Tuesday 7 May 2013

How To Spend A Bank Holiday II

Knit a welcome mat!  Obviously this is for the animation - I wondered how I was going to achieve this but then had the brainwave of using some gingery eyelash yarn knitted on quite thin needles and then trimmed to look like sisal.  The letters were embroidered on afterwards.  This is 4 x 2 inches.  Next up, a light switch...
Yesterday we visited Basing House in Basingstoke, the site of a ruined house that was beseiged for 3 years during the Civil War.  The walk up from the car park had views like this....
...and this.  I feel some bucolic English countryside paintings coming on! The day was glorious, warm sunshine, the trees all coming to life and the water in the river crystal clear.

Inside the 'Bloody Barn', where there had been quite a fight during the seige as evidenced by cannon ball holes in the brickwork, we saw this incredible roof.  You can't really judge the scale of this without someone standing there to give some perspective - it's BIG!
There was this walled garden with neatly trimmed box hedging.
I have never seen mistletoe growing at close quarters before - usually it is high up in a tree and only discerned by the distinctive shape. However, in the grounds of the ruins we saw several hawthorn trees with large growths of mistletoe at about head height.  Fascinating to see how it makes itself part of the host tree, the branches indistinguishable.

We had a picnic in the sun, wandered slowly and took in the atmosphere while learning a great deal about this interesting place almost on our doorstep.  It was a quiet and relaxing day, just what we needed before getting back to the grind today.


1 comment:

Magpie Magic said...

Love your little mat. Great idea to use eyelash yarn. :-) Lovely day out too. :-) I made the most of it to wandering along the river and across the one of the few hills around here. :-) xoxo