There and Back

Storm Babet which hit Britain on 19th October, caused huge amounts of damage in Scotland and other parts of the UK including where I live in the Suffolk area. Most of it was water damage, as it dumped huge rainfalls in several places. Met Office figures show between Thursday and Saturday morning, 79mm fell in Charsfield, Suffolk. That's a little over three inches in two days. The rain was even heavier further north. In Angus and Aberdeenshire, in Scotland, some areas had 200mm of rain. The name Babet was selected by the Dutch weather agency KMNI - and was named after a woman who visited an open day at its headquarters and put her own name forward, with the additional reason "because I was born during a storm". When the weather abated a little, I recorded some pictures in our area. The view from the front of our bungalow showing how water encroached on our side of the river for the first time since we have been here - some 23 years. Luckily, the land slopes away from us as

We recently had a pleasant couple of nights in Lyndhurst in the New Forest, which allowed us to explore some wonderful woodland scenery and glorious trees, of many shapes and sizes. A general view of the forest with a carpet of autumnal leaves. Shapes of branches Patterns on trees - gnarled trunks Looking down, there were fungi to be seen. An important part of the life of these areas. Then there were other lives to be seen in the shape of ponies and piggies! Dotted about were remains of trees which sometimes make an interesting pattern.  Then, of course, you could try to hug a tree - but what a whopper to hug! All in all, we had a a wonderful time wandering in a couple of areas of the New Forest. I was a bit disappointed that we were not able to photograph the deer - even though we went to a recognized watching area. We did spot someone on the far side of the area who probably spooked them. But that's lady luck for you!  Home

On our break in the New Forest, we stayed in a great place called The Stag, in the centre of the town. It was just great `all round`. The food was good, the staff brilliant and the accommodation comfortable, clean and quiet. We would go back another time if in the area. We were amused by their preparations for Halloween which they appear to put a lot of effort into.  This fellow was positioned in the entry hall, so that he detected your presence and started to dance and play his guitar - brilliant! These two were in the restaurant / bar area along with numerous smaller objects dotted all around. Magic! We didn't have time to explore Lyndhurst itself, apart from me wandering one afternoon to see their spectacular church on a mound looking down on the town. I saw it in passing and obviously (for me) had to have a look. Situated at the top of the High Street, Lyndhurst Parish Church is dedicated to St. Michael and All Angels. For a village of modest size, it’s an incredibly imposing,