Day 25/ 30 things

Day 25:

My day in great detail.

Thankfully today was a good one, if it had been yesterday you would have heard about me cleaning etc.

I while ago i read in a book about visiting a local town like you are a tourist.

So today we did just that. 

The boys and i had got some local history books from the library a few days ago and set about making a map and information sheets.

The morning consisted of normal things, braekfast, getting ready, putting a load of washing on etc.

My Mum arrived at 10am and we set out with a little snack in hand.

First we visited the grave yard:

The oldest grave is from the late 1800's. We found lots of World War 2 army graves.

We then headed to a small, steep and beautiful hidden gardens with a little pond at the end. We played an exhausting game of 'it' with the boys.

Heading to the High Street we passed many old buildings. This one was a row of small cottages that housed workers of the park. They are 18th Century.

This beautiful building was once a private school:

We then visited the church (no pictures as they are doing restoration work) We went inside and had a chat with 2 lovely old gentlemen, who had the cutest dog with them. We lit candles and my eldest son got to ring a bell by hitting it with a garden spade!! The bell dates from the 1400's.

We wandered the grave yard, finding graves of owners of the windmills, pubs and a doctor all from the 1800's

I love this building in front of the church, now a lovely restaurant it used to be a school and then parish rooms:

We stopped and had lunch here: Cheese and tomato pizzas for the boys and Bietola (beetroot, goats cheese and caramalized onions) pizzas for my Mum and I. The boys had chocolate puddings with ice cream for dessert and i had a hot chocolate.

We then headed to take a look at 3 small cottages at the top of the hill (this used to be the main route into town) The cottage used to be one and are 17th century.

The windmill is behind these cottages:

This windmill was built sometime between 1798 and 1809.

Behind the windmill we discovered a beautiful tiny sensory garden that i can't believe i had never seen before.

Near the windmill is The mount. The castle (no longer standing, as it was of wooden construction) was built in 1070 under Royal licence.

Now it is a lovely area to go exploring or take a picnic.

Today we were lucky enough to see the ducks.

Back in the High street are two of the oldest buildings. A restaurant (17th century) and a lovely little tearooms (16th century).

The half Moon pub, i believe built in the early 1800's, we saw the grave of the landlord James Yell in the churchyard.

This is a picture from the local school (built 1895), showing where the children used to sharpen their pencils!!

This is the oldest surviving secular building in town, parts date to 1350:

A water trough for cattle and horses.

This is the martyrs monument erected in 1908 in the memory of Thomas Causton, burnt on this spot in 1555 and for others who suffered.

Dutch cottage or the round house as we call it:

 Dates from around 1700. It was built by refugees from Holland who were fleeing from persecution.

The dutch believed that the lack of corners ment the devil had no place to hide!

What a lovely trip. We headed back exhausted. My littlest had a long old nap.

The late afternoon was spent chatting, playing, showing my Mum the puttery treats i had printed, reading some blogs and having a light tea.

Just before putting the boys to bed i found these:

Three of them together!!! they had floated in through the kitchen window! Does that mean three wishes? Well i made one big one!

The boys got ready for bed and had their story. I have spent the rest of my evening writing this post. I'm now ready to get to bed and read my next 'day' of Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach.

Goodnight all!

xx