August Scavenger Hunt 2015

Welcome to the August Scavenger Hunt run up! How good am I completing it by the end of the month!

Walk

CBC and I went to Burnham-on-Crouch, a  small town in Essex for the afternoon.  We just went on impulse but ended up having a lovely walk along the river.

Horizontal

Here is an example of a Horizontal maze at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire. Completed by CBC in 8 seconds after he completed the main maze in 3 minutes (the second time)!

Square

Squares made by the trellis. 4 squares make a larger square at Millet's farm, Oxfordshire...

Diversity

We stayed at my sister-in-law's in Oxfordshire. Check out the diversity in size of those courgettes from their garden!

Rough

A rough edge of the sign showing where Uffington Castle once stood.

Bow


There are Perhaps Contraption taking a bow at the end of their concert (ha, one from the archives!)

Joy

I know many joyful things but this week, joy was having a purring cat next to me! Hello Chloe!

Forgotten

This tyre looks forgotten at Millet's Farm!

Crowd

What a crowd of cuddlies!!!

Colourless

Shudder! Check out this colourless jellyfish we saw on the beach at Burnham-on-Crouch during the aforementioned walk!

Friendly

These birds in the butterfly house at Blenheim Palace were so tame and friendly, they didn't bat an eyelid as I stood next to them with a lens shoved in their faces!

Whatever you want

A waterlily at Blenheim as we took a walk alongside the lake, the walk was designed by Capability Brown! (I have to tell you this story-as I typed this, I SUDDENLY couldn't remember his name, nor could CBC- we went mad trying to remember his name which I remembered as Constance Reliance at first! DUH!)

We saw this Easyjet plane in the sky as we stood by the river, I enjoyed zooming into it!

Thanks to Greenthumb for another fun Scavenger Hunt!

xxx

P.S. Here's September's list if you want to get in on the act

September's List
Woven
Repeating
Greedy
Flowers
Curly
Adventures
Line
Mesmerising
Triangle 
Dreamy 
Day
Whatever you want

Hadleigh Castle and country park

Last Saturday, CBC and I set out towards Leigh-on-Sea with a desire to walk, enjoy the countryside and enjoy freedom!  Serendipitously, as we picked up CBC's car from the repair-place, we passed signs for Hadleigh country-park where the Olympic Mountain Biking was held.  We decided to go for an explore.  We parked by the rangers hut.  I donned my unflattering crocs which were still in CBC's car since camping as I was just wearing a pair of ballet pumps that wouldn't enjoy mudtracks etc.

At first, it felt very 'domesticated' and a bit like Labyrinth with windy paths though there were some very pleasant sights including butterflies and blackberries.

Pretty soon, the bush-flanked paths led to a gate and views over the river Thames as it headed towards the sea at Southend with views across to Canvey island.  The sun started to shine beautifully and it felt less autumnal.

We met a few fellow walkers along the way.

CBC spied a path to the left which led with a very steep slope towards the actual mountain-baking course itself.

It was extremely hard to climb such a steep and bumpy slope in Crocs! We met a mountain-biker- goodness knows how they go down such steep slopes- I'd be terrified!

We received further evidence of the Olympic site...

We climbed over a gate into the Olympic course whcih will be open to the public in February I believe.

The sun shone and we walked down the path which gave us sight of Hadleigh castle.

CBC made us go down a terribly brambly, overgrown path in a bid to get to the castle.  We discovered, as he forced his way through a big bush, that there was a perfectly lovely path the other side of the fence!

Hadleigh castle was getting closer...

Eventually, we reached the entrance to the site for Hadleigh, 1200 ruins.

The castle must have been quite extensive!

Some pigeons had made their home there

There were some curious initials and names carved onto the window arches at quite a high height!

As we left, we walked to the Salvation Army training centre for a very pleasant spot of lunch as recommended by my mother!  I ate a large amount of goats cheese!

Later, we headed into Leigh-on-Sea where I visited the charity shops whilst CBC waited for a hair-cut and we ate in a lovely bakery and then later a Thai restaurant.  A delightfully packed day was completed by a visit to the Palace Theatre in Southend to see Three Men in a boat, which was witty and delightful!

Have any of you visited Hadleigh or indeed were you there for the Olympics?

Are you going to Scarborough fayre?

 There are big waves and little waves,
Green waves and blue,
 
Waves you can jump over
Waves you can dive through.

Waves that rise up
Like a great water wall.
 
Waves that swell softly
And don’t break at all.

 
Waves that can whisper
Waves that can roar


 And tiny waves that run at you.
Running on the shore.

(There are big waves and Little waves by Eleanor Farjeon.  From High Low Dolly Pepper)

I haven't paddled in the sea for at least 2 years. Having a picnic with my friends after church on the South Beach in Scarborough was beautiful.  R and I had great fun jumping over the waves.  Somehow we ended up too far out and managed to get our bottom halves completely soaked! I thought of that poem as we played.   The morning began with the long but beautiful drive from Goathland to Scarborough for the morning service at St Mary's, Scarborough, a beautiful, friendly church that was also in a gorgeous building   

 I've never shared any pictures of loos on my blog before, but I had to say, I was highly amused when I er- visited the establishment.  Quite possibly the most historical one I have ever come across.

 And this in the sink area.

Despite it not being a roasting hot day, the beach was perfect in Scarborough.  It was very spacious and empty apart from a few families.  We ate prize-winning quiche, sandwiches, jam tarts, apples, crisps and drinks (with Julian, Dick, Anne, George and Timmy the dog ;-) )

 The view of the ruins of Scarborough castle made for a picturesque view as did the lovely coloured Georgian-looking houses and hotels.

 C located a crab!

 Some pretty rainbow beach-huts could be seen from afar.  This beach is less commercial than the North beach so it was perfect for us.

I felt like a child again.  That could almost have been Kirrin castle there!