Dining al fresco with Marco

April's weather has been wonderful this year, which has meant the garden looks good and we've been able to use our garden furniture regularly (as compared to last year when we were hardly able to use it at all).

We've also been treating ourselves to a new barbecue; a futuristic Marco Grill (so called because it's endorsed by Marco Pierre White) - not the cheapest but it looks the business with the added advantage being that it's portable so we can chuck it in the car if we're going out for the day. All that's for the summer, but today was another warm and sunny spring day so we could give it a try in the garden.

As is the norm, I'm officially the barbecue chef, and after a little teething trouble getting it to light we were soon up and running. As the picture shows though, we weren't the only ones anticipating a feast, Erin had assumed the table was set for her and was waiting patiently for something tasty to come her way...

Sunny return to Cuerden Valley

It may have been Royal wedding day, but the sun was set to shine again so it seemed a waste to spend the day indoors. With the ceremony taking place early in the day we did catch the key moments over an early lunch, but for the afternoon we'd planned a walk in the sunshine with a return to Cuerden Valley Park, this time with Jean and Kevan.

There were plenty of people out enjoying the glorious spring weather and it was amazing to see the difference in the trees and landscape a few short weeks had made since our last visit.






Jean and Kevan hadn't been here before so we followed a similar route to our last visit to show them round. The cafe wasn't open when we last came here so we were keen to try it out, however even though it was a bank holiday the place was shut. Not to be downhearted, we made our way down to the main picnic area where a man was doing a roaring trade selling ice cream from one of those old-fashioned bikes with an ice box on the front.


Suitably refreshed, we then visited the lake before heading back towards the car through the woods, with bluebells again out in force.

On reaching the car park, we noticed the signs pointed out an extension to the walk in the opposite direction to Lower Kem Mill, an old printing and dyeing mill on the River Lostock. The walk there was a little further than the maps suggested, at least as far as walking to the lake from the car park initially, and once there the site was just ruins, most of the mill having long gone.





The mill was built in the 1700s and operated on a grand scale for such a rural spot, drawing water from the river to run the machinery. However a serious fire in 1914 put the mill out of action, and the land was sold back to local farmers and the stonework was soon used in other buildings. Now all that's left is some interesting information boards explaining how the printing and dyeing processes worked here.

All that was left was to retrace our steps back to the car. In total we'd probably covered about 4 miles, a reasonable walk on a warm day, and we were all ready for a evening meal at the nearby Hoghton Arms.

Rolling around and being dirty in the sunshine

The warm weather has meant the garden's looking good and we've been able to spend plenty of time out enjoying it with plenty al fresco dining in the evenings and weekends.













Erin has also been enjoying the garden with us, although she prefers the shade underneath the plants and the coolness of the soil, taking this to extremes by rolling around on it and getting filthy in the process. Not good for a supposedly white cat!

Leaving Erin behind, we spent the afternoon enjoying a family meal at Jean and Kevan's, taking time to enjoy their garden too first. The spring flowers were all out in force, including a vivid red azalea that became a suitable photography subject for us all.

With plenty of sun to get us in the mood for our upcoming holiday (to Ibiza in a couple of weeks) and Jean's excellent food as usual, it was an enjoyable way to spend an Easter Sunday afternoon.

Finding bluebell woods

The long fine and sunny spell recently seems to be lasting into the Easter weekend, so with an opportunity for a walk in the sunshine the plan was to find some bluebell woods.

One idea was to take a look at Dinckley, a picturesque spot up by the Ribble not far from Whalley. But on a sunny bank holiday weekend a more practical option would be to find somewhere closer so that we could get tea ready when we got back.

















Working on a tip-off, we set off to find a beautiful but difficult to access small wood along the Lancaster Canal, which, we were told was covered in bluebells. We reached the canal towpath enjoying the outdoors, but the walk to the woods was a little further than we'd expected. Even so it was worth the extra effort, as the bluebells were out in their millions creating a carpet of colour beneath the bright sunlight and dark shadows of the trees.

There was time for a number of photos of the woods, where I looked to emphasise the light and dark as well as the flowers, and also some portrait shots too. Eventually rumbling tummys meant it was time to head back for a nice family meal - a great way to spend a bank holiday!

Corporate photography

When people know you've a decent camera and half an idea of how to use it, you sometimes get asked to do some odd things, and so today I found myself wandering round the sides of a meeting room taking pictures whilst a meeting was in progress.

It all came about following work on an internal website, where some pictures of the management team were required. But rather than the stuffy formal portrait shots you'd normally expect, nowadays the approved photographic style has to be more relaxed, with natural lighting and plain backgrounds, and the subjects not looking directly at the camera whilst 'at work'.

The lighting wasn't ideal but my better efforts all met the standards and should be used soon, unfortunately confidentiality rules mean it's wisest not to publish them here.

Lancaster's historic centre

Being in Lancaster for the weekend was an opportunity to look for some history amongst the architecture of this old city.

It's easy to find plenty of examples of the town's Georgian past, when its status as a busy port (the third biggest in the country behind London and Bristol) made the town one of the wealthiest places in the country, but there's also evidence of the town's earlier history.

The Duchy of Lancaster, is one of only two royal duchies in England, providing a direct income for the reigning monarch. The Dukedom was created in 1351 when the county was made a palatine, and the encombent landowner, Henry of Grosmont was made Duke.

When Henry died in 1362, a charter conferred the title on his son-in-law, John of Gaunt, a son of Edward III, and thereafter to his male heir. Even now there are clues around the town pointing to this period of history in the form of several pub signs.

Parts of the castle are even older, dating back to the Normal period, but its most notable time was in the early 1600s, when it was the focal point for the Lancashire Witch trials. By the 19th century, Lancaster was known as the 'hanging town' due to the high number of executions held outside the castle walls.





Lancaster's period of prosperity was during the Georgian era, when the town was the country's third biggest port, with ocean-going ships bringing highly prized cargoes right into the heart of the town thanks to the deep river Lune. The wealth created during this period in history is evident all over the city centre, as many historic buildings date from this time.







This wealthy spell was relatively short-lived though, as the currents in the river were changing and soon the river began to silt up, meaning the town's port activities had to relocate downstream, to Glasson Dock and Sunderland Point.

My early morning walk around the city centre concluded with a stroll along the riverside, on a cycle path on the route of a former railway line. At Great Ayre, an old crane used to offload the railway trucks now sits amongst the daffodils as another echo of the town's historical past.

What have the Romans done for Lancaster?

The aquaduct? sanitation? roads? irrigation? medicine? education? health?...

Monty Python's explanation of what the Romans brought to the world has more than a grain of truth, although in Lancaster's case the Aquaduct over the Lune took a further 1700 years or so. But the Romans were back in town on Saturday, which came as quite a surprise to us as they marched past Next just as we were walking through the doorway.

It takes a lot to put Carole off her shopping, but it was a perfect excuse for me to leave her to it and see what was going on. The procession had made its way to the city museum in Market Square where they recreated the Roman Armilustrium ceremony in honour of the god Mars.

There was a sizable crowd watching the soldiers and dancers, while the "Emperor" decked in his purple robes had the prime spot.

The group, Roman Tours UK, regularly visit old Roman towns and cities such as Chester and York, and the Romans (and some celts and other tribesmen too) put on a cheery spectacle for the Lancaster crowd on a bright and cheery spring day, a colourful and welcome sight after a cold winter.

A surprise weekend away

Our plans for this weekend (which had amounted to nothing much) suddenly changed last week when checking the what's on guide in the local paper. We noticed that the Dukes Theatre in Lancaster were currently staging a production of The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, and what started as a simple suggestion to drive over for the afternoon, have a bite to eat and enjoy the show suddenly turned into a weekend away with two nights in a nice hotel, the matinee performance, plus some shopping and a couple of meals in decent restaurants.

Taking the train straight from work, we arrived in Lancaster by around 6pm, giving us plenty of time to settle in to our city centre hotel, catch our bearings and find a decent place to eat. We settled on a traditional Italian restaurant round the corner from our hotel and enjoyed some excellent food in an ambient surroundings - fortunate apparently because the students had all finished for Easter otherwise the place would have been packed.


Back at the hotel, we enjoyed a couple of drinks in the busy ground floor bar before heading up to our room, which was comfortable and quiet despite being right in the city centre. The accommodation has been recently modernised making for a pleasant stay, even though the hotel's history goes back to the 1600s (the Sun was a popular hotel / pub name after Cromwell's failed republic at the end of the 17th century).

Plans for Saturday include a leisurely breakfast and some shopping in the morning before the theatre in the afternoon, and with the weather set to be fine, I hoped to take some time out to take some pictures of the historical city centre too.

Mother's Day comes late this year

After last year when we'd booked a weekend away on the same weekend as Mother's Day, so had to bring our annual spoiling of our mums forward a week, this year Mother's Day is about as late as it can be and virtually a month later than last year.


The weather isn't yet warm enough to be outside for any length of time, but the garden's looking much better and our forsythia made for a bright background for more photos. In between the showers, there was a chance for more photos in the conservatory, with the diffused light really helping.


Our cooking efforts were shared this time - Carole cooking a roast chicken dinner with me in charge of my special recipe bread & butter pudding, all of which went down extremely well for another enjoyable Mother's Day afternoon.

Celebrating a sapphire anniversary

It doesn't seem all that long ago that Carole's Mum and Dad celebrated their ruby wedding anniversary, but it must have been five years ago as this year they were celebrating their sapphire aniversary!

We joined them in the afternoon, and after opening gifts and the obligatory photo session we enjoyed a nice meal in a nearby gastro-pub, which was very nice if a little rowdy due to the football match being screened in the room next door.

Afterwards we returned to their house for a slice of Carole's special anniversary cake and plenty of good chat to round off a very pleasant day - here's to the next 45 years!