Smarden, a last look

Hi folks,
to conclude our trip the this village, just a few more in the wonderful sunshine last weekend.

Typical village scene

If you look closely you can see the sign below in the picture above. I would have liked to know a bit more about Ernie

Twist.

Love the beams

Beautiful boarder despite the cold

After our visit, back to the campsite across the fields.

Thanks for looking.

Best Regards, Mike

St Michael the Archangle, Smarden

Hi folks,

Today we go into the Church behind the pub to reveal it's secrets. the church was built between 1325-1350.
First the Tower which dated from the latter part of the 15th century with four stories  and had a beacon at the top for the start of the Millennium.

Below is the alter window again captured by using more than one image thus showing both the church surroundings and the window detail in the same shot.

The Barn roof is also a unique feature.

Early 20th century paintings adorn the walls on both sides of the Nave.

To the left hand side upper you can just make out the bell ringers gallery,

Oak Eagle adorns the Pulpit which cost £2 and came from High Halden Church in 1869.

Just a quick look inside and another church in Kent well worth a visit.

Thanks for dropping by.

Best regards Mike

Smarden, Kent

Hi folks,
back again after a wonderful weekend away with the Camping club. The camp site was very near to Smarden a quaint village to the west of Ashford.
You could go by car but we decided to walk across the fields via the public footpath about 30 minutes away.

getting down to it amongst the crops.

Over a bridge we came across a beautiful back garden to a property and peeked through the trees to have a look.

By the bridge was a stream with water Lily's basking in the sunshine. I met a couple doing Geo-caching and we had a long chat about the hobby before walking on towards the church in the distance.

Down a pathway into the village past these Wisteria growing over the fence.

We had arrived and I made a bee line for the pub, for a well earned pint.

Before you say it, yes we did visit the church but that's for later.

Thanks for looking.

Best regards, Mike

Bees come to Town!!

To those of you who follow my blog I must say "And now for something completely different"

Earlier this week my next door neighbour pointed out that we had a Honey Bee Swarm on our front garden wall.  It was about the size of a bowler hat (this was how Sue, the wife measured it, not that she or I have a bowler hat).  The local council said they would pass problem on to Environment, haven't heard anything yet, Sue said she would search the web!
Searching for Bee Swarm removal, amongst the winners of the list was Pickford Removal Company and a number of well known removers, fine if we were for house removals.  She had Amazon offering best prices for buying Bee Swarms, I don't think so.  Getting better was a company who would come to your home and remove a Bee Swarm for nothing, problem there was that they were in Las Vegas.
Anyway she didn't give up and after going round and round in circles she finally spoke to a bee keeper about 30 miles away who told her about swarms, he said that the Queen bee might decide that the wall wasn't suitable and move on or she might not.  He could take it away but would need to charge for the journey and fuel.  After more circular travelling around on the Web she found another Bee keeper who said he would be right over.
Thereby lies a tale when John arrived.
He was pleased that they were not high up and started the task to remove them which I was amazed to see.

John set about the removal by this time loads of people were arriving to look, at a safe distance of course. He simply removed the nest into a box without any protective clothing using a cut down plastic milk bottle and a feather so that he didn't damage the bees. Estimate of about 40,000 bees in the nest.

Next he inverted the box onto a sheet with the queen inside.

I thought the next bit was classic, he placed his wallet between the box and the ground to allow the female workers to enter and be with the queen.

I have since been told from a friend Bob (a Bee Keeper) that the Original Hive was neglected and the bees swarmed due to overcrowding in the hive and should have been checked in an eight day cycle.
Anyway back to John as he donned his protective gear and carefully cleaned off the rest of the bees from the wall and put them on the sheet so that they could get to the queen going past Johns wallet.

Out came the smoke to make the last few docile, as you can see they were getting a bit agitated by then flying around John, the wall and the box until after about 40 minutes it was time to leave.

John had by then removed his suit and calmly picked up the box and tied it up and placed it in the back if his car.

Well I could go on for ages but it sparked an interest in me to learn more. I spent a long time talking to Bob the friend this evening that we could not contact at the time about bee keeping and the effect on the environment and our food which I found very interesting.

If any of you would like to know more, go to Bob's web site

Thanks for looking.

Best regards, Mike

All Saints Maidstone Flower Festival 3

Hi folks,
we so enjoyed seeing the beautiful flowers that I could not resist making a third blog.

Full image with the window, the display and Mary. (window made possible with two images merged together).

" St Bertha" a christian princess married to King Ethelbert

Other side of "St Patrick" with Shamrock of individual leaves mounted in an Oasis (I was told this).

" St Matthew"

Flowers on the Pew Ends.

 "St Paul" 

"St John the Baptist".

I think a special thank you to the 26 Arrangers who did a fantastic job.

I suggest you put next years in your diary now so that you don't miss this amazing spectacle in God's house.

Best regards, Mike

All Saints Maidstone Flower Festival 2

Hi folks,

Continuing with these wonderful flower displays within the church.

This next display was entitled "St. Thomas of Canterbury", Thomas Becket was Archbishop of Canterbury, here is a closer view of the arrangement.

"St Andrew" with it's white cross on blue.

"St David", a 6th Century Welsh Bishop

A peek behind the screen at the fantastic window covered up by the Victorians.

"St Mark"

Part of the "Blessed Virgin Mary" display, (Main display and window next blog)

St Gregory, diligent in God's commandments.

Close up of the sword in the flowers

Other part of "St George" with primary school children's involvement.

Finally this wonderful sword and shield., Loads of effort has been put into these displays.

Thanks for the comment from the organizer, David on my last blog it was very much appreciated, a final set is now being assembled.

Best regards, Mike

Flower Festival, All Saints Church, Maidstone, Kent

Hi folks,

on Friday, Sue, Margaret and I went to Maidstone to visit All Saints Church Maidstone and record the flowers at the festival. The theme was" A celebration of the Apostles and the Saints of Kent"

Inside this vast Church was a multitude of flowers, first off the Altar with three Bouquets representing Christ the King. To the left of the altar is St David and right is St Andrew.The screen in front  of the window is a Victorian addition added later which sadly cover the main window. This window with conventional photography would have blown out light wise due to the light from behind so two images of different exposures were placed one on top of each other to give this result.

Saint Augustine of Canterbury was considered to be the founder of the English Church in the year 597, note the Mitre to the side.

Font with Baptism Shell and a reflection of the church in the jug.

Saint Catherine of Alexandria, martyred in the 4th century with Peacock Feathers in the display.

Close up of the feather on the floor.

Saint Thomas of Canterbury. This depicts the murder of Thomas Becket in 1170.

One of the many other windows in the church.

Saint Cecilia, she was the patroness of musicians.

Saint Patrick, known as the Apostle of Ireland.

This is the first batch with more to follow, thanks for looking.

Best regards, Mike