Easter Visit - fourth day, second part and fifth day, farewell

After the curry lunch on Tuesday we discussed where we could go in the afternoon.  We decided on the Staunton Harold estate.
All the lovely photos in the following were taken by Pine.

 This church is the only National Trust property in the whole of Leicestershire.

You might remember this huge cedar from pictures taken during our walk with the Moira Group there.

                       The rusty knight stands guard at the entrance to the Ferrer'sYard, picture below.

Of course we had to pop into the café for tea and cakes - also because Pine was keen to take a picture of the shelves of teapots on the wall which I'd written to them about.

 

                                                                                       This is a cracker of a photo of the metal dog that   

                                                                                        sits in  front of one of the little shops in the yard.

       
 We still had time to look around the garden centre, and Michael and Pine found two David Austin roses of
 the shade they wanted to take home  -  we made it just in time before closing at 5 pm.                                                                                      

Back home we indulged in cheesecake once more and other delights but didn't undertake any more trips or walks.

Both groups of ducks were fine ......

.... and because Michael wasn't terribly keen on Mexican Train we played Blokus instead.

Wednesday was Michael and Pine's last day with us, they would have to leave at half past 4 to get to Harwich in time for their overnight ferry.  We would have liked to have kept them a bit longer as there were so many more things we wanted to do ..... we'll just have to postpone them until they come again.

We had time to go for a walk through Coleorton in the morning.  The walk took about 1½ hours, here are some of Michael and Pine's photos from it:

We set off up the road past the Post Office and then the Millennium Sign after crossing the main road A512.  At this point you get a good view of the church of St. Mary's and Coleorton Hall, for centuries the home of the Beaumont Family [their line has died out and the Hall has been converted into several luxury flats]  The coat of arms and logo of the Beaumonts can be seen on the Village Millennium Sign:             

Then we took a look at the little Bakehouse [built about 1830 we think] which our Heritage Group has built up again after its collapse and made weatherproof - the two ovens inside have to be restored yet.

 

We continued through Coleorton Wood and it was great to see the pond filled up now - the Volunteer Group [including John] had done splendid work.

John is explaining the art of hedge-laying to Michael in Coleorton Wood - he was part of the volunteer team that layed this hedge.

The field before getting to the village school has lain untouched for centuries.  The ancient method of ridge&furrow ploughing is wonderfully visible all over this field  ..... although it is maybe not so clear in this photo ...

 

I felt I had to put in this photo of a kind of sculpture the gorse had made, Pine was thrilled with it.  Viscount Beaumont School is just visible behind.  And a bit of Coleorton Hall can be seen behind the tree struck by lightning in the small picture.

In the fields behind our house there are many beautiful trees, this one must have been the largest  -  and below I've inserted two more favourite trees from Pine's  'tree photos collection'.
  

Just as we were about to cross the brook and return to our house from the back we could see something hanging in a tree there.  At first we thought it might have been a bundle of feathers or a bird's wing, but closer inspection revealed it as a rat skeleton!  Heaven knows how it got there:

So, over the stile and back home.  After lunch [some pork and two packets of the MANY packets of potato dumplings Pine and Michael had brought for us] the last preparations for departure were made.  We managed a couple more games of Blokus until each one of us had won at least one game.  Then it was time to say goodbye.  Although we were all very sad we know we can look back on many, many photos and enjoy the memories of this lovely Easter visit.


Michael and Pine arrived back home in Handorf on Thursday afternoon and were greeted enthusiastically by their ducks and drake, everything was well.  But the very next day they only just managed to avoid disaster, it was a good job they were still on holiday and at home.
Michael happened to see their young Emma, this little beauty,
float in their pond on her own with her legs outstretched behind and her lower body making pumping movements.  They took her to the animal clinic immediately where the X-ray didn't detect a stuck egg and they diagnosed pneumonia  -  but they were sure it was an egg that was stuck and isolated Emma in the house overnight.  It was a happy outcome, Emma produced a very rough egg in the morning and is now happily reunited with her mates.  It was a huge relief for Michael and Pine because last year their duck Penny had died of this problem in spite of treatment.