Wednesday and Thursday Mornings

Wednesday, early. I've put the rubbish out for the binmen. Several black bin bags and one pink recycling bag. The sound of a bin lorry came before 8 o'clock but they didn't pick up the rubbish. I've been out with Alfie round the park and back. It's bright and sunny so let's hope it stays that way all day. Carol's mum and dad are coming up to visit today, but not sure what time they're arriving. Yesterday I managed to cut down some of the grass with the rechargeable grass cutter. It was beginning to get really long. Also, cut down some of the colts foot growing in the grass at the front of the house.

They turned up around 9.30. Carol said she'd had a text to say they were about 15-20 minutes away. I'm not sure which way they came up from Bournemouth. I think via the M25 and then M1. If we go down to Bournemouth, as we have done in the past, we go via the A34, crossing to Buckingham and then down that way.

We had to decide what we were going to do all day. Until 4 o'clock when Carols parents were due to be picked up again for the return journey to Bournemouth. Not too far to drive and somewhere to have coffee and possibly something to eat. Carol suggested going to the Bell Plantation garden centre in Towcester, which we've been to on several occasions. There's a good restaurant there and plenty to do and look at and would keep us busy for an hour or two and the drive up the A5 Watling Street a pleasant journey through some attractive scenery. So Carol decided to drive as she hasn't done so for a while. So, after Carol had got in the car and altered the driver's seat, because when I drive I have to have the seat moved back quite some way before I can drive comfortably, we drove out of Milton Keynes via Standing Way and then onto the A5 near the football stadium.

As we drove towards the large roundabout on the A5 near Stony Stratford, where the road went off in various directions, one into the centre of Stony Stratford and another onto the A5 towards Towcester, we saw signs reading that there were roadworks in the centre of Towcester. It then seemed likely that had we continued up the A5 we weren't going to get to Bell Plantation so we had to decided where to go. It was decided to return to the centre of Milton Keynes or to go to either Frost's garden centre at Woburn Sands or Dobbie's on the A5 near Fenny Stratford. Carol didn't want to go into the centre of Milton Keynes, so we decided on Dobbie's. It's off the A5 on the roundabout just below Fenny Stratford. We had a browse in some of the concessions within the store, mostly in Cotton Traders. Carol's mum tried on some sandals in their sale and bought a pair. We did look through some of the sale items but didn't see anything that caught our fancy. We then went into the café and had lattes and had intended buying scones in the farm shop, but those we came across, really large, around the size each of several ordinary scones from anywhere else, but when we learnt how much they were, around 80p we declined and then drove towards Milton Keynes, with the intention of going to Morrison's. We found that a road was closed off along Watling Street, near Crownhill and Loughton  and had to take a quick decision where to go and ended up driving around near Denbigh School and eventually went to Westcroft to park and shop in Morrison's, buying some scones there along with clotted cream.
Alfie has taken to Carol's dad. He ingratiates himself with most of our visitors. He sat with him on the sofa while we had scones, jam and clotted cream. We watched Countdown on television. When Carol's dad fell asleep (I don't know whether he was really asleep, or whether he was pretending, but making a fair impression of sleep.) Alfie behaved really humorously, attempting to wake him up, prodding him with his paw. He really is a smart little dog. I think he missed him when they eventually left to go home.

Thursday morning. As I write this at 7.15 on Thursday morning, the weather has changed quite considerably. It's raining quite hard. So, it means I can't take Alfie out for his early-morning walk round the park, otherwise we're going to get soaked. We'll just have to wait until it stops. I don't think he's going to like being disappointed.

We have heard nothing as I write this as regards the Housing Benefit claim. I had intended going in to the Council offices on my own, to give them a copy of the newly-signed tenancy agreement. Carol decided to come with me. She was happy to drive and we parked in the multi-storey carpark near Debenhams. It is undergoing maintenance. Probably because it is under new management, like the entire shopping centre, Midsummer Place.

We walked through the shopping centre towards the Council offices and signed in at reception and took the numbered ticket and sat and waited until our number came up. Carol saw two of her former pupils from the Academy who had just got their 'A' Level results. Very good and now ready to go off to university, one to Coventry and the other to Northampton. We didn't wait too long to be seen by a staff member. I have to remember that the desk you go to isn't the red digital number, which is the number you get given on the ticket when you first arrive at reception, but the one above the digital display above each desk. It appears our application for Housing Benefit is currently being dealt with and the delay is because of a backlog of applications. We should get some of this back dated and hopefully by the end of the month when our rent is due. We gave them a copy of the newly-signed rental agreement which the lady on the desk photocopied.

Having done with the Council offices we walked back into the shopping centre. Carol said she needed a coffee. She hadn't drunk her tea she had at breakfast. At first I suggested Marks and Spencer's, which is the first shop you encounter as you walk in through the entrance. There is also a Costa, but she didn't fancy that either. We went through to Midsummer Place and went to Pret A Manger. She needed the loo so I stood at the till and ordered, two lattes, mine with caramel, hers without and two chocolate croissants. They were made very swiftly and I went to a vacant to wait for Carol to reappear. We sat ate the croissants and drank the lattes. Very good. I will say Pret is very good. This particular branch is well stocked and pleasant. There is another branch further along in the main shopping centre near Middleton Hall. You don't have to queue as long as you have to at, say, Costa's, which only has one till. I think most of their branches are like that and the queues can be considerable. It makes sense to have several as Pret have. From Pret we walked back towards the carpark near Debenham's and drove towards Lidl where we bought some food for tonight's meal. When I got home I went out again to top up the gas and electric at One Stop at Garraway's. No good running out of electricity, because it might mean the freezer defrosting which could be a disaster. I then took Alfie out for his walk, because by then (around 1.15) the rain had stopped. Alfie came across a Great Dane being walked. He did his usual running around in circles thing and attempting to be friendly, but the dog wasn't interested. Alfie was small by comparison to this dog, which was around five times his size. I don't think it knew what had hit it, and looked somewhat dazed. It might be large, but somewhat thick in comparison to Alfie. Small in stature by large in his mind. Alfie seems fearless somehow, regardless of his small size.

Grass cutting and Trip To Bell Plantation

With the warm weather, the subject of grass cutting comes to the fore. Not just warm weather, but with a couple of months of rain the length of the grass has become quite long. Not my favourite occupation, as you will be aware if you read any of my earlier blog posts. It's a question of dragging the machine out of the shed, untangling the lead and then uncoiling the electric cable from the house and then setting-too with the machine. I don't think a Flymo is designed to cut grass which would easily satisfy a herd of cattle, sheep, or other unguates. The machine is intended, I would imagine, for those lawns of householders who have immaculate turfed lawns. A gentle stroll pushing the Flymo every weekend, to a length not above a few centimetres. But our patch of tusky grass is enough to loose a herd of bison on the African savannahs. I didn't intend spending too long on the grass-cutting job. I would spend the barest minimum of time and then come back later in the day to do a bit more, probably over three shifts. Because of it's length it is quite damp, which makes the job even more difficult. I have managed about a quarter of the area and will continue in the morning. It must be done as it's so dry and sunny, otherwise it will be virtually impossible to get the machine to work efficiently.

Carol is beginning to become stir-crazy. With the sun shining brightly there was an absolute must to escape from the confines of the house. I suggested somewhere which is up Watling Street and just beyond Towcester, a garden centre called Bell Plantation. There is quite a lot to see and do there together with a rather pleasant restaurant. We've enjoyed driving along Watling Street as an alternative to the M1 which it seems is permanently affected by road works, meaning vast length of motorway coned off and having to drive at 50 m.p.h. Hence our journey being rerouted along Watling Street, which has far more pleasant views of the surrounding countryside as well as being dotted with some really pleasant stopping places such as garden centres where there are plenty of restaurants to eat and drink in. A real alternative to the rather boring motorway service areas.

On arrival at Bell Plantation we noticed that the carpark had been resurfaced with tarmac. We'd visited well over a year ago. They have done some considerable improvements to the site since our last visit. We had a browse in one or two of the small shops, some selling antiques and other nick-naks. We  ventured into the restaurant, which we have  been  to on a couple of previous occasions.    We ordered hot chocolate and two pieces of rather delicious cake, Carol had Victoria sponge with raspberry jam and butter icing filling and I had chocolate fudge cake. We shared each other's cake. Well worth the journey up Watling Street for this delight. We then had a browse around the garden centre and Carol was determined to buy a wind-blown garden ornament as we'd seen a few in another garden centre, probably Frost's at Woburn Sands. We also needed milk and vegetables for our evening meal and we then left to return south on Watling Street.

Alfie had to have a return visit to the vet's at Oakgrove at 2 o'clock. We were more wary of the roadworks along Chaffron Way, so we decided to go via Standing Way and then cut across Brickhill Street and arrived in Waitrose's carpark with 15 minutes to spare, and the we took Alfie straight into be seen by he vet. The antibiotics seem to be working, but she managed to get some more of the built-up mess off his face with some damp cotton wool. We have to take him back for a further consultation on Monday afternoon, but will continue with the antibiotics until the course of tablets is complete.

Alfie seemed to prefer sitting on my knee as we drove there and back. On Monday I drove, with Carol holding onto him, but he was eager to sit on my lap as I drove which was totally impossible. He was very much more quiet and I held on to the harness he had on. 

New Year's Monday Bank Holiday

New Year's Bank Holiday Monday. Carol's last day before she has to return to work at Milton Keynes Academy. We drove up the A5 with the original intention of visiting Stoke Bruerne. But we decided to drive on towards Towcester and go first to Tesco, as we needed milk. Before we came out of Milton Keynes we visited Staples to get some things Carol needed for work. But she forgot to buy a memory stick in Staples as we were on  our way up the A5, so we bought one in Tesco. The alarm went off in the car to tell us the petrol was running low. So we drove on a bit further and went to the Shell garage on the roundabout just outside Towcester. I filled the car and then went into the kiosk to pay. There was a queue at the till and a man at the cashier was ranting and raving about something. I think it was about the fact he couldn't get the carwash to work or something. Totally unnecessary behaviour. Certainly no need to take out his frustration on the poor girl on the till. I don't think I could do that job, having to put up with customers who are aggressive and angry like that man was. Fortunately he walked out of the door and took his anger with him. Myself and the rest of the customers in the queue were very supportive of the cashier.  People seem to have got extremely short tempered recently. There seems to be very little respect for other people. It's the same sort of thing when you're driving, as I've mentioned in earlier posts on here, particularly when drivers have to drive right up close behind you, in an attempt to get you to drive faster and in some instances, cut you up on roundabouts. I paid and we drove off in the car. We went to the garden centre which is opposite the Shell petrol station, called Bell Plantation. We've visited before and had good food in their restaurant. The place is currently being redeveloped and the toilets had been closed and replaced with a temporary building which wasn't particularly easy to find. We had a bit of a browse around after we'd had lattes and sandwiches in the café. Antiques and gift shops and Carol bought some bird feeders and seed and bird food to go on our bird feeder stand in the garden, just in time before the real winter weather sets in. 

Buying A Christmas Tree

On Sunday morning we decided it was time to go out and buy a Christmas tree. So many of the people we know on Facebook have photographs of their homes, decorated for the festive season, complete with all the decorations and central to all this, a Christmas tree! For the past few years we've made do with an artificial tree, but, to be honest, it's seen better days. It's in sections which have to be bent out and then all these sections slotted together. This is stored in the spare bedroom, along with a lot of other clutter. Having a look at this excuse for a Christmas tree, it certainly looks very shabby. So we came to the momentous decision to go out and buy a real tree this year. Our efforts to maintain a real Christmas tree has generally ended in failure. We buy them ready potted, and by the end of the Christmas season, they usually end up looking very miserable, because they loose most of their needles, all over the lounge carpet, and when we put them out in the garden, they survive a couple of months and then get taken to the tidy tip for recycling. We had usually gone to a garden centre up the A5 near Towcester to buy a tree. It occurred to us that if we didn't buy a tree soon there would be a good chance that we'd be left with the scrag-end of the bunch, the lonely, sad little runty Christmas trees that nobody wanted to buy, so Sunday morning we looked on line for the garden centre and it looked as if they were under new management and that they didn't sell real Christmas trees, which is rather sad when you think it's a garden centre. We definitely didn't want anther artificial tree. After some considerable thought we decided on visiting Dobbies garden centre to have a look at their selection of trees. We weren't disappointed. There were a few on display at the front of the main building as we got out of the car at the carpark. But we went inside and found they had a good many more at the back. You don't just have one type of trees nowadays, but several variety of fir, some which are supposed to last a good deal longer and some which don't seem to drop their needles. I'm not convinced that they don't, but it's surely to be expected when they are bought indoors and the heating in your home dries them out, hence the propensity to needle-drop. We went for a variety. The one we eventually chose had roots as we intend planting it out in the garden after Christmas. It came in a rather attractive pot. It was netted by a very helpful lady and we put it on a trolley and took it to the car. We then returned to the restaurant to have coffee and scones. (Yes, I know. If you read my blog posts regularly you will know that we have something of a love affair with scones!)

By now the place was heaving with people. I can understand why, because your average garden centre sells a good deal more than just plants and gardening items. They have a very well stocked food section at Dobbies where you can buy all types of food ranging from sausages, cakes, biscuits, wine and a good deal more. We left for home as Carol was eager to get the new Christmas tree installed in the lounge and decorated.

Car Newly Repaired and Roadworthy Again

Mick and his son came at around 10.15 this morning and spent most of the morning finishing off the work on the car and giving it a service. By 1.50 they told me that it was finished. One of them drove the car round the estate just to check that all was in order. It was great to have the car back on the road after over eight weeks. Once they had left Carol said she needed to drive the car but when she give the ignition key a turn the car refused to start. I had been washing up at the kitchen sink and could see that the car hadn't started and so went outside. I could smell a strong smell of petrol. One of our neighbours had been out working on his car and said it most probably be the petrol line had not been connected properly, It turns out he's a motor mechanic but on large lorries and engines. He had a look under the bonnet and managed to re-connect the petrol line and wiped some petrol which must have come out. It was that which gave the strong petrol smell which I smelt when I came out of the house. He said we should leave the car for an hour or so otherwise the petrol might cause a fire. After an hour Carol was determined to go out for a drive just to try the car out so we drove up the A5 towards Towcester so we could shop in the branch of Tesco there for items for her lunches she takes to work each day. The car seemed to run perfectly. I think we were pleased to be able to get out and about again and we're planning outings for half-term which is in two weeks. One to Whipsnade and one no doubt to a National Trust property such as Waddesdon Manor or Stowe Landscape Garden which are within a half-hour's drive from Milton Keynes, or maybe a return visit to Woburn Abbey, which is always worth a visit.

Day Out At Twycross Zoo

Carol said we were going to have an outing today and had said it was going to be a surprise but it turned out to be to Twycross Zoo.  We had originally decided that we'd go for a swim at D.W. Fitness and then decided against it as if we'd gone there at 8 o'clock we'd then be late getting out of Milton Keynes on our way to Twycross, which opened at 10. It was a reasonably good day weather-wise so it seemed a shame to not make the most of it and go out. We filled the car up with petrol where we usually go, the Shell station in Grafton Street and then drove out of Milton Keynes and on to the A5 near the stadium and went north through Towcester and not onto the M1 as we are still unsure that the Motorway isn't free of roadworks. The A5 is a far more pleasant drive as you see more scenery that you pass through and it seems a good deal less stressful than driving on the Motorway. Also, we have several places we like to visit, a couple of rather pleasant garden centres and shopping villages which have a certain quirkiness that we like and these places have cafes and coffee shops which make our visits all the more enjoyable. Also, they are good stopping places when you need what the Americans term a 'comfort break' or 'a bathroom break.' We also occasionally use the Aldi supermarket in Towcester for a change when we do our weekly supermarket shop. A good hour and twenty minutes or so after leaving Milton Keynes we arrived in the carpark at Twycross Zoo. found a parking space and walked in to the zoo after buying our entry tickets. I was surprised how compact it is, compared to, say, Whipsnade, which we have visited on several occasions and had membership for several years, which meant that, once paid, you can visit as many times as you wish throughout the year of your membership without having to pay the entry fee each time, in much the same way as membership of the National Trust allows free entry to their properties for a year. We only gave up the ZSL  (Zoological Society of London) membership when it became far too expensive (around £159 for a couple.) We managed to see so many animals that we have always wanted to see, such as gibbons and gorillas as well as urban utans, which we have seen in many television natural history programmes over the years, as well as giraffes and elephants.

 I just love elephants. I don't know what it is. The size of them as well as the fact that they can be so gentle, fascinating creatures.

 We enjoyed the antics of the penguins. Always so photogenic and seem to have a comical air about them. Perhaps it's the way they walk, but somehow they always amuse me for some reason I can't quite explain.

There's a great deal of building-work going on in Twycross Zoo at present. They are building new facilities, such as animal enclosures. It would appear that they are making these enclosures less like the old-fashioned idea of a 'zoo' where the animals were kept in cages with bars and not large enough to allow the animals to roam or fly around. The new elephant enclosure is more naturalistic and you walk through a sort of Asian inspired walk-way until you get to the elephants in a fenced-off area, giving more of a 'natural' environment which mimics as near as possible how they would lived in the wild. You can go into a butterfly 'walk-through' exhibit, kept at a high temperature, and the butterflies fly free inside and some come and settle on you! Quite amazing.

We had lunch in the fish bar, and it took around 20 minutes in a queue before we got served, but considering the number of people visiting today it's no wonder it was so busy, many of the visitors families with children. It is a very family-friendly place with plenty of things for small children to see and do. Perhaps the fact that it such a compact site is an advantage as you don't have to walk miles between exhibits as you would at other zoos, such as Whipsnade, where you seem to spend ages moving between the different animal enclosures. 

Apparently Twycross Zoo is the only place in the United Kingdom where you can see all four times of great ape. We saw Bornean orang utan, although only briefly as they soon disappeared into their houses when we appeared! Was it something we said? The other great apes there are West Lowland gorillas, and we saw a Silverback male, a really large creature, whom you would never want to meat on a dark night! We saw a family of bonobos, similar to chimpanzees, and it was great to see them playing, almost like a human family they way they interacted with each other. Also, chimpanzees, always seeming to be ready to have a game of some sort and some hiding away in their nests, so we didn't see them particularly well. Just one of the hazards of visiting any zoo I suppose. The weather can influence whether they come out to be seen. If it's cold, they hide away, and likewise, if it's too hot they stay in the shade. 

We also saw some huge Aldabran tortoises. Actually the first time I've seen them in real-life and not just in some natural history programme on television.

One of the best displays has to be the brand new Lorikeet Landing. These brightly-coloured little birds, similar to parakeets, are in an enclosure which you can go in and the birds are free-flying. You can purchase a bag of seeds and feed the birds. They dart about all over the place and some come and sit on you if you feed them the seeds. They are so brightly coloured they look as if they've come out of one of those children's television shows such as "The Midnight Garden," or "Teletubbies." We also went into the Lemur enclosure, very similar to what they have at Whipsnade, again, where you can see the lemurs up very close and personal, but on the occasion we were there we saw only one lemur! They didn't seem in the least bit keen to interact with us at all, but no doubt they were hiding somewhere in the long grass or some hiding place and watching us closely!

We spent a good four hours at Twycross Zoo. There were quite a few areas that we didn't have time to visit, so it seems we will have to make a further visit, perhaps later in the summer when (hopefully) all the building work has been completed. Fortunately they have managed to make the building work that is going on as inobtrusive as possible. We can't wait to see how the new enclosures look when they open and have their animals living in them. and when it was time to leave we visited the shop to have a browse and then drove home, back south down the A5. We stopped off in Towcester to visit Tesco's as we needed to get milk and a few other items and drove on home towards Milton Keynes.

As soon as we got home we discovered that the fridge/freezer wasn't working correctly. Infact the freezer section had stopped working all together and the contents were rapidly thawing out. Which might explain why the milk was off early this morning when I came to make tea as I usually do early. We have managed to order a new fridge/freezer from Very, the on-line and catalogue retailer from which we have purchased quite a number of items and it should be here on Monday. It means we will have to discard quite a lot of the food which is defrosting as it obviously can't be re-frozen. It's just as well we didn't buy more frozen food in Tesco as it would be wasted.

Spring-Like Weather

For the past couple of days we've been experiencing almost spring-like weather. Carol was on Half-Term Holiday last week. She had to make a doctor's appointment early last week. We didn't go to the surgery on the Monday because from experience we knew that it was likely to be busy, with a long queue outside (I was only the second person in the queue the week before at around 7.45 a.m. when I'd gone to make an appointment myself.) So we'd gone on the Tuesday. It turned out that she would have to have a blood test, so had to go back the next day, at around 9.20 for that. 

The weather was mixed. Some days it was bright and sunny, whilst others it rained. On the Thursday we went to the Heart of the Shires shopping village at Weedon, which is up the A5. We had gone to another a few months ago, on the major roundabout on the A5/A43, just beyond Towcester, called Bell Plantation Garden. We'd had a nice meal in what's called the Plantation Cafe. But when we'd arrived this time we discovered that there was major roadworks on the roundabout. It looked as if they were widening the road and making the roundabout a good deal wider, putting in several new lanes for traffic. We have shopped in the Aldi branch which is nearby in the past. So we had travelled on until we came to the shopping village at Weedon. We'd discovered these places quite by chance as we've been up and down the A5 as it's a good deal less stressful than using the nearby M1 which is only a short distance away. There is so much more to see as you drive along the A5. There are several quite pleasant garden centres and shopping villages and you pass through a few really interesting villages and towns along the way, one being Towcester. Weedon is at the crossing-place of the A45 which goes on towards Birmingham, Warwick and Leamington Spa and is the way we drive whenever we go to Kenilworth Castle. The east direction heads towards Northampton and eventually Bedford. There are some really interesting shops and outlets at the shopping village, selling a range of items such as housewares, antiques, clothes and gardening items. We had a coffee in the cafe and then drove home slowly. Not an entirely over-exciting outing, but considering we hadn't been out all week it was quite a pleasant little outing. We did have a browse in the antiques centre but decided that most of what they had on offer was really over-priced. Our knowledge of antiques has been acquired as a result of watching such television programmes as Bargain Hunt, Flog It and Antiques Roadshow. I had never heard of Lalique, Famille Rose, or many of the more famous makers until I'd watched these shows.

On Saturday we decided that the dogs needed a well-earned outing, and wanted to take them for a walk. As mentioned in earlier posts, it's quite a military operation as you have to be properly organised for these outings as Alfie, our Yorkshire terrier gets very wound up when he knows we're going out. Fortunately this time he didn't get quite so stressed out, but I had to put the cage into the back of the car without him seeing we doing it. It started out quite fine and sunny, but it began to cloud over as we drove up the A5 as we were going to Salcey Forest, somewhere we haven't visited in quite a while. It turned out that there was building work going at the carpark. It looks as if they are building a new visitor centre. The cafe which is there currently is only wooden, a sort of temporary construction. Also, it was extremely muddy as we walked along the paths, which didn't bother either dog, but when they jumped up on us we became extremely covered in mud. Not a real problem because our clothes could be washed easily in the washing machine later. But, again, it was a nice outing. No sooner had we got back home than the rain began so it was as well we went out when we did and had made the best of the day.

Outing to The Cotswolds and Rollrights Stones

Yesterday morning we didn't get up until quite late. It was a reasonably good evening on television, with "Strictly Come Dancing", the finale to the current series of  "Doctor Who", followed by the first in a new series of "Merlin."  We didn't get to bed until fairly late.
The last week or so has been very warm, temperatures reaching heights not normally reached in late September/Early October. We decided to make the most of the sunshine and have an afternoon out. Carol has wanted to visit the Rollright Stones out the other side of Oxford, near Chipping Norton, so we made a sort of picnic up and took the cameras and set out. I have to say that the Cotswolds are my favourite places to visit in this country. Having worked in Cheltenham in the late '60's as a Student A.S.M. at the Everyman Theatre, I know the area well. My mother had relatives around the Cotswolds, and visiting them was always a pleasure. We would have taken the dogs, but it would have meant them spending a lot of time in the car, and Alfie, in particular, doesn't travel well, and he is very susceptible to heat. We went to the Shell petrol station along Grafton Street and then towards the A5 and out towards Towcester. It was a real joy to be getting out of the house and to be out in the countryside. We have found, when travelling west from Milton Keynes, there is (or was) a problem with the M40. It seems to get in the way. It is difficult to cross. This may sound odd, but you try it. We have more recently discovered that you need to go through the village of Aynho and find a bridge that goes UNDER the motorway. We were trying to get to a National Trust property (Hidcote) and spent around 2 hours trying to avoid the motorway and get through Banbury. We have found this route thrrough Aynho and it makes the westerly journey so much easier. Anyway, we had to go through Banbury to get to Chipping Norton and then find the Rollrights Stones (having looked on Google Maps and a print driving atlas we have.) Attempting to get through Banbury and finding the correct road was something of a problem and this happened on the way home. Why can't local authorities do something about signage? It wasn't very good. Neither was signage approaching the Rollright Stones, you had to really concentrate to see where the turning was to get there and then there was a tiny parking space near the stones.There is definitely something mysterious about this place. It has a strange atmosphere, somehow, very similar to that at Stonehenge, which we have also visited. Together with the spectacular scenery, it makes an interesting afternoon. We visited the single stone which is set within it's own field over the road from the ring of stones. We sat on the rocks and ate our picnic. We had to get something to drink when we stopped for petrol at the Shell service station. The heat made us very thirsty. I took photographs of the scenery (and hope to upload them onto this blog later this week after I have sorted out the iMac which has no further space on it's hard-drive, due mainly to having around 12,500 digital photographs on it. We have an external hard drive ordered from Amazon and should arrive by Wednesday.)

Rollright Stone Circle

There are three areas to visit at the Rollright Stones. The first area we went to was opposite the main area of the 'complex' (as you are supposed to term it, apparently, having read the little handbook we later purchased at the near-by garden centre.)  This is called the 'King Stone' and stands within a fenced area. This is, apparently, to disuade people from chipping of chunks of it, as it's supposed to be lucky this stone.) It has all the appearance, from a distance, of a stooping figure, probably covered in material or something. As the legend which surrounds these stones is that a witch turned a king and his nights to stone. That figures.  It really does look like a person. This is where we sat and ate our picnic. Then we walked over the road to the main site, where we came across the ring of stone, 'some 40 strides across' as it says in the handbook.) A legend states that if you count the stones, on each following attempt, the number of the stones will change! We did not immediately take up the challenge, but as we were taking photographs, two couples appeared and one of them began to count the stones. The second couple had a go. Both came up with different totals. Then we had a go. We made the total 81. Who knows the correct number? To the east, at the far edge of a field, are the ruins of a so-called 'Portal-dolemen' called the Whispering Knights. We didn't attempt to walk to this site, as it was some distance from the main site. Having taken enough photographs, we decided to leave. We knew, from reading a sign near the lay-by where we parked the car, that there was a garden centre nearby which sold the handbook and other Rollright-Stone related items, and where we could get a cup of tea. So we left and made for this garden centre. Having had our cup of tea we left, making our way home back through Banbury towards Towcester and onto the A5 and home to Milton Keynes.

I have since learned that the Rollright Stones were used as a location for the filming of a "Doctor Who" story in the '70's, which makes our trip there all the more interesting. The story was called "The Stones Of Blood" and it was quite a good story. Being a "Doctor Who" fan I am more than interested. I do remember the story quite clearly. It was a Tom Baker story, and apparently the 100th serial.