Discovering new places on our doorstep

Well, of course, they're not new places at all, but very old ones indeed. They were simply new to us. I suppose it often happens that, although we travel the world, we sometimes overlook places rather nearer to home, and a sunny Saturday and the Kempley Daffodil Weekend provided all the motivation we needed to get ourselves over to a corner of Gloucestershire we hadn't explored before.

This part of the county is reknowned for daffodils at this time of year, and they grow wild all over the place.

Local villages play host to visitors in turn over several weekends and this weekend, Kempley had pulled out all the stops to celebrate this lovely flower. The little Arts and Crafts Church of St Edwards was full of daffodils of every kind - stitched, painted, photographed and of course, the real thing.

Having enjoyed some locally made cake with our tea in the village hall, we set off along the Daffodil Way to St Mary's, a little gem of a church nearby.

Along the way, we passed a rather special tree.

St Mary's turned out to be a remarkable place indeed, being one of the finest examples of Norman architecture in Northern Europe. It was built at the start of the 12th Century and still has some amazing 12th and 13th century wall paintings and the original wood beams!

The wall paintings were breathtaking and looked wonderful in the warm Spring sunshine. For all of you who did "The Normans" at school, did you ever see a finer example of a Norman arch?

Can you imagine that those walls were painted in 1130? And here they still remain, tucked away in a corner of a small church in the English countryside.

What treasures we have here on our doorstep. How lucky we are to be able to enjoy them!

Can it be Spring?

We spent today in this glorious city

Marvelled at the skyline which we'd never noticed before

Can you guess where it is?

The President of Ghana was visiting, which is why the little hut is there (no, not for him!)

More clues needed?

This lake is in front of a grand palace.

I think you've guessed already.

St James Park looks lovely in the late afternoon sunshine, doesn't it? And those buildings beyond Horseguards Parade form an interesting collection of roof shapes, I was delighted that the light was good enough for a clear photo.

Lastly, it was the first time I'd seen this memorial in Whitehall. Presumably, the women commemorated were far too busy doing what they did to model for it.

Isn't it great?

An afternoon with the girls

I spent this afternoon in the company of more than 700 ladies - all but nine of them had four legs! We'd been invited to go along to a local dairy farm to see what goes on and had a wonderfully interesting time. Who knew that cows wear pedometers?! (of course, I now notice that this particular one hasn't got her bracelet on....but believe me, all the others did!)

By the time we left, the herd was larger by one as this little calf was born in a quiet corner of the shed and we saw her take her first wobbly steps. What a privilege!

Seems we're not alone

"He’s not much over 5ft tall, thin as a rake, and could probably get away with paying half-fare on the bus."

This quote, pulled from an article in today's Times reveals that Richard Morrison shares our opinion of Gustavo Dudamel, having been to both CBSO concerts too.

"Da boy is da man"

They say is so eloquently in Orange County!

Lunch in Cheltenham

We had lunch in Cheltenham the other day, at St Georges Church - sorry, no, at Zizzi's. What an interesting place to put a pizza oven.