Spring has sprung!

After being in England for 3 weeks we returned yesterday to find all well at the house, nice to see the tree at the end of the drive with blossom and many of the plants and shrubs starting to look more happy after the winter. Only real problem is the grass in the orchard and field has got a bit long...time to buy the sit-on mower i feel.

Also thought you'd like to see this, one of my first blog posts way back in November last year, showed geese heading south for a warmer climate, the picture left was taken just before we left for England, the geese are on their way back, a great and quite emotional sight, spring really must have sprung now....at last!!

Closest shave ever!

Hiding in the cloak room area on the ground floor of the main house have been these 2 swords which for the first time since we took over the property, i took down for a closer inspection. Thinking originally these were display reproductions i think i was wrong! On the oldest looking of the two can just be made out the - Henry Wilkinson Pall Mall London.

Checking on the internet, the swords were made in the late 19th century at the Henry Wilkinson factory that later went on  to become the Wilkinson Sword razor company.

Both swords have inscriptions on which i think indicate that they were cavalry swords used during the reign of King George V. If i can find out any more about them, I'll let you know!

At last.....gotcha!!

Well, it's taken me 2 weeks to get this picture. Two of our local residents have been feeding on the fat balls for quite some time now and every time i've picked up the camera (very cautiously so as to not scare them away) the woodpeckers have flown away as soon as i went for the shoot button....not this morning for some reason, must have been extra hungry first thing following another night of -2.5 degree temperature!

Early morning mist.

 This was taken at the bottom of the drive early yesterday morning, clear blue sky with a mist above the river vezere, looking the other way down river was much clearer, unfortunately, the weather wasn't as nice as this all day but stayed fine...good weather for yet another bonfire!

Another find....say fromage!

Clearing out a cupboard in one of the house bedrooms i found this piece on one of the shelves, a fantastic old camera with 2 of its original negative cassettes, made of what i think is mahogany with brass fittings. Just found out about the camera via the internet and it was made in 1889 (see document link below).

It's a bit worse for wear but very interesting to see how these things were put together. Really fascinating stuff!

The only makers mark is on the lense, James Woolley & Co Ltd, Manchester and the very regal name of the camera - THE VICTORIA 7 x 5.
More info on the company can be found at

http://www.mosi.org.uk/media/33870612/jameswoolleyandcompany.pdf

and the document mentions the camera on the 2nd page of the pdf

Pots and pans!

Another find in one of the gites, on the wall in the main house and the gites hang some very old original copper catering pans and lids, the one pictured above is in the Walnut store and i spotted the engraving the other day. it's a massive heavy weight pan, who knows what may have been cooked in it and for whom in the 1920's!!

The pictured pan is to the left of the clock case - and don't worry, we know there's no clock inside the case!!

Also spotted this lovely little thing near the bird feeder, after looking in the bird reference book realised it was a Sisken, the first we've seen here to date...ahhh! 

Nice one!

This lovely pic taken by Philippa yesterday, on what must have been the warmest day of the year so far (warm enough to sit outside in the sun for lunch), all the snowdrops that have been threatening to open up did, so Philippa armed with camera decided to record the event. No composing of pic, she just snapped away without even looking at the view finder and this was the result.....spring can't be that far away now!!

As well as the above, she also heard a rustling noise in the ivy/wisteria that's growing up the front wall of the house, on closer inspection she saw that one of our un-paying guests had also decided to make the most of the nice weather, the lizard posed very nicely for its pic to be taken!