One of the hottest May weekends ever, Battleaxe understands. Have had a quietish time since we got back from Morecambe. With the exception of one very wet day on Tuesday, when I was supposed to be going on a WI outing to the excellent Friary Gardens, it has been getting gradually hotter all week. And now it is half-term and bank holiday weekend as well. A hot bank holiday is a certain recipe for staying away from the Old Town. So, instead, we went for some country walks, including a lovely outing to Winchelsea, to see if there were any signs of life in the heronry along the canal. Here’s Battleaxe amid roses in the middle of Winchelsea… roses are fabulous this year.
Before setting off, we had coffee in the Winchelsea Farm Kitchen, which has been through various incarnations over the years but now seems to be a cafe/tearoom. It looks promising, with quite a good menu.
The countryside is looking exceptional just now, so rich, green and fresh, and the Heronry walk is always one of our favourites, down a long lane leading out of the town (or village), lined with wonderful old trees, down through an archway, across a flat patch of marshy land back to civilisation along the Royal Military Canal, and up the hill to Winchelsea again. Have written about it loads of times.
This year, the herons were barely visible because of the unusually thick and rapid growth of foliage around their nests – you can usually pick out the bare platforms of branches quite easily – but we did finally spot them. One of these photos is a bit like ‘Where’s Wally’. You can find the herons if you zoom it up! Of course, functioning heronries are quite rare these days. This one survives because it is so inaccessible. Funny – I just googled up ‘Winchelsea Heronry’ and found this very informative post – turns out it was Hastings Battleaxe from 2015!
We also heard a cuckoo – rare these days.
What else has Battleaxe been doing? On Wednesday we went to a big birthday party for one of our friends, held in the Albion pub. The birthday celebrant had booked singers, and Battleaxe was most struck by local blues singer Sister Suzie – she has a great voice, obviously loves performing and has a substantial stage presence to go with it .
Perhaps I’ll book her for my next very big birthday. It won’t be until 2029 though. I guess I can’t go back to Fairlight Hall again, like last time…
What else? Some things I was supposed to have done have fallen apart – ill friends etc. One poor chap has got shingles…
Have been catching up on some writing. Novel number three ‘Death is a Dog’s Dinner’ is proving more difficult than I initially thought. The first murder is discovered in the first paragraph, and have now got to Chapter 6 with no more heart-stopping dramas. So I am having to boot the action up several gears by introducing another murder – quickly… Quick action is made harder by the fact that Olga has now got a baby, and Caroline is living with… well, if you don’t know by now you’d better get on and read Novel 2. Ooh look, here’s the link – haven’t bothered with this for weeks!
- Am I going to write about the horrors of East Sussex County Council ending up with a Reform administration? No, don’t worry, I am not. I trust the reality of trying to run a local authority with no money might shut the wretched creatures up. So, here is our Wisteria. This photo was actually taken a couple of weeks ago because like the Winchelsea herons, this year’s blooms are a bit buried in foliage.
And finally, here is Digby looking daft. He doesn’t like the heat.
