Tag Archives: Shrewsbury

dandelion

Today’s Treasures – Dandelions

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Today’s Treasures – Dandelions

dandelion

The Latin name Taraxacum Officinale is derived from the Persian talkh chakok meaning ‘bitter herb’ and Officinale from the Latin officina meaning ‘workshop’ because the plant was used by old herbalists.  The common name ‘Dandelion’ comes from the French dent-de-lion (lion’s tooth) because of the shape of the leaves.

Dandelion is first mentioned by the Arabian physicians of the 10th century and in the 13th century it appears in the Welsh Herbal of the Physicians of Mydrai. But it wasn’t until the 20th century that it was discovered that the main reason the humble dandelion was so effective against ailments like scurvy was because of its high vitamin C content.  In fact, dandelions are more nutritious than many other vegetables – they have more vitamin A than spinach, more vitamin C than tomatoes, and also contain iron, calcium and potassium.

Dandelion tea has long been used to help the liver remove toxins from the bloodstream.  It’s a gentle diuretic providing nutrients that help the digestive system function at peak efficiency – and a cup of dandelion tea is the perfect natural hangover remedy!

The leaves can be added to salads or cooked like spinach and the roots can be dried and ground to make a caffeine-free coffee substitute.  The flowers make a delicate white wine.

Contrary to popular belief, dandelions are actually good for a lawn – their deep, wide-spreading roots loosen hard-packed soil, aerate the earth and help reduce erosion.  They fertilise the grass by absorbing nutrients from deep in the soil through a tap-root, making them available to other plants.

The seedheads – dandelion clocks – have provided children with many hours of fun blowing the seeds away to tell the time – and counting ‘he loves me, he loves me not’.


Cicely Mary Barker writes:
Here’s the Dandelion’s rhyme:
See my leaves with tooth-like edges;
Blow my clocks to tell the time;
See me flaunting by the hedges,
In the meadow, in the lane,
Gay and naughty in the garden;
Pull me up—I grow again,
Asking neither leave nor pardon.
Sillies, what are you about
With your spades and hoes of iron?
You can never drive me out—
Me, the dauntless Dandelion!

Published in the May edition of the Whitchurch Gossip

#dandelions

Powis Castle

Today’s Treasures – Powis Castle

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Today’s Treasures – Powis Castle

powis castlePowis Castle, near Welshpool, close to the Welsh border, the seat of the Earl of Powis, was built by the Welsh for Welsh princes – unlike Caernarfon, Conwy and Harlech which were built by the English to suppress the Welsh.

The original castle was built in the 13th century by Welsh Prince Gruffudd ap Gwenwynwyn and transformed into a grand residence in the 1530’s by Edward Gray, Lord of Powis.  In 1578 it was leased to Sir Edward Herbert who bought the castle in 1587 and it remained in the Herbert family until 1952, when it was bequeathed to the National Trust, but the family retained the right to live in part of the castle.

The castle’s Clive Museum contains many precious Indian objects brought back from India by Henrietta Herbert who married Edward Clive in 1784.  Edward’s father was Robert Clive ‘Clive of India’ and Henrietta and Edward and their daughters lived with him in Madras whilst he was Governor there in 1798.

The northern gate (originally the main entrance) is flanked by two figures – two statues installed in niches between the columns – King Edgar the Peaceful – and King Offa of Mercia – who built Offa’s Dyke along the English/Welsh border ostensibly ‘to divide Wales from Offa’s kingdom of Mercia’.

King offa statue

Every castle has its ghosts and Powis is no exception.  In 1780 an elderly lady arrived looking for work spinning hemp and flax.  The earl was away in London, but the steward offered her employment – mischievously installing her in a room known to be haunted.  However, instead of being terrified, the old lady befriended the man in the gold-laced suit and he led her through the castle to find a hidden chest and key.  The old lady presented the treasure to the earl on his return and was rewarded with lodging for the rest of her years.  As well as the golden-clad man, you may encounter a woman in a mob-cap, a lady in black sitting by the fire in the Duke’s Room – where people have also experienced being touched by invisible hands – a child dressed in green in the Clive Museum – and sometimes the ballroom resounds with the eerie notes of ghostly piano music.

 

deer at Powis Castle

Published in the April edition of the Whitchurch Gossip

 

Today’s Treasures – Sunsets

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Today’s Treasures – Sunsets

Sunsets are always magical but sunsets on water take on a special brilliance as the rays of the setting sun dance upon the waves, and the golden globe disappears slowly into the sea beyond the horizon.

sunset

The sun’s mild and mellow light spreads sunbeams across the waves, sunlight lingering and deepening as twilight creeps in, softly lengthening shadows and bathing the land in darkness.

sunset on waves

The setting sun paints the clouds with glorious light, creating shades of scarlet, crimson and tangerine in patterns across the sky as the purple of dusk descends on the shimmering sand.

Sunsets have inspired many writers, poets and musicians, the coalescing colours and shapes, the ever-changing patterns in the sky are mesmerising, like a symphony getting louder and brighter, then fading away into darkness.

“There is nothing more musical than a sunset.”  Claude Debussy

sunset on field

“Don’t forget: Beautiful sunsets need cloudy skies…” Paulo Coelho

sunset on beach

Published in the March edition of the Whitchurch Gossip

 

Today’s Treasures – Lake Bala – Llyn Tegid

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Today’s Treasures – Lake Bala – Llyn Tegid

The largest natural lake in Wales, fed by the River Dee (Afon Dyfrdwy) which has its source on the slopes of Dduallt (Black Hill) in the mountains of Snowdonia.

It is thought that the lake was once much larger and extended much further north (over Bala town) and south to Llanuwchllyn – and probably previously flowed west into Cardigan Bay, whereas now the River Dee flows north east through it, then along the Welsh border, around Chester and eventually into the Irish Sea at Liverpool Bay.

Formed by glaciers, the lake is home to a rare whitefish called the Gwyniad, a relic of the last Ice Age, and a very rare mollusc Myxas Glutinosa – the Glutinous snail.  In the summer it’s calm surface and shallow edges are ideal for watersports and kayaks, canoes and paddleboards pepper the surface.

The Bala Railway, built on a section of the former Ruabon to Barmouth GWR route (closed in 1965) runs along the south east shore from Bala to Llanuwchllyn (the village above the lake).   The railway has 3 steam locomotives, 2 of which were rescued from Welsh slate quarries.  The 2 ft narrow gauge steam trains trundle along the tracks providing stunning views of the lake and glimpses of the surrounding mountains – Arenig Fawr, Aran Benllyn and Aran Fawddwy.

Llyn Tegid translates as ‘Lake of Serenity’ and it certainly lives up to its name.  Even in winter, when the lake overflows appropriating the car park and lakeside pathways, the scenery is stunningly beautiful, with windblown waves caressing the trees and bushes at the edges of the lake.

According to legend, the lake has its own monster – ‘Teggie’ haunts the underwater palaces of King Tegid and his wife, the white witch, Ceridwen, legendary mother of the famous Welsh bard Taliesin who was Celtic mythology’s ‘Chief of Bards’. He served in the court of several mythic kings including King Arthur where his powers of poetry and prophecy were highly regarded. Sometimes, on moonlight nights, it is said that the towers and turrets of King Tegid’s castle can be glimpsed beneath the waves.

lake Bala

Published in the February edition of the Whitchurch Gossip

Today’s Treasures – Planet Earth

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Today’s Treasures – Planet Earth

The world is a cornucopia,
People scurrying like ants,
A kaleidoscope of colours,
Leaving everything to chance.

No paintbrush guides creation
We multiply like flies,
We desolate our planet,
Pollution fills our skies.

We ignore the population,
Expanding uncontrolled,
Exhausting natural resources,
Minerals, trees and oil.

If we believed in reincarnation,
Would we still destroy future needs,
Food and water running out,
Plastics fill our seas.

Seed banks full of species,
Nowhere for them to grow,
Hundreds of extinct animals,
With no jungles or plains to roam.

Future generations need us,
To treat the world with care,
Our children need a planet,
Free from polluted air.

Reusing, recycling, saving,
Using wind, water and sun,
Convert to sustainable sources,
Before coal and oil are gone.

Carbon is our life blood,
We waste it at our peril,
Every person has a duty,
To conserve the world together.

Aluminium is fully recyclable,
Use instead of plastic,
Buy local – less food miles,
Eat all the food, don’t waste it.

Crisis What Crisis?

Grow your own food,
East less meat,
Wear more clothes,
Turn down the heat.

Walk or ride instead of drive,
Repair instead of replacing,
Reduce, reuse, recycle,
There’s still time for us to change things.

Published in the Janary 2023 edition of the Whitchurch Gossip

rowan berries

Today’s Treasures – Autumn

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Today’s Treasures – Autumn

‘Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness’ that inspired Keats to write his poem ‘To Autumn’.

autumn tree

Leaves turning from green to gold to auburn, watery sunshine filtering through gnarled branches with crooked fingers, stretching towards the light; eiderdown clouds in quilted patterns sending sunbeams spotlighting acorns underfoot.

King Quercus, standing tall, golden oak leaves fluttering down, alongside the copper beech, Queen Fagus, in all her autumn glory; bright red rowan berries adorning the mountain ash eagerly sought after by the birds that remain with us when their cousins fly south for the winter.  The robin, perched at the top of the hawthorn tree, resplendent in his winter red breasted waistcoat sings songs of summers to come.
rowan berries
The red berries of arum lilies and strings of bryony beads decorate hedgerows fluffy with aptly named old man’s beard.

bryony berries

Toadstools love the damp autumn days and often appear overnight like magic, inspiring stories of fairies and elves tiptoeing at tea parties and dancing in fairy rings.

This year is a ‘mast year’ for acorns – every few years some species of trees and shrubs produce a bumper crop of seeds or nuts – guaranteeing that there will be some left over after the badgers, squirrels, mice and birds have eaten their fill – to germinate and grow into baby trees.  Smaller crops in other years give the tree chance to recover energy and also regulate the population of the animals and birds that feed on the nuts.

autumn treesPublished in the December 2022 edition of the Whitchurch Gossip

the boathouse

Today’s Treasures – Shrewsbury is coming to life again

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Today’s Treasures Shrewsbury is coming to life again – change is in the air – with the promise of laughter and happy times.

the boathouseTheatre Severn is still closed, silent and deserted, but its namesake flows swiftly past the lonely building under weeping willows clothed in vibrant spring green to The Boathouse which is alive with visitors again, enjoying the spring sunshine.

The Quarry is busy with children playing and people sunbathing, playing football, running and cycling – and the ducklings on the river dodge canoes and rowing boats – and the Sabrina chugging her way downstream, serene in the sunshine.

Shrewsbury is coming alive again.

These first tentative steps of meeting friends for meals outside hold high hopes of a return to the events that Shrewsbury has become famous for – the Food Festival, the Folk Festival, the Shropshire (West Mid) County Show – and the Flower Show – seeing the bandstand lonely and empty, you can imagine the musicians in their bright red uniforms, the sun glinting off trombones and trumpets – and hear faint whispers of the brass band playing well known British tunes.

the bandstand

Shrewsbury, with its timbered buildings and cobblestone alleys, is one of the oldest towns in the UK with many Saints remembered in its churches – St. Nicholas, St Chad, St. Alkmund, St. Mary, St. George, St. Peter and St Giles all have a place in Shrewsbury’s history.

The spire of St Mary’s is one of the tallest in England and for over 500 years it has dominated the skyline of Shrewsbury’s old town. The church is now the only complete medieval church in Shrewsbury. It dates from Saxon times and has beautiful additions from the twelfth-century onwards.

St Chad’s Church is the only grade 1 listed circular Georgian church in England.  It overlooks the Quarry and has a wonderful view of the Dingle gardens.

the dingle

St. Alkmund’s church is named after a prince of the Christian Kingdom of Northumbria, who was murdered by Eardwulf and became a saint.  In 889, Aethelfleda, the ‘Lady of the Mercians’, governed Mercia.  She believed that St. Alkmund was her ancestor, and she named the churches on the route from Gloucester to Chester, through Mercia, after him – so the churches would have some protection from marauding Danes – hence Aymestrey, Whitchurch and Shrewsbury all have a St. Alkmund’s church.  Let’s hope he protects us from future marauding viruses!the dingle

Published in the May edition of the Whitchurch Gossip

Today’s Treasures – Our Local Businesses

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Today’s Treasures – Our Local Businesses

December’s Treasures are all the local businesses that work so hard.  A friend who bought beehives and is now selling her own honey posted on Facebook:

  • Until we started doing it, I had no idea how much a sale means to a small business owner – how exciting it is when someone values something you’ve created, worked hard over and worried about being good enough. With this knowledge, this year every single Christmas present we’ve bought and will buy is coming from an independent retailer, a crafter, handmade and/or upcycled, a voucher for a service and made in the UK. If you can, give it a go, I can guarantee the person you buy from will be excited, grateful and likely give a happy dance – it will help pay a mortgage, feed a family or pay for dancing lessons and importantly it spreads a little love, a little happiness in this craziest of years

So, instead of buying gifts from the big multiples and lining shareholders pockets to pay for another holiday home abroad, buy from a local family business.  Belinda at Mick’s Mill sells everything you need for livestock – and Christmas treats for pets – she also makes her own holly wreaths every year.

We are so lucky in Shropshire as we have lots of Shropshire food and drink producers making wonderful things to eat and drink over the festive season.  You can find a range of local preserves and pickles in many local shops – give a taste of Shropshire for Christmas.

At Maynard’s Farm Shop, as well as their own award-winning bacon, sausages and hams – they sell their own pâtés and a range of locally produced real beers, ciders and wines.  Lots of other local produce too – including Belton Farm’s hand-crafted Red Fox cheese – perfect for Christmas – it’s a Red Leicester with a difference that is guaranteed to surprise taste buds.

It also makes a delicious toastie or panini with Maynard’s ham which you can sample in the Coffee Barn at Holly Farm Garden Centre – and where you can choose a Christmas tree grown locally at Woodfield Christmas Tree Farm.

When you use the local services advertised in this Gossip magazine you are supporting local families, plumbers, electricians, carpenters, chimney-sweeps, garden designers, – we have some unique artisans right on our doorstep – designers like Katrina Kitchens – beautiful bespoke kitchens.

When you buy local, you are not just buying food – you are buying responsibly sourced, ethical, ecological food that tastes really delicious – and when you sit down to your Christmas dinner you know the people involved in producing it have been fairly treated, paid properly and not exploited for corporate profits.

Published in the December edition of the Whitchurch Gossip

Today’s Treasures – Butterflies, Bees and Blackcurrants

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Today’s Treasures –  Butterflies, Bees and Blackcurrants

bee on borage

Life can be a challenge sometimes and, although places are opening their doors again, people are still scared to go out – and anyone who had social issues before – has much more to deal with now.  But people have found solace in nature – growing vegetables and enjoying walks and found life’s little treasures all around them in flowers and trees and butterflies and bees.

I walk around the field every morning and there is always something new to see.  When it’s been wet, toadstools spring up unexpectedly overnight and when it’s sunny butterflies dance along the hedgerows.  The buddleia flowers are opening and butterflies of all colours love its purple blooms.

toadstool

I bought a packet of mixed seeds ‘flowers for butterflies’ and planted them in an old wheelbarrow, they’ve been really pretty – corn cockle, cornflower, field poppy, vipers bugloss, forget-me-not, corn marigold.

wheelbarrow of flowers

I always leave some ragwort at the edge of the field for the Cinnabar Moth and in July I check every day for the appearance of their striking orange and black caterpillars.

cinnabar moth caterpillar on ragwort

The blackcurrants are ripe and the kitchen is fragranced with the rich aroma of blackcurrant jelly and the anticipation of that first delicious mouthful on toast the next morning.

The chicks that hatched in an incubator during lockdown have grown.  Dillon III – who was the only one to hatch successfully in the first batch – is the boss and leads them on forays around the garden.  They are quite mischievous and keep finding ways to get out – under or over the fence, trying my patience somewhat!

chicks

The herb garden is at its best – and the bees love all the blues and purples – sage, hyssop, thyme, rosemary, chives, borage and marjoram.

herb garden

Life is not about the destination – but the journey – every day is a gift – fill it with moments to treasure.

Published in the August edition of the Whitchurch Gossip

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

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Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheer up, Brian. You know what they say.
Some things in life are bad,
They can really make you mad.
Other things just make you swear and curse.
When you’re chewing on life’s gristle,
Don’t grumble, give a whistle!
And this’ll help things turn out for the best
And
Always look on the bright side of life!

If life seems jolly rotten,
There’s something you’ve forgotten!
And that’s to laugh and smile and dance and sing,
When you’re feeling in the dumps,
Don’t be silly chumps,
Just purse your lips and whistle — that’s the thing!
And always look on the bright side of life
Come on!
Always look on the bright side of life

For life is quite absurd,
And death’s the final word.
You must always face the curtain with a bow!
Forget about your sin — give the audience a grin,
Enjoy it, it’s the last chance anyhow!
So always look on the bright side of death!
Just before you draw your terminal breath.
Life’s a piece of shit,
When you look at it.
Life’s a laugh and death’s a joke, it’s true,
You’ll see it’s all a show,
Keep ’em laughing as you go.
Just remember that the last laugh is on you!
And always look on the bright side of life

Come on guys, cheer up

Worse things happen at sea you know

Always look on the bright side of life

I mean, what have you got to lose?
you know, you come from nothing
you’re going back to nothing
what have you lost? Nothing!

Always look on the bright side of life

 

Thanks Eric Idle and Monty Python for making us laugh when times are grim!