Alex Gutteridge's Blog, page 9

A Walk and a Talk

Last weekend all of my family were together for a time which is a rare and precious thing these days. We had coffee and cake in the garden while my granddaughter played on the grass beside us. Later that day my husband and sons left for their game of cricket and my daughter and I went for a walk.


The lanes were bedecked with cow parsley, it's musky scent wafting on the air.


 We stopped to admire a magenta coloured climbing rose on the front of a stone cottage and w...

Wordless Wednesday - There are many ways to share books

Letting Go

On holiday in Scotland last year we stayed in a delightful little lodge which once belonged to a big estate. The rear garden was sheltered by a wood and from our bedroom window we had a direct view of the bird table. We had a variety of winged visitors but on the fourth day we were honoured by the presence of a red squirrel. We have pesky grey squirrels in our garden at home, which dig up my bulbs, vandalise the bird feeders and this year took all the buds from my tulips. I'd never...

Wordless Wednesday - Grandma's Azalea

Hull Book Awards

Last week I went up to Hull. I'd never been there before and it is the sort of place which is easily by-passed as geographically it is quite isolated  It is situated in Yorkshire where the River Hull meets the Humber Estuary and, although it is a city, the people I met all said that it had an intimate, smaller town feel to it. Those that had moved there from other parts of the country had forged roots and developed a deep affection for the place.


Last Chance Angel had been short-list...

Treasure the Days

It's been a good week on the whole. A week to be thankful for. Nothing incredibly exciting has happened but for this writer excitement can be de-railing so I'm not complaining about that. Here are some of the things which have made it a good week.

I went to hear an informative and fun talk about A Midsummer Night's Dream.

My husband played his first cricket match of the season. The horse chestnut trees which edge one side of the ground are in full bloom and horses and lambs grazed contentedly on...

Wordless Wednesday - Pillows of Primroses

There's Nothing Like A Letter

On the way back from Shropshire, a couple of weeks ago, we stopped off at Moseley Old Hall. This property, now owned by the National Trust, is the Elizabethan farmhouse near Wolverhampton, where a young King Charles II hid from Cromwell's troops after the Battle of Worcester in 1651.



You can see the bed in which he slept and the priest hole where he hid for two days whilst planning his escape. You can also see a letter of thanks which he sent from France the following year, thanking those who...

Wordless Wednesday - Powis Castle, Wales

Time For Tea in Ludlow

If you live in the U.K. it's always time for tea. Last week we went away for a week to Shropshire and one of the many pleasures of being away from the normal routine is stopping at various places for tea and cake. One day we went to Ludlow which is a pretty little town with timbered buildings.




It is rich with history.



And inviting narrow streets to explore.



Prince Arthur, the son of Henry VII and brother to Henry VIII, and his bride Catherine of Aragon lived in the castle for a time, before...