Rye

The little town of Rye in East Sussex is both charming and picturesque and we have wanted to take a look around its narrow streets, for some time. So on Tuesday, after our walk along the coast at Rye Harbour, we walked the two miles into the town for a good scout around. We were not disappointed. The walk in, gave us some nice views across the salt marshes towards the town, sitting on its promontory. The skyline is dominated by the tower of St. Mary's Church.

Getting away from the roads and into the town itself, the first building we saw was 'Oak Corner' rebuilt, as the sign above the door reads, in 1490.

One of the main reasons for our visit, was to take a look at some of the places made famous by the wonderful E. F. Benson. Benson lived at Lamb House in the town from 1918 until his death in 1940 and was responsible for the 'Mapp and Lucia' series of books, set in 'Tilling', which was based on Rye. The Channel 4 series of the mid 1980's was filmed in the town and is a great favourite of ours too. The Hotel known as The Mermaid, features in the series as the 'Trader's Arms.'

St. Mary's Church is of course, the haunt of 'The Padre'.

The east end of the church features in three weddings and is the scene of much bitching between the two ladies of the title.

Close by, one of the oldest buildings in Rye, is Ypres Tower. Built in 1249 to keep the French out. This also features a few times in various scenes from the series.

Just around the corner, on Church Square, we found the house used as Major Benjy's home - before he married Miss Elizabeth Mapp.

Along Watchbell Street, we came to Fleetwood Cottage - renamed Mallard's Cottage for the series, and the home of Georgie Pilson (before he married Emmeline 'Lucia' Lucas). Sadly, there are always cars in the way!

Opposite the cottage, the much grander building of Mallard's House itself (properly known as Swan House).

In the books and the TV series, 'Mallard's' was the home of Elizabeth Mapp and later, Major Benjy. But following some ill-informed financial dealings, she was forced to sell and it became the property of Lucia - and later of course, Georgie Pilson.

Malcolm and I had a wonderful time wandering around the old streets of Tilling - sorry, Rye! But soon we had to start heading back.

If you've never read the Mapp and Lucia books by E. F. Benson, or seen the original Channel 4 series, I urge you to do so with all haste. You will not be disappointed!

Rye Harbour

In complete contrast to Monday's slight washout, Tuesday was bright, sunny and warm as we got to Rye Harbour.  We parked at the harbour car park - which is free (a rare thing these days) and set out to walk down to the sea, following the line of the River Rother.

Rye Harbour, is a vast area of salt marsh, shingle, salt lagoons, flooded gravel pits and reed beds. Looked after by the Sussex Wildlife Trust, it is an internationally important nature reserve...

 with wide-open scenery and big skies.

The shingle banks are dotted with many specialist seaside plants. Among the most numerous and eye-catching have to be the Sea Kale. There is also Yellow Horned Poppy, Viper's Bugloss, Teasel, Mulleins and many more to discover.

Along the track which follows the river down to the sea, a small, black hut with a distinctive red roof, breaks the flat skyline. Used as a 'beach hut' by the Honeysett family of the town of Rye back in the 1930's, there is no indication of it's current use.

The wildlife here is superb. In just the short time we were there, we spotted several bird species - even without the aid of binoculars - including Avocets, Little Terns and these spectacular Shelduck.

Turning back to the car park, we passed this grade II listed Martello Tower. Built in 1806 to help defend the South Coast against the ravages of Napoleonic forces. Now, just an interesting landmark on the edge of a caravan park.

After a short break at the car, we then set out for a long walk up into the town of Rye itself. But more of that tomorrow.

Soggy

Following our soaking at Lulworth Cove, we sat in the car for a while, dripping and debating what to do next. The car park ticket was good for both the Cove and Durdle Door, so we abandoned the idea of walking between the two and opted for the less energetic, but considerably drier choice of driving there. By the time we arrived at Durdle Door, the rain had just about stopped so we hauled our soggy selves down the path to take in another geological wonder. Before we got to see the famous arch, we looked down on Man O'War Beach.

The coastline is made up of various strata of hard and soft limestone bands, shifted into a near vertical orientation by geological forces. It is the harder of these rocks which form the arch of Durdle Door itself and remnants of it can also be seen running in a line either side if it.

The name 'Durdle' comes from the old English word 'thirl', meaning a drill or bore. Easy to see why when you see the arch itself. Off in the distance, the isle of Portland could just be seen on the horizon.

Some brave souls were on the beach doing, what looked like some sort of school field trip. Time for another panorama...

The sea was like a mill pond, despite the weather and we had some lovely views along the coast and the chalk cliffs, taking in the small promontory of Bat's Head. Soon enough, it rained again so we had to head back to the car, soggy, but happy to have seen the area at last.

It had been our intention, to pay a surprise call on Mary and Brian, in Portsmouth later in the day. But we were both so wet, mud-spattered and cold by this time, that we were in no fit state for visiting anyone and decided to postpone that pleasure until next time.
Next, we moved on to Rye in East Sussex. more of that tomorrow.

Lulworth

Leaving Swanage behind, we set off for Lulworth Cove. The weather was looking more threatening by the minute, but we pressed on anyway. Leaving the car behind, we set off to find the cove, passing such thatched delights as  Cove Cottage and Spring Cottage as we went.

Cove Cottage dates to the 18th century and has a small stream running through the grounds before it passes under the road and into a pond.  We soon made it to the cove itself.

Having seen the cove on TV many times and been told about it in school geography lessons (about 100 years ago), we were not disappointed with the views.

It was nice down at water level, but a bit busy tourists (they get everywhere), so we headed up the tracks to get a higher view.

From here, we could see down to Stair Hole and more interesting folding in the rock formations. In some places, the rocks have been folded and twisted so that the sedimentary layers are now vertical.

With arches and blow holes, it was a geologist's dream.

Soon after this photo was taken, it started to rain. So we headed back towards the car. Unfortunately, by the time we got back to the car park, it was pouring down and ankle-deep in water and we were absolutely soaked...
More tomorrow!

South Coast

Malcolm and I got back yesterday, from a few days away exploring the south coast. We started off by driving down to Poole in Dorset and spent a couple of hours exploring the town and the walks around Upton Lake.
Monday morning was overcast but dry so we set off to take a look at the Dorset coast. We started in Swanage - by accident, having taken the wrong road out of Wareham. But it all worked out rather well.

From the town, we walked out onto Peveril Point, which gave us some nice views north across Swanage Bay to the cliffs beyond.

Fortunately and in contrast to the main town, it was quiet along Peveril Point, so we could enjoy the Skylarks singing and the Gulls shouting at each other.

The wild flowers were pretty good too, with plenty of Red Valerian and wild Carrot to enjoy.

This was the view looking south across Durlston Bay...

and in the distance, the grand, Victorian edifice of Durlston Castle. Built by wealthy landowner George Burt in the late 19th century.

From Swanage, we moved on towards Lulworth, but more of that tomorrow!

Country Colour

The countryside is filling with colour as spring comes to an end and summer takes a hold. This morning, as we walked along Slack Road, the fields were filled with the bright yellow of Buttercups, swaying in the stiff breeze.

Always good value, in such vast quantity, Buttercups must surely rival any other flower for sheer exuberance.

Closer to home, we have discovered a stand of Sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia).

A member of the Pea family, Sainfoin has been grown as a fodder crop for many years and it has the added property of being able to purge farm animals of intestinal worms. Since the 1950's, it has largely been replaced by Alfafa.

There seem to be quite a lot of insects around at the moment - the warm weather and a mild winter helping with their numbers. We've seen lots of bright red Soldier Beetles on the flat heads of Cow Parsley and this fabulous little Red-headed Cardinal Beetle (Pyrochroa serraticornis).

Yellow Flag Iris are adding their sunny colours to the scene too. These were growing alongside Mapperley Reservoir a few days ago, accompanied by a Coot, busy in the background.

Lastly for today, a new 'tick' for my life list. This time, an insect found in our own back garden, on a Teasel leaf. It turned out to be a brilliant bee-mimic Hoverfly (Volucella bombylans).

Nutbrook Canal.

As it's still the school holidays and we like to avoid the more crowded footpaths if we can, Malcolm and I thought we would take a look at what's left of the old Nutbrook Canal. In truth, there isn't a lot left of it to explore, but we started at a familiar landmark which we know as 'graffiti bridge' - for obvious reasons.

The upper level of the bridge, used to carry the Mapperley Branch of a mineral railway line and close by, in what is now an area of scrub (just off to the left in the photo above), the line split at what was Mapperley Junction. A huge number of railway lines in the area, formed the Nutbrook sidings and the Heanor Branch line.
Close by the bridge, you can still see the stone remains of an old lock. The lock and indeed the whole canal, was still in use on the 1880 maps, but disused by the 1915 edition.

It's all a bit overgrown now, but the water flows over the stone-built bottom of the canal...

the construction of which can still be seen in places.

The path we were on, runs along what used to be the 'Union and Municipal Borough Boundary'.

Over the far side of the canal, where trees and birdsong now dominate, the West Hallam Iron Works once belched fumes and noise. It is remarkable that still nothing will grow where the Iron Works were demolished over 100 years ago. Makes you wonder what's still poisoning the ground all this time later.

It's all much more peaceful now - thank goodness. And this morning, even a pair of Mandarin ducks could be seen (if you look carefully) paddling along. You certainly wouldn't have seen that 100 years ago!

Soon, the path opened out onto farmland. The area is farmed by nearby Head House Farm but on the 1880 maps, over to the right around this area, the Nutbrook Colliery is marked, along with its associated branch lines, engine house and air shafts.

Leaving behind the open fields, we were soon back into the trees where we had to do a slight 'dog-leg' as we crossed a small drainage channel where it joins the canal.

Then, it was along to our last point on the canal for today. We know this area somewhat affectionately as Vole Bridge (we've watched Water Voles here before), but on the old maps it's marked as Parker's Bridge. By now, the canal looks more like a long, thin pond as it slowly gets taken over by vegetation.

So, that's a stroll through some local history!