It’s pretty wild and windy here this morning with sleet, which is almost snow. Not the weather to go out in, but these visitors to our garden seem to like it.
They went further upstream – below you can see the male’s head bobbing above the bank:
Then they tried a little walk. The photo below shows the female in the sleet.
Thanks to D, who took these photos.
There is a field at the back of our garden which is on a steep slope (it is much steeper than it looks in my photos). A couple of weeks ago I spotted three roe deer at the top of the field, grazing, and quickly took a few photos using the zoom lens.
They soon were aware I was around and began to move away.
They jumped over the fence and were soon out of sight. You can just see their white rumps – one getting ready to jump and two on the other side.
See more Saturday Snapshots on Alyce’s blog At Home With Books.
Following on from last Saturday’s snapshots of Cragside here are a few more photos.
There were many other visitors when we were there and it was difficult sometimes to get a good photo and I had to be quick before someone moved in front of my camera. So, some of my photos are a bit out of focus and rather dark. (It’s amazing that you can take photos in National Trust properties – in the past it was strictly forbidden. I asked one of the room stewards why they allowed them now and he explained that because you can take photos on mobile phones it was impossible to stop people. It’s good to take your own photos, but actually there are much better ones than mine in the guidebook.)
The first room we saw was the kitchen. As you can see the area is fenced off. It’s not very big but there are also sculleries and larder and cellar storage beneath the kitchen, with a ‘dumb waiter’ to carry food and equipment up and down. The Butler, Housekeeper and Cook each had their own areas.
In the next photo you can see the spits with joints of meat in front of the range.
There is a dishwasher. Rather primitive compared to the modern models this dishwasher has wire compartments for crockery, a motor turned it whilst hot soapy water was squirted into it from a boiler. This had been invented in 1886 by a wealthy American, Josephine Cochrane whose servants had chipped her fine china.
None of the rooms at Cragside are very large, apart from the Drawing Room, and I could imagine being comfortable in most of them, such as the Dining Room. It has a lovely inglenook fireplace with stained glass windows designed by William Morris.
The windows either side represent the Four Seasons. the photo below shows two of the windows – Spring and Summer.
I still have more photos, but these are enough for one post. (Click the photos to see a larger view.)
Cragside is open to visitors from today. I would really like to go there again this year, there is so much I didn’t take in and I only had a brief look at the grounds.
See more Saturday Snapshots on Alyce’s blog At Home With Books.
My photos this week are a few of Cragside in Northumberland, now owned by the National Trust. It was built in 1863, with further extensions over the next 15 or so years, by William Armstrong, who later became Lord Armstrong. Armstrong was a remarkable man – a scientist, an innovator and a successful industrialist.
We visited it last year. Here is the view of the house approaching from the public car park:
and the view from the gardens:
It has to be one of my favourite National Trust properties and it’s a very popular house with everyone else too – the place was packed when we were there last April. There is so much to see inside the house, too much for one post. The house was very modern for its times, with all the latest and advanced technical devices of the day.
One of my favourite rooms is the Library, with its stained glass windows, comfy chairs, leather sofas and the latest lighting available. This was the first room in the world to be lit by hydro-electricity.
The light suspended from the ceiling has four bulbs within the ornate and fringed light shade. I tried very hard to get a photo without any of the other visitors, but gave up when there was just one person looking out of the window – anyway he gives scale to the room.
There are four more bulbs around the room, place in globes, sitting on vases:
The books are in oak bookcases around the room:
Note the library steps at the left-hand side of the photo.
Click on the photos to enlarge them.
At a later date I might post more photos – of the kitchen with its dishwasher, the lovely dining room with its William Morris stained glass windows and of the amazing Gallery, with its collection of paintings and sculptures. As for the Drawing Room, this was not to my taste at all with its huge marble chimney piece.
See more Saturday Snapshots on Alyce’s blog At Home With Books.
Our back garden isn’t the usual type of garden as it’s mainly grass, a stream and woodland. At the end of January we had a tidying-up session in the woodland and a small fire burning small branches that the wind had blown down.
Further down the wood the snowdrops are still in flower.
See more Saturday Snapshots on Alyce’s blog, At Home With Books.
This is the Bell Tower at the northern side of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the most northerly town in England. It was built about 1577, replacing a 14th century tower on the medieval walls of the town. There used to be a warning bell in the tower that sentries would sound at the sight of danger to the townspeople. At one time there used to be a beacon on top, which could be lit if the country was invaded.
These days it’s an odd sight on a grassy mound at the end of a residential road.
But in earlier days it was in a prime position overlooking the sea, the fields and the town. Nearby is Lord’s Mount, a fort built in around 1540 during Henry VIII’s reign. It was orginally on two floors but all that remains are parts of the ground floor and you can see fireplaces, a flagged kitchen floor, a well and a privy.
There used to be guns mounted on the parapet and I climbed what was left of the steps to see the view. I didn’t venture on to the top; it was very windy and I don’t have a head for heights!
Photos taken September 2011.
For more Saturday Snapshots see Alyce’s blog At Home With Books.
BooksPlease 