Beautiful Lancashire

[Mathos]

They had illuminated the exterior buildings quite nicely, it's amazing what a difference a few lights can make in the Festive Season.



There are a couple of houses in our local vicinity the owners of which really go overboard in their decorations.

Problem being that they might just get a mention in the local press or even Granada News.

That creates problems with visitors coming from all over the place causing obstructions down small by roads and blocking other peoples drive ways etc whilst they waltz about the street taking photographs and such like.



Something like they have done here is more than sufficient I think.

Then you can also get competition in these vaunting displays.

The guy across the road, next street or next door even might just consider that he can do better than that and off they go.

I've heard of folk resorting to fisticuffs and damaging a competitors arrangement so as not to be outdone.

We can be rather belligerent in the most simple of matters from time to time.




All the same the night presentation outside at The Last Drop was quite good.


I don't think any of these are anything like the right calibre of photograph for Marmer's Teak Door Christmas 'Photograph Competition' but I'll bear it in mind during the next couple of weeks or so.

[Mathos]

We had a really nice evening dinner as well.

I started off with wild mushrooms on toast covered with a softly poached egg. It was very nice.

Flobo commenced with 'Goats Cheese Rosotto'


We had both practically finished eating the same when we thought of taking a photograph. Apologies.



Regardless we both went for the same main course which was a 'Blackspot Pork Chop'

Excellent.




It was gently served with a few nicley stacked chips, large mushroom and grilled tomato.

Both courses were excellent. We didn't go for a sweet.


The floor show was quite good. A night of comedians, stand up 'Old fashioned' type entertainers based on the television programme "The Comedians" in the 1970's.


Top of the bill was 'Stan Boardman'



He's still quite good, keeping the audience entrtained and in fits of laughter for well over an hour.


We had a bit of a chat with him after the show, I mentioned Teak Door to him and Flobo had a photograph with him.

Just for the fun of it.





We all age don't we.

[Mathos]

It was a good night all in all. The drinks were bloody expensive though.



Opening the cottage door this morning (Friday 12th December 2008) I got quite a surprise.




Snow.

Not a lot but it was there.




Flobo was quite chuffed with it.




But then we noticed the fog coming in as well.



We had a shower, got dressed, loaded our overnight bags in the car and made our way to the breakfast room.

We stick to fruit and cereals on a very regular basis at home for breakfast, so it was a nice change to spoil ourselves with a decent English.




It was a really nice breakfast too.

We finished it off and checked out, time to head for home.

[Mathos]

The fog was definitely thickening up.




Drive with care Mathos..




Flobo decided to take a couple of photographs through the window.

I'd warmed the car up and put the electric seat heaters on well before we set off, so it was really nice, warm and comfortable inside.

Some poor soul with a BMW had apparently left his drivers window open all night. The interior of his car was a real wet and sloppy mess.



Visibility wasn't too bad, but obviously with ice fog and snow, it is important to drive with care.



Problem always being in these conditions, you never know how the other driver is going to be reacting.




Wouldn't want to end up in the ditch for instance.

[dirtydog]

Originally Posted by Mathos

we always like to make sure we have some condensed milk. It's a food as well as anything else.

It's one of the most vile tasting things on this planet

[daveboy]

Originally Posted by dirtydog

It's one of the most vile tasting things on this planet

If you add water to it it tastes like fresh milk.

[Mathos]

Originally Posted by dirtydog

It's one of the most vile tasting things on this planet

Problem being DD you youngsters have had it far too easy in life.


Try a few weeks up in those borderland mountains between Thailand and Laos, Burma, or Cambodia, with only boiled water to drink, and then come across some condensed, a tea bag and a big tin mug.

It's better than a life support machine.

Next time you have a coffee or a mug of tea, put a teaspoonful in and try it.

daveboy wrote:-

If you add water to it it tastes like fresh milk

.


True you can water it down if you need to Dave.


Seems to me they watered the beers down years ago to keep you youngsters happy as well.




Never mind, Santa is coming:-





Are you hanging up your stocking on the wall?

[Mathos]

Flobo has started trimming up.




I brought all the boxes and bits and pieces down out of the attic for her.



It's surprising how much work Christmas involves.



It's nice though.


Stuff all over the place and she'll be at it again tomorrow.




Then; She will want this, that and the other.



And so this is Christmas.

[Mathos]

Company coming and going all day today, really pleasant.

I was showing a pal and his wife some photographs, it's amazing how much interest these jaunts Flobo and myself have been taking around the north of England have created, on the thread here, amongst friends and even relations in various parts of the country and other countries.

Anyhow, there are quite a few thousand photographs taken and it's impossible to show them all of course, but a couple here in particular simply created a bit of personal interest.



I thought this Christmas Break offer was quite good.





Nice place, cosy and neatly placed by a small stream in a superb country setting.

Some of these pub menu's were good deals as well.



A nice open fire takes a lot of beating.



A good selection of bar meals too.



Mouth watering.

[Mathos]

This was attractive, Cumbria, they served us a really outstanding lunch.





I think the sheep in this next photograph are 'Jacob' quite a special breed.





Nice wall hanger here, interesting people paintings.





It used to be a very simple life in the country.

[Mathos]

Good days work today, cleaning up and bagging the last of the leaves, and boy oh boy, do I get some leaves:-



There's a few ton of them rammed into those massive bags and bin liners.
Got to get them up top on Wednesday (Out tomorrow) and bury them or something.

I've put quite a few garden photographs on here during the summer, today, it looks kind of extra nice for winter photography.




Hardly a leaf left to fall.




Looks really bare, but it has a beauty of it's own making here.




A lot of blowing, raking, bagging, transporting, burning, burying etc over the last two and a half months or so.




Got plenty stored for leaf mulch as well. It's great for the plants after a couple of years of being left to decompose.



This lot here took some getting up as well.

It's not bad on grass or paths, but on soil and patchy places, it's hard work.




It's good too when you can see how clean it all starts to look once you get towards the end days of leaf shifting and general cleaning up.



That's the third incinerator I've bough this year as well, the other two were totally burned out.



It's going to look OK in another day or two.




The decking and steps will need a pressure clean about Thursday or Friday, that'll keep them in check until end of March or early April.

[Mathos]

Not the best of days today at all, cloudy, rain and dull.

It's much better when it's really cold and frosty. We had a bit of a drive out, nothing spectacular, but all the same a pleasant run and we were lucky to avoid most of the rain.

It was really heaving it down when we arrived home and it still is right now 19.40 UK time on the 16th Dec.



We called at a small village called 'Calder Vale' we had never been there before.

Somewhat strange and out of the way place with an erratic type structure of houses in general.

There's a large cotton mill there, still working by all accounts and employing quite a decent work force.

Lappet Mill built in 1835 and still working as a cotton mill today. One of its products is the cloth for Arab head scarves - it used to be said that Yasser Arafat wore a head dress made in Lancashire at Lappet Mill.


The above photograph of The Lappet Mill is not mine. I was checking it out on The Net and came across this particular one, which was quite good.


The River Calder generated power for the mill at one time.




There was a fox running about by the water, I tried to get a snap of him but he was far too quick.




There were a few ducks which had taken to flight quite suddenly, he was probably ready to pounce on them.




Looking around towards where he could have gone whilst I was trying to get him on camera, there was an open stretch of ground offering a possible hiding hole.



Not really sure though.

[Mathos]

Everything in the village appeared to be centred around The Mill.
It all came to a full stop and the roads to a couple of alternative sections of 'residential cottages' left much to be desired.



It would have made an ideal setting for some out of the way hamlet in one of those 'Hammer Movies'



Obviously everything had originally been constructed around and for the benefit of The Mill,
any additional work or construction was basically on the side or higher areas of a very steep valley setting.


Some of the properties we looked down on from the valley side road were quite large.



But around them were more rows of terraces.

Spring or summer may have given it a more attractive appearance.




There was a small lagoon by the River, below in the above photograph which was marked up as a 'private residents picnic area'

The car park by the mill, had a sign stating it was private land. One sign even said 'Don't even think of parking here'

Most peculiar.




The general impression was that they wanted to be left alone.





The small terraced cottage for sale below was priced up at £153,000..00. Asking price




Fully modernised.

Whatever being fully modernised may mean.

Let the buyer beware springs to mind.



Virtually ever bit of parking space was occupied by workers vehicles from The mill.

Good, it must be busy.

There was an attractive looking Village Church almost next door to The Mill.





A little checking up on Calder Vale and it appears it was a village founded by Quakers Johnathan and Richard Jackson.

The Lappet Mill was built in 1835. in 1835



Maybe I was seeing fault in everything I looked at here, but the nativity outside of the Church left much to be desired as well.

[Mathos]

There are some really nice views and good land in this particular area.



Really spectacular in places



Pity about the mist, still nice though. Top of Jeffrey's hill.



Take Me Home Country Road,.

Nice.


We visited Garstang and had a really nice lunch in one of the town pubs.



Whats New Pussycat?



Then we made our way to the old Roman Fort Town of Ribchester.



Another cat on the loose as well.





I thought I saw a Puddy-Cat.


More next time.

[Mathos]

Quite a few more photographs of the run out to put on board yet, but today I was working so there a few of the jobs in hand to place on board.






Everything is looking pretty clean and tidy now, hope to finish it all before Christmas Eve and then it can be put to bed until the end of March.




It's interesting as well, you can already see next years leaf buds forming on the majority of trees.




Glad to have my grandson with me as well, it has been a hard few days moving and cleaning.


He worked by himself yesterday whilst I was out, he did really well.


He got nearly all of those bags and sacks of leaves up top and unloaded the same in the back corner there. We finished them off this morning, covered them with the big sacks and laid some weights over the same to stop them being blown about with the winds that will be coming every now and then over the next three months especially.




I'm going to have to replace the grass on the far banking next spring, probably use that seed which grows in shaded areas.

I'll check with the suppliers for the best product.




There are a few fruit bushes I have just planted up top here as well.

Hope they are nicely productive next year.




We did the decking and flags with a strong bleach mix, gave it a good scrub with deck scrubbers to activate and then hosed down.

Ruined a couple of pairs of trousers with the bleach.

His Mum will be after me for that.



It's the best cleaner I have ever used though.

You can pay through the nose for patio and deck cleaning materials, they don't compare with diluted thick bleach.

Got to be careful when you hose it down though.




It's a dead cert to kill plants if you are not careful.

[Mathos]

There's quite a large patio area by the small lawn.

Whilst I'm home this winter, I obviously give a clean up all round at least once a week, it helps keep on top of everything.





Plus it's good exercise.





I'm feeling quite good with how it's looking now.
The back of the hard work is broken




Thankfully.





Grandson isn't working tomorrow. So I'll be on my own.

He's back on Friday though, Saturday too and up to Christmas eve next week.




The steps were quite a mess, they look really good now though.

It's amazing what the gardens pick up in the last two months of the year especially.

[Mathos]

This section next:-




Well this section and the main drive.

Obviously cannot use bleach anywhere near the pond, so that is always a hard section to clean.

Never the less, it will get done.


We waxed Flobo's car last week and put that to bed for winter with it's cover on.

No point using a convertible at this time of the year.


With regards to our day out yesterday, this is a photograph from Ribchester, an old Roman Village with a great deal of interest.



I rather think Happyman will be pleased with the information from the museum there.


Nice Pub there too.

The White Bull.





I'll get the other photographs and information on board over the next few days hopefully.



The River Ribble looked in good fettle.

[Happyman]

Originally Posted by Mathos

I rather think Happyman will be pleased with the information from the museum there.

It was the highest navigable point on the Ribble and also the main depot on the road from near Skipton to Fleetwood. At the time it was called Bremetenacum Veteranorum.
The road was primarily for transporting minerals and ore from the Pennines.

On the way from Skipton there was an unamed Roman marching camp at Elslack
but there is very little trace of it now - just cropmarks during a dry summer .

[Mathos]

Originally Posted by Happyman;882477

It was the highest navigable point on the Ribble and also the main depot on the road from near Skipton to Fleetwood. At the time it was called [B

Bremetenacum Veteranorum[/b].
The road was primarily for transporting minerals and ore from the Pennines.

On the way from Skipton there was an unamed Roman marching camp at Elslack
but there is very little trace of it now - just cropmarks during a dry summer .

How right you are, nice to see you up and about as well.

When we were walking around the town, especially the museum and some of the ruins, bath house especially, you did come to mind Happyman.

We both remarked that you would be more than interested in all the town had to offer historically, and indeed in its present day mode.

A nice place.

Beautiful quaint place as well.



I like the stone property.



The stone wall is gathering moss as well.



Really nice streets.




The people we met in the village were really friendly as well.

Good 'Northern Hospitality'



The links here are very interesting.

Ribchester Roman Museum, Ribchester, Lancashire, UK
The Museum is dedicated to the Roman history of Bremetennacum Veteranorum, the Roman name



This site is for the parish of Ribchester in the Ribble Valley
The village of Ribchester is encircled by green hills and lies in a ... The Romans established a fort in Ribchester in the latter part of the 1st century. ...

Two brilliant links above with a tremendous amount of very interesting information.

[Mathos]

Some photographs here from inside the museum.




The information from the same is tremendous.



They had some excellent leather workers from all accounts.




Amazing 'late discoveries' as well which were stored outside for the present.




They certainly introduced a great deal of modernisation to Britain.



You can see clearly the various drainage channels and pillar bases etc.



Surprising how many different nationalities came from Eurpoe under The Roman Banner.



Some really nice work in this front pillar base as well.