Gunpowder, Treason and Flowers

Cardiff Flower Show

Started the RHS year off with a trip to the Cardiff Flower Show. Held in the centre of Cardiff by the Castle, it’s a scenic train ride down the west bank of the Severn, a short walk past the new Millennium Stadium then into the park.

amazing air plants

Innovative display of schools wheelbarrow gardens

Yum!

After our fill of flora it was a river taxi ride dawn the Taff to Cardiff Bay. An eclectic hotch potch of architecture next to a new development of eateries and pubs.

There are also tributes to the Bays favourite son - Rohl Dahl

Coughton Hall

Next day saw us among the gunpowder plotters at Coughton Hall near Alcester.

Coughton is the family seat of the Throckmorton family. The Baronetcy title was created in 1642. It continued in the family for 352 years until the 12th baronet, Sir Anthony, died without an heir in 1994. Bess Throckmorton, the daughter of Anne Carew and Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, was Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Elizabeth I. She secretly married Sir Walter Raleigh in 1591 – much to the fury of the Queen. They were both sent to the Tower of London.When Raleigh was executed in 1618 Bess was rumoured to carry his embalmed head around with her in a red leather sack. Katherine Vaux who married Sir George Throckmorton in the early 16th century was the aunt of Katherine Parr, the 6th and final wife of Henry VIII.

Traditional Catholics they found themselves on the losing side of the Gunpowder Plot. Coughton’s 16th-century priest hole was only rediscovered in the Tower Room in 1858. When it was fully opened up in 1910 still inside were a rope ladder, a small tapestry, bedding and a folding leather altar.

The double hide meant that if anyone chanced upon the first empty compartment, it was unlikely that they would have found the second compartment below, where the priest would have been hiding.

The ringleader of the Gunpowder Plot was Robert Catesby, son of Sir William Catesby and Anne Throckmorton of Coughton Court and nephew of Thomas Throckmorton. He conceived the plot and became its inspirational leader, recruiting the other twelve members. Several of the other plotters were also related to the Throckmorton family.

When the plot failed there was a long tortuous retreat via Coughton and Hagley ending at Holbeach House where the plotters found their gunpowder to be soaking wet. In an attempt to dry out they spread the gunpowder in front of an open fire. 

The Sherriff and his men, who had been trailing the plotters, saw the resulting explosion and surrounded the House.  On the morning of November 8th there was a showdown. Four of the plotters were killed and the others captured. Catesby and Percy were together killed with one musket shot. The plotters were all tried and convicted of treason and subsequently hung, drawn and quartered at the end of January 1606.

Coughton was set in the once great Forest of Arden. There are a number of walks in and around the estate and an attempt is being made to reintroduce forestation in the form of the Heart of England Forest. Also saw our first bluebells on the season there.

Basenthwaite & Derwent Water

Just returned from a slightly damp North but had a descent day in the Lakes with Sis.

Toured the west side of Basenthwaite and discovered a small, but perfectly formed, mini nature reserve I hadn't come across before.

Before continuing to Keswick where they are developing a number of walkways by the side of Lake.

Finished at the little cafe in Hope Park. Despite its diminutive size they do wonderful meals, toasted halloumi sweet chilli to die for, if you're ever passing.

Dymock Poets Cottages Walk

There are a number of walks, varying in length, set between Dymock and Preston on the B4215. 

The Dymock Poets countryside covers an area from May Hill in the south to the Malvern Hills in the north, most famous for its wild daffodils, which once grew in profusion in the meadows and woods. Despite changes in farming practices there are still many places where wild daffodils can be seen in late March and early April. 

May Hill is wonderfully mysterious. The clump of Scots pine trees on top of what looks like an upside down soup plate make the hill a visible landmark from all over Gloucestershire and Herefordshire.

Shortly before the First World War, three poets – Lascelles Abercrombie, Wilfrid Gibson and Robert Frost – came to live near Dymock in Gloucestershire. Three poets visited them: Rupert Brooke, John Drinkwater , Edward Thomas and Eleanor Farjeon. All the cottages that the poets lived in are passed on various walks, but they are now private properties. Their move to Dymock was a conscious decision to work in and respond to the English countryside, to seek a literary idyll. They produced their own journal, New Numbers. At the encouragement of Frost, in particular, Edward Thomas turned from literary journalism, to become one of the great English poets of the century. Frost himself gained a new impetus, while Rupert Brooke found Dymock and its occupants a fixed artistic centre during his world-wide travelling.

Robert Frost and Edward Thomas walked May Hill, and Frost and his wife could see it from their cottage, Little Iddens, which we passed on our walk. They referred to it in letters home. And it’s on May Hill that Edward Thomas began writing Words.

Glyn Iddens temporary home of Eleanor Farjeon

Littel Iddens the 1914 home of the Frost Family

the village water supply

There is a permanent exhibition about the Dymock Poets in St Mary’s Church, put together by local people. March and April a dedicated team women provide tea and cakes for travellers and walkers.

After the Snowdrops come the Daffodils

What an amazing February for walking.

All of the domestic daffodils are out, both in town and in the garden, but not the indigenous wild daffies of the Forest.  

Once a common sight throughout Gloucestershire, and its county flower, these small blooms, once bred for market, are now found mainly in the "golden triangle", near the villages of Dymock, Kempley and Oxenhall. Each year these villages organise a festivals, including guided walks to see the flowers and all provide teas in the village halls . Dymock is worth visiting any weekend in season as the Poet’s Church serve tea and cakes through March and April. Well worth a visit.

This years events:

Oxenhall weekend is 16th & 17th March;

Kempley weekend 23rd & 24th March (look out for the Kempley Tardis :)

Dymock weekend 30th & 31st March – check out the Poets Corner in the Norman Church of St Marys.

In the years before World War I, Dymock became the base for a group of writers who became known as the Dymock Poets. The group, which included Rupert Brooke, Wilfred Gibson, Edward Thomas and Lascelles Abercrombie, and was later joined by Robert Frost. it was also from here that Brooke published his War Sonnets, including The Soldier (If I should die, think only this of me...). Brooke and Thomas died in the War.

All, I think, are 10am – 5pm.

Painswick Rococo gardens were ablaze, fields of gold and a sprinkling of wild woodland flowers.

and finished with the traditional tea n cake this time at the wonderfully friendly village cafe - The Painswick Pooch :)

Valentine Venue

Had a great Valentines weekend. Stayed at the Gainsborough House Hotel in Kidderminster– using a chrissie gift token from Marion :) The largest town in the Wyre Forest District, just 17 miles south west of Birmingham, Kidderminster, on the River Stour and the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, boasts Victorian buildings.

On the way up we spent an interesting few hours at the old Bishops Palace at Hartlebury, now a museum. You are guided round by animated portraits on the wall – an inventive and amusing idea. Hartlebury was owned by the Bishops of Worcester for over 1,100 years. There are records of a land grant to the Bishop of Worcester by King Burghred of Mercia in the late 9th century, with records of the first building on the site in 1268, making Hartlebury the centre of civil and ecclesiastical power and influence in Worcestershire.

You enter the grounds through a series of out buildings housing cider presses, butter churns and the most amazing collection of horse drawn vehicles.

The early Castle was fortified and moated ready to house soldiers and quell unrest along the borders with Wales, by the 15th century times had become more settled and the Great Hall was built, transforming the Castle into a place of status and comfort. During the Civil War the Castle received major damage and was abandoned for over 40 years. In the late 1680’s Bishop Fleetwood started the transformation from medieval castle to gracious country mansion and grounds. Successive bishops throughout the 18th century beautified the Castle and surrounding estate to create the Castle in its current form, except for the remodelling in the 1960’s. This most recent chapter in the Castle’s history arose as the Castle was becoming too much of a burden for the Bishop, so the north wing was leased to Worcestershire County Council to house the Tickenhall Collection of rural life. The retirement of the Bishop of Worcester in 2007 saw the end of the Castle role as a Bishop’s Palace.

The Long Gallery charts English History

The Palace is situated in over 40 acres of parkland and garden.

After a walk by the river in Bewdley, which surprisingly ended opposite the Bewdley Brewery, we headed off to the hotel. Valentines evening was spent over an excellent Italian washed down with red wine.

The area is crossed by the steam railway (which unfortunately wasn’t running whilst we were there. The Severn Valley Railway Company began operations in 1970 from Bridgnorth to Hampton Loade, extending services southwards to Bewdley in 1974, then to Kidderminster in 1984

Kidderminster is also on the eastern edge of the Wyre Forest through which we walked on a beautiful spring day. We drove and meandered many country lanes, walked the East side Severn Valley Country Park then drove south to revisit Shipston upon Stour.

Ending the trip with tea n n cake at an olde world candy store