Lynne About Loughborough: sheep

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Sunday, 18 June 2023

Garendon Park 3

Way back in March this year, I was lucky enough to take part in an organised walk around the privately owned Garendon Estate. I say, ‘privately owned’, as much of it is, and as such is not open to the public, although there are a number of footpaths, some of which will be opening soon. [1]

We were invited along initially really to view the heritage of the park - see my earlier post after that first visit for a bit of the history of Garendon. Recently, I was very lucky to be invited along again, this time to view more of the flora and fauna, as well as the stunning obelisk.

At one time, some of the grounds of the estate were laid out as a pleasure park, and evidence of some of the features of was still to be seen, like a ‘canal’ which at one time was at the bottom of the garden, and included a pool – which reminded me a bit of Burleigh Brook Park. We also saw one of the avenues of trees, along with some giant Wellingtonia trees, hazel, field maple, and oaks, to name but a few!

Surrounding the 'canal'

Around the 'canal'

An avenue of trees

What an avenue of trees on the estate looked like nearly 100 years ago

A Wellingtonia on the estate from nearly 100 years ago

I visited on what was one of the first beautiful sunny days we’d had, and it was so lovely to see everything in full bloom, as we made our way to the obelisk [2], which along with the Temple of Venus and the Triumphal Arch, was one of the follies designed by Ambrose Phillips (1707-1737), who had, apparently, designed many more such structures, but since he died very young, these were never created.

The obelisk

Here are a few more photographs of my visit.

Not only did we see trees, crops, and grasses, we also saw animals!

Hope you've enjoyed this quick visit to Garendon!

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Notes

[1] For details concerning the re-opening of the park to the public please consult either Charnwood Borough Council, or the housebuilders

[2] I've written so many posts related to obelisks on the blog! Here are a few examples:

https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2016/11/obelisks-everywhere.html

https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2020/06/life-in-locked-down-loughborough.html

https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2017/04/loughborough-charnwood-college-garendon.html

https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2016/03/william-railtons-bavarian-gates.html

https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2019/04/garendon-and-marathon.html

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posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

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Dyer, Lynne (2023). Garendon Park Part 3. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2023/06/garendon-park-3.html [Accessed 18 June 2023]

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Sunday, 21 June 2020

We could even see the Brush

Many thanks to last week's guest blogger! I do hope you enjoyed reading Ursula's post last week! I know I certainly appreciated being reminded of places I've been to often, but not been to recently because of staying at home. And it was perhaps these memories that prompted me to do something I've never done before ...

I was pretty sure I'd blogged here about visits to Beacon Hill, but last week, when I looked back, I couldn't find any mentions! So, I thought I'd put this right today, and share some photos I took from the top of Beacon Hill last night, 20th June, the Summer Solstice. We arrived just after 9pm and walked up to the top of the Beacon from Woodhouse Eaves. The ferns had grown enormously, and alpacas were hiding, but the sheep were out in force. On the horizon, as we walked up the path to the top, there was a lone, long-horned cow.

Lush ferns

Sheep

Lone long-horned cow

I wasn't surprised to see quite a few people already up there, some making a shelter, others enjoying a picnic, and others clambering on the rocks, taking photos against the backdrop of the darkening sky.

How lovely it was that last week's guest blogger was able to join us for this exciting event. Despite the breeze and the social distancing, we were still able to have a lovely chat!

Looking out over Loughborough and the surrounding area, there were a few landmarks that were easily spottable - like the M1, busy with cars, Towers, but more surprisingly we could see the lovely neon sign all the way down at the Brush!!! I am most definitely not the best photographer, so hopefully you can spot the Brush's pinkish sign!

The string of car lights on the M1

The Brush neon sign clearly visible

The Brush at night, taken from the railway station

Gradually, the sky began to redden, and the clouds began to make beautiful shapes in the sky.

Finally, the sun had set and it was time to go home. Other people clearly had the same idea.

Making our way back down the path, we passed some beautifully coloured sky sandwiched between the silhouetted trees.

I've never been to Beacon Hill in the dark before, but it was definitely an experience that I'd repeat.

You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follow:

Dyer, Lynne (2020). We could even see the Brush! Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2020/06/we-could-even-see-brush.html [Accessed: 21 June 2020]

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Thank you for reading this blog.

Lynne

Sunday, 26 August 2018

Leicestershire County Show

This weekend we've popped along to the Leicestershire County Show. Well, we didn't exactly pop: we walked to Loughborough railway station, caught a train to Market Harborough, and walked to the new Leicestershire County Showground. We were going to walk along the canal at Harborough, but sadly part of the footpath was closed so we ended up walking along the roadside.

I've always been a bit of a fan of county shows, and very well remember as a child going along to the Abergavenny and Border Counties Show. To a small child, it seemed enormous: a huge arena with all sorts of displays going on (I particularly liked the scrambling bike displays), vast fields to walk through, various side arenas, loads of little stalls selling all sort of things, a huge marquee housing the entries for the handicraft competitions, an equally huge one for the entries in the flowers, fruit and veg competitions, and a smaller one for the baking entries. And not forgetting the humungous food and drinks tent!

So when the Leicestershire County Show came to Loughborough - well, Dishley, to be precise - I just had to go along. I remember one time we went we drove, and queued for what seemed like hours along Warwick Way! Anyway, this was quite some years ago now, and the show has since been to Melton Mowbray, before moving to its current place. Some of the things I loved about the show when it was at Dishley, was the variety of events, stalls, and demonstrations, the animals ...

Photos from the May 2005 event at Dishley:

Photos from the May 2003 event at Dishley:

In its new location at Market Harborough, there was certainly plenty of space for the arenas, for the stalls, for food outlets, the craft tent, a fairground, vintage vehicles and pens for the animals. Considering the weather that we've had for most of the summer, it was a little overcast and a tad chilly, but it was a good day out.