Written in the stars

I always enjoy a trip to Hexham Abbey when I visit Hexham. This time, there was a beautiful display of origami stars made by schools and communities.

The exhibition is entitled:

Stars for Eternity

We are raising thousands of origami stars to the Abbey ceiling, all of them made by local people and dedicated to the shining souls who have brightened others’ lives.

Suspended 45ft high in the Chancel of the Abbey, the stars stretch from the old choir stalls to the high altar and are lit from each side. The stars are high enough that dedications can't be read from the floor, keeping memories and thoughts private but still present, much like a prayer. 

Similar to the Angel exhibition from a couple of years ago, I really enjoyed the effect of these being displayed.

 Such a wonderful display

I went for a walk in the rain...

It was dusk and I needed some solitude so I set out up the hill.  It started to rain but this didn't deter me.

I saw so much beauty, a few examples of which I will share.

 

Fungi #15

 It's been a little while since I shared some pictures of fungi I have spotted on my travels so I thought I'd share a few examples from my travel to Northumberland in October.

I'm not sure what the ones are below but they were found in the woods.

Below, I wasn't sure if this was a lichen or an early stage of a fungus but I liked the 2 colours.

Are these Velvet Shanks?  I'm not sure.

Here's a Common Earth Ball above and below.

I'm not sure what these are below but they're a bit hairy!

I thought these might be Trooping Funnels but I'm not certain.

Do you recognise any of these?

xx

Going to the Moon

 Almost a month ago, CBC and I were in Hexham for the half term holiday. We were going to stay with and see his Mum and hoped to get out and have a few adventures.  Alas for us, the weather was dire so much of our time was spent inside.  One morning, we decided to take a trip to see The Moon!

Hexham Abbey has been playing host to the Moon

Luke Jerram's Museum of the Moon is a travelling installation which is hosted in Cathedrals and large churches.

It is a massive 6 metres in diametre and it has very detailed imagery of the surface of the moon as photographed by NASA.  6km  of the moon's surface is scaled down to 1cm.

There is also a variety of works with a theme of the moon and a soundscape created by composer, Dan Jones.

I gained a free-viewing on Sunday morning at the service but didn't photograph it then.

CBC and I came to visit on a particularly rainy day.

I had a glance down into the crypt.  This is also worth a visit too.

I enjoyed the lighting and sound and it was really interesting to gaze upon the moon from different angles.

The midday service started when we were there and I enjoyed hearing it as I walked around.

In Hexham, they held a variety of events connected to the Moon such as a Pink Floyd concert, Dinner under the Moon and other events.

In the services, the organist has been sneaking in moon references as part of his improvised recessional/processional and linking music.  We heard Moonlight serenade as the priests came in on Sunday morning! I sniggered to my friend Jane who I was sitting with!

More info can be found at:

https://my-moon.org/ 

If it comes to your area, would you pay a visit?

Northumberland holiday days 4-10

 On the Wednesday of our holiday, J and I headed into Hexham to join in with the morning mini service at the bandstand in the Sele park. The churches in Hexham have joined together for years to run a holiday club for children and it always begins at the Bandstand.  It was lovely to be part of, sing songs, learn a memory verse, watch the drama story and see the children being sent off to their teams. I briefly saw my friends Ruth, Chris and Jane. 

J and I headed to Small World Cafe for a cup of tea and then I headed back to the house to meet CBC to book our accommodation for Switzerland as all we'd booked was our trains there and back! It took ages which was annoying as it was the first sunny day all week! At least we had it ready now though!

In the evening, we headed to Bouchon, the French bistro in town and I enjoyed the wonderful French onion soup and the Lamb dish.

On the Thursday, I forget what we did in the morning but C and I headed out for a walk to Dipton Burn which is what I like doing best in Northumberland- walking! We didn't meet a single person all the way!  We saw  a few interesting mushrooms!

Back at the house, we helped J finish off the amazing 3 course dinner she was making for Chris and Jane.

Friday, CBC and I headed to Housesteads which is on the Roman wall and is, my favourite stretch of the Hadrian's wall.  We saw the famous Sycamore gap which featured in Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves.

It is so picturesque but is much more popular to walk than our previous day so we had lots of people walking with us.

We ate a picnic in the woods by the lake side, sitting on a mossy stone.

Our final destination was The Sill, a Northumbrian national parks discovery centre.

We went to get a cup of tea in the cafe and I went to check on the bus times back to Housesteads.   The lady at the desk told me one (the two hourly bus) was in about 20 minutes. The cafe were a little unhelpful and said they weren't sure if the tea would be ready in time so C got a takeaway cup and we headed to the shop and then looked in the shop. When we got to the busstop, it turned out the lady had misheard me so the ACTUAL bus WE wanted, wasn't for another hour! C went and sat in one of the deckchairs in view of the busstop and I headed into the exhibition which was a brilliant interactive historical look at the social history of Coquetdale valley. It was so interesting and so much so that, casually glancing at my phone for the time, realised I was MISSING THE BUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I ran outside to see C anxiously boarding the bus (his phone was dead but he said he would have come back for me in the car!). The bus, the AD142 is really scenic but the Military Road is quite, rollercoasteresque!

Back in Hexham, I took 2 minutes to change into a nice dress and walked to my friend Ruth's house to briefly see her for 15 minutes. C picked me up and we headed to Corbridge to watch a wonderful concert as part of the Corbridge festival featuring French music by Ravel, Debussy, Lilli Boulanger and songs from the Great American song book. It was exquisitely played.

On Saturday morning, CBC headed out on his bike to ride to Bellingham. I jumped on a bus down to town to get the the other bus to Haltwhistle. My destination was Haltwhistle's outdoor pool which is a really fun place to go. It felt bittersweet to be in Haltwhistle again. The last time I'd been there was clearing out WOMOTM's house.

The pool was busy but not in a way that detracted from my enjoyment of swimming. It costs £10 for an adult all day session. I was lucky on the way back to JUST make the hourly bus back to Hexham. When I got back, I called Jane and asked if she wanted to go for a walk. The timing was perfect as a visitor was just leaving and they were plannning a walk so I walked up the hill to their house and we jumped in the car to drive to Letah woods where CBC and I had walked with Jane in May to collect Wild garlic. It was a serene walk full of gentle susurrations and calming dappled light and gave Jane and I a chance to talk as well as walk. On the way home, they dropped me on the Hexham racecourse road so I could have an extra walk back to the house. It was lovely to see a happy CBC who had enjoyed his ride.

In the evening, we headed out to try a recently reopened Chinese restaurant. It was NOT, however, amazing so enough said about that.

Sunday morning, I got out of bed at about 9.40am to hear my Mother in Law, J, tell me she was going to church at the Abbey.  I took precisely 5 minutes to clean my teeth, wash my face and dress in my new Laura Ashley jumpsuit (charity shopped!) and jump in the car with her.  The service was a beautiful service.  Alas, it was RAINING again so after the service (we had tea and coffee in the nave), we headed back to C at home. I spent more time (forgot to mention I did this on Thursday morning) clearing out J's conservatory which was very cluttered, as she is hoping to move house soon, we went to the Errington arms for lunch and then in the evening, after more clearing, CBC and I headed back to Corbridge for the final Chamber music concert. We had free tickets for this as a friend of J's couldn't make theirs. We had super seats and enjoyed Schubert, Coleridge Taylor and a Venezuelan clarinet piece. Back home, I made omelettes and veg for everyone for dinner.

Monday was a day of intense clearing and disposing of clutter in the garage.  We went to charity shops, the dump and the girl in Fardale animal Charity shops was ecstatic when I gave her about 50 bags for life as she had run out of carrier bags and wasn't sure what to do.

By the time we finished, it was getting late and the weather was mizzly and was obviously going to be miserable to join in so after soup and a bacon roll in Small World, we headed back to J's house. I made leftover pasta was dinner very late when J returned from watching a 2 piano recital in Corbridge.

Tuesday was a day of avoidance of packing and eventually heading back to Essex.

Sadly, our Northumberland trip hadn't been as full as walks and cycle rides and adventures as much as we would have hoped, due to the weather, but we had helped with clearing, met friends, had a few walks and adventures and had enjoyed being away from home!

What would be the rest of our holiday?

xx

 

Northumberland Days 1-3 A trip to Whitley bay

 Having ended school on Friday 21st July, CBC and I decided to head straight up to Northumberland for reasons which will be explained.  As is our usual habit, we were super reluctant to pack on Saturday the 22nd.  I was slightly better than CBC, having chucked items I knew I'd need at a suitcase on the Friday night.  Eventually, we set off at the shameful time of around 4.15pm.  The car was rammed full of suitcases, CBC's bike, games, musical instruments etc and then there was the added complication that we needed to fit in my Brompton as I had booked it in for a Service that day but we had to get it to a place around 25minutes drive away. The only way she would fit into the car was on MY lap in the front of the car. So there I was with a Brompton bike wedged on my lap, having to be held strictly in position without a) getting my clothes oily or dirty (she is filthy....oops) and b) not touching the gear sticks.  We got her to the shop without incident (but a lot of grumbling) and then drove onto Northumberland without stopping.  We arrived at J's house (CBC's mum) around 10.30pm...arriving to darkness!!! She was supposed to have C's friend and family round to dinner.  But where were they?   Eventually, after about 20 minutes, she turned up.  It turned out there had been a localised powercut in J's estate 3/4 of the way through the dinner and so they had decamped to the friend's house to finish the dinner! The power was back on.  She had brought back Spaghetti bolognaise and Salmon pasta for us so that was a welcome late night dinner.  We went to bed around midnight.

The next morning, we woke up to find there had been another power cut!  So breakfast was cereal an juice with no tea.  We headed down to Hexham to go and get some tea/coffee at the Abbey refectory.  I opted for a bacon roll also and the others joined in with that.  It was largely rainy and grim so it was quite nice to be cosy inside (and not in a cold house!).  The temperature is distinctly lower up north.  After this, we headed back the house, having popped into Milletts for a Jetboil so we could boil some water back home.  The powergrid care team were in the road when we got back. Still no power and not looking like it was due to come back on till at least 7pm.  We were given a couple of power packs and were invited to come and get  hot water from the van if needed.  Apparently, the power cut was due to the intense amount of rain and some connection had come loose but they weren't sure where.

Luckily, we had some other plans and CBC and I headed into Hexham to the Beaumont to meet his friend Matt and wife and daughter who serendipitously were over from China for a holiday and had come to Hexham for a few days. This was the reason we had headed up so soon as this would be our only opportunity to see them.  We last saw them 5 years ago after we went camping together in Derbyshire.  They are SUCH lovely people and we got on so well, it was like 5 years hadn't gone.  We had tea (and they had scones.... I'm not so much a fun so I opted for crisps!) and then headed to the park to let their cute toddler play on the swings. She is a real sweetie.  We then headed to the Heart of Northumberland pub for a roast. I had the pork. All the acompaniments of the meal were amazing and bountiful.  The meat was actually my least favourite part!  Eventually, K needed to go to bed so after a walk in the Sele park, we headed to the Beaumont to meet Joan who had come down for dinner since the power was STILL not back at 8.45pm at night!  We both had dessert!!! 

The next morning, we headed into Hexham to purchase a couple of things, and sadly, to go and visit the new Lidl - love a Lidl bakery.  C's OTHER best childhood friend was ALSO in Hexham (from Manchester!)- what are the odds of both being there the same weekend!?  They were walking down at Tyne Green so we wandered there to see if we could see them but sadly, they were not there but I enjoyed the wander.  We went back to town to the Beaumont (for the 3rd time in 2 days!) to meet J and Chris' sister's inlaws who were ALSO in Hexham on their way on holiday! We had a drink with them and then S, CBC's childhood friend called to invite us over to the house.

It was great to see them and meet S's two boys who I've never met before- the older is 7 and the younger is 3. They were totally loud and hyper which is not my ideal situation BUT, after about 5 minutes of bewilderment, I realised how  LOVELY intelligent and kind they are despite being really loud and hyper! The older is SUCH a sweet boy, totally eccentric and I got on really well with him by having some eccentric banter!

We ended up playing a brilliant board game with them called 'Connect' which was created in 1969 by Ken Garland is basically a game where you have to connect tiles. I really enjoyed it (and have been stalking the second hand websites for it to find one! It was then updated into a game called Rivers, Roads and Rails and thankfully Vinted came up trumps for me on this version).  The family had to get back to Manchester so we bade them goodbye and went back to J's house to make veggie pasta using the veggies we had brought with us from Essex.

The next day after 2 days of remaining in Hexham, due to rain, we decided we wanted to head on a day trip out...despite the likelihood of rain.  

Our first location was Tynemouth which is probably the nearest beach/seaside town to Hexham. It is a lovely place with some great independent shops, a great view down to the beach and a vast sandy beach.

It was, however, starting to rain as we arrived and since it was lunchtime, we headed into a cafe called Dil and the Bear which was a GREAT choice as the food menu was super interesting, not your average cafe and the decor was a beautiful Moroccan style.

I had Vietnamese beef rice noodle salad which was a delicious choice as it was so fresh and full of delicious veg.  CBC and his Mum also chose delicious and original choices which I would have gladly eaten.

Once we had finished, we headed off for a quick look at the nearby shops. The best was Raspberry Bazaar which is full of Indian blockprints, fairtrade and hippie brands like Gringo and Run and Fly clothing. I was restrained and only bought a red and white fairtrade,blockprint, cotton  headband.

After this, we jumped back in the car and headed to Whitley Bay. Having read about this place in a couple of children's books, I was excited to finally see it. In the 1960's, this was the seaside resort to visit. 

We headed to St Mary's lighthouse first.  This is exciting because there is a causeway that connects it to the mainland and so you can only go there at certain times which adds an element of danger and surprise!! It had started raining when we got into the car at Tynemouth and very kindly, it stopped the moment we got out the car at the lighthouse car park!

It was an impressive view!

You can climb to the top of the lighthouse but we decided not to this day.

There were some rockpool exploring sessions going on and some interesting lifeforms had been found from the excited squeals we could hear!

Most excitingly, we saw quite a few  seals basking on the rocks and swimming on the sea and several Cormorants looking brooding on the rocks.

There is a shop by the lighthouse with very friendly volunteers.

After this, CBC and I had a little play around walking on the rocks and then the 3 of us returned to the car.

Next, we drove to the town where there is a place called Spanish City which was a pleasure dome built in the 20th century. Sadly, as package holidays became more of an attraction, it lost its status as the place to go.  Happily, in recent years, it has received funding to be revived and is now an impressive tearoom and restaurant and is an impressive building on Whitley Bay's sky line. previous attraction place

The building is beautiful, especially when viewed from the beachfront side!

We decided to head inside to the restaurant as it was starting to rain again!

CBC and his mum had a savoury snack and I opted for the Milk Chocolate Torte which was ENORMOUS and served with a full family-sized jug of single cream!

It was so big that is was enough to feed all three of us!

The dome is really beautiful!

After this, J went to sit in the car and then CBC and I headed for a walk on the beach.  The sky was beautiful and there was a rainbow!

We headed back to Hexham after this

What did I wear this day?

Well, it's the lilac dungarees again, worn with a different white top!

I took these photos for a friend on Instagram whose daughter was wearing a pair or lilac dungarees and a white top with a purple flower crown! I told her I could recreate the outfit and she said she LOVED the idea of me cosplaying her daughter so I made myself a lavender circlet for my head and then shared the pics with her! She laughed so much!

Have you visited Whitley Bay or Tynemouth?

xx