WRAY

 WELL I NEVER !

LADIES & GENTLEMEN !:- John, Anthony, Danny.

                                           Guests:- Barbara, Pauline.

Well, Well, Well ! Who'd have thought that after 16/17 years, ladies would join us on our thus far entirely masculine thursdays ? 

Not that we are in the slightest bit Misogynistic. But what sensible ladies would have wished to join a bunch of ageing old F---s stumbling round the countryside.

But times have changed and so has the nature of our weekly meetings. Less a hiking style walk and more a visit to a place of interest.  So.............

... here we are visiting the annual "Wray Scarecrow Festival"

After parking in a field at the edge of the Village....

 ...we soon found ourselves sitting with a brew. (We usually do.) I think the cafe was run by the ladies of the WI who had commandeered the village hall for the "Scarecrow Festival" There was lots of home made food on display. " We shall return" we promised.

Although the ladies wanted cake as well as a brew👍

The gentlemen only wanted a "Start the Day" brew... Maybe cake at lunchtime.

Brews finished off we went to view the multitude of Scarecrows on display throughout the Village.

Dolly Parton ???

As we pottered through the village a gentleman drove past in a rather smart car.  He was not a SCARECROW.

As you may well imagine some of the scarecrows were NOT as good as others whilst some were superb.

This little old lady waiting for a bus turned out to be Rod Stewart 😕

Whilst "Elvis" did not look at all well. (There were other Elvises or Elvi ? )

Yes... well   Who he ?

Here Danny is reading about Casanova. John made the common mistake of translating Nova as "NEW". it isn't, it means shining brightly and is associated with stars. Apart from being a Libertine (Womaniser) Casanova was an intelligent man with many talents.

Don't know who this lady was but she was very tall.

Bet you can't guess who this is. Oops ! you've spotted it . Looking at that left hand I think after a few drinks I can play the guitar like that.

We continued down the high Street passing some excellent Scarecrows. Here's one of Santa.

Left ?  Right ? or Centre ?

Which is the real Santa ?

Hands up all those who said the one on the Right .   WRONG !

Before Coca Cola muscled in to change his garb to RED, their corporate.  colour,  Santa was traditionally dressed in GREEN 😮 We can't really blame Coca Cola as others used red as well and St Nicholas himself was said to be fond of red clothes. But the one in the middle, in green, is the earlier tradition.

Further down the street we came across a car dressed as a dog. The occupants of the car appeared to be Boris and Keir and were labelled as "DUMB & DUMBER"..... no comment.

This astronaut seems to have missed the pacific Ocean completely and will be very confused when he finds out were he is .... or ISN'T .

1694. There were quite a few houses in the village dated around this time.

How old is this house ?   C'mon get thinking. I'm no good at maths.

If that is the church house there must be a church. Yes here it is and a very pretty one to boot.

There was a book sale inside the church. John just hoped they didn't sell too many of the church's Order of Service or Book of Common Prayer which were in places right next to those being offered for sale.

I wonder to which order this nun belongs. She's wearing some daringly "Kinky" boots.

"Like God's own head the glorious sun uprist"

 quote from 

"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

"Lets go and look at the book sale."

We were all puzzled to find Shaun the Sheep hiding behind a headstone in the churchyard.

Anthony decided to take a pew as we examined the books (£1 each)

There were some interesting books but we eventually left empty handed.

In taking these photos I forget to find what it was all about, Sorry !

We continued our exploration of the village as there were still lots of scarecrows to see.

Here a witch wearing some very stylish boots.

At first sight this was a puzzle but on closer inspection it turned out to be quite clever. We didn't find out what the"Theme" was but "GOAT" should have been a clue. Many of the scarecrows appeared to be "NO 1 " in their trade or profession (e.g. Elvis  "THE KING" ) so maybe that was the theme.

Don't think you need to hold his ladder for him Danny .  He's a professional !

Must be lunch time by now 😋

LOVELY LUNCH LAPPED UP.... Lets finish the tour.

They started their lunch last Saturday... Still not finished...Too much chatter ?

A Much better Elvis . Notice the snarling curve of the mouth. He got second prize but we never found 1st

 "So anyway.  Elvis said to me......... "

The scarecrow looks a bit worried about you Pauline.

A little further down the terrace. a button said " Press me". If you did the scarecrow on the right waved it's arms and gave you a clip round the ear with the Hula Hoops.

OH NO !  John and Yoko  ONO !

"Wray-ce around the world"  Clever !

Apparently there wasn't much food in the Holy Land.

Sir Wraymund de Lune seems to be eating a hedgehog. 

I think he might also be desperate  for the loo.

Few more cars than when we arrived. Weekend apparently it will be "Heaving"

A very pleasant visit accompanied by the ladies.

Word of advice ..... 

"Don't stand still for too long or somebody will take your photograph"

See you next week.

JW

WORLDS AWAY

 FARAWAY FARM

On SAFARI :- Jim, Mike, Danny, Anthony, John

A longer drive than usual took us into foreign lands --- Yorkshire !

As we crossed the border high up on the moors there were  no masked men with sub-machine guns or barbed wire fences but we remembered that the "Wars of the Roses" is never quite over especially with clear blue skies and cricket on the telly but...

...we stopped at the border (Bowland Knotts) for a leg stretch and to admire the view.

The view was rather obscured by the morning mist in the valley.

Then down the long sloping moorland road to the home of a good friend (relative)

I'm afraid the tudor styling of this farmhouse is FAUX. The original  frontage was definitely "vernacular" and built of local stone. There is, however no doubting that the building itself is hundreds of years old.

Parked up in the yard and into the ancient farmhouse for our first brew of the day.

Then outside to explore.... First the large garden and pond.

The pond did contain some large carp until otters, presumably from the nearby River Wenning, discovered that easy meals were available. The pond still holds some smaller carp.

Why is JW patting his pockets ? We've only been here twenty minutes and true to form he's lost something.

We skirted round the pond to follow the flagged paths through the Garden.

Danny crossing the little stream that flows through the garden.

So is Jim.

The flagged paths took us up into a wooded are where several shelters had been built . What for?  To watch the birds. To sit and chat. To admire the views. To watch the deer ..... or simply to idle away the time in pleasant surroundings.

Wherever we went we were accompanied by two large, friendly, black Labradors. They especially took a shine to Anthony who is far from being a "doggy" person.

 

A gateway next to the shelters led us in to a narrow stretch of mainly coniferous trees.

At the end of the narrow stretch of trees was a further shelter from which we could see the herd of deer (Fallow) resting in a large patch of reeds some distance away.

Back though the woodland and down through the  garden passing, as we did, the resting place of the family pets that had died over the years.

There was movement high above our heads.  Is it a bird ?🐦 Is it a plane ? ✈... It was a bird .. but what kind. Don't ask John .. He couldnt see it .😟👎

As we came backtowards the farm house, the deer although very nervous 

(the deer not us😉) gave us a better view of themselves  over the fields.

Back inside the farmhouse our hostess had provided a simple but enjoyable lunch. Tasty sausages topped with a fried egg on a balmcake 👌👍

After lunch our host took us to see his "Trophy Room". He was at one time a Big Game hunter travelling  all over the world - Now retired.

Most of his guns are gone. The new firearms laws have obliged him to surrender after retirement. He is still allowed to keep a few antique and vintage weapons.

I think the animal in the bottom left of this photo is a  GNU

Sorry but I can't resist..........an extract from The "Gnu" song by Flanders and Swan. Also famous for the Hippopotamus song.

I'm a GNU   I'm a GNU

The G'nicest work of G'nature in the zoo

I'm a Gnu spelled G N U

I'm not a camel nor a kangaroo

So let me introduce

I'm G'neither man nor moose

Oh G'no, G'no,G'no I'm a GNU

(later in the song after further confusion)

I'm a Gnu. A G'nother Gnu

I wish I could G'nash my teeth at you

You really ought to know W-hoos W-hoo.

I'm a Gnu spelled G N U

Call me Bison or Okapi and I'll sue

Nor am I in the least like that dreadful Hartebeast

Oh Gno, Gno, Gno  I'm a GNU

The Gnu is also called a Wildebeast after the Africaans for Wild Beast and the G is silent in English and is simply a  "Noo"

A victorian display case with golden eagles.   NOT shot by our host.

This astounding room might not have been to everyone's taste but it was nevertheless quite fascinating.    Very much an anachronism which our host has in the past also declared himself to be.

Forget the lions.... This, along with the hippopotamus, is the most dangerous animal to humans in Africa.. the buffalo

Anthony looked quite overwhelmed by it all and in need of a sit down.

OOH !   You Little Devil !

Another amusingly contrived photo by Jim.

All the walkers agreed that this had been the most fascinating outing we have had for a long time

So....

"Safari so goody" 

(cringe cringe)

As one of our children's TV presenters used to say.

"Bye for now"

JW

with credits to JC (photos)