Wednesday, March 26, 2008
26th March Signs of Spring - home and in Reigate
There are signs of Spring of course - but the weather itself became grey, gloomy and wet as the hours passed.
There were workers outside the front of the house busy before 8 o'clock this morning.
Normally we see just a couple of large grass cutters at work, but this morning we were treated to 5 of them racing round the field, swerving to miss the trees at the last moment.
Surely this is a harbinger of the warm days to come - and a message of the need for Bill to get out there and cut the front lawns before long.
Here the 5 men sit and natter after finishing their duties on our field. Soon they were off elsewhere.
We decided that we should not spend all day idling at home - not that Ashley idled. He went into town this morning to attend Mass, only to find it was a funeral Mass and so he he offered up a few prayers and then went to hunt in the town charity shops.
After lunch we went to Reigate to have a short walk up to the castle mound.
The old market hall in the centre of the town - now a coffee shop.
The main road used to pass through the tunnel under the castle mound. Now it is for pedestrians. On either side of the tunnel are doors leading into vast caverns dug out as store rooms and apparently the sand extracted was of a fine quality and speculators made a lot of money from the sale of sand.
There are open days to see the caves and tunnels - we should try and visit on such a day.
This roundabout sits in the middle of the main road and always looks lovely.
It is a treat after a long journey to leave the M25 and descend into Reigate and see the familiar site. There are 2 lovely spreading cedar trees close by.
Here on the castle mound were definite signs of Spring - the bright green new horse chestnut leaves.
We have long noticed that the horsechestnuts come first - and the nearer to London you get the earlier the leaves and flowers appear. Reigate is only about 10 miles north of Crawley - but Spring arrives there a little earlier.
Some pretty shy blue flowers nestling amongst the rocks.
We have visited the castle mound before - indeed it was blogged before in 2006.
So forgive the repetition of pictures of this mock castle - today with a host of golden daffodils in the foreground.
I guess there was a picture like this in 2006 - Bill posing behind one of the mock gun slits.
There is no mystical significance to this pyramid at the centre of the castle mound. It covers a ventilation shaft from the caves and tunnels below.
You might just be able to make out a windmill on the rise before the horizon.
It is on Reigate Heath. A little research tells us that this restored mill (exterior only) ceased to grind grain in 1880 and was taken over as a Chapel of Ease - an outpost of the main Reigate church. Services are still held in the mill, which claims to be the smallest church in England - but then we all know that the smallest is in Sussex; apart from all the others which claim that honour.
Bill and I now look forward to exploring Reigate Heath and the mill/church, which we had not realised the existence of.
More mock castle and daffodils - coming to the end of flowering now.
It was raining by this time and we scurried just a few yards really and into Reigate High Street to explore the charity shops.
We have to accept that people in Reigate are generally more affluent than in Crawley and the charity shops can charge more for things - but good things can be found.
Bill bought some shirts and I bought a dress (maybe for the wedding we are going to in June), and a couple of blouses.
The journey home was in heavy rain.
We were glad to get in and put the kettle on and Bill and Ashley had toasted hot cross buns.
We really have done very little but I feel so tired. In fact I think Bill and Ashley feel tired too.
We will all be in bed early once again.
Tomorrow Ashley leaves us.
There were workers outside the front of the house busy before 8 o'clock this morning.
Normally we see just a couple of large grass cutters at work, but this morning we were treated to 5 of them racing round the field, swerving to miss the trees at the last moment.
Surely this is a harbinger of the warm days to come - and a message of the need for Bill to get out there and cut the front lawns before long.
Here the 5 men sit and natter after finishing their duties on our field. Soon they were off elsewhere.
We decided that we should not spend all day idling at home - not that Ashley idled. He went into town this morning to attend Mass, only to find it was a funeral Mass and so he he offered up a few prayers and then went to hunt in the town charity shops.
After lunch we went to Reigate to have a short walk up to the castle mound.
The old market hall in the centre of the town - now a coffee shop.
The main road used to pass through the tunnel under the castle mound. Now it is for pedestrians. On either side of the tunnel are doors leading into vast caverns dug out as store rooms and apparently the sand extracted was of a fine quality and speculators made a lot of money from the sale of sand.
There are open days to see the caves and tunnels - we should try and visit on such a day.
This roundabout sits in the middle of the main road and always looks lovely.
It is a treat after a long journey to leave the M25 and descend into Reigate and see the familiar site. There are 2 lovely spreading cedar trees close by.
Here on the castle mound were definite signs of Spring - the bright green new horse chestnut leaves.
We have long noticed that the horsechestnuts come first - and the nearer to London you get the earlier the leaves and flowers appear. Reigate is only about 10 miles north of Crawley - but Spring arrives there a little earlier.
Some pretty shy blue flowers nestling amongst the rocks.
We have visited the castle mound before - indeed it was blogged before in 2006.
So forgive the repetition of pictures of this mock castle - today with a host of golden daffodils in the foreground.
I guess there was a picture like this in 2006 - Bill posing behind one of the mock gun slits.
There is no mystical significance to this pyramid at the centre of the castle mound. It covers a ventilation shaft from the caves and tunnels below.
You might just be able to make out a windmill on the rise before the horizon.
It is on Reigate Heath. A little research tells us that this restored mill (exterior only) ceased to grind grain in 1880 and was taken over as a Chapel of Ease - an outpost of the main Reigate church. Services are still held in the mill, which claims to be the smallest church in England - but then we all know that the smallest is in Sussex; apart from all the others which claim that honour.
Bill and I now look forward to exploring Reigate Heath and the mill/church, which we had not realised the existence of.
More mock castle and daffodils - coming to the end of flowering now.
It was raining by this time and we scurried just a few yards really and into Reigate High Street to explore the charity shops.
We have to accept that people in Reigate are generally more affluent than in Crawley and the charity shops can charge more for things - but good things can be found.
Bill bought some shirts and I bought a dress (maybe for the wedding we are going to in June), and a couple of blouses.
The journey home was in heavy rain.
We were glad to get in and put the kettle on and Bill and Ashley had toasted hot cross buns.
We really have done very little but I feel so tired. In fact I think Bill and Ashley feel tired too.
We will all be in bed early once again.
Tomorrow Ashley leaves us.
