Happy Easter one and all.

Have had a good few days since I last posted, well, weeks really, since I last posted a proper post type post. Anyway. This week has been busy one way or another, have been at work all week, and had church most evenings, which has been lovely. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we had shared services with the neighbouring United Reformed Church. Each evening we had a talk, given by the vicar, and compline (Monday and Tuesday) and an evening of Iona community type prayer at the URC church on the Wednesday. It was great to go to another church for an evening. On the Maundy Thursday evening there was another talk, followed by a foot-washing, then communion. Several people went up to get their feet washed, and watching the vicar doing it was really moving in a way, more-so than I thought it would be (never having been to a Maundy Thursday service before), and at one point, one lady whose feet the vicar washed, then got the vicar to sit down, and washed his feet.

Unfortunately, I was required to work on Good Friday, so missed the services then, but was able to go to the Easter Vigil on Saturday night. I think that of all the services I have been to, through this last year or so since I returned to The Church, the Easter Vigil is my favourite. Starting out in the church , in silence and with no light, then lighting the fire outside, then the Paschal candle from the fire, and processing back into church. Then as the candle is processed down the church all the candles being lit, and spreading light as it goes, is, I think, as close to magic as it is possible to get.

When we were all sat in the darkness and silence at the beginning, dusk was falling outside, and as such, all the birds were singing, as I closed my eyes to think, it was almost as if I was in front of the tomb, waiting and expectant, everything silent and still before dawn, and the birds singing it was like they were sat in trees and bushes there singing before the dawn and the start of a new day. It was really wonderful.

The seven readings were given by candlelight, and when the vicar came down to read the Gospel, with the incense billowing (and boy did it billow) and everyones face lit by the candles with the smoke wreathing around, you could be anywhere in time. Lovely.  We also were able to renew our baptism vows ourselves by going up and dipping our fingers in the water and putting a cross on our foreheads with it. Again I found that incredibly moving, whether it was because I still had the memory of being baptised very recently in my head, or what, I don't know, but when it dipped my fingers in I was surprised by the fact that it was so warm, fully expecting it to be cold, the only thing I could think of was that it was like blood, which I suppose, in one manner it was. When I went and returned to my seat, I really had to stop and have a good think about it. Then we had communion, and it reminded me of the first time I took communion, after I had been baptised and confirmed in January. Lent and Easter have really made me think about things this year, but I think that that it is supposed to do that, so I shouldn't really be too surprised.

As we walked out from the church, somewhere close by began letting off fireworks and put on a wonderful display. I don't know whether another church was using them to celebrate Easter I don't know, but they seemed very fitting at the time. 

One thing that I couldn't quite understand was how few people had gone to it, 20 I think, including the vicar etc. During the week at the services there had been at least twice as many, with different ones coming on different evenings, whether the word vigil put them off, I'm not sure,  although I know whenever I hear the word otherwise, it does make me think of a bedside vigil, a very sombre and sad affair, nothing like the service at all. Never mind.

On to today now. As I was working this morning I missed the service at town church, but went to the evening Easter service at the country church. The church was much fuller than usual, which wasn't unexpected. Another really lovely service, and yet again moving. One man stood up to read from Acts 10.34 -43 but he couldn't contain his emotions and said the last few sentences with tears running down his face and trying so hard not to break down, he was so moved by the words he was reading. It was almost more than the rest of us could do to not cry. The rest of the service passed, and it was time to go home.

I cant remember whether I had mentioned or not about the fact that I was really uncertain about what I should be doing, or rather I did more or less know, just that I wasn't really willing to trust and have faith. Well finally I plucked up enough courage to ask the vicar whether it would be possible to have another talk with him about things, try to make sense of it a bit, and explain myself a little more. When I spoke to him last June, I still wasn't certain what the heck was going on really, and while I still don't have much of a clue to it all, it seems to make a bit more sense, and I think I am able to explain myself, or how I feel. I think I know myself a bit better too, which I hope is a good thing. Anyway I rang the vicar up on Maundy Thursday and asked if it would be possible to have a chat yes he said, what about today? It must have been about four in the afternoon when I rang, with a service at 7:30, and me not finishing work till seven, I didn't think that was going to be possible, but how sweet that he was willing to at such short notice. He is away on holiday for a week now, and he said to remind him about it, so will talk in a couple of weeks. Which I look forward to.

The other thing I had been struggling with was that however wonderful and lovely, kind and patient MLO has been with me, when I have been talking to him about how I feel, and trying to put into words something that sometimes seems impossible to put into words, I really felt that I needed to talk to someone who felt the same, someone who felt that they may have been called to become a vicar. It was really getting at me,  I just wanted to discuss with someone the way I felt and listen to how they felt, maybe get some sort of a gauge as to what was normal, for them anyway, and if it in anyway resembled how I felt. I had been praying about it for a while, and said to MLO several times that it was getting to me. Then a woman who had been to a couple of the confirmation classes with the rest of us, who usually goes to the morning church, started to come to the evening church, and last week we got talking after the service, and somehow ended up discovering that she also wanted to be a vicar, somehow she then also worked out that I did also. Spoke again for an hour after church tonight about things. So, one ecstatically happy bunny here, have arranged to have a real good talk next Sunday after church, really looking forward to it.

Must go now, getting very late, and cold in the study, so night night, and once again

HAPPY EASTER 

Yesterday I was baptised and confirmed by the Bishop of Hereford at St Pauls (town church). There were five of us altogether who were confirmed and just two of us were baptised aswell.  It was an utterly amazing experience, so completely amazing. I still cant quite get over the whole thing. (Not that I ever really want to :-)).
I spent the day in a bit of a whirl really. First communion was so wonderful, I think I surprised myself at how it made me feel. When I was given the bread, I just stared at it for a while trying to get my head round it, what it was, being able to be there, and take part in something so mind blowing, so special and wonderful. Then in the evening at  St Andrews (country church) it was the same, but this time I was given the bread by the vicar, ( the Bishop gave it me in the morning) which was was really lovely, and the wine by a wonderful man, who along with everyone else, were the reason I wanted to be confirmed into the churches we go to.
When MLO and I arrived in the evening so many people came and congratulated me, and welcomed me,  I have never felt so in awe of peoples kindness and love, and I have done nothing to deserve that, other than turning up to church each Sunday.  The vicar came out then to welcome me to the church, which was also such a lovely kind gesture. Right now I am not quite sure what to do with myself, all I seem able to to is alternate going round in floods of tears because I am so overjoyed,then humbled, at everyone that I cant quite control my emotions, then thanking God for everything in my life, the people I know and love, and everything else. I hope I never forget yesterday.
The previous Sunday, the vicar had tried to get me to agree to say something about why I wanted to be baptised and confirmed, I backed away from him at that point, no way Jose am I getting up there in front of everyone, he did say that if I wrote something then the Bishop would read it out. Phew.
I had tried to get something written and had made many attempts at getting my thoughts and feelings down on paper, but it always seemed wrong. I was sat in front of the computer yesterday morning about half an hour before we were due to get to church staring at the screen thinking that now would be a good time to decide on what to to put. So I just wrote, and hoped it was ok.
We got to the church, and waited a while for the Bishop to arrive, which he did, complete with big black swooshy cloak, looking like an ecclesiastical version of Dracula, but infinitely less scary, and who quickly put us at our ease, as we were all rather worried. He then mentioned saying something, which most of us had hoped he would have forgotten, but he agreed to read three of ours out, and  two brave souls read their own. The one lady who read hers out told us about the most amazingly terrible time in her life recently, more unhappiness, sorrow and badness than I know I could have coped with, yet she was up there, thanking God for what she had,  made me think about my life in a different perspective.
Then the bishop read out what the other three of us had written. This was what I wrote.

 When I was much (!) younger, I used to go to church, and really enjoyed it, but as I got older, I got out of the habit of going, other than for special occasions. I would sometimes read the bible - when I could remember where I had left it, and prayed on and off whenever I wanted something. I was happy to call myself a Christian - without really thinking about what it meant.

  But it always felt like something was missing - a hole in my life, and no matter what I did or had, or what I bought, the feeling wouldn't go away.

I quite often thought about going back to church, but never did. I thought maybe it wasn't necessary , that I could carry on as I was.

I used to imagine that God was this huge stern guy in the sky, complete with big grey beard and fiery eyes, someone to be scared of, who, if I ever put a foot wrong would probably make my life a misery.

  Eventually, I realised that whatever else I did, I needed to go back to church. It wasn't like I made a decision and said “right, I'm going today“, it was a feeling in me that I felt I couldn't really argue with. Although it took me a long time after realising that I had to go before I actually walked through the doors of a church, but I did (obviously), and am so very glad that I did.

  After coming for a few months, I realised how important it had become to me; that I had started to really look forward to going each Sunday. I enjoyed being there, worshiping God, praying, listening and learning something each week, and looked forward to seeing the people who had been so welcoming and friendly when we first started going.

I learnt that God wasn't as scary as I first thought, rather, that he was pretty wonderful, and He loved us pretty much no matter what; and to me, that was the most amazing discovery imaginable, and made me want to give something back, both to God, and the church I had been going to.

That is one reason I want to be baptised and confirmed, so I can become a full member of the church, especially the churches I go to. I need to be able to show just how much I love it, and want everyone to know how important it is to me to be a Christian, a part of this church in particular and for all that it stands for.

hopefully by being baptised and confirmed, I can show that I am making a commitment to this church and saying that this is the church that I want to be part of.

• MLO for his unfailing love and support.
• My mum, who, whatever else is still my mum and without whom I simply wouldn't be here.
• MLOs mum for agreeing to come on Sunday, and realising what it meant to me. 
• The vicar for giving his time to get us through this, and helping us learn what being a Christian is and means for our lives, and for guiding and teaching us and being a wonderful example to us.
• The Bishop, who baptised and Confirmed us, which was an enormous honour for us.
• All the people at St Andrews and St Pauls who are so welcoming and kind, and the main reason for me wanting to be baptised and confirmed as a part of those churches in particular. 
•  For everyone in the past who led me to You Lord.

Bonjour mes amis.

This is probably only going to be a short one today, as I don't have much to say.  

What has happened since last time then?  Well, as I said I was going to go to either Worcester of Birmingham to meet my mum, in the end I decided Worcester was far more appealing than Birmingham, so we met up there (mum was more than happy to do so aswell). We went for a bit of a wander, then decided it was time for lunch. Had that then had some more of a wander. Managed to get MLOs present, and his mums too, so  was quite happy about that. Then it was time to go home (where did the day go?). The nice thing about going to Worcester was that I was home fairly early.

Next day as I had the day off from work, MLO and I went to the morning church, which was most enjoyable. Then confirmation class. This week it was all about what we thought Church was, and what we thought the communion was all about.  What exactly do I think about it?  At the class,  I tried to put into words how I felt, and what I thought (if they are two separate things that is). I'm pretty sure though that I ended up sounding like I was reading something out of a text book , as I wasn't very impassioned on the subject and altogether unconvincing.  Must try harder!! I feel such a tit when I do that, I have a million and one things in my head, want to say them all, and end up coming out with what I think someone wants to hear. Poo to it. I think I'll just keep my mouth shut as much as possible from now on.  Not sure what tomorrow will be about, will have to wait and see. It is the last until the new year. In the evening it was country church, which was a little empty, but, there were three new people, which was great, mum dad and their little girl.  Between them they increased the congregation by quite a significant percentage. 

Yesterday (Friday) I had an organic veg box delivered for the first time. (The local scheme were doing a first order half price offer, so decided to try them). It had arrived when I was at work, and as I had forgotten about it, it was a lovely surprise when I got home that evening. Had a great few minutes rooting round in the box to see what had been delivered. All sorts of lovely goodies, and most of them still coated in a covering of lovely Herefordshire earth. There were carrots, leeks, celeriac, russian kale, mushrooms, tomatoes, red onions, potatoes Jerusalem artichokes, and loads more. Only problem, I'm not sure how to pay them. Have asked twice via e-mail, but no reply as of yet. MLOs mum asked when they delivered, but she was told not to worry about it. Wish I could get on and pay for them.

Today I had another Saturday off, having swapped weekends with the other girl at work, who wanted the last weekend before Christmas off. So spent a couple of hours in Hereford in an attempt to get my mum something nice for Christmas. No luck, except for some chocolate gingers. Lame effort. Got home early, made dinner, then came to blog. So now I am completely up to date, literally up to the minute. Church in the morning, and it is going to be the children's nativity play which will be lovely I am sure.

Well thats me all done. Will be back soon no doubt.

After re-reading through some of my most recent posts, plus some older ones, I realised that I hadn't written much about the subject of my blog, the very reason that I started blogging in the first place, namely Hope and Joy. On Sunday at church the sermon was about Joy, and was given by a vicar who was so obviously full to brimming with joy himself. Made me stop and think about things a bit. He made the point that as Christians in the UK we aren't exactly famed for our abounding joy, that if we were to ask someone on the street to name a quality that they associated with church goers in this country, then joy probably wouldn't be mentioned there. A very good point. More often that not, just as everyone else, I can look rather glum, and feel glum too, but I know that the reasons on my part are usually pretty pathetic in the scheme of things, maybe my future Mother in Law, has chewed my ear off over something and upset me, or MLO had said or done something. The problem is that I then go out, or to work and instead of focusing on the bigger things, I concentrate on the little things, and turn myself from someone who is, and appears to be happy and joyful into someone rather miserable, with a bit of a mood to boot. Not always, but I know more than once I have turned up to church in a rather less than joyful state because I have been upset by something said, and rather than being as friendly and open as I can, I have been rather short with people. I don't intend to though, but I am a bit over emotional at times when I don't mean to be. The result of all that usually ends up with me getting rather mad at myself for behaving like it to people.
So where is the joy, why don't I show it all the time, why cant I always concentrate on God, Jesus and everything that they are in my life, the fact that God is up there dancing away when he thinks of us (that's how the vicar put it anyway, and when he said it I got the most hilarious image of God with all the host of heaven having a right old hoe down, and almost burst out laughing). He asked us how that made us feel, knowing that God was up there celebrating every moment because of us, He loved us that much. I am totally able to accept the fact that Jesus loves me, and I have unfailing faith in that fact, no problem in declaring it, that He is my Saviour, if asked I would gladly say so, and from time to time I could have leapt across the rooftops crying this out, and have been reduced to tears when I have stopped and really thought about it, and there are also occasional days when the whole world full of people is wondrous amazing and beautiful, and I really seem to get it, but there are days when I lose sight of it all, praying becomes a chore rather than something I want and need to do, every little thing upsets me and I become unhappy or rather unjoyful. I need to go and have a good think about it all. I'll get back to you on that.
The last week has been a bit uneventful although I did come down with a rather nasty throat infection over the weekend before last, and by the early hours of last Tuesday I couldn't swallow, it was too painful. I had to take a day off work to go to see a doctor. One problem, I hadn't visited a doctor for over twenty years, and wasn't even sure where I was registered if at all, I certainly wasn't registered in Herefordshire. Unsure what to do, MLO took me to the hospital to see the on duty GP. Got there, and the receptionist said that no-one would see me as I wasn't registered anywhere, and I would have to register at a doctors surgery before I could be seen. My throat at this point felt like it was coated in stones and simultaneously being hacked at with a rusty saw, and not able to swallow, rather uncomfortable. MLO asked for me what would be required, and the receptionist said I would need my passport, birth certificate and any social security things, etc etc. MLO took me on the off chance to his doctors in the nearby village who said, yes I did need to register at that surgery, but all I had to do was fill in a simple form. Once registered they made an appointment for me for that afternoon. One doctor visit later and a prescription for some antibiotics and I was sorted. The throat is still slightly hoarse but doesn't hurt.
Work again Thursday and Friday. Saturday was spent with MLO and Mum wandering round Hereford, didn't do an awful lot though, so cant really say anything on that. Sunday, as it was my weekend off, we went to the morning service, which was a morning worship service rather than communion. Not so many people there compared to the last few times. Vicar got his guitar out and accompanied a couple of the songs with some extremely vigorous strumming. Was a great happy service, MLO was a bit unimpressed, he said it was American type nonsense, and just wasn't Church of England. Oh dear. He is quite happy to go to the village church, but it is getting a struggle to get him to agree to go to the town church. I said its not how we do, that counts but what we do, he gave me a look as if to say don't bring that cliche out on me, and remained completely unimpressed. Still no word on being confirmed, from the pew sheet it seems the vicar still doesn't know when it will be. Didn't have chance for much of a chat after church, still nevermind it will happen when it happens, and as long as it does I'm not really too worried when.
So there you are, all up to date, nothing more to say, except night night and au revoir till next time.

Well, here we are, another week, and another month, and still nothing much to write about. Pathetic isn't it? Anyway, as I am feeling fairly game right now, I will attempt to convey a witty and amusing post full of hilarious anecdotes from my last week. Then I will stop; and realise, this is me we are talking about here, and give up. That sounded a bit miserable didn't it, it wasn't meant to though, as I am certainly not miserable in any way. 

Back to the last week, and it has been one of those all or nothing type of weeks, very quiet and slow, or full tilt ahead busy. Last Monday started off well enough, washing day as usual,Tuesday work, as usual. Tuesday was one of the crazy busy bits. Attempting to stick  three stamps each, on almost a thousand envelopes, and being expected to do it single handedly in just over an hour and a half, with several customers and a stock delivery in between, not sure whether to be flattered that they thought it possible of me, or otherwise just annoyed that they didn't have any idea how long it might take, and then being peeved at me for not managing it. Anyway help was drafted in, in the form of a driver, yard supervisor, cleaner and girl who should have been on her day off. Three quarters of an hour later we had finished , at last.

Wednesday was another day off, so I went to raid the local library for some brain food. Had a wander round town, then back home.

Thursday work again, interminably quiet day, Friday work also, quiet again, but not so bad as Thursday. Saturday and Sunday were also work days, and both went without incident.  

Sunday afternoon was church again, and it was Harvest Festival. The church had been decorated beautifully the previous day with all manner of flowers fruit and veg, including loads of lovely wild plants, fruit and bushes. We had taken a box full of tinned veg, meat fruit and drink for the harvest festival, as we arrived I stuck my head round the door, the place was full, but no other boxes were in evidence, and decided I must have misread the previous weeks pew sheet, so MLO left the box in the porch underneath the bench. Anyway, we went in and had to sit quite near the back as it was so full, which was brilliant. The sermon, rather than just thanking God for our harvest, for what we had been given, The vicar gave us a printout showing how much is spent on various aid packages, in comparison with how much is spent on wars, government bailouts, various company profits and individual peoples worth, the differences were shocking.

As we were leaving and talking with the vicar, he said he would know the final date for my confirmation date, on the 15th of this month. All I currently know is, that it will be in January sometime. 

Anyhoo, Yesterday was a day spent in the garden and doing tons of housework, today as is usual for a Tuesday, I was at work, although I did get to rescue a baby toad this evening at work, I found it hopping across the floor of one of our store rooms, so cute, and only just over an inch long. I got it to crawl into a big glass bowl, then took it outside and popped it in the garden of the people next door. Hope they didn't mind.  

There you are, all up to date. Not much to tell though. Sorry.

It took me rather longer to get back than I anticipated, so must apologise for the delay.

From Burnham Deepdale, We made or way back to the campsite to start packing up ready for leaving on Monday morning. When we returned to the campsite, the transformation was amazing, from being packed to the gunnels when we left in the morning, to being practically deserted on our return. And so quiet, we were originally a little peeved when everyone turned up on the Friday and then the Saturday, but it was great fun watching everyone doing their stuff. The campsite seemed almost eerily quiet that evening. 

Next morning and we had a nice early start, and got everything packed away into the car, then we took down the tent packed that all up and put it in the car and we were good to go. We had intended to call in to the village stores in Stiffkey before we left, but there was nowhere to park up. We carried on along the coast road towards Cromer,  stopping at Salthouse to climb up on the shingle bank and stare at the sea for a while. After shaking all the small pebbles out of our shoes we headed off towards Cromer again. When we arrived, we parked up, and walked into the town. 

It is quite a sweet place, nothing special, but nice and quiet. We had a wander around the place for a couple of hours, then , as it was getting towards lunchtime, MLO said we should have some fish and chips as we were beside the seaside, so off we went to find a suitable purveyor of our chosen lunch items. That done and the good purchased we went off to sit on a bench outside the church (the wind was way too fierce to sit looking out to sea, and the church was a good shelter form the wind). We ate our lunch and decided to go into the church and have a look round (what a surprise eh?). As we walked in there was a huge map of Britain, with pins in it that people had stuck in, to show where they had come from. There were a couple from near to where we lived, and we stuck in a pin for here. Then we looked around the rest of the church. Quite a nice bright and airy church, but with a fair bit roped off, so we couldn't see all of it. The tower was open for climbing up, but neither of us were feeling particularly energetic, so missed that, though we may do it next time we come to Norfolk. 

Then it was time to leave for home. As we were lower down Norfolk we decided to cut across country rather than going back up towards Peterborough and across from there. So worked out a route that came home via Norwich, Cambridge, Bedford, Milton Keynes Buckingham Oxford and Gloucester. It took a while longer  than the journey over, but that was due mainly to there being mile after mile of roadworks by Bedford. Much more interesting traveling that way home and much less tedious than cutting across from Coventry to Peterborough . 

Anyway we got home about half past nine and had to unload the cat right away as MLO had work on one of his farms early next morning. 

I went back to work on the Thursday, so had a couple of days rest at home to get over the holiday. It was good to be back at work actually, surprised myself how good it felt to be back.  Work went without incident, Mr and  Mrs Boss were away for the weekend in Italy, so nice and peaceful about the place.

On Sunday, it was back to church again, and it was nice to be back there again. Back to normal. Monsieur Vicar, said it was nice to see us again and have us back which was nice. He asked us how our holiday was. That service, as it was our evening worship rather than a communion service the vicar had a lady from the other church come and lead the service, who wants to be a vicar. It was a lovely service. She led very well, not sure I would have the guts to do it myself,  infact the idea of doing it is too scary to contemplate. 

Last week passed rather uneventfully, it was weekend off again, so met Mum in Hereford on Saturday as it was here turn to come down here. Unusually for a Saturday MLO wasn't at the football working, so had his company all day too which was a lovely bonus. After scrambled eggs on toast at All Saints, we wandered aimlessly for several hours, not doing anything in particular.  I suggested that we could go to the Evensong at the cathedral, everyone seemed in agreement, so we wandered over just before half five and settled down for the service.  Mum enjoyed it, MLO enjoyed it, and I enjoyed it, so all happy there, just hope they didn't mind three people turning up with shopping bags in tow, spread all over the pew. Mum caught the train back at eight o clock.

Yesterday, being my Sunday off, we went to the morning service and the evening service. The morning one was a morning worship service, so all sorts were going on. There was a man called Shem there, who was headmaster at the Archbishop John Sepeku secondary school in  Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania, which a few of the teachers from the Bishop of Hereford's Bluecoat school had visited.  The Diocese of Hereford was twinned with three in Tanzania, and three projects were chosen by the Bishops of the three Dioceses in Tanzania, of which the school is one. It was opened in 2004, but is still desperately underfunded and the headmaster 's dearest wish is to enable him to grow the school to reach even more students, but cannot do so without more building work, and money for basics such as textbooks. There is an old chapel there which he would love, to be restored, and several blocks of buildings are unfinished, even the kitchens still have no roof on them. He came to talk about what had been done, what needed doing, and what was needed to do it, a basket was set up at the exit of the church for people to donate money for the school as we left. The evening service was also very enjoyable as we had no organist, and no other means of accompaniment, so we all sang a capella (if that is how you spell it, I'm not certain).The first hymn was an interesting mix of several different tunes all vying for position, I cant remember what that one was though. The second was a resounding success Alleluia. Sing to Jesus. Which everyone one knew, so we sang our hearts out, it sounded great, the organ really wasn't missed for that one. The last hymn was Breathe on me Breath of God, great MLO and I thought, we know the tune to this one too, so this'll be a good one too. Unfortunately the person who got us started also knew the tune, but a completely different one to the one we knew, but we just about got the hang of it by the last verse.  Still good fun though. After the service as we were getting ready to go, the vicar said that the confirmations would probably be in January, but he just had to book the confirmation classes. seems by that comment that he wont be doing them, just so long as he doesn't stick us on an Alpha course, I don't worry who it is, but it would have been nice to have the vicar. But then again, my hearing really isn't the best perhaps I misheard, at least I hope so. 

Well, there I am up to date again, sort of. I didn't include today, I thought I had wittered on enough already, so will do today tomorrow or the day after.  

 think it is about time that I got on and wrote a proper blog again, it has been far too long now. I shall begin with our little trip to Norfolk, which was thoroughly enjoyable thankyou.

We eventually got away Wednesday before last (the 10th), and headed off via Worcester and the M5, M42 and Peterborough to the wonderful little coastal village of Stiffkey, in between Wells-Next-The-Sea and Cromer. (Famous for its crabs). The campsite was quite large and it took us almost half an hour to decide where best to pitch up, eventually we made up our minds, and up went the tent.  That night we had camp chilli, which is a wonderful quick meal when you are too tired to do anything more than sling a few tins together to heat. Stewed steak, kidney beans and tomatoes with a chopped onion and seasoning, delicious, with precooked rice. Camping can be such fun. Early to bed that night and up with the larks the following morning. Got the shower block all to myself, bliss. Once MLO and I had prettied ourselves up we decided to go to Norwich for the day, as it would give him a bit of a break from driving. All along the North Norfolk coast runs a bus service that goes directly to Sheringham and Cromer,  from where a train could be caught to Norwich. The best bit was though that an all in one ticket was available for just £7, which gave unlimited travel between Hunstanton and Norwich via bus and train. We were pretty chuffed when we found out about it.  

Anyway we arrived in Norwich and headed up the hill. By the time we had got sorted waited for a bus and then train, it was lunch time by the time we got there, so as we were passing MLO said we should go to the cathedral for lunch and a look round. Off to the refectory first of all for lunch. Baked potato, ham and salad followed by lemon drizzle cake yum.  Oh and don't forget the tea. Once we were suitably refreshed, we set off to explore the cathedral. At the bottom of the steps from the refectory was the cloisters, so we started there. So glad I took my nice camera even though it can be a pain to carry round at times. Like they say; no pain no gain.

     

We wandered around the cloisters for a while taking lots of pictures. In the center was a labyrinth which would have been great to walk round, but we wanted to see inside first So off we went along the cloisters to the first door we could find and in we went. Wow. Thats all you can say. mightily impressive. Yet more photographs. After a thoroughly enjoyable few hours looking round the cathedral, it was unfortunately time to head back to the train.

On the Saturday, we went for drive around local villages in the area. The weather was completely perfect, the sky was so incredibly blue and not a cloud in sight. We ended up at Walsingham. When we got there the place seemed deserted, with only an extremely happy smiley nun there. We wandered round the village looking at the various shops, then had a coffee. We then went down to the  Anglican shrine. We spent a couple of hours there, then as time was going on, we left. We paid a short visit to the farm shop  there and bought some lovely bread and meat for our dinner that night. On the way to the shop a couple of buses turned up and the village went from being wonderfully peaceful to bustling and busy in a matter of seconds. We were stood watching all the people that had got off, it was almost funny the difference in the place. We also bought a couple of rolls, some pate and apple juice, and sat in a field just across the road from the farm shop and had an impromptu picnic, which was incredibly enjoyable in the warm sunshine.   

I think I decided I want to live there, it was almost like the village was in a time warp, or surrounded by a little bubble, so amazingly peaceful and calm there.   When we went to Norfolk, we didn't realise that Walsingham was there, so that came as quite a lovely surprise, and gave us a perfect excuse for a visit, when we realised how close it was.

We also visited Wells next the Sea that day too which is the only town along the north part of the Norfolk coast which is still navigable by sea, all the rest along that stretch of coast having silted up and tuned over to salt marsh. Other towns and villages along the north coast are practically landlocked, if you can call saltmarsh land, that is, and places like Cley-next-the-Sea, aren't, Blakeney with it's enormously impressive church. You know me and churches by now, well, I couldn't resist asking MLO if we could go and have a look.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

 Blakeney church really is quite huge, and oddly enough has two towers one at either end, although you cant see it on my picture, sorry about that. It was a lovely church inside and out. I think the reasons that the churches along this part of the coast are so large is down to wool, and the fact that so much of the English wool was sent over to the low countries via ship, and these villages and towns having once been quite major ports, a large proportion of the wool was shipped out from here, and as such the wool traders and merchants made lovely profits, some of which went into church building and renovating. The churches at Cley, Wiveton and Salthouse are similar.   
On the Sunday morning we decided to brave the natives and go to the church at Stiffkey. We had visited it the previous evening to check there was a service the next day, and what time if there was. It was lucky for us that there would be a service at 9:30, so we went to that one. When we entered a lovely man greeted us, and handed us a reading sheet, the service booklet and hymn book, then explained that due to the fact that they currently didn't have a vicar looking after them, that it would be a family service, and that we were to sit in the choir stalls, facing everybody. Aargh, I thought, I don't like facing other people to much like that, but too late to back out now I thought, so MLO and I went to get seated. A lovely lady there said hello and welcome to us, and showed us a seat. A few minutes went by and a couple of other people arrived. The man who had greeted us then stood up to do the service. We had a couple of hymns, and a lady read something that she had read in a book, and two others did the readings. The service itself only lasted half an hour. At the end, the man who had led the service said thankyou to the organist, which was a lovely thing to do, and in return the organist played something else, at the end of which everyone clapped. MLO and I were unsure as to what to do next, whether to make a bolt for it, or hang around looking like lemons if no-one spoke, but as we wandered up to go, the lady who had shown us a seaat told us that there was coffee and biscuits and we would be extremely welcome to stop and have some if we wished. We couldn't turn down such a lovely offer. We got talking about all different things, the people there were so lovely. We started talking then to the man who had led the service, and he asked us where we were from, and whether we were on holiday. When we told him we were from Herefordshire, he said "Really, what part" so we told him a few miles east of the city. He then said that he knew a few people in Herefordshire, and then mentioned Tarrington, where MLOs Mums church is, and where the farm used to be, turns out, he knows people that MLO and his mum also know very well. Small world.
Half an hour later, after much talking, we decided we had better go, and so said our goodbyes. The lady whose name we found out was Helen, who had shown us our seat, actually thanked us for visiting their church, and said that she hoped we would be going again. We promised we would whenever we were next in that part of the world, and went on our way back to the campsite.
Later that day, we went along the coast towards Hunstanton, which we weren't particularly impressed with, but when we drove through we maybe missed the nicer parts, but it reminded us a bit of a small version of Rhyl. As we headed back along we thought we had better stop for lunch at some point. We came to the village of Thornham, and turned along a little road towards the sea, and came across a lovely looking pub called the Lifeboat Inn . Just in time for Sunday lunch,  marvelous.  It was lovely and the food was good too. As we were eating there was the sound of bells coming from outside, so we looked out, and a troop (is that the correct word?) of Morrismen had turned up to dance, along with an enormous green felt dragon, who kept peering in through the windows and frightening people, which was highly amusing. 

Once Lunch was over and we were well fed and contented, we went on our way back to the campsite, and stopped at Burnham Deepdale to get some water from the shop. There just happened to be a church across the road, with a round tower, so, obviously, it required further investigation.   In the porch is a pair of lovely medieval windows, one depicting the moon, and one the sun. Inside there is a lovely font showing twelve scenes from a farming year.  The res of the church was quite interesting, with a tiny little chapel of sorts in the round tower end of the church.    

I have written enough for today, I think, and will finish off tomorrow, and bring myself up to date, so for now, goodbye.          

I have retrieved the phone now, which contains the pictures, so can put them up on here. 

As I said yesterday, mum and I went to Northampton on Saturday, and spent a bit of time whilst there looking round churches.There were three that we visited, the first we came across by chance, as we were walking into the town from the train station. This was the church of St Peter, and although it is still used, it is cared for by the Churches Conservation Trust.  We had to go up the road to a local hotel in order to get the keys to open up the church, which we did after them taking ID etc. We then spent about an hour looking round and taking pictures. As we were leaving I heard someone at the gate outside, which we had locked up behind us, they wanted to come in. I had to explain that I needed to take the key back and sign it back in, before they could have it, and as such needed to follow me up the road so they could then sign it out.  The man and the woman seemed a little miffed that I couldn't just give them the key, but I had no idea what would happen if I didn't take the key back.

Anyway, from there we carried on our way towards town, when mum saw a signpost for one of the other churches that we wanted to see, but it was heading up along the side of a very big and busy road, so we decided we would get into town and have a wander round there first. We went off to find the tourist information first to get a map of the town, and found the way to the church. So off we went to St Sepulchre church, one of only four churches in Britain , where the round church part is still standing.  It was surprisingly huge inside, but lovely. 

From there we left to go and find lunch somewhere, and ended up in M&S for a cheese and mushroom toastie, which is delicious. Suitably refreshed we set off into the own again, There was a huge market there so we had a mooch round that, then round some of the shops. We had enough a little while after and headed back to the station, but a different way to the one we had come into the town, and passed the church of All Saints, and as it was open, had to go in.  What a lovely building, with probably the most comfortable pews  I have ever sat on. Everything that could be was either painted, mainly brown or covered in gold. 

Well, we left there eventually, and made our way home. Didn't do an awful lot in Brum once we had got back. 

This last week has been quite an enjoyable one for me, not sure why, it just has. Monday was spent at home getting washing and things done, Tuesday was a day at work. Wednesday was MLOs birthday, so we went to one of his favourite food pubs for a celebratory lunch. Just outside Raglan by Monmouth, the Cripplecreek Inn, who do lovely roast lamb with mash and veg, swiftly followed by the largest individual berry pavlova I have ever seen in my life, thinking back I wish I had taken a photograph of it, as it was truly gargantuan. Once MLO had nobbled most of the cream, which I am not too fond of, I have to say it was utterly delicious. MLO had a rather more mundane piece of apple pie, which was only spectacular in its ordinariness, but as MLO is the worlds biggest apple pie fan, he was completely contented. We went to Monmouth afterwards but didn't stay long due to torrential rain making it pretty unpleasant going, especially so as we only had the one umbrella between us, and neither of us were wearing a jacket. We went home then after that. MLOs mother was away up in the peak district Wednesday and Thursday, so a blissfully quiet couple of day were had at home. 

Thursday was work again, as was Friday, Saturday and again this morning (Sunday). 

During the week, I finally sorted out whether I could have the few days of next week to go camping in Norfolk, and I am glad to say I can. So camping preparations are going at a great pace, time has crept up on us and overtaken without so much as a by or leave, and we have found that due to the fact that we are both working straight through to Tuesday evening, and  with MLO having a meeting on Tuesday night there is practically no time to sort all the stuff out. We did manage to get our tent out and put it up in the back garden,to check to see if it was still waterproof. Being a heavy cotton canvas one, we weren't about to take any chances, so with MLO standing inside, and me totally drenching it with the hose outside, we couldn't find a single drip or leak, so good to go.  

As I had work this morning, we could only get to the evening service. On the way to church, I had the strangest feeling that something was happening again, quite apart from my rumbling tummy, and got to church in a far more cheerful happy mood than I have done of late. Was a good service, quite amusing in parts, especially the part where the vicar sprang a new hymn on us, and the entire first verse was sung in silence and whispers as no one could figure out the tune, even the vicar was quiet on that point.  Eventually someone sang out in the second verse, and everyone else gradually joined in as they got it. By the fifth and final verse we were going great guns. At the end of the service we said the usual goodbyes etc, then he mentioned the weather and we talked about going camping, then all of a sudden, he said that he was finally sorting out some dates for confirmation classes, but just had to finalise a date with the Bishop.  All I could do was grin like a Cheshire cat and say thank you, and positively skipped out of church and back to the car. Still haven't stopped smiling yet. I had almost begun to think he had forgotten, but just when I feel something is going to happen, it does. Totally cool. Woohoo, yay etc.  God really is Great.  :-) 

I have to be up early again for work tomorrow, and want to get quite a lot done there, so I must go for now. So TTFN. Good night etc. 

I was wondering whether to post tonight, obviously, I decided that I would.

It hasn't been too bad a week this week, work went quite well, nothing disastrous happened, and yesterday I went with mum to visit Northampton.  As neither of us had been there before, I thought it would make an enjoyable day out. Quite a nice place, and a few lovely and interesting churches to see there too, took a few pictures, but don't have the phone with me right now, so will post tomorrow all about them, and put a few pics in too, for good measure.

As it is my weekend off, we had church twice today, St Pauls Tupsley, this morning, and St Andrews Hampton Bishop, this evening. Fullish church as usual this morning, and an enjoyable service. This evening at St Andrews, as it was the fifth Sunday of the month, the service was from the Book of Common Prayer, rather than Common Worship. MLO was exceedingly happy, as it meant no peace. Being as it was an older service, there were a few extra people in church, who only ever come for that particular service, 21 rather than a usual 15 or so at best. Shame about the hymns though, not particularly singable. I cannot sing particularly high notes very well, but a lot of hymns are full of them. I end up either trying to sing low like the men or just mouthing the words in the high bits, otherwise I'd sound like a cat being castrated, not good I can tell you. 

Anyway will post again tomorrow with pics from Saturday, and anything else I remember, so TTFN. 

Nothing much to write about again today, but I thought I should at least make some sort of effort. When I looked at my blog earlier it had pretty blue pictures all over it telling me that I had exceeded my bandwidth. It wasn't me though but the person who was hosting the images for the template I use. I have now copied the images and saved them to a draft post so never need worry about bandwidth again.

Was a quiet day at work again, no surprises there. One exciting thing though we are going to have a complete makeover (the garage, not The Other Girl and I). After 10 years of putting up with dreadful magnolia walls and oil stained flooring, it's about time. We will have plumbed in heating too for the first time in years, which will be great. In winter, it is quite often warmer in the fridge than in the rest of the place. Had a chap in on Tuesday to measure the place up and decide on plans etc. Probably the least talkative man on earth.  So spent a slightly uncomfortable couple of hours wondering whether to say something and not get an answer, or just say nothing and have him think me ignorant. I hate it when things like that happen.

Yesterday as MLO had to collect some paperwork from one of his farms, and I had a day off I went with him for a ride. Rather brilliantly, the farm was over at Garway, MLO said as I had wanted to go there for so long, he would take me there after finally figuring out where in the village it is.  Nice old church it is, all angles where bits have been added, changed and joined together. We had a good look round the inside and took a few pictures, including one of a rather lovely green man. Inside it had some gorgeous old solid oak pews, but the poor place was very damp and dirty. Several of the steps had green algae on them. We decided to sit down for a few minutes when  a couple of people came in, shortly followed by another. The last lady turned out to be some sort of guide, and was about to open up the tower for the other two people to look at and said we could come along too if we wished.  As we went through she gave us all the history of the place and told us all sorts of stories about the church. Mainly about the Templars but that was to be expected I suppose. 

One fascinating thing was that in the 16th century when a passageway was built to connect the tower to the church, the resourceful builders reused  most of the templar tombstones as window lintels and steps, so when you look up above the windows there is quite often a carved sword or similar. The tower itself is 13th century, and has walls that are 4ft thick. It does feel incredibly old when you go in, and has two deeply recessed windows, that would look just as at home in a castle.

 On the floor in the tower were some lovely old tombstones beautifully carved. In the corner was the door up into the tower, but the lady said they wont allow anyone up there any more, as it is so dark and narrow, plus she said with the tower being open there is bird doo all over the stairs. She said the last time anyone was up there was five years ago when they took a group up, problem was, one lady got so scared she refused to come back down the narrow stairs, and it took almost two hours to coax her down. Also in the room along with a rather nice collection of lawnmowers and bellringing ropes was an old oak chest, almost 7 ft long and made from a single block of wood, and the gnarliest metal hinges which the lady told us  was thought to be an original templar chest, she mentioned that a dendrochronolgist had been and dated it, and he agreed with the dating. Apparently other tests had been done to determine how old it really was, and they too came to the conclusion that it was templar, but she wasn't sure what test it was that had been done.

After we had had another look round inside, and listened to a bit of the history of the place, we went for a wander round outside. A short distance across a bit of a run down orchard/paddock was the dovecote or columbarium, we didn't have much time to go and see it, besides which we hadn't asked the people who owned the land. All the time we were outside we could hear a bird of prey screeing, and looked if we could see it, from what we saw, and heard, it was probably a hen harrier, which is quite cool, thats twice I have seen one in Herefordshire now. He ended up sitting in a tree for several minutes and calling out almost the whole time, so no idea what was up with it. To finish, we strolled up to the top of the graveyard and took a couple of pictures looking down on the church to finish off. 

We came home via a lovely road , and ended up coming out at Pontrilas, a very lovely detour indeed.  We got home just after half past seven, and had shepherds pie for tea.

That just about all there is to tell now, so will say ttfn for now, and au revoir etc etc. 

What a lovely day today has been, in all ways. Perfect weather, perfect company what more could anyone ask for? 
Ended up missing church this morning, as helping MLOs mother get everything ready for the lunch today took rather longer than first thought, but nevermind. After that was done and she had been packed off to Tarrington to the hall along with MLO who had been roped in to set out the tables and chairs, I had a while to myself, so had a nice long conversation with God about stuff, and how it is going. It is a bit odd really though, not so long ago, whenever I was praying, or anything I almost had a feeling that He was there, right there, almost took it for granted, I suppose I imagined that it would always feel that way. Not entirely certain how I could ever go about explaining how I knew, if I try to say to MLO, it all sounds so vague. I need to try to explain myself a bit better, I really really do. Now, even though I am still certain that He is around all the time, it never seems as though He is right there at any point, that doesn't make much sense I know, I wish I could put it better. I'm useless at trying to explain why I feel how I feel about it all. I know all the reasons I have for it in my heart and head, but I always assume that isn't what people want to hear. Rightly or wrongly, probably wrongly for the most part.

   Back to today, as MLO and I had planned to go on a walk today somewhere, we decided to go a couple of miles away to the village of Yarkhill, and a walk that was organised by the Herefordshire and Gloucestershire canal trust, along a section of the old Hereford to Gloucester canal that they have been restoring after having become overgrown after being disused for so long. After walking through fields that were being combine harvested we got to the canal after about 2/3 of a mile or so. I was surprised at how many people had turned out, although the weather was stunningly lovely, so that probably helped. To begin with we ended up going the wrong way, but had an extra bit of a walk that was just as enjoyable. We walked to the village of Monkhide to see the old skew bridge over the canal there, which the trust had restored previously. We realised that that wasn't where we should have gone, and walked back towards the village hall car park and on the way back found the gateway and field we should have gone through to start with. Had a lovely time. Saw a few people we knew, so stopped for a natter.  Also saw loads of different animals, most common, still nice to see. There was a couple of buzzards overhead calling most of the time as well as a kestrel. Loads of pheasant that had been released in the local woods for the shoots, but had spread all over the place out of the woods, and were fair game for anyone. Rabbits by the hundred diving out of the wheat field being harvested,, someones jack russell dog had got rather over excited and was diving all over the place trying to catch himself a rabbit. Dragonflies too, and more long tailed tits in one place that I have ever seen before in my life. The cutest little birds imaginable.

Got home just before quarter to five, just in time to get cleaned up, changed and off to church for the evening service. The vicar was back today for the evening worship. Had a nice mix of hymns and a good sermon, and lots of lovely quiet. Quite amusingly MLO fell asleep during the intercessions , everyone was so quiet, then all of a sudden there was some serious heavy breathing going on next to me, I looked at him and his head was on his chest and he was fast akip., the lady sat next to him on the other side gave him a bit of a funny look too, so I tapped him and he woke up. Wouldn't believe me when I told him though.  Made me smile. Got back home and MLOs mum had got back from the lunch, complete with what was left of the salads she had taken, so had salad for tea. She also brought back with her a rather delicious pear tarte tatin, which was utterly scrummy, and went down extremely well after salads.

Well there I am, up to date. Another day off work tomorrow yippee, have my washing to do then, so long as the weather stays dry and sunny, I should be able to get a lot done. 

Off to bed now, so night night all.

MLO and I have finally been able to get a few days together that don't clash with work or everything else, so that we can go off and get away from it all for a few days. Yay. So next month, we will be off for four whole days. Even better, I have finally persuaded MLO after 14 years of badgering to agree to go on a walking holiday. The kind where you leave the car, then walk for the next however long, stopping off en-route, each night and setting off again the next day. We will be carrying all our stuff in rucksacks so need to pack light. However, the only way I could convince him to agree, was to agree to going somewhere with no hills. So we will be walking the North Norfolk Coastal Path, which for the most part is flat, but with lovely views, and lovely places to visit along the way. Am really looking forward to it.
Yesterday, as the vicar was still away, we were very honoured to have the Archdeacon of Hereford the Ven Malcolm Colmer take the service, enjoyable service it was too. Afterwards MLO and I had a really long natter with C who we see every week, had a great laugh with him too, first time I had really talked with him since we started to go to the church.
Work was exceptionally quiet over the weekend, hardly came as a surprise though, seeing as it has been so quiet lately anyway.
Cannot think of much else to talk about right now, although I have been busy messing around on photoshop making new and pretty backgrounds for twitter and my computer.
Oh well, that really is all I can think of to write about now, will try to do something a little more interesting and less mundane, just so I can write about it, maybe I should start writing about what I read? I dont know. Anyway ttfn etc etc.

Sunday is all but over now.

Started the day at work, as usual it was exceptionally quiet, actually more so than usual, have just realised that a couple of the Sunday regulars failed to turn up. Wonder what happened to them?

The weather this morning was positively dreadful, the wettest kind of rain imaginable, horrible mizzly stuff. Yuk. But as the day wore on , the weather improved until this afternoon and it was doing a passable impression of a summers day.  Couldn't go to the town church's morning service due to work, but we did go to the evening service at the country church, got there a little earlier than we usually do, but oddly enough, so it seemed had everyone else. Must have been something in the air I think. Anyway the service started at the usual time, we were all stood up at the beginning, singing our hearts out to the first hymn, then  the door started rattling, thought at first it may have been the wind, but it did it again. Where we sit in church is right by the entrance, so that when anyone walks in they are literally greeted by us (MLO and I) smiling at them. A moment later and the door opens a few inches, then stops,   intriguing. A few more moments later and a head appears, shortly followed by the rest of a body. K who hands out the hymn books leapt to his feet to hand one out, along with the service booklet. The lady looked around and sat opposite us. Most people turned to see who had interrupted, then got on with singing and K went back to his seat. A minute or so later, and the door started rattling again. This time it opened up and revealed another person wanting to come in. Up K leapt again, to hand out the required bits. The gentleman looked a bit perplexed then went and sat down next to the woman who had previously come in late.

As the service went on, they appeared to be a little uncomfortable, and spent a lot of time discussing something between themselves. When ever we needed to stand, either for hymns or the reading,  this entailed a huge amount of face pulling and discussion. When we got to the peace, they did what we used to do and stayed put in their seats. Roll on towards the end of the service and just as we got to the last hymn, they abruptly stood up, but their books on the table and walked out. Smiled at them as they left, but just got frowned at. Not sure what we had done wrong, or what they had a problem with. Wonder if they will be back next week? Just cant work out why they felt it necessary to leave when it would have all been over  in ten minutes anyway. Never mind. Nowt so queer as folk. 

An enjoyable sermon this week, considerably more light hearted than last Sundays, which was pretty deep. All about us becoming reconciled in Christ, that by fully giving ourselves to Him.  By recognising all our faults and admitting them , and being fully aware of ourselves helps us on our way to achieving that. Quite interesting as I had previously done the little exercise the vicar had given me to do with that, but had also just started to read "The interior Castle" by St Teresa of Avila, and had read a fair bit at work this morning. The main gist of the book, from what I have so far gathered, is that in order to know God and Jesus fully, we must fully know and understand ourselves, to look right inside ourselves, and when we have done that, and in the process of doing so , we can know Him more fully, as she believed that God resides in our souls, and only through a thorough understanding of our soul can we ever hope to have a true knowledge of God. Obviously she went into a lot more detail than that, wrote a whole book on the subject, but I think that is the main gist of it. I thoroughly recommend reading it, as what I have read of it so far, is an engrossing and very enjoyable read indeed. The version I am reading was translated by Mirabai Starr, but as this is the only version I have read, I have no idea whether it is better or worse than any other.  

Quite a while ago, I joined facebook, just for the heck of it, and joined a Phil Rickman group on there, really just expecting it to be the kind of group where an occasional member pops up and posts a message, asking whether there are any other members out there. I was pleasantly surprised when I started to get occasional messages from the group. The most recent I was quite excited about. He is bringing out a new book, "Merrily's Border"  containing photographs of various locations that he writes about in his books, along with a bit of information about the places, he will be launching the book in August at Kinnersley Castle in Herefordshire, a place I have always wanted to visit as it looks so spooky from the road going by. There will be music, performed by Hazey Jane II perhaps even with Lol Robinson making an appearance, and a great excuse to eat drink and be merry. I will be going with MLO as it is only about 15 miles away from here. What amazed me was the number of fans he has from all around the world, although to be fair, I shouldn't be that surprised, as he does write ruddy good books. I still think of him as very much a local writer, being able to picture each place he mentions and knowing some of them extremely well. 

Heck, it is late again, I really must get to bed, have been listening to Aled Jones again, and his voice always makes me sleepy. So off to bed it is for me. So nighty night.

Monday already. My day off :-)

Saturday, was my mums turn to come down to Hereford, and rather than wander round the shops in town and spending money, we yet again went on a wander of some of the local churches. Today we visited Much Marcle, Little Marcle and Putley churches. We also went to Woolhope church, but couldn't look around as it was closed.

 The first we visited was Little Marcle, which is a sweet little church on the side of the main Gloucester road. From the side there is a wonderful view across to the Malvern hills in the distance past Ledbury. It is very plain inside, but with a lovely air. I don't think that it is used very often though. Although from what I saw, parking would be something of a problem on the side of the main road. Not the best of places to stop.

Next we went on to go to Putley church. Years ago when I first came to Herefordshire, this was the local church, and was where we all went to the main services for the year, like Easter and Christmas etc. It was so long since I had been here, I had forgotten just how lovely and beautiful it really is inside. Outside is the village pond where witches were supposedly dunked, so I was told anyway. It is surrounded by orchards on 3 sides, and an old farm, and the pond on the other. Inside it is a riot of colour and beauty. It is so long since I had been there. When we arrived there we were sure that we heard someone else inside,  but when we went in there was no-one to be seen, but the floor was still wet on the tiles from being cleaned, and there were dust sheets on the floor. Whoever was doing the cleaning didn't show their face, and we had to creep around the edges trying not to leave footprints on the floor, as it refused to dry. Inside it was clean and spotless, usually when we visit churches the cleaner they seem to be usually reflects the fact that they are used more frequently, although not always. Putley church is used weekly, each Sunday, plus extra services and events too. One that we decided would be extremely interesting to go and see, in a couple of Sundays time, was a choral evensong "Culminating in the beheading of John the Baptist", put quite an interesting image in our heads as to who would be playing John the Baptist, and how realistic the beheading would be! Another service there soon is a blessing of animals, which is a lovely idea, and reminded me of the Vicar of Dibley and an episode where she held a service for animals.. 

The second and third parts are here and here. Very funny.

Back to our day out, the windows at Putley church are also very lovely, and as the interior of the church is quite dark, they seemed to glow. 

My mum spent absolutely ages taking pictures both inside and out, she must have taken at least 200 or more, thank goodness for digital cameras is all I can say, how did we ever manage without them?  I myself took a pile on my mobile phone, some of which I have put up on here, you will have to excuse the quality, but being from a mobile, the quality isn't all that great.

From Putley we travelled the few miles to Much Marcle, infamous as being the birthplace of a certain Mr West. The village however is lovely, with two large houses Hellens and  Homme House, almost opposite each other, with the church inbetween. The other thing that the village of Much Marcle is famous for, locally if not nationally, is its ancient yew tree which sits in the churchyard just outside the porch. (I have put an image of it with my mum sat inside, so you can guage just how big it is from her). An utterly enormous specimen that is believed to be over 1,500 years old. This magnificient tree predates the current church which dates from the 13th C, although there was a church here prior to that, a norman church dating from the 12th C. The only thing remaining is the font which itself dates from the 12th C, and is thought to be a stone copy of an earlier wooden font that was used at that time.

The church itself is certainly imposing, and is one heck of a size for a village church. Outside is also, a large graveyard, and a weather eaten 15thC preaching cross. Inside, the space is enormous, and is filled with all sorts of interesting memorials and monuments. One for a Walter de Helyon dating from the 14th C is carved from oak, and quite rare. Another which is very lovely is for Blanche, the daughter of Roger Mortimer, the 1st Earl of March. The glass in this church is also very lovely with a very interesting window at the top end in a side chapel. I didn't take so many pictures here as at Putley, but to see some more pictures of the church, exterior and exterior click here. (Not ones I took)

Finally, we went to visit Woolhope church but unfortunately it was closed, so we couldn't go in. Mum went for a wander outside while MLO and I watched the cricketers on the green for a while. From there we went for a quick stop at a local pub which had just been renovated, and had a drink and a loo break.  I took a picture of MLO enjoying a pint, and doing a spot of shameless advertising for the local brewery, who make delicious beers. 

We didn't do very much after that, we went into Hereford for a bit of a mooch, but nothing in particular, and mum caught the eight o clock train back to Birmingham.
Onto Sunday, and MLO and I decided to brave it and go to the 10 am service at the town church. We had no idea what it would be like, well actually we thought we did, but our idea turned out quite wide of the mark. We thought it was going to be all arm waving and happy clappy, instead there was a great mix of old and young there, with two modern hymn and two older ones. There were two baptisms during the service, which was lovely. All the while there were children running everywhere, plus a few adults constantly on the wander, manic at times. but as we were sat right by the main entrance and exit that probably had something to do with it. We decided we would be going again in two weeks time when it is my next weekend off, but this time will be sat on the opposite side of the church, where it should be a little less manic. We also went to the evening service, simply because we enjoy going to that one at the country church. He asked us what we thought of the morning service, we said we thought it was a bit manic, and he thought that amusing. Had similar sermons at each service, but the evening one was a lot deeper -if thats the right word for it, and certainly made me think a lot more about what was said than did the morning one. Anyway, must go have a bed that needs to be slept in. So night night.