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Post by myrt on Nov 12, 2010 20:12:31 GMT
I live in a tiny hamlet on the edge of a vast man made forest and close to the Fens of East Anglia. Some might say it is very dull but I love it. There are miles of forest walks: There are many fields full of livestock but the cows are the only ones who like their photos taken: At this time of year the low sun makes the trees gleam - very beautiful: Our tiny church is really ancient and thatched - and quite unusual: It's not all trees though - The Brecklands are a very specific habitat unique to the area and protected now - full of rare plants and insect life. This is a favourite walk for me and my dog - in summer the native flowers are just buzzing with the sounds of insects and butterflies are everywhere: There are also loads of pingus (huge dips caused by the glaciers millennia ago) Great fun - especially in the snow: And we do have huge skies - it's so flat here - very good for sky watching:
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Post by bjd on Nov 12, 2010 20:16:37 GMT
How interesting. I have never seen a thatched church before. The church itself looks very old -- when was it built?
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Post by myrt on Nov 12, 2010 20:25:41 GMT
Um..eleventh century I think - it's Saxon - it's very small and plain and has escaped any 'improvements' as we are such a tiny place. I'm not a Christian but I love to sit in the churchyard - it's very peaceful and overgrown. And as it's tucked away out of sight it's not often visited - hard to find but quite a rare little building I believe - very few round towered and thatched churches remain.
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Post by onlymark on Nov 12, 2010 21:30:26 GMT
myrt, third picture from the bottom, is that a marker stone for a pathway that at one time would've had a mileage on it, or is it a gravestone?
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Post by onlymark on Nov 12, 2010 21:36:49 GMT
Another thought - round towers on churches. Quite unusual. This is because, and correct me if I'm wrong, when there is a shortage of natural stone and the only stuff available would be difficult or expensive to 'dress', then it makes more sense to build using odd shaped pieces in a circle and using plenty of mortar than to either transport better stuff in from afar or attempt to do something fancy with what you've got. Not exactly lots of limestone, sandstone and granite type stuff where you are and for a small village it would be a major factor in what to build with and how to do it, I suppose.
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Post by mich64 on Nov 12, 2010 23:53:16 GMT
Hi Myrt, your hamlet feels very serene. I love the flat lands, I could walk on and on. I enjoyed the purple and periwinkle colored flowers, my favorite colors. Thank you for the lovely pictures. Cheers!
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Post by hwinpp on Nov 13, 2010 2:55:27 GMT
I spent quite a few years in an area like yours, Myrt, big, dark beech forests, remnants the glaciers left behind, quite a bit of wildlife.
I wouldn't mind walking around there.
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 13, 2010 4:04:52 GMT
Oh, Myrt, you really live in an enchanted place! It's beautiful and bucolic, but a little mysterious, too. I love the way you caught the light in all the photos.
Is the shaggy-coated cow a special kind, or is that a winter coat?
You say the forest is man-made. Who planted it, and was it to replace virgin forest that was cut? The gleaming trees -- so alive, so beautiful!
Sorry, I'm a romantic anglophile, and your pictures made me quite sappy ~~ thanks!
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Post by tod2 on Nov 13, 2010 5:29:34 GMT
Myrt - I could quite easily spend a very l o n g time in your beautiful peaceful hamlet! It looks gorgeous - thank you so much for showing it to us
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Post by Deleted on Nov 13, 2010 6:03:50 GMT
Beautiful place, myrt! The church is magnificent, and random wildflowers are always a joy when one goes walking through the fields. I also love the barren branches of the trees in winter mode, but I will be looking forward to some spring pictures later when the leaves begin to emerge.
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Post by myrt on Nov 13, 2010 8:27:31 GMT
Thanks for the interest, everyone. It is much appreciated. The stone is a way stone, OnlyMark. The forest is crisscrossed with long straight roads called droves along which farmers would move their livestock - ths particular drove goes for miles although it's barred in places now because there are special reservations established for the rare Stone Curlew and Nightjar birds. The Church is apparently built of Flint and Carstone dressed with very old mortar. Both those materials are very common here and many houses are still built using them. I'm sure you're right about that being the reason the church tower is round, OnlyMark - the mortar is so thick it's hard to see what's underneath now! And Bixa, the whole area is basically a tree farm - dating from the world wars I believe. It is owned and operated by the Forestry Commission. Although timber is still a valuable resource these days the Forest is also a crucial wildlife and tourist site now. In recent years it has hosted many world famous rock bands and other musicians too - the Forest Park is an unusual and atmospheric place to see and hear music - lovely actually. It's very hard to get a decent picture but the forest is also home to many thousands of deer - Roe, Red, Fallow and Muntjac - it's common to see them individually or in herds but they are easily spooked. I once stopped very early in the morning by a glorious group of massive Roe deer stags standing close to the road - I even wound the window down and spoke to them! They just looked at me but it's the only time in 20 years I have ever had the privilege of being that close to such wild and beautiful animals. I'll never forget it. The cows are wearing their winter coats, Bixa - lovely things but very silly.........that field is next to some friends land - they are always escaping and running rampant in his precious lettuce fields! ;D
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Post by tod2 on Nov 13, 2010 9:32:57 GMT
myrt - I just had to take out my atlas of Great Britain to find just where in the UK you are as it is so beautiful - I then googled Wikepedia and got quite an insight into the history of the marshes etc. I see you even have windmills! Would it be too much to ask what the name of your little hamlet is?
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Post by myrt on Nov 13, 2010 10:00:14 GMT
I think you'd be none the wiser, tod2 - it really is tiny! The best way to see my area is from the link: www.brecks.org/wildlife-heritage-brecks.aspxThere is a working windmill near me which mills its own flour and sells its delicious bread - it's a lovely place but I hear is now struggling to keep going in these days of recession: www.denvermill.co.uk/I have climbed up the windmill more than once with my children - but sadly no one's allowed outside at the top now.
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Post by bjd on Nov 13, 2010 10:53:01 GMT
My thought on seeing the round tower beside the church was that it may have been a watchtower. Since the area is flat, climbing up just a bit would have been an advantage for seeing invaders. And at the time, houses would have been built near the church.
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Post by tod2 on Nov 13, 2010 12:33:17 GMT
Thanks myrt - very interesting and I'm sure we will find ourselves having a firsthand look when next in the UK. We have 2 Hamlets with our surname. One in Wales and one in Devon. You're right - hamlets are very tiny!
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Post by lola on Nov 13, 2010 14:28:39 GMT
So beautiful, myrt.
It looks like a great place to live, especially since the big wicked city is only a couple of hours away by train. What's the population? Is there a congregation able to support the church?
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Post by myrt on Nov 13, 2010 17:07:11 GMT
You are all so kind - thank you! Lola, the population is about 60 in total, spread out over the forest roads - the epicentre of the hamlet has about 10 houses along a little lane - that's where it all happens! Not...... ;D The church does have regular services but is part of a parish with three other very rural churches. There has been one wedding and a Harvest Festival there this year. Although I'm not a churchgoer I went to the Harvest Festival as I provided most of the fruit and vegetables which decorated the porch - it was surprisingly well attended! Interesting thought about the tower being a watch tower originally, bjd. I can't find anything to support that but it does sound quite probable doesn't it?
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Post by onlymark on Nov 13, 2010 17:48:30 GMT
As regards the towers, on the other hand - the round towers were actually built as wells. Then a great flood washed the ground away, leaving the well walls uselessly sticking in the air.I wish I'd thought of that one. It appeals to my sense of the bizarre. www.roundtowers.org.uk/
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Post by lola on Nov 24, 2010 21:37:44 GMT
The harvest still lives are beautiful!
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Nov 26, 2010 17:29:10 GMT
Aren't they just! and Happy Birthday today Myrt....
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Post by myrt on Nov 26, 2010 20:05:18 GMT
Thanks, hunny! Thanks Lola, I quite enjoyed the little service we had there, although I'm not religious. I think that sort of celebration dates much further back and is pure heathen/pagan in origin. It quite pleased me to dress the beautiful old porch with all the stuff I'd grown - and spend the service thinking about all the many generations of farmers and peasants who had sat there thanking their Gods for a bountiful year.
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 26, 2010 20:25:54 GMT
Happy birthday, lovely Myrt!
Your pleasure in recognizing the essence of thanksgiving and sharing that with others is so gently and profoundly spiritual. How perfect that you brought it to the very doors of the church.
I think seeing food like that, in its natural beautiful state, makes for more awareness of what hard work it is to produce it, and of the unassuming dignity of those who do that work.
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Post by myrt on Nov 26, 2010 20:44:58 GMT
Thank you, lovely Bixa! I do really believe that there IS a spiritual element to growing food..in the industrialised west that kind of work is poorly paid and unrecognised - viewed as having no value or status. Which is just plain wrong! I grow vegetables for pleasure and for the love of it, I teach others how to do it and I also work for dear friends who make their living (precariously) from it. It is grindingly hard work, deeply fraught and, unless you are fortunate enough to own a large acreage, very difficult to live well from it. BUT it's also amazing to be out during all sorts of weathers, see things others never see (from tiny creatures to herds of deer) and to feel part of the natural world.....it's not glamorous, it's not exotic, and many think I am insane to do it but I still consider myself a fortunate soul.
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Post by hwinpp on Nov 27, 2010 2:50:01 GMT
Happy Birthday Myrt!
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Post by Jazz on Nov 27, 2010 16:13:58 GMT
Beautiful and calming. I would love to take walks in your hamlet and surrounds. The tiny church fascinates me and, the lone, worn gravestone. Your still lifes of fruit and vegetables are lovely, simple and dignified. I think that there is a spiritual element to growing food. Happy birthday, Myrt.
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Post by myrt on Nov 28, 2010 9:13:00 GMT
Thank, Hwinpp and Jazz for your birthday wishes - much appreciated..isn't it silly how you never quite lose that childhood thrill and anticipation about one's birthday? Even now the numbers are starting to really stack up - I still secretly expect and want a 'special' day! And thanks to my beloved girls I do... Two nights ago in the early evening we heard the sound of deer stags rutting.......very eerie....
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Post by mich64 on Nov 28, 2010 16:18:21 GMT
Well Myrt, I am sorry to have missed the official day, but I hope that it was an enjoyable one celebrated with family and friends! Cheers Myrt!
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Post by auntieannie on Jan 31, 2011 21:31:35 GMT
very lovely, thank you, Myrt!
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Post by mickthecactus on Dec 23, 2011 13:21:09 GMT
I live in Hertfordshire which is just north of London. I's an ideal county because I can go 10 minutes one way and be in the middle of the countryside and 10 minutes the other way and be in town. Here's a few pictures of my town Hoddesdon taken a couple of Saturdays ago- A view down the New River at the top of my road- Some very pollarded trees in anearby garden- The White Swan pub- Mrs Cactus and daughter and dog at the shops- Evening view over the valley on the way home-
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Post by auntieannie on Dec 23, 2011 13:58:30 GMT
very nice, Mick!
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