saw it and turned the webs into silver and that's how tinsel came about.

A small pebbled beach appeared by the river side and a whooshing and burbling indicated the presence of a small waterfall or downward stream if one cannot use the word correctly.

Continuing, a pictureseque bridge was our next landmark to tell us to change our path.

Coming onto the bridge, we discovered that we'd hit the border of County Durham which surprised us both!

Turning into towards the woods, the path was drier, crisper and more pleasant. The colours were bright and pleasing.

It was therefore justifiably shocking seconds later when we entered the woods to be hit by the sight of a stark path bereft of any colour other than the dull brown, caused, I presume, by the needles dropping from the pine trees.

It was quite eerie to be struck into sepia mode without any warning and be surrounded by such imposing trees.

If things couldn't get any wierder, this silver birch (?) seemed to be looking at me!

...in more places than one, it seemed.

And apparently the eye of Sauron was there too!

It was rather a relief to find our way out of the enchanted woods and back towards the town, where an old ruin greeted us.

And finally, there we were, back in Blanchland itself, ready to sample the delights of the Lord Crewe Arms.

I hope all is well with you. I had a successful day with many positive moments:

• Teaching a maths lesson in which pretty much everyone got on and did stacks of work!
• Singing assembly- learning a French carol well.
• Recorder Club- totally nailing Hark the Herald Angels sing and Joy to the World.
• The response of the children who were told they'd been picked for KS1 Choir. One after my saying, "Do you mind, are you happy being in choir?" said, "It's my dream."  I cocked my head on one side and she elaborated, "Before you said it, I'd been dreaming and hoping you'd pick me and now my dream's come true."  This from a quiet little mite. I almost cried.
• My 4 year 3's who I picked to play 4 recorder pieces they've been learning in class for Achievement assembly, practising and being totally great and excited at playing.
• Eating Tempeh curry for dinner!

xxx