36 photos summarising my wonderful weekend....

It's been quite a hectic weekend this Bank Holiday. Not least because I worked on Saturday and Monday. Didn't stop me having fun though. Or.......... taking far far too many photographs. Instead of a wordy blog today, this weekend, I shall let the photos do the talking......

After days of dark, wet and miserable days, Friday evening developed such a glorious sunset over Bristol Channel, I had to photograph it from my bedroom window.

On Saturday I was at Corfe Mullen, just outside Poole in Dorset by 8.30am for their BioBlitz (see previous posting last Friday). It was a great day but by mid afternoon I'd finished work so headed home. En route home was the Stock Gaylard Oak Fair, North Dorset which I last went to in 2008. I love this Fair, and on Saturday I had time to have an hour and a half wandering about in fabulous sunshine before it closed.

Lots of toys to play with..........

................... things to burn !!

Things to buy............

........things to saw

and arty photographs to take......

And piles of wood.............

It's thirsty work wandering about taking photographs so I thought, I know, I'll pop over to the Greyhound pub at Sydling St Nicholas and have a refreshing cider shandy while reading the paper.

Before that though, I had to drive past Cerne Abbas. The light was stunning on the fields, but the only way to replicate it, due to the sun being in the wrong place, was to take this exposure driven photo from the car...and yes it did look like that.

Or if I looked the other way, it looked like this.

Or if I looked towards Cerne Abbas it looked.... well you're getting the picture now!

I did make it to the pub eventually, and quaffed a most welcome cider shandy, read the paper and hoofed it back home.

That was Saturday.

By 9am Sunday I was back in Wiltshire (via Dorset and Somerset) for my day off this weekend. I have to admit I was not the most energetic of people in the morning, absolutely nothing to do with the cider shandy, or bottle of red wine, followed by muesli when I got in. Anyway, we had a quiet morning, which involved doing something interesting with a plum tree. But in the afternoon went for a walk, to Bedwyn Brail.

Bedwyn Brail is adjacent to Great Bedwyn on the Wiltshire/Berkshire border and a walk I'd not done before. Setting off in glorious autumnal sunshine, the much beloved and self hoofed it up a hill.

Or let me rephrase this. We hoofed it half way up the hill until autumnal produce caught our eye........

Anyway we spent so long messing about, the blue skies of our walk were rapidly being overtaken my dark and brooding clouds.

But at least the views were stunning

Before the rain came, and boy did it come.

We tried to shelter under the trees, but eventually made a dash for a gamekeepers hut, where two other walkers were holed up.

But eventually the rains subsided and we continued our walk.

past sweet chestnut

and verdant foliage (just took this because of the composition)

By the time we got back to Great Bedwyn, the sun was out and the wonderful buildings in this village were at their best.

So homeward we drove for a well earned cup of tea, a Jaffa cake or two and a rest. But not for long. Being such a wonderful evening, we decided to go for another walk, this time to Avebury. In all the years I've lived down here I've never visited Avebury. Driven through it, but never stopped.

So we parked at the bottom of the Avenue and walked up it towards the circle

I took some arty photos......

of trees and stones

or stones and shadows

or texture of the rock

or atmospheric skies

or the setting sun through trees

Before walking back down the Avenue as the sun began to set..........

Now that's what I call a fabulous end to a day..........

Stock Gaylard and an interesting day....

Strange day yesterday. It began as a "come and collect your stuff" day and ended up with a very clever piece of wood engineering plus a bottle of very acceptable award winning Chianti. I shall elucidate.

After 8 years, Border Reiver is a single man again. So yesterday was a bit of a sad day, collecting the remnants of his life in a bin bag. I wonder why when everything goes pear shaped, bin bags feature prominently in one's life? Why not a suitcase or a wicker basket?

So by early afternoon, car packed, nothing else to say, we parted. Didn't fancy going straight home, so popped to the the 4th Stock Gaylard Oak Fair, North Dorset.

I'm not 100% sure what Gaylard is, or why it's stocked in North Dorset, but I'm sure someone will tell me it's uses. I like this Fair as it's small, has a purpose (for all of those interested in timber, woodcraft, countryside and conservation) and set in the gloriously English landscape of mature broadleaved trees in a parkland setting. Sadly I didn't get the photo the Fallow Deer here as they'd moved over to the far side. Not literally you understand.

So here's a photo journey of the hour or so I spent there (as ever, click to enlarge).

Throwing out time from the Cider Tent, mind you they seem to have thrown out some strange looking furniture. And do you think this Spaniel is having a good time? My dog was never as obedient as this, he'd have been out and chewing your leg by now!!!

A felled Oak. Why have I photographed this? Well here's a story, the Oak had died (Ahhahh) and needed to be felled, so along came Adam's Axemen, who felled the tree in the morning (boo hiss, leave it for wildlife). But no, this tree will now be "Hung, Sawn and Quartered (sorry) to return in the form of furniture, turned bowls and many a myriad of the woodmizers artform next year (August 29th).

Hold me back with these two photos. Aint's she a beauty.... I could crush a grape seeing this. Back when the old King was on the Throne and I were nowt but a pimply lad, I used to work on Harry's farm. Harry's dad, old Mr Gibson (never seen without a shirt and tie on) had one of these for leading hay and general light duties around the farm. It was the very very first motorised vehicle I ever drove, (the next was a Diahatsu fourtrack - explains a lot about my driving technique). To see this classic example was a reet bobby dazzler experience. I may just have to visit the Gt Dorset Steam Fair next weekend.

Two photos of a Little Grey Fergie powering a man with a plank of wood.

Traditional Shepherds Hut with the skeleton of a Yurt. Dorset Yurts (sort of canvas tent) are becoming popular and as such they had demonstrations of how they were made etc. And on the right, the Shopping Mall. Why can't all shopping be as civilised as this.

Eyes left; Heavy horses, part of the British Horse Loggers Competition. Eyes right; either someone has left some toast on too long, or this is Charcoal Burning. Can this really be environmentally friendly? Smoke from this small oven, engulfed the Fair. Talk about a carbon footprint, more a carbon overcoat. Good to see though.

Ahhahh, serious Boys Toys. None of your namby pamby, well guarded, cut off switched, so safe they're boring machinery here. Make a mistake with this beast and it'll not half smart. I used to use one of these mounted on a Tractor PTO, and believe me without a guard in place, a 3 foot circular saw revolving 6 inches from me IS respected, no day dreaming when working one of those!!

But what are these two strange wooden objects?

Mike Taffinder makes these jolly ingenious wooden tea towel holders. Using Archimedes first principle of "jam some cloth into a wooden peg using a glass marble", Mike has honed this craft to perfection. Brilliantly simple, and wonderful at only £7 each. We bought one last year, so as a pick me up today, I bought two. I know, I know, it's the wild side in me, can't help myself.

And so home, left the binbags un packed, opened a rather robust bottle of Italian Red, and glugged the evening away listening to Radio 4 on the trusty old Roberts. Tomorrow, as they say, is another day.