Scotch eggs - I'm a convert!

Just returned from Herefordshire. Two relaxing weeks with family in the middle was perfectly lovely. A few more pictures are included.

Trev beside a large mouse sculpture at Charlecote Park en route



Won't go on too much about it but points of interest include the local butcher round the corner who sold home made scotch eggs not the least like they were at school.

Herefordshire drivers make French drivers look good. There is hardly any dualed road in the county and a lot of tractors so there is a lot of overtaking. However do they really have to wait until the blind bend to zoom out of the stream of traffic. Mind you another thing we learned is that the tea shops close rather early (one in Malvern before 3!) so maybe they are in a rush to get a cream tea.
We aimed to climb a mountain near Hay called Lord Hereford's Knob!! Unfortunately, the weather defeated us and we only got up Hay Bluff. That was in a bit of a gale but somebody had put a picnic table at the top so we felt we ought to have a windy picnic up there.

Waitrose car park in Great Malvern.  Quite the view.

Alice the Mycologist and a very windy picnic on Hay Bluff

It was cider apple harvest and potato harvest while we were there so, as I have said, there were a lot of tractors towing trailers overflowing with spuds or apples. Infact our lane became strewn with escaped apples and most of our walks smelt rather appley which is a smell that takes me back to my childhood. Our cottage was a converted cider press infact so it had a huge press in it. It also had crazy plumbing and both Alice and I managed to flood one of the bathrooms. Taking wet rooms to the extreme.
So many buzzards! They are fairly rare in Essex so we were excited at first but got a bit bored with them later. Although seeing a flock of rooks mob one was fascinating.

Bishop's Frome walk before we all got lost thanks to annoying misdirecting farmer. We had our revenge by scrumping his damsons!  Ha!

One of the many black and white buildings in the county

The cider press in our cottage

An exciting hand pulled ferry.


Lastly, I am enamoured of the Malvern Hills. Only 9 miles of them but absolutely lovely views and all publicly owned so no annoying farmers removing waymarks (As in the Bishop's Frome walk). Also when we were there the house martins were busy filling there little bellies before the journey south so were spectacular to watch.
A very rural and rather old fashioned part of the world