Merrivale Circle

We set out on 18th May to walk the Merrivale Circuit, a 6.5 mile walk that took us past some beautiful scenery and to another tor. If viewing in email, click the post title to click into the images and see them larger.

Thomas Hardy Cottage

That same afternoon (16 May) we had a tour of the Thomas Hardy cottage. It’s been decades since I read Far from the Madding Crowd and Tess of the d’Urbervilles and I scarcely remember them. The guide told us a lot about Hardy’s life and his family’s history in the area. I took a few pictures – click any of them to see them enlarged to full size.

Jane Austen House

The Jane Austen House was mere minutes away. There was a lot to see and a lot of information to read. Here are a few impressions. Click any image to see them all enlarged and captioned.

A Host of Golden Daffodils

West Street, Farnham

In New York, for the last several years, early Spring has been heralded by hordes of tulips (I don’t remember when this became a thing; it definitely wasn’t when I was growing up). In Farnham, it seems to be daffodils which, unlike NYC’s daffodils, are growing wild everywhere you look.

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

By William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

The Queen

This one’s for Endla who exhorted me before leaving NY to capture pictures relating to the recently deceased Elizabeth II’s interment. We arrived in time for the Friday preceding a bank holiday weekend declared to observe her burial. I confess I was surprised to see how widespread was the recognition of the event: in shop windows, publications, web sites – everywhere. The last picture shows a bit of her funeral someone was watching on TV on Monday the 19th of September.

Click any image to see them all full sized (you can’t do this if you’re seeing it in email – you must first click through to the web site).

Kylemore Abbey

Click any image to see them all enlarged (but not if you’re seeing this in an email – you have to click through to open in your browser).