Moo

I have never been a great cow fan, unlike Kym, but these beauties who were our closest neighbours last week changed my mind.

What Would You Have Done?

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Landmark Trust

Before that question can be answered I firstly need to set the scene.

When deciding where to stay for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone last week Canons Ashby quickly became top of the list.

It is a National Trust Property which also happens to contain a flat owned by Landmark Trust, for regular readers of this blog, that is the same organisation that owned Luttrell’s Tower which I blogged about our visit to here.  The main part of the flat itself is contained in the top two floors of the tower, with the kitchen and bathroom off to the left of the picture in the roof.  Getting to the flat involves entering through the door going up the main staircase, then a wonderful worn wooden spiral staircase.  Due to past neglect of the building the floors and doors and in fact everything in that part of the building is wonderfully squiffy, and just like Luttrell’s Tower we also had access to the roof of the tower and the stunning views that surrounded us on every side.

Not far from the house is all that remains of the Augustine Priory that once dominated the area, and is where the Canon part of Canons Ashby comes from.  The Church of St Mary is now only used once a month for Evensong and is also owned by the National Trust.

Like most National Trust Properties the house was set in wonderful gardens, with an orchard which is at the forefront of the first picture and neatly manicured lawns and topiary, regimented beds of summer annuals, with glorious borders of shrubs and herbs, and to the right of this picture the newly reinstated fern border.

So the scene is set so time to return to the question which titles this blog – What would you have done?

On our second evening these three facts stared us in the face.

The evening was warm and sunny.

We had sole private access to the gardens.

And we had only managed to have 4 of our 5 a day.

Now what would you have done?

Well what we did was make up a big jug of Pimms and Lemonade, filled it with fruit and headed for the garden to drink it in the evening sunshine.  Bliss!

Past And Present

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F1, Photography, The UK

One of the days of our holiday was spent at Silverstone where we revelled in classic cars giving us some fantastic racing. It was the kind of stuff that F1 has been failing to give for at least a couple of years now. As the classic cars from past years raced around the track, we were treated to the full joys of racing, cars overtaking each other, spins and burning rubber. On virtually every lap of every race there was overtaking which had us cheering the drivers on, or spins which had us urging them to get the car back out onto the track. It was true sport, people enjoying themselves out of love for the cars and the sport first and foremost.

We had a fantastic day and both left wondering why F1 was no longer as much fun – until today – the Hungarian Grand Prix just proved to us that F1 can still be fun. Give the cars a bit of rain so that the drivers have to slow down and race instead of engage auto pilot, and sheer enjoyment flowed. Okay, okay so I might be over simplifying it a bit but, lets be honest driving an F1 car today is as much about computers as fitness. Back in the days of the classics it was man and machine against the track and the elements – plain and simple. If a bit of rain, along with the uncertainty of whether or not there might be some more, is what it takes for F1 to regain some of its fun, then I for one will be doing a rain dance before the race in Istanbul in 3 weeks time!

The icing on this particular F1 cake?

The fact that Jensen finally got his well earned first F1 victory under his belt – well done Jensen – although I am sure you are too busy celebrating to be reading this!