Waxwing

Waxwing
"To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour."

From "Auguries of Innocence"

by William Blake

Monday 28 June 2010

Sunday 20th June - Calbourne Water Mill, Brighstone Village and Church, Chale Church

We went to Calbourne Water Mill and Rural Museum this morning. Although we've been to Winkle Street (pretty street with thatched cottages and a little stream - very Cotswoldy) in Calbourne before, we have never been to the Mill. It is the only working water mill on the Island today and also had a malthouse and bakery in the past. The Mill was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 and the water mill buildings today were built in 1664. The rural museum consists of a fire station, bakery, grandma's kitchen, war museum, Granfas shed, engine house and strawbale building. There is a short woodland walk to a viewpoint where you can see the Solent and you can also walk along the banks of a river.

The last 3 photos were taken by my son with a Fuji Finepix S304 digital camera - I hate to admit it but some of the photos he took during the holiday were a lot better than mine!

Don't forget you can click on the photos to make them larger.













































After lunch we went to the pretty village of Brighstone - lots of thatched cottages with roses growing up the wall and pretty cottage gardens and a village museum showing various aspects of life at the end of the nineteenth century.















Leaving everyone else enjoying icecreams I managed to squeeze in a quick visit to the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin.

Apparently three of the church's rectors became bishops and the Reverend William Fox in the 19th century spent a lot of time fossil hunting and he even has a dinosaur named after him.

The arches in the church are Norman and the font is believed to be 15th century. The pulpit is made of oak with many carvings and dates from the time of King James I.



























Later in the afternoon I walked a few yards from the house where we were staying to St Andrew's Church, Chale, parts of which date back to 1114. The tower was built in the fifteenth century and of the 6 church bells one was made in 1314 and one in 1628.

















We saw a pheasant in the garden today and blue and great tits have already found the peanuts we placed in an elderflower tree in the garden. Watched rabbits in the field next to the house tonight and also saw a fox - fascinating to watch the rabbits' behaviour and reaction to his appearance nearby.

2 comments:

The Quacks of Life said...

btw crop the dark bit when doing the glass ;)

Ragged Robin said...

Thanks so much for that tip, Pete. I will remember that in future. TBH I was horrified at how poor some of the stained glass windows photos were. As you so correctly said, they don't work using flash but some of them were so dark and only fit to be deleted without. Only the ones where the light outside was shining through were usable. Guess I have so much still to learn with the camera!!!!