Ashby Pillings and trains

This has been a most interesting bank holiday weekend which has seen me out and about (again!) around the county, having some interesting conversations with some helpful people all with Loughborough at the back of my mind!

A trip to Ashby food festival provided not just food and drink, but also some reassurance over an item of some concern that raised its head recently on Facebook. Lots of food stalls, plenty of drinks stalls, a funfair, performances by Loughborough Border Morris Group, Way of the Wyrd, and societies like the Scouts and wildlife groups.

I was lucky enough to attract the attention of the Wildlife Trust stall. I say lucky enough, because, while I am as keen on preserving our nature as the next person, I only have a very limited disposable income, which means I can't commit to the suggested subscription for all the organisations I'd like to support, nevertheless, I was treated to a very in-depth discussion about the work of the Wildlife Trust, for example, their on-going work that started 25 years ago to encourage ospreys to breed at Rutland Water. 

While I was being shown the geographical extent of the work in Leicestershire and what the current major projects are, I realised it was the Wildlife Trust who own most of the Big Meadow (aka the Nether Meadow, or the Coronation Meadow), about which the Old Rectory held an exhibition about 5 years ago. Now, I wish I'd paid more attention to the exhibition, but the chap at the Trust reminded me (I have briefly mentioned this in an earlier blog post) that Lammas Meadows (which is what the Big Meadow is) have special conditions attached (commoners can graze their animals on the land after the harvest from 12 August to April), so it's most unlikely from that point of view that the land can be built on. The fact that it's on a flood plain is not prohibitive, as there are plenty of new houses already built on such land, and there are strategies for doing this, but the commoners' rights should protect the land.

Here's some photos of the event:

Some of the entertainment

Loving the name of this vegan food stall

The Wildlife Trust

Ridiculously Rich's Alana went to primary school in Loughborough 

 A pretty display

Burleighs Gin based on Charley Road, Nanpantan

After visiting the food festival, I made my way to St Helen's church, which I've visited before when researching the Middletons. This time I went to see the display of painted silhouetted soldiers that had begun their life at Coalville Market, an event at which a friend was an integral part. To see them in the church was most poignant: many of them had been painted by schoolchildren, others by local groups. 

Here's a few of my favourites:

Tomb of Lord Hastings

As I was leaving the church and heading towards the town centre, I happened upon the Lyric Rooms, the plaque below telling me that the Freemasons had been meeting in Ashby since 1836: I assume the Lyric Rooms to be one of those meeting places. I also spotted one of those signs that these days seems to rare in Loughborough (there is one next to George Hills and one on the dentist on The Coneries, but the one next to the Orange Tree has disappeared).

Sunday was such a beautiful day I decided to walk to Pillings Lock. The route I chose took me through the cemetery, down the path just past the Bull-in-the-Hollow farm, through a copse, and through a field normally full of cows, but today full of cars. There was a bank holiday event on the place was busy! There were some interesting stalls selling craft and other items, and I had a great chat with a bushcraft stuff maker, who had recently been to the Charnwood Grove of Druids event at Beacon Hill.

And, if all that weren't enough, I managed to cross the train bridge when a steam train was passing under it!

Here's some of my favourite photos:

See you next week!

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Dyer, Lynne (2018). Ashby, Pillings and trains. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2018/05/ashby-pillings-and-trains.html  [Accessed 27 May 2018]

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Lynne