Today 31st October

This is my Cotinus (Smoke Bush) today

This is the same bush last year without the Summer storm damage

This is the Autumn bouquet of flowers sent to me from Janie as a thank you gift

She also sent chocolates

Would you believe the supplier delivered both in the same box

Water spilling out from the flowers saturated the box

No names mentioned but this is one of our most well known companys

And this is the tool set that Alan won

Do you think he will be doing more jobs now

We'll see!

Don't miss my previous post on St. Albans

Walking in St. Albans - and the Cathedral

Another walk if you would like to join me

We arrive at Janie's on Saturday
And enjoy the Autumn colours as we wake up the next morning


Come Sunday afternoon it is time for a walk around town
Here be begin in the market place


and walk down George Street


And on to Fishpool Street



Aah! First sight of the Cathedral to the left
but we have much walking to do before we finish up there

A pretty Winter flower pot

We have now arrived in the park


Mallard Duck's nesting


A Roman coffin


Past Ye Olde Fighting Cocks which is said to be the oldest Pub in England

This is an 11th century structure on an 8th century Inn site

The current octaganol structure was originally a medieval dovecote

If you can read this you will see that Oliver Cromwell was reputed to have stayed here

for one night during the civil war, stabling his horse in what is now thought

to be the bar area

The underground tunnels of the Inn provided useful boltholes in troubled times







The view from the outside tables






We will walk up towards the Cathedral a different way





http://www.stalbanscathedral.org.uk/index1.htm

St. Alban whom the town was named after lived at some time during the
3rd century
in the then Roman city of Verulamium (there is a museum charting the history of the town).
Although he was a worshipper of Roman Gods inluding the Emperor,
he gave shelter to a Christian Priest fleeing from persecution.
Influenced by the Priest's prayer and teaching he became a Christian.



He was eventually executed for his faith by having his head cut off.
The above link will give you lots more history of this man and the Cathedral

The Venerable Bede tells us:
"When the peace of Christian times was restored a beautiful church,
worthy of his martyrdom was built, where sick folk are healed
and frequest miracles take place to this day" About 760 AD
































I guess it is now time for tea

And now we will makeour way home

Hope you enjoyed the walk with us

At Ashridge Estate I meet a Blogging Friend

Hi! Everyone, I am back and I am glad you came over. Thank you so much for all the comments this last week while I have been away. I will be getting back to you in due course.
I never know whether to continue with the subjects I was posting before going away or the many new ones I have planned while away.
I think this time I didn’t even need to think about that as you will see.

While at my daughter Janie’s (From under the Maple) we visited Ashridge Estate. This magnificent varied estate runs across the borders of Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire along the edge of the Chiltern Hills. There are some 5,000 acres of woodlands, commons, and chalk downland supporting a rich variety of wild life and offering splendid walks through outstanding scenery.

Now here is the surprise

Barbara and Linds from Rocking Chair Reflections

How cool is that!

The Monument




We begin our walk to the bottom and it was really steep as we got further down

Linds home is approximately 90 miles from mine but probably only about 55 miles from Janie’s. Knowing that Ashridge was somewhere between the 2 I asked Linds if she would like to meet up.
Her immediate response was, “Meeting up would be fun”.
We already had in common the fact that we both went to sea with our husbands, so here we are together at Ashridge.

We planned to meet at the visitors centre tearoom so as the weather was good Alan and I were sitting at an outside table when I looked up and saw Linds in the distance walking towards us. I knew it was her immediately and waved, as she did me.
Although we have never met before it felt like we already knew each other.
The place we met was on a high ridge in the parkland so after a quick lunch we walked a very steep path through the woods, down to a pretty village, Aldbury, at the bottom.

The old village stocks

Every village has it's historical Parish church

Yes that is the top of the ridge over there

We walked around Aldbury taking photographs and chatting non-stop like we had done from the very beginning. It was interesting to see just how much we had in common.
So thank you Lindsey for agreeing to come, it was a pleasure to meet you and such a special thing to meet a fellow blogger.
It was even worth the fact that we had to do a 20 mile detour on the way there due to a road closure.

Alan hanging around while we take photos

Alan and Lindsey had plenty to chat about too, reminiscing on life at sea

We are on our way back through the woods now and it is amazing the different colour spectrum in such a short time

Something else we have in common

If you go to Linds blog you will think I am lying

She has Autumn decorations done by her sister who lives in Switzerland

I certainly have not seen this before in the UK but I did say I could see it coming