Tag: Stafforshire

What a Show

With Firecrest safe and secure in Shobnall marina for a few days, we hired a car and drove up to the Lakes. Its always a treat to stay at Mums, even if shes no longer with us. This is where I used to play as a child, no wonder I love living on the water now.

My back garden

I was booked in to go to The Cumbrian Wool Gathering, and for a yarnie like me who loves knitting and spinning and crochet and felting infact anything textile, two whole days of woolly magic is my idea of heaven. Whilst a yarn festival might be my idea of heaven, Eric dutifully handed over the credit card and left me to it so I could take advantage of some very talented people showcasing small businesses from studios in Cumbria and some a bit further afield.

All things considered I was quite restrained in what came home with me

When we got back to Firecrest we cruised back towards Alrewas. We were admiring the open countryside around Branston lock, when a walker told us to make the most of it. This green space is due to have 100’s of houses built on it.,

Approaching Branston Lock

Going upstream on the River section was a bit of a struggle, it might have looked a lovely day, but the wind was fierce and the flow was fast, it felt like we were trudging through treacle.

Hope we aren’t going under that bridge

Luck was on our side to get the last available 14 day mooring and we settled down to enjoy village life.

Sunset from Gallows Bridge

We were in for another treat as it was Alrewas Open Gardens weekend.

We were to discover some hidden gems

There were 32 gardens for us to visit and they ranged from postage stamps and wild flowers right through to some Chelsea showstoppers

Impossible to pick our favourite garden, but some of my favourite flowers

And of course no village show would be complete without a bit of yarn bombing

Spring in our step

Time to push on. After two lovely days enjoying James and Helen’s company we set them off Firecrest as we reached the Meccano Bridge so  they could walk home along the Valley Park footpath.

The Meccano Bridge over the disused railway

we were passing through some lovely rural countryside, through Penkridge, (great butchers and bakery), up through the Tixall wides and onto the Trent and Mersey canal

just one of the lovely bridges

although it did get a bit narrow in places, even the ducks thought it safer to stick to the towpath, hope we don’t meet anyone coming the other way

Thank goodness for passing places

But it wasnt all narrow, sometimes we had to duck as well

we met some thirsty cows

and some frolicking lambs

And some wagging wagtails

We also encountered a very aggressive swan at Weston, it chased us off its patch for over quarter mile, it even tried biting Eric’s leg. Funnily enough, we had the same thing happen 2 years ago in exactly the same spot. It must be the same swan-athough they all look alike to me,

If he’d asked nicely we’d have given him a lift

resting newly unfurled wings

We seem to have settled into spring at last

we had a night on the Tixall wides but with it being a bank holiday weekend we decided to take the first available mooring, which was peaceful and just as pretty

enjoying the wides.

Meeting at the Manor

Would you like to come to our house? Our friends Helen and James asked us as we travelled north up the Staffs and Worcester, well not actually their house but their local NT property and only 5 minutes walk from the canal. And so after a mornings cruise together, 






James at the helm












we moored up at Wightwick Bridge Visitor Mooring





Good mooring at wightwick bridge





and strolled across to the Manor.





Wightwick Manor (pronounced witick)





Built in the late 1880’s, Wightwick Manor, was built for Theodore Mander and his family. They were inspired by the Arts and Craft style so lots of William Morris and Rossetti to see. It was also a period known as the Aesthetic movement -basically art for arts sake.










The family still have an apartment in the house and are known to enjoy Christmas there, although I’m not sure if they still use the dining room.










But I bet they are tempted to play the odd frame of snooker










As always you can’t visit a NT house without a visit to the bathroom,  and in this case the sluice, containing a collection of slipper bedpans, not all that dissimilar to the sluices and bedpans in the hospital where I did my nurse training and that was in 1983.










Lots more laughter as we enjoyed the gardens





me and Helen 





Definitely a property I’d visit again. Even if just to walk around the garden.





Tulip season











https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/birmingham-west-midlands/wightwick-manor-and-gardens