Oh to be in England

I'm not quite in the Lake District but in the Howgills area of Cumbria. Jennie and Owen moved here from Grange-Over-Sands last year. It is an opportunity for me to explore yet another beautiful and new-to-me corner of England. Foxhill Rigg is a lovely old stone farmhouse a few miles up the road from Sedbergh, near Cautley.

We went out on Friday night to a celidh (or however one spells it.It took me
back to the good old days with Lesley and David and the monthly Phoenix Barn dances in Leeds. Over dinner with some friends beforehand, we got out the old photos of the
Colony Holiday at Ballacloan on the Isle of Man where I met Jennie!
Much to the delight of the men I had a photo of Jennie (in about 1972,) in a bikini, dipping her toes into the North Sea, and she had one in her album, coming out of the water on the same occasion.

It was a struggle to get dressed and go out after that, as all I really wanted to do was to go to bed. However I survived the evening and even managed a few dances. I tried to pick the less strenuous ones but the caller didn't really give us much warning.

It is cool and fresh but the sun is trying to shine.
It is beautiful here in Sedbergh, with fields of wildflowers and stone walls surrounding the farmhouse and the hills and moorland just across the valley.

Jennie is developing a cottage garden around the house and the chooks and
Meg the dog, hang out in the farm yard. The only sounds are the birds, a pheasant calling in the field next door and the lambs calling to their mothers on the hillsides. Occasionally a jet fighter screams across the valley but presumably they don't do that at the weekends, so all is peaceful.

The only other sound is the squeaking of Meg's purple rugby ball or her hot dog as she tries to get me to throw it for her. She has adopted me as her new friend, as I talk to her and occasionally do oblige by throwing something.

We went into the Lake District last night, where Owen conducted a concert of choral music in a very old stone church, up a hidden valley at Kentmere. The man explained that the graveyard around the church was not mown because of the profusion of wild flowers and that it wouldn't be mown until the flowers set their seed in July. It was a breathtaking spot. Supper and a glass of wine were served in the interval. All very civilised.

The Allegri Singers and Players are an amateur group directed by Owen. The music was by Schulz, Marini, Biber, Bach and Vaughan Williams. Not quite my cup of tea but in such a magical setting, on a chilly but sunny evening and against the view through a picture window, of farm and moorland lit by the setting sun, it was most enjoyable. I especially liked the string intstruments accompanying the singers.
The Vaughan Williams Benedicite was powerful and very appropriate given the setting.

As we came home through Sedbergh at dusk last night, a couple were still playing tennis and it was 10:30pm! The light on the patchwork of mown fields and the distant hills was amazing.

Today we are off up into the hills to a Quaker meeting and 30 minute silence on the fells. It sounds different and a good chance again to mix with the locals! It must have something to do with this week being the longest day of the year.