the annual bilberry haul

 

Each summer we dedicate a day to go up to the Stiperstones armed with plastic tubs to collect bilberries. We were a little late going this year, but there were still plenty to be found. Going later in the season meant we were treated to the amazing scent of the heather as it was in full bloom.

 

 The boys love to use their berry pickers and eagerly begin to fill up the tubs. However before long they are frolicking and rolling about in the springy heather, getting covered in purple splodges.

 

Their day was enhanced by doing a spot of Geocaching - something we started doing last summer. They love the quest of finding something that's been hidden away. The Geocache here didn't disappoint especially being an old ammo tin.

 

So with purple stained fingers, we headed home to freeze our modest haul of bilberries to give us a taste of the summer hills through the winter months.

nest

 

While cutting back and tidying the garden I have been aware of a pair of very noisy Long-tailed Tits in the hedge. Intrigued I had a closer look and there in a clump of brambles, probably only about a metre off the ground, is the most beautiful nest that they are busily constructing.

 

Made of moss, feathers and lichen woven together with spiders webs to gives it elasticity to expand as the chicks grow. So clever!
I have always wanted to see one of these nests and to find one so close to home is simply delightful!

recently...

Oh my days, it has been a long time since I last posted here. The ease of posting on Instagram has probably contributed to this tardiness as well as a tendency to take more photographs on my phone which I then think aren't good enough to post on here. In an effort to rectify that will share more of my phone photographs rather than none at all!

January has been a month of change for us as we have begun to move into our House part of the church conversion we have been working on. I am putting together a post on our website about it to be published very soon. Starting to use this space which we have been painstakingly creating for the past 13 years is the most incredible thing. There is so much I could say about it all but what has struck me most is the light!

The kitchen has one of the few clear windows in the church and I just adore being by it, looking out watching the weather. Earlier this week I spent almost the whole day in the kitchen making marmalade. With the sun streaming through the window warming my back as I 'finely sliced' the peel, listening to the radio, I was so content! The window has enhanced my life enormously (the Hut which has been our temporary house while we made the real one, was in effect a building within a building and therefore had no outside windows).

 

 

I have however been getting out and about in all weathers recently as I have taken up running. This has been wonderful for exploring all the nearby country lanes and has probably contributed to the increase in landscape photographs being taken with my phone camera. The early morning runs are the best as you get to see this...

I have really taken to these mini adventures and challenges that running has given me, and that I'm up and out to get to see the sun rise on a frosty January morning is a real bonus.

Thank you for sticking with me! I shall endeavour not to leave it so long xx

a red hawthorn tree

A red hawthorn tree in the bottom of The Field.
The tree looks like it is covered in a thousand tiny rosebuds.
Unlike the native hawthorn, the red hawthorn has double flowers.

 

And there are plenty of the traditional white blossomed variety nearby.

the bluebell wood

 

Woodlands in May.

The fresh green leaves on the beech trees.

The carpet of bluebells with their intoxicating scent.

Dappled spring sunshine. 

Nothing beats a British woodland in May.

 

blue skies

 

The biggest bluest skies at the Elan Valley earlier this week where we went for our half term ramble. The boys were keen to see the Claerwen dam (as they had watched Top Gear's Richard Hammond drive a Landrover up the front of it on TV!).

 

 

 

The winter colours were stunning, bleached windswept grasses contrasting with the blue sparkling water.

The Claerwen river flows from the dam down through a wide boggy valley. We walked along a bridleway adjacent to the river. However the track was very waterlogged in places and after a failed attempt to jump a stream with a 5 year old on my back and ending up knee deep in a bog, we turned back! 

These beautiful wild hills definitely need a return visit (and I must remember after a long wet spell, to keep to the high ground).

squelching through fields

 

Last weekend, Littlest and I took advantage of a free couple of hours to 'squelch and squerch' across fields, along country lanes and along the canal to a nearby village, Berriew.

 

 

The rains held off long enough to reach home. It was good to be out... exploring, stretching our legs and eyes. And what a joy to spot the first of the snowdrops on a roadside verge.