One for Sue.

Morning!!!!
This post is for my friend Sue, who reads my blog and tell me things about myself I have long forgotten. Last night we went out for a meal, something we do regularly. The strange thing is that 4 of us meet up and its usually spaced so that its someones birthday, so its usually a case of making sure you have presents for the right person. Last night was not any ones birthday so it felt odd arriving with nothing .
Anyway we went to The East, Chinese food, it was very nice and although I hadn't eaten since lunch time it was filling and we didn't manage to finish it all, I still feel stuffed this morning.
There is so much going on in my life at the moment that I don't seem to have time to sort anything out. Our holiday is looming (in a nice way) but I don't seem to have thought about any of the things I need to do for that. The dog needs her second injection a couple of says before we go. I need to shop, check all the documents,(which I know are OK, but you have to check)
Tom is going to start 'decladding' the bathroom today and then remove the tiles beneath, just a bit at a time. I can't wait to see my new bathroom - should that now be shower room as there won't be a bath in sight!!!
Have a good day.

My Town Monday - World Domination.

Thinking about My Town Monday, I started to think of something I could use as subject matter. I was beginning to think that I had covered just about everything, when I realised there is a whole area of 'stuff' that I haven't touched on - Shopping, a national past time. We in Hertfordshire can boast to being the home of the international Supermarket Chain TESCO's

Above is a photo of my local Superstore, Tesco Extra, at Hatfield.

So a brief history of one of the UK's most successful and possibly one of the most controversial shops.

Tesco plc is one of the largest retailers in the world, operating more than 2,300 supermarkets and convenience stores and employing 326,000 people. Tesco's core business is in Britain, where the company ranks as the largest private sector employer in the United Kingdom and the largest food retailer, operating nearly 1,900 stores. In continental Europe, Tesco operates in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, the Republic of Ireland, Slovakia, and Turkey. In Asia, the company operates in Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. Through Tesco.com, the company ranks as the largest online supermarket in the world. The company also offers financial services through Tesco Financial Services, which controls 4.6 million customer accounts roughly divided between credit cards and car insurance policies. Through the more than 100-unit Tesco Express chain, the company ranks as the largest seller of petrol in the United Kingdom.

Early History.

In founder John Edward (Jack) Cohen's day, a retailer's product line was comprised of whatever could be housed in a tiny stall. In 1919, Cohen invested his £30 stipend from his World War I service in the Royal Flying Corps in stock for his small grocery stall in the East End of London and began his career as a market trader. He soon became a successful trader in other London markets outside of the East End and also branched out into wholesaling for other market traders. In 1932, Cohen officially founded Tesco Stores Limited. The name was originally that of a private-label brand of tea Cohen sold, created from the initials of T.E. Stockwell, a merchant from whom he bought tea, and the first two letters of his last name.
Over the next eight years, the company grew rapidly, as Cohen opened more than 100 small stores, mainly in the London area.

By 1976, Tesco operated nearly 900 supermarkets and superstores on the "pile it high, sell it cheap" formula that Cohen had imported from America. The firm's management found that the effectiveness of this strategy had deteriorated over time, however, leaving the company with uncomfortably slim margins and a serious image problem among consumers. While Tesco had been preoccupied with opening as many stores as possible and loading them with merchandise, the company had missed important signs that its market was changing and had come to value merchandise quality over quantity.

Tesco had to take action to raise the profile of the company (this is where they started to look at world domination as an ambition!!) or they would go out of business.

By the beginning of the 1990s, Tesco had 371 stores in England, Scotland, and Wales--150 of which were superstores--and the company had become one of the United Kingdom's top three food retailers. The early 1990s saw the culmination of Tesco's fight for market share fueled in part by a two-year £1 billion development program launched in 1990 which added about 60 new stores and more than 2.3 billion square feet of store space. By 1991, Tesco had become the largest independent petrol retailer in Great Britain. Four years later, the company reached the number one spot among food retailers in terms of market share.

In 2000, Tesco launched its e-commerce business, Tesco .com, one of several new business developments that propelled the company's financial growth during the early years of the 21st century. The company's grocery home-shopping service quickly developed into the largest of its kind in the world. While its retailing services segment gathered steam, Tesco turned to developing its nonfood business. The company began stocking electronic products, toys, sports equipment, cookware, and home furnishings in its stores.

So why is this successful store disliked by some people?? Well they have a habit of not always fulfilling their obligations, they buy huge amounts of land close to town and promise in return for planning permission to build a store to provide a community asset such as a swimming pool or sports centre. quite often once the store is built the promised asset doesn't appear causing much bad feeling all around. If they fail to get planning permission they do nothing with the land and let it fall into decay and disrepair which in turn reflects on the rest of the area.

I, actually quite like them and their products!! (and their loyality card which means free holidays!!)

Hertfordshire Puddinstone - My Town Monday!

This week I am going to tell a little about a very special rock that is only found in the county where I live, its called Hertfordshire Puddinstone. When I was growing up I didn't realise just what it was, to be honest it looks like some sort of concrete holding together a load of pebbles. Dad used to have a lump of it in the front garden of our old house, I am sure it was left there when they moved. (which is a shame!)
So what is Puddinstone??

The picture above is one variation found in the area and it DOES look like concrete with pebbles mixed in!!

So a potted history.....
The flints and pebbles were eroded from the surrounding chalk beds some 56 million years ago in the Eocene period and were transported by water action to beaches, where they were rounded by wave erosion and graded by size. A lowering of sea levels and general drying during a brief arid period drew out silica from surrounding rocks into the water immersing the flint pebbles. Further drying precipitated the silica which hardened around the pebbles, trapping them in the matrix. Puddinstone is commonly found in river beds, and is less frequently to be seen exposed to the surface.

Oxides of iron were also trapped in the silica, giving rise to many different hues when the puddinstone is examined closely. From a greater distance, puddinstone is generally brown or ginger in colour, although pink is possible. The silica is very hard, which led to use being made of puddinstone as a building material supplementing flintstone buildings such as at St Mary's Church, Stocking Pelham; as a decorative feature or waymark, or, during Roman times, for grinding corn.

The pebbles and surrounding silica have melded into one stone, it is so hard that it regularly breaks farm equipment when it is bought to the surface!



Hertfordshire puddinstone was credited in local folklore with several supernatural powers, including being a protective charm against witchcraft. Parish records from the village of Aldenham relate that in 1662 a woman suspected of having been a witch was buried with a piece of it laid on top of her coffin to prevent her from escaping after burial.

Other places in the world have their own types of puddinstone, but the make up of 'our' stone is exclusive to Hertfordshire!! I think I am going to have to go and see if I can find a lump for my garden!!

My Town Monday - Around my Town in Blossom.

Today I took a walk in the beautiful sunshine and discovered that within in a short distance of my house there are lots of trees in full blossom at the moment. In my road there is a gorgeous flowering cherry which always looks stunning and dumps a ton of pink 'snow' as soon as there is a slight breeze! I am ashamed to say that I don't know exactly what all of these plants are. I will have to go and look them up!!


Forsythia in my back garden.



Pretty, but I have no idea what it is!!

I 'think' this is crab apple blossom.

Again not really sure what this is, it 'might' be plum blossom!!

My Town Monday - Trent Park

Above is a picture of the Halls of Residence.



The Mansion House Surrounded by beautiful daffodils!

Last week we took a trip to Trent Park, this was to primarily to see how far from home it was and what the journey would be like for Carl if he is lucky enough to get a place at Middlesex University in September. It got me thinking about the place. I was amazed at how beautiful it is. The mansion house is outstanding and its certainly a place that I think I would have enjoyed studying at.

So to the history.....
Trent Park dates back to the fourteenth century when it was part of Enfield Chase, one of Henry IV's hunting grounds. In 1777 George III, leased the site to Sir Richard Jebb his favourite doctor as a reward for saving the life of the King's younger brother, the then Duke of Gloucester. Jebb chose the name Trent, because it was in Trento that the King's brother had been saved.
In about 1836 the house was bought by the banker David Bevan for his son Robert Cooper Lee Bevan on his marriage to Lady Agneta Yorke. Robert Bevan built Christ Church, Trent, in 1838 to provide a suitable place of worship for the district. In 1909 the estate was sold to Philip Sassoon (cousin of the poet Siegfried Sassoon), who entertained many celebrity guests at Trent Park, including Charlie Chaplin and Winston Churchill.One of the Halls of Residence is named Sassoon Hall after the previous owner.

During World War II Trent Park was used as a special prison for captured German generals and staff officers. They were treated reasonably hospitably with special rations of whisky and regular walks in the grounds. Many of the rooms inside the mansion had been equipped with hidden microphones and listening devices, and thus the British military was able to gather important military information and an intimate inside-view into the minds of the German military elite. They received information about war crimes, political views and got a clearer picture of the military resistance that led to the unsuccessful coup on July 20, 1944. 84 Generals and a number of lower ranking staff officers were brought to Trent Park. More than 1,300 protocols were written by the time the war ended; a selection of these was published in English in 2007 under the title Tapping Hitler's Generals.

In 1951 the estate became the then Trent Park College, which became part of Middlesex Polytechnic in 1978, which itself became Middlesex University in 1992. The University's Vice-Chancellor is provided with a residence within the park. Though not so grand as the main house, this does nevertheless boast several small private gardens including a rose garden. Other University buildings including student residences and offices are nearby.
In 1973 Trent Park was opened to the public as a 3.8 km² country park, which surrounds the university campus.

The country park includes publicly accessible countryside, farmland, a golf course and an equestrian centre. Some of the grounds were attractively landscaped by Humphry Repton in the English manner (some also attribute the work of Capability Brown). Features of the original landscaping that can still be seen include an impressive avenue of lime trees, an obelisk, ornamental lakes and a water garden.
The original mansion and a number of statues and other structures located within the grounds (such as the Orangery) are Grade II listed building. The site is designated as Green Belt, and lies within a conservation area and is also included within the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England.

All we have to hope for now is that he gets the results that he needs to secure him a place!!

My Town Monday - Mary King Close - Edinburgh

While I was in Edinburgh I visited a fascinating place called Mary King Close.
It was hard to get my head around how Mary King Close came into being !! So a brief history!!
Edinburgh Castle is built on top of a hill and looks over the whole of Edinburgh. The rock it is built on was formed in a volcanic eruption millions of years ago. In the middle ages the main street from the castle was called The Royal Mile, it was the approach used by the kings and Queens of their day, so this main road was very affluent and as a trader it was the place to be to sell your wares.
Running off of the Royal Mile were lots of Closes, these were VERY small roads with houses on each side, on average these closes were only 6 to 8 feet wide. The Closes all ran down hill from the Royal Mile and in some places very steeply. The class system meant that the more affluent you were the nearer to the Royal Mile that you lived and the higher up in the building you lived.
In the 1600's there was no toilet facilities beyond a bucket and all waste was thrown into the street, so those living at the bottom of the street must have had a very unpleasant time of things!
Folk living there also had to share their living space with their animals so in the mix was cows, sheep and goats, these actually lived in the lower levels of the houses.
The photo above shows one of the animal barns, the door on the end leads directly onto Mary King Close.
So who was Mary King? Well she was a merchant who lived in the late 1500's she moved into the close with her family. Her husband was a very well to do Merchant who had permission to trade on the Royal Mile, they lived in a house several floors up and were very well to do. Sadly Marys husband died shortly after they arrived in their new house and Mary took over his trading to provide a living for herself and her family. She became a very successful trader and it was decided to name the close after her.
So why is Mary King Close so interesting today?? Well in the mid 1700's a decision was taken to build over the closes!! Not in the traditional demolish everything and start again way, but literally to level the tops of the houses and build over them, using the houses as foundation for new houses above! So the houses closest to the Royal Mile lost most of their floors while those at the bottom lost very little. They simply evicted all the residents and sealed the houses in.
These houses were long forgotten until in the 1980's someone excavating in the basement of a building off the Royal mile found themselves in a void below the building. After breaking through they found that there were complete streets down there untouched since 1750, including workshops, houses and stables.

It was like stepping back in history, the door above was to a well to do residence fairly high up the street, the top floors had been removed, lower down the street the houses were far more intact. We went on a guided tour, just 15 people, we were shown lots of different places a really great day out for me as I am an avid family history fan!!


Looking into one of the houses from the Close.

My Town Monday - A personal View!!!!

WE HAVE SNOW!!!!!

Now I realise that in some parts of the world this isn't a great big deal, but in these parts its a biggie!!!! So far this winter we have missed every single speck of it, but this time we are in the right place and at the right time. That is as opposed to in Sunny Belgium when everyone else in Welwyn Garden City was covered in a few inches of the white stuff.

The forecast has been saying snow on the way, but usually we sit in a warm spot immune from the snow, this time we have been caught, squarely and fairly!!

I have checked the school web site and they have called it off for tomorrow, seems a bit of a scant excuse to me, but it'll give Beth a chance to get out there and enjoy it for a while.

So this is My, My Town Monday offering fresh from the ski resort of Welwyn Garden City !!!!!

A Bit Of WGC History (or the battle of the shopping malls!!)

The Howard Centre



The Galleria.

In my previous posts I have explained how my local council is responsible for two towns, Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield, along with several smaller villages . Hatfield has always considered itself to be the poor neighbour, its been the industrial town of the two responsible for the development of the Comet aircraft and the British Aerospace 146.
My story involves the controversy surrounding the construction of two shopping centres, The Howard centre in WGC and the Galleria in Hatfield.

Back in the late 1980's the council were anxious to redevelop part of town centre in WGC, they wanted a new railway and bus station and a few more shops wouldn't go amiss, so they entered into negotiations with the biggest construction business in the UK at the time, Slough Estates.
While negotiating a deal to provide all the things mentioned above for WGC, they were also dealing with a rival firm, The Carroll Group to provide a shopping centre in nearby Hatfield.
Because of the close proximity of the towns, Slough estates negotiated a Tenant Mix agreement (TMA) with the council. This was to enable both centres to attract different types of shops and restaurants.The Howard centre was to have traditional High street shops and restaurants and the Galleria was to be geared more to entertainment, restaurants, cinemas and outlet shops.

The council was keen to have both developments the site of the proposed Galleria was on top of a tunnel which had been constructed to take the A1M underground and the area on top was perfect for shops. The Howard centre addressed the station problems. Slough Estates were playing hardball and wouldn't agree to the development until the council signed the TMA, this they did. Both sites went ahead and eventually opened at almost the same time in 1990/1. It was at this point that it came to light that the council had been doing a bit of underhand dealing and while agreeing the TMA with Slough they agreed the exact opposite with the Carroll group. This resulted in Slough taking the council to the High court for damages.

Slough won and was awarded 48 million in damages!! The chances of the council being able to pay that was remote, there were limits as to what could be paid from the public purse, and the council only held reserves of 2 million pounds. So Slough Estates won a moral victory and few a few years we suffered the reduction in events such as fireworks.

Incidentally both places are now thriving shopping centres and The Howard centre DOES have more traditional shops and The Galleria is an outlet centre!!

Update ...... I have done a little more digging to try and find out exactly what money changed hands in the end. It seems that prior to the court case the council were offered an out of court settlement for 16 million pounds but shose to ignore it. They didn't pay all the money awarded but they did pay a huge chunk of it and they way they managed it was to use reserves and to 'sell' all their stock of council houses to a housing association releasing capital. They were limited to only using 25% of that money raised, by government legislation. They eventually settled with Slough Estates for 29 million pounds.

My Town Monday - Around my Town

This week I am fresh out of interesting stories, so I have decided to show you a few shots of the town and one of the reasons I like living in a 'Garden' City!!
Above is shot of the main Campus looking towards the white bridge, called the white bridge as its a bridge painted white!! (That said you can't see it in this shot!!!) The council have recently taken out a load of huge Laurel bushes and replaced them with a pleasant circular paved area with seating which is great for open air meetings, its also the venue for the Christmas Tree.

This shot is looking towards Welwyn Department Store - John Lewis, this is a huge store over three floors. When it was built there were apartments and a social club build on top. As recently as the 80's the club boasted a couple of squash courts plus a bar and function area primarily for the employees of the store. The club and courts have now gone and are used as offices however the apartments are still there. My daughter and her partner live there. Its ideal for them, right in the heart of town, they don't drive so no parking to worry about and her partner works for John Lewis, so they get a reduced rent. There are all sorts of flats up there ranging from studios to three bedroom flats, the down side is the lack of lifts meaning a trudge of around 80 steps to get to where they are and there are two further floors on top of them!!

We visited Laura for her birthday and on the way out caught a Church Parade which started in one of the roads off of the Campus and marched via the Campus to a nearby church. It was great to see so many Cadets joining in!!

This shot is looking towards the council offices (on the left) The building in the centre distance is the multi storey car Park and the building on the right is the other end of John Lewis.

Although this shot looks very similar to the first , its not the same. This is a shot of 'Campus West' This building houses the main town library, The theatre and Roller City. There are also many function rooms where all sorts happens. On the other side of the road is the college and the Police Station.

So A quick tour of my town on a pretty Autumn afternoon!!

My Town Monday - Elstree Studios.

This week I have been made aware of a theft, not just any old theft, this is the theft of THE 'golden gun' As in Man with the Golden Gun of James Bond fame.

Hertfordshire has long been the home to Elstree Studios where lots of famous films are produced. I suppose the most world famous are the Bond films.

Here is the report from the local paper:-

Police were called to the Hertfordshire studios at Friday lunchtime to investigate the theft of the prop, believed to be worth £80,000.
The Man With The Golden Gun, which also starred Swedish star Britt Ekland as Bond's lover Mary Goodnight, was Moore's second outing as 007.
Christopher Lee played his enemy, Scaramanga, a three-nippled assassin who only ever needed one golden bullet fired from his golden gun to kill his target.
In the film Scaramanga played a game of cat-and-mouse with Bond, whom he had been contracted to kill for $1 million.
The impeccably mannered Scaramanga would carefully assemble the weapon in the film from a pen, a cigarette case and a lighter before dispatching his foes.
The gun was being cared for by Elstree Props, a tenant based at the studios.
Its website states that it offers storage of film props, as well as a service to "police the internet, dealer network and auction sites to counter theft and piracy".
Stephen Wickenden, its managing director, said: "I'm hoping the gun will be offered to one of the memorabilia dealers and from them we can trace it back to the thief.
"We have no idea who stole it or when it was stolen but things do not usually go missing."
It was being housed in a cabin at the studios.
Nicolas Cage's latest film Kick-Ass is being filmed there. It is thought a crew member was being shown around by Mr Wickenden when the weapon's absence was noticed, although he would not confirm this.
A spokesman for Hertfordshire Police said: "We were called to Elstree Studios in Borehamwood at 1.25pm after a report of a theft of a prop, which was the golden gun. Inquiries are ongoing."
Asked about the theft, a spokesman for Sir Roger joked: "You'd better ask Christopher Lee about this. Search his house."

So there you are, I nearly live in the Hollywood of England!!

My Town Monday - Guy Fawkes Night

In England we 'celebrate' Guy Fawkes night every November 5th. I really think that the true origins of this celebration has been lost, Beth doesn't really have much of an idea what its all about, although she does know its something to do with trying to kill the royal family a long time ago.
The real story goes something like this......
Guido Fawkes, known as Guy, was born on 13 April 1570 at High Petergate in York, Yorkshire.
He was born in to a notable family that had connections with the Church of England, his father was either a notary or proctor of the ecclesiastical courts. Fawkes father died in 1579 and his mother remarried in 1582, this time to a Catholic Denis Bainbridge of Scotton. The family were known to be recusants, resisters of the authority of the Church of England, and it is probable that his stepfather's influence contributed to Guy's affiliation to Catholicism; Fawkes finally converted to Catholicism around the age of 16. In the same year that Fawkes converted to Catholicism (1586), he would be made brutally aware of the repression the English Parliament enacted on local Catholics.
In 1605 Fawkes and his co conspirators planned to blow up the protestant King, James the First, at the houses of Parliament, They hid barrels of gunpowder beneath the houses of Parliament and planned to detonate them. Unfortunately for them they were discovered and on the instructions of the King they were tortured until they admitted their plans. They were eventually tried for treason, found guilty and hung drawn and quartered.
The planned day of the plot was 5th of November 1605 and the plot has been celebrated since then.
Part of the celebration involves Children making a 'guy' usually clothes stuffed with newspapers and sporting a mask. When I was young we we often see kids asking for 'penny for the Guy' They would then go and spent any money they made on fireworks. Now a days people under 18 can't buy fireworks and the PC brigade have said that penny for the Guy is begging, so it has dropped off.
We still celebrate with Fireworks and you can't beat the smell of a damp night, burning wood and the fireworks, Pure start of Winter time!!!

So on the 5th all the towns surrounding ours will be having their celebrations, WGC will be refraining, some years ago the council cancelled the event citing Health and Safety concerns. We all know that they cancelled it because they are saving money. Miserable wotsits!!

My Town Monday - Grandads Back Garden!!

For this weeks post I am staying very close to home, in fact in my dads back garden!! We have lived in Welwyn Garden City for some time and around 8 years ago Mum and Dad decided to move closer to us, so close that they now live in a house which is literally at the bottom of our garden!! When they were looking for a house one of the considerations was the back garden. Dad has always been a gardener, everything he touches grows. As we live in a town the gardens are generally not too big. When they found the house that they eventually bought the garden was smaller than they were used to and pretty much all laid to patio with a pond in the middle. In total it measures around 12 feet by 20 feet.Within a year of moving in dad had converted it to a lush area with plants of all sorts growing there.

In the spring he makes hanging baskets, these baskets have become very popular with friends and neighbours, he plants up their baskets and the money he makes from it funds the purchase of new plants. One year we all ended up with very exotic baskets. He had loads of orders and wasn't able to keep them all in his green house. He ended up lining them up the side of the garden path all around the garden. Some of them were under the bird seed feeders. So we all hung up our baskets and started to find these strange plants growing, and growing and growing. One of my baskets had 12 or so of these plants. I checked out our neighbours and his neighbours and they had them as well. I asked him what these plants were as I had never had them before. He didn't know. Then the penny dropped, he had sold us all baby cannabis plants!!!! We think the seeds must have come from the bird feeder!!

So that was 'My town Monday' bought to you by Travis Irwin and your local cannabis dealer!!!!

My Town Monday - Just like a London Bus.

There is a saying in England that you can wait ages for a bus and then two come along at the same time. Well those of you that read my MTM posts might feel a bit of deja vue now.
Last week I reported that after around ten years without a swimming pool that a major super market had put in a planning application for a supermarket and a swimming pool, the cynic in me believes that the pool was a sweetener to get planning permission for the shop.

Anyway guess what?? this week we have news of a second planning application for the land on the opposite side of the road to the original application, this is from the YMCA who plan to build a centre for young people (We already have a YMCA but as its popular it would make sense to enlarge the provision) They envisage a sports centre and a swimming pool!!! So as I said if you wait long enough without one, two will come along at once!!! (I bet neither will actually materialise, we are not bought that easily!!)

My Town Monday - The Regeneration Debate.

My town is run by Welwyn and Hatfield District Council. For a number of years the general feeling has been that Hatfield has been the 'poor' neighbour. It does seem at times that Hatfield does get left behind and recently Hatfield has been suffering. Hatfield has a 1960's very dated town centre that is in desperate need of regeneration. There is one huge supermarket which is modern and dominates everything. The rest of the town centre is on its last legs. The council have been promising for years to pump money into a regeneration scheme. Just as they manage to locate a partner to carry out and help fund the vision, the country is plunged into 'credit crunch' recession. The regeneration is put on hold.

Welwyn Garden on the other hand has a thriving town centre, lots of shops, pubs and at least a million coffee shops. There is however a large patch of land owned by 'The' supermarket giant Tesco's. This site was mainly factories, but they have been flattened and the area can now be reused. The council want the site to provide houses, leisure and employment opportunities, but not big retail parks. This is to preserve the town centre area. Tesco's on the other hand would love to build a big superstore.

In a very clever move by Tesco's they have identified something that Welwyn Garden City wants and has wanted for a while, a swimming pool, we used to have an open air one, but it was closed around 10 years ago and the one that the council promised the town has never been forthcoming. So they have submitted plans for a centre to include a big store, swimming pool, town square and housing. This was reported in the local paper last week as a done deal. The artists impression of the place looks great. People are talking about having a 'new pool' . Sadly it seems that it was a clever bit of marketing on behalf of the supermarket owners as this week the council have come out and said that the plan contravenes the current planning regulations. So unless there is some heavy negotiating carried out we will be looking a bare patch of land for the next decade.

Take a look here to see the full sorry tale!!

My Town Monday - Kinderdijk

I have decided to continue with my town Monday using some of the towns we visited while we were on holiday.

While we were away we rather relied on my ancient Sat Nav, who we call Stella. I have had Stella for around 6 years, and she is not up datable, which I don't think is too much of a problem because in the main the roads don't really change too much. If you let Stella get on with it, she gets you there, the problem arises if you look at a map as well. Looking at a map results in you doubting her and having to make a decision about if you do as she tells you!! Anyway on this day trip we all set out to visit a site in a town called Kinderdijk around 20 miles from where we were staying. This town is famous for windmills, an image that we all associate with Holland.

The bulk of the journey was on a major road, a dual carriageway, once we turned off Stella was telling us we were only around 4 miles away. We started to head off down some residential streets that were very narrow and then into an industrial area. We began to doubt Stella, this didn't look like the kind of place where we would find a World Heritage site full of Windmills!! We were in radio contact with Debbielou we were discussing our options. On our right was a huge river and our route was taking us along side it. All of a sudden Stella told us to take a right turn in 200 yards. It was obvious that we would end up in the water there was no evidence of a bridge.

So we stopped got out the maps and even resorted to asking someone in our none existent Dutch. Had we have continued as instructed by Stella we would have realised that there was a ferry across the river! It was the only way to get to the Windmills!!!

Once across the river a very short drive took us into another bygone world on the horizon we could see these huge ancient windmills. It all seemed at odds with the built up industrial area around them.

There are 19 windmills all fairly close together they were built in 1738 and 1740, they were used to pump water from the surrounding land into the nearby river Lek, this protects the low lying land from flooding. The windmills are no longer in use the water is now removed by modern pumping stations. Because of its UNESCO protected status one of the windmills has been preserved in the state that it was in while it was being used. (the rest of my party went inside to have a look around, all a bit too claustrophobic for me!!) But the outside was very pretty and the sails were very impressive flying around at an amazing speed.

It was a great day out, with an interesting twist provided by faithful Stella.

My Town Monday - The ghost of Burnham Green.

I have been thinking about local ghost stories, there doesn't seem to be too many but the one I remember being told about is the ghost of the headless horse that haunts Burnham Green and the surrounding area.
During the English Civil War a farmer, by the name of Pennyfather, lived at Welch’s Farm and was a staunch Royalist. It is said that the Roundheads attacked his farm and decapitated the farmer placing his head on a spike in the stable yard as a warning to all. It is also said that the spike still existed in 1981. Pennyfather’s favourite white horse would not be lead away quietly and was also decapitated. Now a spectral horse, which is believed to be Pennyfather’s, haunts Whitehorse Lane. It has been seen on several occasions and was described by one witness from Tewin Orchard as ‘pure white’ and standing fifteen hands high. This witness believes that she saw the horse early one evening in the 1960s. At first she thought it was a living horse grazing in the orchard behind her cottage but it later disappeared when there was no where for it to have gone. Many locals have seen the headless horse and people say that you can not make any animal walk along the lane at night. At the top of the lane is the White Horse public house which opened in 1806 and is named after the legend.

An alternative version is centred around the road to Harmer Green from Burnham Green is also said to be haunted by the ghost of a headless horse. Whitehorse Lane which is at the end of Harmer Green Lane is similarly haunted so it is possible that they are the same ghost or there has in the past been a confusion of tales or locations. Many of the roads in this area are sunk deep into the landscape due to erosion over the centuries. These roads are believed to date from as long ago as the Bronze Age. It is on one of these roads that the headless horse is seen and it is said that the haunting relates to a battle which took place there between the Saxons and the Viking invaders in the year 1002.

Now I have driven and walked down these lanes (not walked at night) and I have yet to see the famed headless horse. If you look carefully on the picture of the pub you will see that it shows the headless horse, a rather gory picture involving blood where the head should be!!!

My Town Monday - Lord 'Charlie' Brocket!

Champagne Charlie Checking out Jordan!!


The Auberge Du Lac, Beautiful Restaurant.



The house and Champagne Charlie in Action!!

I have been absent for a couple of weeks mainly due to events happening on the weekend and not being organised enough to research and prepare beforehand.

This week I am going to tell you about another of our colourful characters, Lord Charles Nall-Cain, the 3rd Baron of Brocket. Known locally of Champagne Charlie.

Brocket's parents were Ronald Nall-Cain and Elizabeth Trotter. His father died when Brocket was nine years old. The title of Baron Brocket passed to him at 25 on the death of his grandfather, Arthur Nall-Cain, 2nd Baron Brocket, at which point he inherited Brocket Hall, which was in a bad state of repair. He converted his home into a hotel and conference venue. Today he still owns the hall in Hertfordshire through a trust which leases it to a German consortium. The lease expires after fifty years.(It is now being used as a very swish golf club with a gorgeous restaurant in the grounds)

Brocket, an Old Etonian, served in the 14th/20th King's Hussars as a Lieutenant in Cyprus and Northern Ireland. He became known as a playboy, and collected classic cars, once owning forty-two Ferraris. With the collapse of the classic car market in the mid 1990s, his vehicles were losing money, and he tried to offload them quickly. He became famous after being jailed for conspiracy to commit car insurance fraud in 1996, having dismantled and hidden four of the Ferraris, claiming them to be stolen.

Whilst in prison he was stabbed before being moved to Ford Open Prison. In 2004 he was a contestant on the third series of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!. Finishing in fourth place, his new found fame made him a popular TV celebrity, making almost £1 million in offers. His autobiography, Call Me Charlie, was published in hardback in September, coming in the Top 10 best sellers.

Locally he is viewed as a bit of entertaining lovable 'plonker' !!!

My Town Monday - George Bernard Shaw

I must say that until I started to take part in My Town Monday - Thanks Travis!!! I had no idea that my town and surrounding area was such rich source of authors of lots of different genres!!
This week I am going to tell you about a rather famous man George Bernard Shaw.

George Bernard Shaw (GBS) was born in Dublin on the 26th of July 1856. Shaw's first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, his talent was for drama, and during his career he wrote more than sixty plays. Nearly all of his writings deal sternly with prevailing social problems, but are lightened by a vein of comedy to make their stark themes more palatable. Shaw examined education, marriage, religion, government, health care, and class privilege and found them all defective, but he was more upset about the by the exploitation of the working class; his writings seldom fail to censure that abuse. An ardent socialist, Shaw wrote many brochures and speeches for the Fabian Society. He became an accomplished orator in the furtherance of its causes, which included gaining equal political rights for men and women, alleviating abuses of the working class, rescinding private ownership of productive land, and promoting healthful lifestyles.
Shaw married Charlotte Payne-Townshend, a fellow Fabian, whom he survived. They made their home in Ayot St. Lawrence in a house now called Shaw's Corner. GBS spent a lot of his time writing in a revolutionary for the time, revolving shed, which he moved around to follow the sun. He named this shed 'London' so that his staff could tell any unwelcome visitors to his home that he was working in the capital!!
Shaw died there, aged 94, from chronic problems exacerbated by injuries he incurred by falling while pruning a tree in his garden.
He is the only person to have been awarded both the Nobel Prize for Literature (1925) and an Oscar (1938). These were for his contributions to literature and for his work on the film Pygmalion, respectively. Shaw would have refused his Nobel Prize outright, because he had no desire for public honors, but accepted it at his wife's behest: she considered it a tribute to Ireland. He did reject the monetary award, requesting it be used to finance translation of Swedish books to English.
For those of you who haven't made the connection, Pygmalion is better known as the film 'My Fair Lady' Nowadays the house and land is owned by the National Trust and is open to the public. For my part I have been there several times and the gardens in the summer are absolutely beautiful.

My Town Monday - Poppies!

Well its that time again, My Town Monday. Today has been one of those glorious Balmy summery days that you have to make the most of here in England, one blink and it will be Autumn and Pumpkin time again. As I write this the temperature outside is a very nice 23.6 C. The wind is blowing and it makes you feel good to be alive.

Sunday afternoon we took a trip to a local Pub, (the Crooked Chimney, a subject for an up coming post !!) When we noticed these stunning Poppies growing in a field next door, judging by the path that had been worn through the nettles from the car park we are not the first people to discover these beauties!!

Poppies look so delicate as they are blown around in the breeze, but they are deceptive, they blow almost flat and then spring back up again.There are hundreds of buds so I expect there will be a spectacular show for a few more weeks yet. There didn't seem to be anything else growing in the field apart from wild flowers, daisies, forget me nots, blue speedwell, Huge Thistles and scarlet pimpernel. I hope they all set loads of seed and come back next year.