Tag: Stafforshire

May 7th – High on Morridge, on a farm access track, a wee lamb was spotted trapped but unhurt in a cattle grid, his momma close by calling mournfully for help with his siblings stood close by.

Approaching gently, the lamb – surprisingly heavy and very muscular, much more so than a dog the same size – was lifted free and offered to the mother gently. He bounded to her, and she bleated loudly, then they all ran off.

I’d like to think the ewe was thanking me, but it sounded more like ‘sod off!’…

Good deed for a long, sunny ride.

May 5th – A gorgeous day for riding, hindered by the need to do favours for mates and a bit of a bad tummy saw me leave for a fast, warm and beautiful sSaturday Evening ride that really did catch the best of Staffordshire and all that I had been missing with the dreary spring.

You can see a full set from this ride on my main blog by clicking here.

On my way out, I noticed that my favourite tree, the horse chestnut on Home Farm at Sandhills, visible from the canal at Catshill, is now in leaf.

I love that tree. I gauge the seasons by it. It looks beautiful and green.

Summer has begin!

April 2nd – Cobwebs near Abbots Bromley is a lovely little coffee and cake stop. Set in a quiet backlane, it overlooks open fields with a lovely outdoor patio area that’s shady but warm with lovely flowers… and the cake is astoundingly good.

Most importantly, it has the essential ingredient for any cycling cafe: tame local birds that come and steal crumbs you leave behind. Watching the antics of the local sparrows was endlessly fascinating.

September 25th – Tixall, the supporting village for the Shugborough Estate, lives in the shadow of its stately brother. But the little hamlet – not much more that a set of converted farm buildings, a huge, folly gatehouse, pepper pot lodge and chapel is beautiful, mores at this time of year.

The grand avenue – stretching across the lane – is still gorgeous, with a sense of sad, melancholy Ichabod as cows browse over the once neatly cut fields around the stone gazebo. 

The pepper pot lodge – designed to mimic the towers on the gatehouse – is a lovely, peculiar curiosity.

I haven’t been here for ages. I forgot how lovely it is.

August 5th – Grove Hill, Stonnall, on the way to work, just past dawn. Granddad used to say ‘Mackerel sky, 24 hours dry.’ On this, his rule of thumb is generally right.

This pagan place was beautiful, and despite running close to time (as ever), I stopped to capture it.

A morning like this sets you up for the day.

August 30th – Out for an afternoon spin, I came through Wall, just south of Lichfield. Just as I was approaching the junction of the old Watling Street and Wall Lane, I noticed that on the side of the old barn at Manor Farm, there was an Ordnance Survey Flush Bracket. This is a type of benchmark that was used for map surveying – in the notches on the plate, surveying equipment could be mounted at a height known to the surveyor, called a Datum, or benchmark. The flat tip of the arrow indicates the precise height  point, and this is benchmark reference S8958. 

I must have passed this wall hundreds of times and have never noticed this feature.

January 15th – Viewed from just below Meerash Farm, near Hammerwich, the sunset over Brownhills was beautiful, even over this normally ugly bit of the skyline known as The Chemical. Once the site of a chemical works, then the Superalloys military scrapyard, now the vents and flues of one of Brownhills’ largest employers, Castings, punctuate the factory roofs. In daytime, this view is at best, unremarkable and at worst, hideous. At sundown, though, precious. I wouldn’t have it any other way.