Tatton Park Gardens

It being officially Spring this weekend and with snow forecast for Sunday

thought it might be nice looking back on a visit to Tatton Park in Cheshire

We visited on our way home from our trip to Liverpool where I was born

Had a wonderful visit but got caught up in a nasty 3 hour traffic hold up on the motorway later in the day, it was late Friday afternoon

It was so bad when we reached the M25 London Orbital

that we decided to go and spend some time in the service station hoping that later the traffic would ease

We had been in the service station for 5 minutes when there was a complete power failure

So with no refreshment of any kind and no light there was nothing for it but to get back on the road along with just about everybody else who did not want to sit in the dark surrounded by strangers

What happened to the days when one could just have handed over money for purchases and not worry about any change if the tills were down

In the modern days of computerised everything this is just not possible

Tatton Park is an award winning estate with a neo-classical mansion, gardens, working farm and deer park

We only had time to visit the gardens and mansion

I did not take photos of the mansion because they were in the middle of extensive renovations and the signs and scaffolding did not look too pretty

The theme of Victorian grandeur extends from the house into the garden, with its Fernery, Orangery, Rose garden, Tower garden, Pinetum and Italian and Japanese gardens.

Our time of visit was May so the Azaleas and Rhodedandrums were blooming

Mother Shipton's Prophecy

I was looking through some of my files recently and came across this remarkable prophecy that I had not read in some time. I thought there may be folk out there who had not heard of her so thought it worth posting. She lived in a cave in Yorkshire and as so often happens this place has now become a tourist centre. http://www.mothershiptonscave.com/main.htm




One of the most remarkable characters of history was a woman known as “Mother Shipton”. She lived in England over 500 years ago and was a very keen, and discerning student of the prophecies of the Bible. From her studies of the Scriptures, she saw what was going to take place in the Twentieth Century or in the Latter days, and wrote it in the form of a poem. This is as it was originally written.




Mother Shipton’s Prophecy
A.D. 1449

And now a word, in uncouth rhyme
Of what shall be in future time
For, in those wondrous far off days,
The women shall adopt a craze
To dress like men and trousers wear
And cut off all their locks of hair.

They’ll ride astride with brazen brow,
As witches do, on broom sticks now;
Then love shall die, and marriage cease
And nations wane as babes decrease’
Then wives shall fondle cats and dogs
And men shall live much the same as hogs.

A carriage without horse shall go,
Disaster fill the world with woe;
In London, Primrose Hill shall be’
Its centre hold a Bishop’s See,
Around the world men’s thoughts shall fly
Quick as the twinkling of an eye.

And waters shall great wonders do-
How strange, and yet is shall come true.
Then upside down the world shall be,
And gold found at the root of tree.
Through towering hills proud men shall ride,
No horse or mule move by his side.

Beneath the water men shall walk.
Shall ride, shall sleep, and even talk;
And in the air men shall be seen,
In white, in black, as well as green.
A great man then shall come and go,
For prophecy declares it so.

In water iron then shall float,
As easy as a wooden boat.
Gold shall be found in streams and stone
In land that is as yet unknown.
Water and fire shall wonders do, (steam)
And England shall admit a Jew.

The Jew that once was held in scorn
Shall of a Christian then be born.
A hearse of glass shall come to pass, (Crystal Palace)
In England – but, alas! alas!
A war will follow with the work
Where dwells the pagan and the Turk.

The states will lock in fiercest strife,
And seek to take each others life;
When North shall thus divide the South,
The eagle builds in lion’s mouth.
Then tax and blood and cruel war
Shall come to every humble door.

Then, when the fiercest fight is done,
England and France shall be as one,
The British olive next shall twine
In marriage with the German vine.
Men shall walk beneath and over streams-
Fulfilled shall be our strangest dreams.

All England’s sons that plough the land
Shall oft be seen with book in hand
The poor shall now great wisdom know.
Great houses stand in far flung vale
All covered o’er with snow and hail.

In nineteen hundred twenty-six
Build houses light of straw and sticks.
For then shall mighty wars be planned.
When pictures seen alive with movements free,
When boats like fishes swim beneath the sea,
When men like birds shall scour the sky;
Then half this world, deep drenched in blood shall die.

But those who live to see (all this) through,
In fear and trembling this will do;
Flee to the mountains and the dens,
To bog and forest and wild fens
For storms will rage and oceans roar,
When Gabriel stands on sea and shore.
And as he blows his wondrous horn
Old worlds shall die and new be born.


Mother Shipton did not have the words for things not yet invented but she certainly saw them

March Ramblings

The seagulls come inland and dance for me

One never knows what is going to happen next in this world of blogging
My dear blogging friend Sara from California sent this book to me
She ordered it at Amazon UK from California and had it sent direct to me
here in England
If you want to read about this book check the link as Sara has written about it on her blog
Thank you so much Sara



I have just started reading the above book
I love to read anything about Tuscany and Provence
Even though one is Italy and once is France there are many similarities I think


Let's have a look out of the window and see some colour developing

You may remember I showed a vase of roses that my daughter Jane had delivered to me on Mother's Day

The bouquet was surrounded with tight budded lillies that just looked like green stalks

When the roses drooped I was left with this pretty display

Well nobody managed to guess which were the 2 door photos that were not taken in England

Here are the answers

This little chapel is a memorial chapel on the edge of one of the Swiss lakes

It is for a famous person but as it was taken in 1961 I cannot remember who it was

This door is the barn door at our friends farm in South West France

The other half of the barn was converted into a Gite

The farmhouse is to the left

I plan to post on it one day




For those wondering, I am aware that I have not posted on My Story for a while

I do intend to finish it but have found it difficult to get on with it recently

I'm waiting for inspiration

Have a nice weekend everyone

Doors of the World

Elizabeth of The House in Marrakesh invited me to take part in a post on doors for

Wednesday 12th March

Frank from My Paintbox has arranged this along with Elizabeth

If you go to his blog then you will see the links to all the bloggers that have taken part in this fun post

Initially I did not think that I had taken photos of many doors

I looked in some of my photos that I have on my computer and realised that many of the photos have doors in the picture

So I cropped doors out of some of my pictures and agreed to take part

You see them here loaded randomly

All are taken in England except 2, one of which is in Switzerland and the other in France

Anyone fancy trying to figure out which two photos they are?