If you get bored here over there on the right under pages there’s some more rubbish to read.

😊

Tilly

 

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Bryntail Lead Mine Buildings

Bryntail Lead Mine Buildings
At foot of Clywedog dam,
off B4518, 3m (4.8km) NW of Llanidloes

Admission Free

Western Shaft lies beneath Llyn Clywedog reservoir, built to control flooding on the upper Severn.

The site opened in 1708 and  operated until 1788. Lead ore was extracted at Bryntail and shipped into Llanidloes where it was loaded onto small boats and carried down the River Severn to the sea.

Mining stopped in 1788 but the mine workings continued to be used for almost a century after, when ore was discovered at nearby Y Fan. This  led to a boom in mining activity, and for the decade between 1870 and 1880 the Llanidloes area produced more lead ore than the rest of the world put together.

The boom did not last, and by 1884 Bryntail closed down. The mine buildings quickly fell into decay.

On the site you can see  crushing houses, ore bins, water tanks, roasting ovens, and a barytes mill, administrative buildings, manager’s office, storage buildings, and a smithy.

There is also a very nice short walk up the hill and back down through the woods, very steep on the way back down.

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Mallory Park

Mallory Park Circuit,
Church Road, Kirkby Mallory,
Leicestershire
LE9 7QE

Admission prices vary depending on what car you drive or what races you watch.

Something for the speed freak. I went here with my husband who had a track day for his birthday from my son, he drove an Aston Martin around the tract for 5 laps and then he was drove around in a Ariel Atom, and because I didn’t want to be left out and don’t drive I was driven around for two laps in a B M W something? I can’t remember, what I can tell you is it was fast, very fast, the g forces were unbelievable, I feel sick and I loved it.

A definitely must go for any speed freak with a special occasion.

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Dudley Zoo

Dudley Zoo
Castle Hill
Dudley
West Midlands
DY1 4QF

Admission adults £16.50 children £10.50

I haven’t been to Dudley zoo in years, (well not to see the animals), I used to go as a child with my mom, dad and sisters back in the days when you ‘dressed’ to go out. Then I went as a young adult with my boyfriend, then with my son. It’s changed a lot since then. The first thing that struck me wasn’t the fact that a lot of the big animals are no longer there, because rightly so it’s now known to be cruel to keep them in the space the zoo has. But the fact there are warning signs everywhere, Dudley Zoo is very steep in parts and does have some steep inclines and declines, now there are warnings on some of the paths saying not to take your pushchairs down them, back in the day I have run down them with my son in his pushchair which he used to love. You can still climb the castle, however you can no longer sit on the cannons, in fact you can’t get near them. There are a lot of new enclosures which make seeing the animals easier, but the old enclosures are still there as they are now grade II listed buildings, I remember them when they were working, that made me feel old!
What brought me to the zoo this time was in fact my son. A friend at his work sponsored a Capybara for him for Christmas, so we went to visit. I think my favorite part of the visit was the Lemur walk through where you get really close to the lemurs, and the temptation not to touch nearly killed me, and the Lorikeet walk through. For £1 you can buy a pot of nectar to take in with you and basically get mugged by these darling little birds, who just love to sit all over you and eat the nectar, and have a peck at you. Such fun.

Dudley Zoo opened in May 1937, and includes an 11th century castle whose walls are embedded with trilobites, the only animals the world has ever known to have eyes made of crystal.

It was the third Earl of Dudley idea to turn the castles grounds into zoological gardens and it was him who chose a team of Modernist architects to design the zoo. Using reinforced concrete they created a revolutionary new design of building: Tectons.

Seventy five years on Dudley Zoo has the world’s largest single collection of Tectons, which received World Monument Status in 2009.

The motte and bailey construction of Dudley Castle was completed in 1070 by Ansculf de Picquigny. He was succeeded by the Paganel family during the 12th century who became Lords of Dudley.

In 1537 John Dudley embarked on a building programme at Dudley Castle including the Sharington Range, named after his architect, William Sharington.

On August 11, 1575 Queen Elizabeth I visited Dudley Castle and a decade later the site was surveyed as a possible residence for the imprisoned Mary, Queen of Scots.

The castle was besieged in 1644 and 1646 and surrendered on May 13, 1646. The following year, by order of Parliament, the keep, gatehouse and sections of the curtain wall were slighted.

On July 24, 1750 a fire, which raged for three days, swept through the Sharington Range, gutting palace. Dudley Castle was left to settle into the role of romantic ruin.

In the late 1800s and early 20th century fetes drew crowds into the courtyard and in May 1937 the Earl of Dudley opened Dudley Zoological Society with exotic animals from across the world.

Iconic Tecton enclosures designed by Berthold Lubetkin’s team attracted worldwide interest.

On June 24, 1994 Queen Elizabeth II visited Dudley Castle to open an Interpretation Centre

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The Shakespeare Garden

Shakespeare Garden
Adkins Lane,
Bearwood,
Smethwick,
B67 5DP

Admission Free

The Shakespeare Garden was established in 1915 within lightwoods house’s former walled gardens. The house was thought to have been built by Jonathan Grundy in 1791, but a brick in the wall is inscribed Jonathan Grundy, June 19, 1780. Jonathan Grundy is the first known occupant of Lightwoods House and lived there with his wife and daughter until his death in 1803. His widow continued to live there until her death in 1815, and their daughter lived in the house until she died unmarried in 1829.

The house and land then passed to Jonathan’s niece Eliza, the wife of Henry Goodrich Willett. When Eliza died Henry continued to live there until his death in 1857. The house then pasted to his nephew, Captain H. J. Willett, owho lived in the house for a few months and in 1858 leased it to George Caleb Adkins. Adkins bought the house with some land from Willett’s trustees in 1865 and lived there until his death in 1887. In 1902 the house and land was put up for sale and it was thought it would be used for housing, A. M. Chance brought it for a park for the people. In October 1902 the committee which had raised the purchase money handed over the property to Birmingham corporation as a public park. The garden opened in 1915 and contains specimens of the plants mentioned by Shakespeare in his books. The garden and the house have under gone a lot of work in the past few years and is now a cafe, it can also be hired out for weddings.

The Garden used to be one of the places my son loved to go when he was little, he loved the fish in the pool.

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Mundesley to Walcott

Mundesley to Walcott

Around 4 mile
This walk was originally meant to be to Happisburgh 6 mile, but hubby developed a rather big blister and we had to walk back, (no buses on a Saturday), so we called it a day at Walcott and after a drink we walked slowly back.

We were lucky enough to have caught the tides right on the day we did this walk, so did the whole walk along the beach and promenade.

The starting point is the  museum in Mundesley. Turn right as you look at the sea and hit the beach.

The beach is quite rocky/stony in places which is quite hard going, there are also a lot of groynes  which have to be climbed over or you can take your shoes and socks off and paddle around them. Always fun 🙂  The walk continues along the beach beneath the  industrial complex of the Bacton
Gas Terminal, one of the main gas terminals in the UK.

A lot of sea birds can be seen on this walk and we were lucky enough to see them nesting in the cliffs. Sometimes seals can be seen out to sea, however we were not lucky enough to see any.

As you approach   Walcott the Promenade starts, the bad storms of the month  had caused some damaged to the  promenade lifting parts of the concrete, but nothing that couldn’t be gone round.

A nice little walk that we intend to do again, but hopefully the full length next time.

 

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Mundesley to Cromer Coastal Walk

This is a lovely gentle walk of 10 mile.

This walk can be done along the beach if the tide is out or a mix of beach and cliff top. It’s a straight walk along the beach. But as we didn’t want to wait for tides we did the mix of both.

Starting at Mundesley museum we head towards Sandy Gulls campsite along the road, then crossed to walk along a path between the edge of farmland and a row of trees which hid the road, a very clever idea. We followed this path until we came to Trimingham, a very pretty village, just past the church is a right hand turning that takes you through woodland and out onto the cliff tops. The cliff path is easy to follow but you do have to watch your step as the cliffs are badly eroded and there were at the time we walked ground nesting birds. The views are spectacular. Once we reached Overstrand  we took the very steep concrete drive down past the beach huts to the beach. We continued our walk along the beach into Cromer.

We had planned to walk back but spent a little too long looking around and playing on the pier so caught the bus back to base.

 

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St Julian

The Rectory
8 Kilderkin Way
Norwich
NR1 1RD

Admission free

St Julian is one of the most famous of Norwich’s churches because it is associated with the mystical visions of the anchoress (an anchoress is a woman who chooses to withdraw from the world to live a solitary life of prayer and mortification), the Blessed Mother Julian of Norwich. Both church and mystic took their name from the adjacent Priory.
Julian of Norwich is thought to have been the first woman to write a book in English which has survived. The Revelations of Divine Love, which is widely acknowledged as one of the great classics of  spiritual life. Revelations of Divine Love is based on a series of sixteen visions she received on the 8th of May 1373. Julian was on what was thought to be her deathbed when suddenly she saw Christ bleeding in front of her. She received insight into his sufferings and his love for mankind.
Julian saw Gods love as unconditional like that of a mother and father.
She wrote, For I saw no wrath except on man’s side, and He forgives that in us, for wrath is nothing else but a perversity and an opposition to peace and to love. She wrote that God sees us as perfect and waits for the day when human souls mature so that evil and sin will no longer hinder us.
Julian’s message remains one of hope and trust in God, whose compassionate love is always given to mankind.
People would come to her cell in Norwich to seek advice. Considering that at the time the citizens of Norwich suffered from plague, poverty and famine. She would have counselled a lot of people in pain, but still her writings and beliefs are of hope and trust in God’s goodness. She would console people with the words

All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well…

The small church has a lovely feel to it and it is all too easy to sit down and lose track of all time. We couldn’t get into the cell as it was locked, so a trip back next time we are that way is penciled in.

St Julian’s photos