Saturday 27 September 2008

Much Wenlock and Ludlow!

Finally, there's the tribute to my wonderful Mr Snippets .
On a recent visit to Much Wenlock...

In posting this, I would like to mention that no force was used in order to achieve this photo and that the 'subject' stood freely, underneath this sign.

Our surname being 'Hall' !

Much Wenlock is steeped in History. I'd love to know more about this place, in particular the hall! One day I just might get around to reading this..

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22888#s4

(One day!!)

Much Wenlock is a most delightful little place in Shropshire.



And finally, we visited...(drum roll!!) ...Ludlow..!

Sir John Betjeman believed Ludlow to be the most attractive town in England.

Alec Clifton Taylor reckoned Broad Street to be one of the finest streets in the land.

Home of... De Greys!

In Corve Street, 'The Feathers' dates from the middle ages.

The Norman castle was built by Roger de Montgomery

The famous market place!

And the rest is history!

Ludlow really is a little gem of a place!

And so that's it..Shropshire done and stored away until another time!

A wonderful time was had by all !

I just can't wait to return;-)

Tuesday 23 September 2008

Nich, Helen...and a lifetime task ;-)

On Saturday 13th September 2008, we drove from our holiday in Shropshire, to the Streatham Campus at The University of Exeter, for the almost final time.

It was back in Sept 2003 when a young, quiet,18 year old lad, called Nich ( tis short for Nicholas), had opted to study Archaeology, at Exeter.
I clearly remember his first day there, as we dropped him off at his Nash Grove accommodation, left him in his tiny single room, and wondered whether he would ever emerge to go and join in with all of the other freshers!
I cried all the way home..which is ridiculous as home is only a 20 minute journey!
But that's me!

I should have been hardened to it, having done the same deed three years before, when my daughter, Helen, (below) went further afield, to study for her degree. I was just as much a sobbing wreck...and blubbed all the way from Winchester to Devon. How tolerant is my dear DH!

But hey, my offspring choose the best places to study!! That's another story,of course. Both cities have given us so much pleasure over the years. (The moral being, make sure that your children choose great places to study! If they don't... then blackmail them!! Lol ;-)

Being a mum gets no easier, I can tell you...especially if you are a sensitive thing like me.
Taking them to Uni was really no different to taking them to school for the first time. Just because they had grown up a few feet didn't mean that they didn't have the same anxieties. In fact, I think going off to Uni is far more traumatic for both parent and child!

Well, frighteningly, Nich's 5 years at The University of Exeter have flown by, as did my daughter's three years in Winchester, prior to that. Funnily enough, my daughter chose to get married at the University of Exeter, last year and so the University of Exeter will always have a special place in my heart..it has brought both of my children so much happiness. And if they are happy then so am I.


The other thing that has brought me so much pleasure has been Nich's blog.
He is a seasoned blogger, having started his well over three years ago. It is ,without a doubt, the blog that I enjoy the most. Not just because he is my son but because it is such a contrast from the girlie, crafty, shabby chic etc etc.
Nich's blog is an education. It provokes thought and it is, indeed, a delight. Not to mention pure quality ....well mostly!


Naturally, I shed a tear as I read it the other day...a few Billy Joel lyrics and carefully selected photos really say it all. I know exactly how he feels. I always know exactly how he feels,of course!

http://nichgull.spaces.live.com/

So that's it..no more school/ university runs... ever! ;-(
I have one more graduation ceremony to attend, in January. (His first one was a tear jerker ... if anyone has ever been to Floella Benjamin's Exeter University speeches, they will understand why! More about that at a later date! She is the Chancellor at Exeter and boy can she deliver a speech!)

And so, I'll get one final trip to that lovely campus in my most favourite ever city! ;-)
As you can see, I am still clinging on to the very end!!

Thanks Nich, for choosing Exeter!
Thanks for those fabulous guided historical tours of the city ; your company in the John Gandy...


during many Saturday lunchtimes (making sure that the poor impoverished student got at least one meal in a week!) ; your humour (!!) ....and not forgetting your wonderful blog. I do hope that we still get to Exeter, together... occasionally! ;-)

And now he's home, planning the next stage of his life!
And I, for one, can't wait to read about it...as he is off on his travels, soon.


And as for me.. I'll no doubt find something more to blub about as I continue my journey, simply being a mum, which is, as all mums know, a wonderful, lifetime task.

Monday 22 September 2008

Clutter !!


Do you love clutter? I do!
Clutter is a word that I adore! ;-)

I'm never happier than when I am poking about in clutter, junk, call it what you will.
I just love it. The thought of re-using, inventing a different use or even altering it, to me is such a lot of fun.
And so, if I find any place with clutter, I am in my element .
That's just how it was in Hay on Wye recently...


Hay on Wye is mainly full of old bookshops (one of my other loves!)



But it was clutter that caught my eye.



I am so intrigued with the history of all sorts of clutter and I always wonder what story it could tell if it could talk.
Another place that we visited was Leominster. One or two kind bloggers had already told me about ...


Following Utter Clutter, a friendly welcome was waiting for us in the Square, where 'Roberto' looked after us superbly well as we firstly took a break in his delightful tea rooms and then wandered through his Antiques centre...not really 'clutter' as it was very well organised, I hasten to add.

A very nice man , who certainly promoted his town very well indeed.

I love moochin' around antiques centres and there were plenty of those on our hols.
But give me a pile of clutter... and I'm happy!