There really are Fairies in the woods
Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2015 10:57 pm
Annie & the Fairies (Part 1)
On Sunday we visited the Woodland Fairies, yes no joke, today there were Fairies in the woods.
It all started out as normal, the day was very bright and sunny, but very cold, I looked at little Annie sitting on her chair next to me on my PC and said “You look as fed up as me! Lets go out for a walk”. I had not had any breakfast or lunch so quickly hard boiled a couple of free range eggs and made up a small flask of coffee, some biscuits and water for Annie and we were ready for the off.
I decided that we would go and take a look at the gardens at Trentham Park even though at this time of the year there would be little to see. The history of the hall goes back a long way and it would take me ages to recount, so for anyone interested here is a Wiki link that will give you all the background to the park:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trentham_Gardens
You will see in the Wiki link that this site was chosen to be the location of one of Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Woodlands in which several new woodlands will be planted in the UK to celebrate her Jubilee year. As an aside it was in one of these Jubilee Woodlands that I paid to have an Oak tree planted and dedicated to my late wife Anne’s memory, so it holds a special significance to me.
It has had some extensive investment over the last decade or more and is once again a major attraction in the area after falling into decay and finally being owned by the old National Coal Board. I remember going there with my parents when I was a child and seeing my dad and his brother taking a swim in the lake in their knitted woolly swimsuits, we kids just paddled and skinny dipped. As you may read, the park was laid out as a Serpentine Park in 1758 by ‘Capability’ Brown who overlaid an earlier plan by Charles Bridgeman. Today it is more famous for the recently restored ‘Italianate’ formal gardens laid out in 1840 by Sir Charles Barry. It was a great place for us teenagers to go as it had a ballroom and often held dances, I have seen and danced to some now very famous groups and bands there over the years.
One big attraction is all the shops that are set up outside the entrance just after you leave the car park areas, all are located in wooden chalet type buildings and are a shoppers paradise with lots of variation, there is even one that is full of posh accoutrements and accessories for little doggies such as Annie.
This picture was taken on the way back so is alittle dark
The other nice thing is that the place is doggie friendly with lots of outside café type seating and they are also allowed on a lead within the park itself. We started our walk from the ample free car parking area and strolled to the entrance via the shops and it was at which point Annie decided to show me up by stopping and doing a Poo. Fortunately I always have a poop scoop and bag handy and quickly cleared it up whilst one handed trying to juggle an excited little dog, hold onto my leather gloves which I had to remove, plus a rucksack and my camera.
I suppose I can forgive her initial excitement as she was quite well behaved for the rest of the day. I decided not to risk another incident such as her doing a wee while waiting in the queue for an entrance ticket by picking her up and carrying her through the turnstiles. I tend to object in having to pay just for taking a dog for a walk, but it was ages since I had been there and there was not much else to do, so it was a case of handing over my £5.50 (concession rate) and to cross over the bridge spanning the river Trent and into the park itself.
It was around 1 p.m. by this time and the sun was quite low, but very bright and it gave you that feel good factor that maybe Winter would not be so bad and Spring would quickly return again. There was little to see in the woodlands that flank the lake as the trees were still bare and the lake and river looked very cold, no skinny dipping today then, even little Annie declined to chance of a swim.
It was busier than I expected and there were lots of people with their dogs or families with young children, I think the sunshine had brought everyone out, There was little to see in the way of wildlife other than this cheeky little Robin that claimed every high spot it could find in order to solicit some food.
Several very healthy Swans resided on the lake and looked in fine fettle for the up and coming breeding season.
There is a lovely little miniature railway that runs down one side of the lake, it was not working that day, but I am certain it does still run, it even has it’s own little station and turntable for the train. Now there’s a thought! Would Annie like a ride on a train?
It was round about here that I spotted my first Fairy, sitting on a bench as brazen as you like and taking in the sunshine. I looked around and as I could see no one else I decided to ignore her because everyone knows that they never show themselves to more than one person at a time, that way you can never prove that they exist, although I did get a sneaky picture.
There are quite a few Wicker features dotted around the lake and the woodlands and this rather large Robin would have scared the daylights out of the other one I saw earlier.
As you near the bottom of the lake it is possible to view a large statue erected in the woodlands, unfortunately the sun was shining into my camera lens and the low lying mist did not help, so this is a poor image.
It represents the 1st Duke of Sutherland who once owned the land and it sits on a plain column of stone on a tiered pedestal. The 1st Duke's family name was Leveson-Gower and Trentham Hall was their ancestral home along with three other mansions and over a million acres of land, so they were hardly poor.
Set into the base of the column erected in 1834 is a weather-worn inscription that I am sure he must have written himself and it reads:
"In lasting memorial of-George Granville-Duke of Sutherland Marquess of Stafford KG-An upright and patriotic nobleman-a judicious kind and liberal landlord-who identified the improvement of his vast estates-with the prosperity of all who cultivated them-a public yet unostentatious benefactor-who while he provided useful employment-for the active labourer-opened wide his hand to the distresses-of the widow the sick and the traveller-a mourning and grateful tenantry-uniting with the inhabitants of the neighbourhood-erected this pillar-AD MDCCCXXXIV (1834)"
I should also add here that it was this same 1st Duke of Sutherland who was responsible for a lot of the ‘Highland Clearances’ in Scotland and so I doubt if he would be so well thought of North of the border.
Suddenly Annie ran towards the water and there it was, bold as brass, another Fairy filling up a watering can.
To be continued: ‘Otters & Monkeys’
On Sunday we visited the Woodland Fairies, yes no joke, today there were Fairies in the woods.
It all started out as normal, the day was very bright and sunny, but very cold, I looked at little Annie sitting on her chair next to me on my PC and said “You look as fed up as me! Lets go out for a walk”. I had not had any breakfast or lunch so quickly hard boiled a couple of free range eggs and made up a small flask of coffee, some biscuits and water for Annie and we were ready for the off.
I decided that we would go and take a look at the gardens at Trentham Park even though at this time of the year there would be little to see. The history of the hall goes back a long way and it would take me ages to recount, so for anyone interested here is a Wiki link that will give you all the background to the park:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trentham_Gardens
You will see in the Wiki link that this site was chosen to be the location of one of Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Woodlands in which several new woodlands will be planted in the UK to celebrate her Jubilee year. As an aside it was in one of these Jubilee Woodlands that I paid to have an Oak tree planted and dedicated to my late wife Anne’s memory, so it holds a special significance to me.
It has had some extensive investment over the last decade or more and is once again a major attraction in the area after falling into decay and finally being owned by the old National Coal Board. I remember going there with my parents when I was a child and seeing my dad and his brother taking a swim in the lake in their knitted woolly swimsuits, we kids just paddled and skinny dipped. As you may read, the park was laid out as a Serpentine Park in 1758 by ‘Capability’ Brown who overlaid an earlier plan by Charles Bridgeman. Today it is more famous for the recently restored ‘Italianate’ formal gardens laid out in 1840 by Sir Charles Barry. It was a great place for us teenagers to go as it had a ballroom and often held dances, I have seen and danced to some now very famous groups and bands there over the years.
One big attraction is all the shops that are set up outside the entrance just after you leave the car park areas, all are located in wooden chalet type buildings and are a shoppers paradise with lots of variation, there is even one that is full of posh accoutrements and accessories for little doggies such as Annie.
This picture was taken on the way back so is alittle dark
The other nice thing is that the place is doggie friendly with lots of outside café type seating and they are also allowed on a lead within the park itself. We started our walk from the ample free car parking area and strolled to the entrance via the shops and it was at which point Annie decided to show me up by stopping and doing a Poo. Fortunately I always have a poop scoop and bag handy and quickly cleared it up whilst one handed trying to juggle an excited little dog, hold onto my leather gloves which I had to remove, plus a rucksack and my camera.
I suppose I can forgive her initial excitement as she was quite well behaved for the rest of the day. I decided not to risk another incident such as her doing a wee while waiting in the queue for an entrance ticket by picking her up and carrying her through the turnstiles. I tend to object in having to pay just for taking a dog for a walk, but it was ages since I had been there and there was not much else to do, so it was a case of handing over my £5.50 (concession rate) and to cross over the bridge spanning the river Trent and into the park itself.
It was around 1 p.m. by this time and the sun was quite low, but very bright and it gave you that feel good factor that maybe Winter would not be so bad and Spring would quickly return again. There was little to see in the woodlands that flank the lake as the trees were still bare and the lake and river looked very cold, no skinny dipping today then, even little Annie declined to chance of a swim.
It was busier than I expected and there were lots of people with their dogs or families with young children, I think the sunshine had brought everyone out, There was little to see in the way of wildlife other than this cheeky little Robin that claimed every high spot it could find in order to solicit some food.
Several very healthy Swans resided on the lake and looked in fine fettle for the up and coming breeding season.
There is a lovely little miniature railway that runs down one side of the lake, it was not working that day, but I am certain it does still run, it even has it’s own little station and turntable for the train. Now there’s a thought! Would Annie like a ride on a train?
It was round about here that I spotted my first Fairy, sitting on a bench as brazen as you like and taking in the sunshine. I looked around and as I could see no one else I decided to ignore her because everyone knows that they never show themselves to more than one person at a time, that way you can never prove that they exist, although I did get a sneaky picture.
There are quite a few Wicker features dotted around the lake and the woodlands and this rather large Robin would have scared the daylights out of the other one I saw earlier.
As you near the bottom of the lake it is possible to view a large statue erected in the woodlands, unfortunately the sun was shining into my camera lens and the low lying mist did not help, so this is a poor image.
It represents the 1st Duke of Sutherland who once owned the land and it sits on a plain column of stone on a tiered pedestal. The 1st Duke's family name was Leveson-Gower and Trentham Hall was their ancestral home along with three other mansions and over a million acres of land, so they were hardly poor.
Set into the base of the column erected in 1834 is a weather-worn inscription that I am sure he must have written himself and it reads:
"In lasting memorial of-George Granville-Duke of Sutherland Marquess of Stafford KG-An upright and patriotic nobleman-a judicious kind and liberal landlord-who identified the improvement of his vast estates-with the prosperity of all who cultivated them-a public yet unostentatious benefactor-who while he provided useful employment-for the active labourer-opened wide his hand to the distresses-of the widow the sick and the traveller-a mourning and grateful tenantry-uniting with the inhabitants of the neighbourhood-erected this pillar-AD MDCCCXXXIV (1834)"
I should also add here that it was this same 1st Duke of Sutherland who was responsible for a lot of the ‘Highland Clearances’ in Scotland and so I doubt if he would be so well thought of North of the border.
Suddenly Annie ran towards the water and there it was, bold as brass, another Fairy filling up a watering can.
To be continued: ‘Otters & Monkeys’
! Lovely photos and when I read the Wiki entry it indicated there were Barbary Macacques there 
Niceeeeeeee!
