Please put these dates in your diaries- it will be great to see you there.
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The Church of St Andrew at Aysgarth in the Yorkshire Dales is a suitably grand and interesting place, with a hint of its location’s natural beauty and God-given grandeur. Although much has been rebuilt, the tower is solidly medieval and some of the internal features were relocated here from Jervaulx Abbey at the time of Reformation.
Daffodils are a welcome harbinger of spring. At this time of year, however, many are looking tired, their vitality spent, the petals fallen or browning. Yet this is something that should give us equal pleasure. If the blooming daf reminds us that spring is here, how much more the dying daf that summer is soon?
Between my arrival on the Tube and the time at which I could appear at my guesthouse, I called at St Mary’s Church at Islington, Middlesex. Before entering some significant church, I do little research; I like to identify its main features myself and read up about them afterwards.
I found some rather pleasant cowslips growing on London’s Hampstead Heath. Its bright yellow flowers cheer the walker and provide a contrast with a parkland’s ubiquitous green. Its name likely comes from the cruder expression for cow dung, and it has sometimes been called cowslop. It grows well in pastureland, especially those parts in receipt of cattle’s bowel movements.
Fruit tea: doesn’t it sound nice? I drank some Cranberry and Raspberry last week. As the hot water was infused a deep red, a sweet and pleasant aroma emanated from the cup. It was a little like potpourri, those nice-smelling bowls filled with dried petals and spices which old ladies were once pleased to keep in their homes.
Unfortunately, it tasted like potpourri, too.