Wiltshire, England

When in the Western part of the UK we drifted around Wiltshire for a few days, seeing the sights and enjoying the country lifestyle. Lots of pretty meadows and spaces around. Quaint villages and historic ruins.

meadows of bluebells abound in the hills of Wiltshire.

Some crop circles in the canola fields.

Then to an overcast Avebury stones

The sheep loved this stone, as a place to scratch their butts. They are lining up here to do it. The stone was really smooth with activity and lanolin.

Scratchy, scratchy

The Cherhill white horse, from the late 18th century.

And back to the pub in Lacock.

Before the autumnal swing

My favourite time in Warsaw, and Poland, is Autumn. The colours and wild variety you get in different areas. Some places in the city will still have wildflowers popping their little heads up while in some places the trees could be bare of leaves after early temperature drops. The best time is early on when the lower canopies have dropped their leaves and you have a vista that includes the tree trunks and the yellow, red, brown leaves as a carpet.

John, Paul, Ringo or George?

Such interesting colours.

From little things big things grow. Like from Acorns you can get Spanish ham, Jamon Iberico, Que Rico!

I'm just nuts about nature (and word play).

Off the beaten trail.

A slightly more beaten trail.

Leaf you to it.

Forest dwelling creature

Praise to the sun.

On your bike love.

This is what I was talking about.

Sun on the pond.

A patch of warming sun.

These photos are from one of the numerous forests around Warsaw, Kabaty Forest. It is a great place to run, ride your bike, and for me, to see snakes, deer, and the wild elusive grandparents of Warsaw.

Swerving in Sverige, Maniacal Mariestad

After a brief, two hour, but lovely train ride, John picked us up at the station and gave us a quick run through on the way to the summer house. It really was a marvellous setting, that's M-A-R-V-E-L-L-O-U-S. For all the cricket fans out there. We got to meet Madelene and little Loke for the first time. I think it was just us, but he did manage to belt out some decent screams.

From sad to happy with only the acceleration of a car

but with a bit of playing

he would be back to his dribbling self.

We popped into the house to find that the cat had caught a snake and kindly brought it home for us, minus the head.

Green door, what is that secret your keeping?

Then we thought what would be a really nice thing to do? Yes, like most of the time I think about food. So, I convinced everyone to head into the forest on the back of John's talk of mushrooms and berries. and my word it was a good idea.

hunting for the elusive blueberry and wild strawberry

So far a reasonable haul of wild strawberries and raspberries the odd blue in there too

Then we found a good patch of blueberries

We ended up doing well with the bucket

Then as we neared the house the girls picked some really sweet dark cherries

While the men hunted Chanterelle mushrooms

On return they are in need of a trim and a brush

Here Dr. John shows us the temperate require.

To me the Chanterelle is the prettiest and tastiest mushroom

The golden yellow and the white innards are just stunning

What ever should we do with such a beautiful bunch of mushrooms, as fresh as they can be....

Some eggs in your crepes

And some cream and pepper with your mushrooms makes a great breakfast.