The Fog Has Lifted

This is my effort to tie up a loose end.  A month ago I took the same photo in the FOG.  A few weeks later, this was the view on a clear morning.  (Visualise me scrambling around to ditch my golf clubs and find my camera.  I did.)  Below is a wider shot.

5th Green Ansty Golf Club
Oxford Canal beyond

Welcome to Skywatch Friday.  For more photos from around the world featuring the sky follow this Skywatch Friday link.

The Plan:  To be back tomorrow because it is City Daily Photo Theme Day.  So much going on :).

PS.  Many, many thanks to you who so kindly leave comments from time to time on this blog.  They are fun to read, helpful and appreciated.  Thank you!!!!

T Is Definitely For Thatched

Here is my Thatched Roof Thursday # 7 (on ABC Wednesday)!

This is such a clean cut thatched roof, I had to use it at some point.  It is a modern home and yet still thatched. Great!  And, yes, the house is in Dunchurch (not far from Coventry).

OK folks, I am going to have to double up here and keep this one up today and tomorrow and (regrettably, ha ha) have a day off tomorrow to do some Christmas shopping.

Follow the link for more photographs featuring the letter 'T' on ABC WEDNESDAY.

Back on Friday :).

What Are You Looking At?

Reply:  'The View.'  This is what you see when you walk through the archways (seen yesterday).  Go up those stairs and stand next to my best mate and enjoy the view and gardens.

Even on a rainy day it is a pretty nice spot at the back of the Dunchurch Park Hotel & Conference Centre.  No mountains though, just Warwickshire hills.  You see here a small portion of the gardens at the hotel.  The hotel is huge. If you are interested in history going back to 1767, follow this LINK.

Got a problem.  Tomorrow is ABC Wednesday and the letter is 'T'.  So it has got to be 'thatched' for me.  So 'Thatched Thursday' will be a day early this week.

Through the Archways

Dunchurch Park Hotel and Conference Centre

Come through the archways with me and tomorrow I'll show you a little more of this land that came into the possession of  King George III in 1767.

Collection Of Raindrops

This was taken about an hour ago.  I am standing on a footpath that runs along side the Sowe River (near our home).  Normally, you would see a golf course with school playing fields beyond.  Today you see a lake.

Copsewood Grange Golf Club
Coventry

We have had quite a bit of rain in the last couple of days.  More rain tonight.  Below is a photo I took this afternoon showing the footpath and golf course.  All the areas covered in water should be grass. 

Amazing, it is Skywatch Friday already.  For more photos from around the world, follow the link to SKYWATCH FRIDAY.

It has been quite a week here.  I am definitely chilling out for a couple of days.   Take care you all and have a good weekend.  Cheers!

Thatched Roof Thursday #6 - Dunchurch

This is a timber framed thatched cottage dating from the 17th Century.  It is a Grade II Listed building and the design includes that interesting thatched pheasant (my guess) on top.  There have been a number of additions and alterations each century to this cottage but this is how it looks from the front today.

Happy Thanksgiving to my friends and family in USA.  Have a great day!  

'S' Is For Spires....

Coventry's Three Spires, that is.  See if you can spot them.

Coventry, England
View from Baginton Village

There you have it - Coventry's skyline.  It isn't easy to spot all three spires (Coventry Cathedral, Holy Trinity Church and Christ Church) these days.  Before the construction of several high rise buildings, it was those Three Spires that dominated the skyline in Coventry from the 14th Century.

This my offering for ABC Wednesday.  For more photographs featuring the letter 'S' follow the link to ABC WEDNESDAY.

Happy Birthday, Richard!

Narrow Boats on the Oxford Canal

Taken from Ansty Golf Course Canal Bridge
(Looking South)

The Oxford Canal is 78 miles long and meanders through the countryside, towns and villages between Oxford and Coventry.  There is a nice public toe path along side the canal.  These photos were taken on a frosty morning last Sunday.

Taken from Ansty Golf Club Canal Bridge
(Looking North)

Autumn Leaves and Gulls

Here are the Autumn Leaves....

Ansty Golf Club
(Taken yesterday - it was cold but sunny.)

And, below we have some gulls, possibly 'urban' gulls, on an outing to the countryside.

I did a little research on seagulls. We are definitely not in an urban area here but we aren't far from villages and cities.  These might be herring gulls which have adapted well to urban environment  but are consider to be a bit of a menace.   It is likely that these gulls have never seen the seaside.  Maybe they should be called 'rural' gulls.  Happily, they are not bothering anyone, but they better move soon because golf balls will be peppering that green soon.  

Skywatch Friday - Coventry's Market Cross....

...together with Holy Trinity Church Spire against a blue sky (hooray!).

Coventry Cross & Holy Trinity Spire

Cookoo Lane, Coventry

A market cross is found in towns and villages denoting a market square in a market town.  The cross photographed here (unveiled in 1976) is common in many medieval market towns.  There have been several Coventry Crosses over the years.  This one replaces the 1544 cross which stood some 100 metres away in Cross Cheaping.

View of Coventry Cross

Looking towards Coventry Cathedral

These two photographs were taken on different days.  I had an afterthought and thought it would be good to show the a wider picture of the area. The Gladiator grave memorial is on the other side of the path (on the left).

For more photos featuring the sky from around the world,  follow the link to Skywatch Friday.

Friday means a little break over the weekend for me.  I have to do some filing of digital photos - amazing how they add up.  Have a good weekend all.  Cheers!

Thatched Roof Thursday # 5 - Brinklow

Brinklow is a beautiful and picturesque village near Coventry.   I chose this cottage for today because it is bright and freshly re-thatched...a nice contrast to another dull day in this part of England.

Tomorrow, no matter what, I am going to include some blue sky in my posting.  A promise!

And, most important of all - Happy Birthday, Nadine!

'R' is for Remembrance in the Rain

Old Coventry Cathedral
Taken on Monday
(day after Remembrance Sunday)

My apologies for having so many photographs in the Old Coventry Cathedral over the past week.  I just had to include this one today.   It doesn't matter at all if it is raining here, life goes on (as you can see from the photograph of  the scene behind me).

Spire structural repairs due to be completed before Christmas.

For more photographs from around the world highlighting the letter 'R', follow the link to ABC WEDNESDAY and enjoy!

Golfers, No - Deer, Yes

Forest of Arden Golf Course
Meriden, near Coventry

I played golf today but not here.  After my game I went out in search of  a thatched roof home.  No luck with that but I will settle for this instead.  The light isn't brilliant but you can see the local wildlife (with no golfers around). Meriden is next door to Coventry and is in the centre of England.

PS.  My better half thanks you for your kind thoughts.  He is much better.

Day After Remembrance Sunday

Old Coventry Cathedral
Day After Remembrance Sunday

Today, I was planning to go to one of the little villages near Coventry and take photos of a war memorial.   That didn't happen - too much rain.  Instead I went with my husband to town.  He had a chiropractor appointment. While he was getting his back sorted I nipped into the Old Cathedral nearby.  This is what I found.

This is a wonderful tribute to a Regiment that lost soldiers in both world wars. This memorial was damaged during the Blitz.  During a fierce battle against the Germans in Caen, France, in July, 1944, the Regiment lost nearly all of its troops.  See BBC's WW2 People's War for more about the Regiment and this memorial.


PS. All went well at the chiropractor and somebody is standing up a bit taller now :).

Skywatch Friday - Sky From Inside

The Old Coventry Cathedral

Two weeks ago, I shared a photograph taken from outside the Cathedral looking in.

I thought you might like to see inside the Cathedral

as it stands now after being bombed in WWII.

The New Cathedral is to the left. The spire is behind me.

A footnote: My husband's parent were married in this very Cathedral in 1936, 

not many years before the Coventry Blitz. 

His mother lived in Bayley Lane (next to the Cathedral) 

and this was her parish church. 

For many more photographs featuring the 'sky' 

follow the link to SKYWATCH FRIDAY.

Have a good weekend all. Cheers!

Lauren, the LOLfromPasa

Thatched Roof Thursday #4 - Monks Kirby

Someone please invite me into this house!

This home in Monks Kirby was built in 2002 replacing (with permission) a Grade II Listed building. For you thatched roof lovers, the thatch over the windows is called 'eyebrow dormers'.  The turret is a staircase tower apparently leading up to a galleried balcony which overlooks a show-piece dining hall.  Oh gosh, it sounds amazing.

Here is the full view below.  Thanks to a planning permission application (which is a public document), I was able to get a little information about this home.  Looks like work is under way.

And, the house next door?  Another thatch!

There you go, a few more thatched roof homes for you to enjoy.  I seem to have a little series going here so why not number them.  Better go and do that now.  Cheers!

Q is for 'The QUEEN Visits Coventry'

The Caption Reads:
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN AND THE DUKE OF
EDINBURGH on their Silver Jubilee visit to Coventry
in 1977.

This photograph was on display at the Coventry Transport Museum in April this year as part of  The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Celebration exhibition.

I was living in Coventry in 1977.  I saw The Queen not many minutes after this photograph was taken and I can remember that day as if it were yesterday.  What a moment.

For more stories and photographs from around the world please visit ABC WEDNESDAY.

(Photograph of The Queen was taken in Broadgate, Coventry.)

Baginton Village Bonfire (Before & After)

BEFORE:

Bonfire is ready with Guy Fawkes on top.
(Note the white doors to give you a perspective of the mammoth size.)

Yesterday was Guy Fawkes Day.  To celebrate the failure of Guy Fawkes and his fellow conspirators to destroy Westminister in 1605....on or around the 5th of November (weather permitting) the Citizens of Great Britain build bonfires, set them alight and set off fireworks too.  This is how they celebrated in Baginton, a village that borders Coventry.

That would be 'Guy Fawkes' sitting there with no chance of escape.  This was how it all looked on Saturday just before 6pm.


AFTER:

Taken Monday (2 days later)

PS.     Note the blue sky....hooray!  (And, that the houses are still standing...phew.)

Linking with OUR WORLD TUESDAY. (Click the link for more 'Our World Tuesday' photos from around the world.)

Year 1605 - Gunpowder, Treason & Plot

Today is Guy Fawkes Day, named after the Gunpowder Plot conspirator, Guy Fawkes.  The plot? To blow up the Houses of Parliament and kill King James I on 5th November, 1605.  Fawkes had the job of guarding gunpowder hidden in the undercroft of the House of Lords.  He was caught!  In the meantime, his fellow conspirators waited in the Old Lion Inn (below), Dunchurch, not far from Coombe Abbey in Coventry.

Known as the Old Lion Inn in 1605.
Guy Fawkes House now and a
residential property.

As you can see from the plaque, Coombe Abbey had a part to play in this story.  (If you go back to my photo for 1st November, I wonder if the scene at Coombe Abbey in 1605 might be something like that.  Ooooooh!)

As for the fate of Guy Fawkes, he was tried and found guilty of High Treason along with 7 others.  For the whole story, look HERE .   

            

Dunchurch, Warwickshire
Road to London to the south and Glasgow to the north.
Main door to Old Lion Inn is in the middle.

Tomorrow, I'll you show you preparations for a village Bonfire Night in Baginton.                                  

NOVEMBER THEME DAY - THE WATER'S EDGE

Early Morning At Coombe Abbey Hotel

Earlier this month I shared several photographs taken at the front of this former monastery. Now is the time to see a view of the hotel from The Water's Edge to the north.  I look forward to showing you more photographs when the fog has lifted. 

For more Water's Edge photographs from around the world, visit CITY DAILY PHOTO.

See you on Monday, the 5th of November, better known as Guy Fawkes Day.  Have a good weekend and please stay safe.