Looking towards Walford's Gibbet

John Walford was hung near here for the murder of his wife in 1789. Coleridge and Wordsworth knew the story well via Tom Poole who had known Walford from boyhood. The story still excites a lot of local interest and debate.

Bex on Bank Holiday..

Bex on Bank Holiday. Sun over Nether Stowey after two days of intermittent rain.

Walking beyond Nether Stowey

Walking in the hills beyond Nether Stowey.  

Bex in the woods on a dark rainy day.

Romanticism and the rest

Where it all started--the fantastic Holford Combe between Nether Stowey and Alfoxton.

A memorial, of sorts

The cairn at Shurton Bars.  The plaque asks that visitors place a stone on the cairn to mark the place where ashes are scattered.

Shurton Bars beach

Shurton Bars beach near where Coleridge wrote "Ode to Sara"--reached via a maze of lanes through farms.  Hinckley Point nuclear reactor in the background. Much of this area is going to be the site of two new reactors (shaped like golf balls) and therefore out of bounds.

The Great Wood Ranscombe

The Great Wood Ranscombe at Adscombe. This is the area that Coleridge wanted to settle in before he found accommodation at Nether Stowey. A wonderful forest full of hiking trails...nothing changes, someone had just burnt down the toilet block.

Rosemary and Bex.  Bex knows all the trails and is quite vain about his appearance--he will only roll in mud puddles if other dogs jump in the water and he then succumbs to social pressure. He will also taste blackberries and spit them out if they are not ripe.

Rosemary and Bex in the Quantock woods

Rosemary and Bex in the woods, near Bincombe Combe.  We have walked twice through Walford's Cross (Lesley,you will remember the story) and past the spot where he lived --and from where his family could see his body hanging at the Cross.  I am going to a lecture on Broomsquires--another cottage involved in this saga.

Coleridge Cottage coffee shop

The coffee shop at the Coleridge Cottage, Nether Stowey.

Garden, the Coleridge Cottage, Nether Stowey

Garden at the Coleridge Cottage Nether Stowey. A new bower is at the back and there are plans to plant a lime tree nearby. The poppies sprung up when the garden was cleared of weeds--they have been there a long time. Tom Poole's garden joined at the very back at a right angle to this block.

Ode to Sara

Ode to Sara, written in 1795 at Shurton Bars .  Shurton Bars is a beach at the hamlet of Shurton, near Stogursey, near Nether Stowey, near Bridgwater.  The beach is near the Hinkley Point nuclear power station in a tidal zone that that can be treacherous. This was written prior to the marriage of Coleridge and Sara.

Coleridge's sword: part of his kit when he ran off to the Light Dragoons. Never used--he spent his time writing love letters on behalf of fellow soldiers.

Coleridge family at the Nether Stowey cottage

(L-R) Rosemary and Sarah Middleton, direct descendants of Coleridge at the Cottage in Nether Stowey on the first day of its post-renovation opening.  Rosemary told family stories about Coleridge's wife burning the nappies at the fireplace (in the photo behind Rosemary) and Sarah is a PhD candidate in Maths.

Entrance to the pathway down to Culbone Church

Culbone Church (correct title is St Beuno's Church) is on the South West Path walk but can also be reached from the 'top' via farming lanes and tracks.  Rambler Helen knew her way into this area.  The church seats only 33, has a newly donated organ, and there are recent headstones in the graveyard.

Bossington, near Porlok

Self at the Packhorse Bridge, Bossington. Bossington is a National Trust village, only one mile from Porlock--but a world apart.

The leper's window, Culbone Church

There was once (16th century) a leper colony in the woods at Culbone--they could look through into the church from outside via this window or 'squint'.

Holford Glen, near Nether Stowey

Deer stalking by car Holford Glen, where Romanticism started, so they say.  The hunt starts soon so this animal's days may be numbered.

Helen and Jackie at Culbone Church

Helen and Jackie at Culbone Church, north of Porlock. This is the smallest church in England that is still operational.  You have to access by a forest walk from Porlock or driving to a farm and then walking down into the combe.

Purple haze

The heather has just turned a deep purple on the moors north of Porlock. Wales in the distance across the water.

The moors north of Porlock

The open top bus on Exmoor north of Porlock.  Getting up Porlock Hill was fun--the gradient is 1 in 4 and I was stuck behind an antique Austin that almost seemed to go backwards.  The Hyundai never made it out of first gear.

John Ratcliffe, Nether Stowey

John Ratcliffe at his home in Nether Stowey.  John has carried out extensive research on James Cole, who lived in the village when Coleridge was here and knew Coleridge and Wordsworth.  Cole became a famous clockmaker.  John has 

re-built village clocks and knows village history and architecture and has manorial rights to collect oak from the woods--but not more than he can carry.

The Bridgwater Arms

I assume this is the Bridgwater Arms that Coleridge stayed at and where he noted that all the linen was marked with 'stolen from the Bridgwater Arms.'  He was walking to Cheddar with the Wordsworths.

Coleridge preached here

Coleridge preached at the Unitarian Chapel twice--trying to raise money. The Chapel was built in 1688, rebuilt in 1788 and restored in 1988, so it remains as it was I gather when Coleridge preached in 1797 and 1798. He was living in Lime Street Nether Stowey in this period. He might like to know that the Hall notice advertises 'Free Thinking Religion' and 'Liberty Truth Love.'

The filthy Parrett

Roger Evans says that Coleridge referred to Bridgwater's Parrett River as being' as filthy as if all the parrots in the House of Commons had been washing their consciences in it.' 

Newton Park campus Bath Spa

Part of the Duchy of Cornwall, the Newton Park campus is very nice indeed.

Bath Spa Newton Park

Professor Tim Middleton of Bath Spa Newton Park campus.

Coleridge as a Chinese restaurant

Coleridge and Southey used the Old Library in King Street, now Cathay Rendezvous.  According to legend Coleridge walked to Bristol from Nether Stowey to change library books--he might have been faster than driving down the M5 on Saturday.

The Hole in the Wall pub Bristol

According to the Bristol Literary Trail this is the hotel that inspired the Spyglass Inn in Treasure Island.

Bristol Millenium area

Another side to Bristol--quite South Bank but a little arid.

Inside St Mary's

Inside St Mary's--a rather lovely interior

Inside St Mary's, a rather lovely interior.

Another wedding..Coleridge and Southey

Both Coleridge and Southey were married here as the notes below show.  Hopefully No 1 and No 2 weddings will have a brighter future than that of STC.  The Church has been recently restored and people bring magnifying glasses to look at the roof. The 'gorilla' is part of a celebration of 175 years of Bristol Zoo--gorillas are multiplying around the south west.  The Trail notes state:

" St Mary Redcliffe, while beautiful, has many literary links. Both Southey and Coleridge were married here, and the boy poet Chatterton spent much time within the church where his uncle was church sexton. Chatterton, after studying many scrolls, wrote verses in a medieval style and passed them off as being written by a monk called Rowley."  To get here I abandoned the trail as time did not permit the six hour advertised walk. Actually, it is a mix of literature, history and culture but could well be organized into time-based routes.

Wedding No 2 around 11am Saturday Bristol

Another morning gathering--and I saw quite a few other wedding parties--in the area that morning in various outfits but all brides carried a bouquet.

Wedding No 1

The Bristol Register Office (sic) is the busiest place in town on a Saturday morning. It is at the start of the market and attendees can get a coffee and still hear the bridal waltz.  This wedding was at 9am.

Southey's birthplace

Southey's birthplace at 9 Wine Street.  On a Saturday the area is occupied by market stalls.

The Strikers clock, St Nicholas market, Bristol

The clock strikers:  "Before turning left into Corn Street, note the Quarter Jacks on Christ Church. Southey wrote how he often "stopt to see them strike…". The Quarter Jacks were originally part of an earlier church, demolished in 1786. Southey laid copper coins under the foundation stone of the present church. It was in this area that Bushey and Green, who figure in Shakespeare's Richard III, were executed by Henry Bolingbroke's men.

Starting...or not...the Bristol Literary Trail

The start of the Bristol Literary Trail.  Around the corner is St Nicholas Church and this is All Saints Lane.  There is no online map to this trail and it is confusing. For example, "1. Leaving St Nicholas Church in St Nicholas Street (closed to the public), turn right and then left into the High Street, noting the sign for The Rummer."  

The Rummer is actually a pub--or the man who pointed it out to me thinks it is-- and it is in All Saints Lane as above.  The instructions continue as follows: 

This public house (now closed) saw the launch of Coleridge's magazine The Watchman in 1795. Joseph Cottle whose bookshop once stood on the corner of High Street and Corn Street, befriended Southey and Coleridge whilst they were still unknown, offering to publish their poems for thirty guineas. Wordsworth finished one of his poems in the back room of Cottle's shop. There has been some speculation that Coleridge took inspiration for his epic The Ancient Marina from Captain Thomas James who voyaged from Bristol to Hudson Bay in 1631.

Bristol, early morning

Bristol has a lot of high-rise but you can see the hills in the distance which is nice.  The canals and waterways are great and people actually walk around reading--books.

Following Wordsworth on the 555 into Keswick

No opportunity is wasted..following the 555 advertising Dove Cottage into Keswick.  A large four storey building that looks like a hotel/apartment centre is under construction on the Lake, right across the road from Dove Cottage on the side of the Lake--now how did that get through the local authority? The company is part of Australia's NAB group.

Walking between Grasmere and Rydal, Cumbria

Peter Gasson and Sue Carson on the 'coffin trail':  this is the route taken by coffin carriers between Rydal and Grasmere. There are stone slabs every so often for carriers of old to rest the coffin en route.  Lake Windermere on the left.

Sue Carson being Christopher Robin nr Borrowdale

Christopher Robin thought that if he stood on the bottom rail of the Bridge, and bent over and watched the river slipping slowly away beneath him,then he would suddenly know everything there was to be known. AA Milne inscription at the entry to the Bridge over the stream at Borrowdale.

Mountains from the Circle of Stones

This is the tourist blurb and my pics do not do this justice: Castlerigg Stone Circle is one of the most visually impressive prehistoric monuments in Britain, and is the most visited stone circle in Cumbria. Every year thousands of people visit it to look, photograph, draw and wonder why and when and by whom it was built. The stone circle is on the level top of a low hill with views across to Skiddaw, Blencathra and Lonscale Fell.

Circle of Stones, Keswick

The Circle of Stones offers fantastic views of the mountains.  The Lakes version of Stonehenge.  No idea who the woman is in this pic.

Breakfast at Greta Hall, Keswick

Staying in the  home owned by Southey and Coleridge has to be a highlight.  We were given a lot of information, and reading material, by our host and Susan G played the piano during breakfast. In the early nineteenth century it was a house full of people and children and it still is a house full of people and children. Lots of musical instruments, ducks, dogs, and books. Poet Southey seem to have been a kind soul, looking after Sara Coleridge, his sister-in-law, here for around 26 years plus writing the early version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Coleridge seems to have fought with his wife at every opportunity. 

Lake Derwent, Cumbria

This is the lake that we crossed on a small ferry full of hikers, kids, and a number of terriers and spaniels.  The ferry dropped walkers at landing points and you could then walk around the lake to other ferry stops, visiting pubs or farms along the way. It was a hot day with clear skies so anything that could float was out on the water.

End of the Lakes week

Farewell to Buckle Yeat B&B,again --29 steps from the pub across the road.

The village of Near Sawrey which includes Beatrix Potter's Hilltop farm.

Moss Eccles Tarn

One of Potter's favourite places; she planted waterlillies here.

The Beatrix Potter landscape, Near Sawrey, the Lakes.

A lake on Beatrix Potter land at Near Sawrey.  The house was very interesting (no pics) -- Potter left precise instructions as to where her furniture etc should be placed and stated nothing in the house should be changed, therefore there is no electricity.