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Visitors And A Visit

nariz

By nariz

20 comments


We recently had Partner’s parents over for a short visit, during which time we went for a ‘menu del dia’ in a little restuarant on the way to the cable car station which ends the road. There’s the station :


and there’s the cable car on it’s way up a further 3,000 ft.


As is typical in this part of Spain, any viable plot of earth is given over to veggies, so the casas are decorated with pelargoniums, petunias and anything else colourful that will grow happily in pots.


I then travelled back to Britain with them, but we went our separate ways on landing so I could visit with family in Essex.
As usual lots of lovely places to visit – and lots of lovely hanging baskets around:


A walk to Flatford Mill was a must, followed by coffee and cake in the little cafe and a wander around the Constable exhibits next door :


You can just see Flatford Mill through the trees. Wonderful scenery – no wonder Constable’s paintings were so famous. Just opposite the cafe was a new RSPB wildlife garden which is only a year old, but the bee and bird-friendly plants are already proving popular with the local wildlife.


The walk back to Dedham was punctuated by constant blackberry picking along the way (the blackberry ice-cream was gorgeous!) and luckily my legs and back held out until we reached a bench where I could sit while my daughter brought the car to me. Phew!

Next day we headed for the coast after a brief ramble through a small nature reserve:

“Sorry guys – got nothing for you.”
Walking from the car to the beach front through a lane offered the chance to pinch some seeds from this lavender-coloured spiked plant. Is it Veronica? I’m sure one of you will know.


This rock garden fell into disrepair after its original planting in the 1930s, but has now been resurrected and is a very colourful corner.

The beach was lovely – flat, clean and almost empty, so we did a little building to enhance the structures above:


What a lovely break I had!


Now I’m back amongst my mountains …. with a mountain of washing and ironing! Hope you enjoyed my rather long blog. Now, where are my secateurs …………?

More blog posts by nariz

Previous post: A Change From Mountains

Next post: Secret Beach Revisited - And Another Secret



Comments

 

Great blog ... glad you had such a good time ...
wonderful sign on the heap of grass !

3 Oct, 2012

 

llovely pics, glad you had a good time and the weather was kind - loved the sandcastle!

3 Oct, 2012

 

Great pictures in this blog Nariz. Really enjoyed it. Glad you had a lovely time. Love the window boxes in the Spanish pictures

3 Oct, 2012

 

Enjoyed your blog I love the way we both decorate our houses with flowers.

3 Oct, 2012

 

Good morning! That last photo is BEAUTIFUL, and what a lucky girl you are to have had sunshine in England as well as in Spain. Love Flatford Mill . . . I did a calligraphy course there many years ago and spent many minutes trying to work out where Constable painted his scenes :))

3 Oct, 2012

 

Beautiful - glad you had a lovely holiday and are now back home ready with your little secateurs.:O) Lovely pictures of a beautiful place. :O)

3 Oct, 2012

 

Great blog Nariz, the casas look really colourful with all the flowers, not sure I`d ever dare take a trip in that cable car although the views must be a wonderful sight to gaze upon.
Pleased you enjoyed your trips out, a big contrast between home and away but all lovely in their own way and of course the weather also behaving for you, makes all the difference.....

3 Oct, 2012

 

I really enjoyed that blog Nariz - what a beautiful part of the world you live in.
Also pleased that the weather held out for you whilst you were home visiting the family.
That beach certainly looks lovely and clean. Loving your sandcastles - isnt it fun to do. That last picture is beautiful!
Thank you for sharing your trips with us :)

3 Oct, 2012

 

Great blog, Nariz. :-)) Those hanging baskets are really gorgeous! I still remember them from my years in Spain! Shame there won't be any around in November!

Glad you enjoyed your break at the seaside! It looks sooo empty! Your sandcastle sculpture I suppose took you back "a few days" in time!

3 Oct, 2012

 

Ah! I so enjoyed that, Nariz. Spain was the favourite bit for me...but, I'm biased. Everything else looked wonderful...but not as much as your mountains...

Glad you had such a good trip away...and I'll bet that you're just as glad to be home...

Btw...are there any empty houses in your area?? :)

3 Oct, 2012

 

Thanks for your lovely comments guys! I have to say, the patch of decent weather in Britain did play a big part in my enjoyment! As did my grandchildren who helped me with the sandcastle. ;o) You're right, Balcony - took me back in time - a little more than a 'few days' though!

Sheila: It's amazing that the area has changed so little since Constable put brush to canvas. You can still look at Flatford Mill and 'see' his paintings!

Karen: 'empty houses' abound in this region ... if you've got the patience to wait for a large family of inheritors to make up their minds what they're going to do with the pile they've inherited, and the resources to resurrect a livable habitat from the rubble that ensues while they're procrastinating! Apart from that, there are the areas where building took place during the 'boom' which are now almost derelict because they're in the wrong places; ie: houses but no jobs - or jobs but no nearby houses!

Thanks again everyone, glad you enjoyed my photos.

4 Oct, 2012

 

LOL...always tried to hide my grass heaps! Now I have a better idea...just post a sign! brilliant!
Wow...the cable car...and the pots...looks like veronica but had to get out my magnifying glass! my eyes can't see detail like they used to! Wondeful blog, Nariz.

4 Oct, 2012

 

Wonderful scenery, especially Flatford Mill. I've always wanted to see it but will have to rely on photos now.
I'm pleased you enjoyed :o)

4 Oct, 2012

 

Thanks Lori and Hywel. :o)

5 Oct, 2012

 

Oh, Nariz...I love it here, but every time we go to the Basque Lands I don't want to come home...

We have the same inheritance problems here. A law of "majority" was passed, recently...but, if there are an even number of inheritors and the decision is evenly split...it doesn't work!
Consequently, we have whole villages falling into delapidation...and the young locals don't want to renovate ancient, falling-down ruins, because, when they eventually get them, they're too far gone.

We've even got woods which no-one can get to...they've been split so many times!!

5 Oct, 2012

 

It saddens me so much to see some of the wonderful old buildings here, particularly the large casonas, just crumbling into dust bearing ancient washed-out 'Se Vende' signs and knowing that they're never going to attain their once-glorious facades again. I've just returned from a trip to Britain and seen cottages that are hundreds of years old still being used as tea-rooms, museums, etc. If only ............ :o(

6 Oct, 2012

 

Ah bet the views from that cable car are spectacular. Went on a "tramway" as they called it in Canada and also went to the summit of La Mottorone in Italy on one. Certainly hair raising but the alternative is to walk for hours or miss out altogether :-) Pleased you had good weather for your trip to the UK.

7 Oct, 2012

 

The views from the cable car ARE magnificent - troubling for some ..... like Partner, who stood in the middle of the car looking at the floor the whole way up on our first trip. He's braver now but still only looks upwards! ;o)

8 Oct, 2012

 

One of The best picture I have seen here GOY:-)))

16 Nov, 2012

 

Thank you Junna. :o)

17 Nov, 2012

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