A Visit to All Saints, Maidstone, Kent

Hi folks,

Well as I told you yesterday that I was going backwards and we start off at the beginning of the day visiting another church. This time it is the magnificent All Saints which is the Parish Church of Maidstone, by the river Medway and built in 1395.

First off, the alter which has a screen added later behind the Alter but in front of the window.

A closer view of the screen showing the craving and also a better detail of the window by combining two images. This process I am at this time learning and I have incorporated a few of these images into the blog.

Close up of the wood carving on the arm rests in the pews.

This window has also been infused to bring out the side detail which is usually lost by the camera being fooled but the light on the metering system.

The image below which is another window shows the difference with the camera just getting the window detail and the camera allowing the side wall to be dark and featureless. To my eye this image suits the window in this instance.

This particular choir stool is called the Cooks Seat because it bears a likeness of The College Cook showing his meat hook and ladle.  The seat lifts up and the area above his head is flat allowing the occupant to lean against it whilst standing for any length of time when the seat is lowered.
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Detail in the candle shows two Roman solders asleep.

Closeup of the Alter with the light streaming in the side window.

Another infused shot bringing out the detail of the window as well as the rest of the scene shows the Holy Name Chapel which houses the Books of Remembrance and some Regimental flags from the Wars.

We have a number of Americans also looking at the blog so I thought it was only fitting to include this wall monument of Lawrence Washington who died in 1619, its details are in the notice below.

Thanks for taking the time to visit this wonderful church with me.  I hope you enjoyed it and if so please leave a comment.

Thanks again for dropping by.

nite nite, Luv Mike XX

Allington Lock, Maidstone in Full Flood

Hi folks,

This week will be back to front, you well see later. We start all at the lock with the sun shining and as so often happens the clouds gather and spoil everything, still it is winter so I must not complain.

First off a look down the river, looks fine yes, well er no, notice the river level due to all that snow and rain we have had in the past weeks.

As I take a shot of the lock you can see that one of the sluice gates it all the way up, I have never seen this before and talking to the Loch Keeper he was getting ready to open the other gate as high tide was looming.

Walking around the other side where the lock gates are you can see that they are all fully open due to the amount of water in the river.

Then it happened, up went the other gate as high tide approached  if you look closely in the water a birds head is visible.

Yes it was a Cormorant fishing, in fact I counted five of them paddling up the river, diving and coming up about 50 meters down stream and paddling for all they were worth back up to the sluice gates and diving again. Of course you can see by the sky it was dull but I had to try. The red vertical lines are reeds.

Finally the sun popped its face out, by this time the day had nearly finished but I managed this one. 

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And that made my day, back to the car I went and took Sue into the Malta for dinner.

Thanks for popping by.

nite nite, Luv Mike and Sue XXX

Bearsted Walk.2

Hi folks,
to continue on past the church we entered "Bearsted Green Space" which is a lovely green area with walks overlooking the North Downs and dropped down into a valley with a pond which continued into a river, unfortunately the sun disappeared. Will go back in the spring and try again.

We then climbed slowly up past Gore Cottage all on its' own as the sun started to reappear.

At the top of the hill you could see the cottage in all its splendor.

A bit further on was a great view of the North Downs.

As we dropped back onto the road we passed this white cottage which I have tried to photograph many times but always the sun is behind the place ans it clouded up again so with a little bit of post processing the was the best I could get. I will try a bit later on the year in the early morning, I think it will be worth the effort..

Back into the village is this sign.

and a very very old water pump.

A picture is worth a thousand words so this saves me typing.

Defiantly a place to go in the spring /summer.

Back to the car and home for a well earned cup of tea, shame the sun went in again.

Thanks for dropping by.

nite nite, Luv Mike and Sue.

Wander around Bearsted

Hi folks.

being Sunday and the ground being slightly boggy we decided to stay on solid ground after all that snow and after lunch Sue and I hit the road and went to Bearsted. This quaint village is on the outskirts of Maidstone in Kent.
We have been there a few times but today's mission was to try and seek out other parts of the village that we had not seen before, so we parked up by the green and set off on foot. The weather was bright and sunny to start with and all the snow had vanished.

From the back of the green we looked across at the lovely blue sky and fluffy clouds.

Looking around we noticed the oast houses which I had seen before and decided to take a closer look.

Venturing down a small path we cane upon these modern Oast Houses all together in a block and although they were new they were built to be in keeping with the village.

We then climbed the hill towards the Church high up in the village. Past this wall covered in moss and Ivy

Higher we finally got to the Holy Cross  Church which was well worth the climb only to find that it was locked.

Undeterred we approached the entrance and took this small stained glass window and picked up information about the church so that we could return when open.

final shot was of the "holy cross" on the rear of the roof.

Looking past the church there was a path into a park area, more on that in the next blog.

Thanks for dropping by and please leave a comment if you can.

nite nite, Luv Mike and Sue XXX

Four Legged Friends

hi folks,

As I said yesterday on the way home I spotted these in a field. So in the true spirit of photography I set off across the fields after leaving a muddy car in a very muddy verge. Not only that. I fell into a ditch with about three foot of snow which was up to my waist, what waist I here you cry.

Anyway this is what I got....

"Yes!"

"Wot you looking at?"

"Got any Apples mister?"

"Wow, I love that polka dot cover."

"I was a race horse in my dreams"

This last one came up and kissed the lens nearly knocking me back into the ditch which I fell in when I first got to the horses.

Well , thanks for looking.

nite nite, luv Mike XX

Goodbye to the Snow Fairy

Hi folks,

Well what a week we have had, loads of snow and freezing cold temperatures. Today we had a lul and a very big thaw so that means the end on the snow for now at least.

Today I would like to take you on a trip to the North Downs not too far from where I live. As it is high up the snow is taking a little longer to thaw giving wonderful landscapes.

This first one is on the road between Lordswood, Chatham and heading towards Boxley Hill, high up and flat.

The fields still have stubble from last year so it seems like the farmers are a bit behind due to the weather or the field is set aside.

There is a great expanse of fields on the downs and the road is sometimes impassable in winter.

Near the bottom of Boxley Hill going towards Maidstone is this Nature Reserve with a path running beside the North Downs called Pilgrims Way which is the original path taken by the Pilgrims on their way to Canterbury.

Coming off the road and only on a single track that originally lead to London.

The snow was starting to melt quite fast as I walked along.

This small track came off the path and lead down into the village of Burham.

A single Sycamore seed laying in the snow waiting to arrive on the ground and possibly take root.

I continued along enjoying the walk as the snow melted around me.

This  birds nest waiting for the snow to melt.

Ivy on a post in the sunlight, it was a lovely day to be out walking.

Back on the main road I headed through Boxley Village to where would you believe the Channel Tunnel Rail link is. Where is it I hear you ask?, well it's under the snow below ground in a Tunnel.

If you look you can just make out below the way the road rises to accommodate the tunnel thus keeping the pretty Village of Boxley as it was with no sign of the trains. To the right is the entrance to the tunnel  just behind the fence.

Last but not least a red telephone box in the village which is very beautiful, one day I will take you there.

That's the end of the trip, thanks for looking.

Tune it tomorrow for a surprise on the way home.

nite nite, Luv Mike XX