Piglets take in the sun

These newly-born piglets are completely enjoying the current sunshine.

Lots of children were enjoying the sight of the piglets (though Mum was ignoring them) at the animal centre at Byrkley Park.

Link: Byrkley Park

Phew...a scorcher

Another scorcher today, at 25 Celsius ... and what do the English do when it's unexpectedly hot? Head for a garden centre - like this one, the Byrkley Park Centre near Shobnall.

And, it must be hot: you rarely see someone holding up their umbrella to guard them from the ... sun!

Link: Byrkley Garden Centre

Indian summer days

Can this 'Indian summer' last? Seven days of unseasonal, continual sunshine.  The best part of the day during this sort of weather is, I think, when the last rays of the sun, low in the sky, make one sigh to just relax and take it easy.
Some walk a dog, while some check their texts outside the pub as this young lady is doing - at The Vaults in Uttoxeter.

Graffiti illusion

Do you see the man buried by rubble?

As I passed this patch of waste ground to the back of Tesco in Hanley, I did a double-take, thinking I could see some poor homeless man, who had been pushed back against the wall - and was perhaps being crushed by a fall of loose earth.
As I was about to race over and save him, I realised it was just a piece of graffiti.

I can't help thinking the artist was trying to create the exact illusion that I fell for...!

Emerging from LDF

‘Tent’ is the event during the London Design Festival week that tends to showcase the more innovative or younger & exciting designers.  Hundreds of ambitious youngsters take over empty spaces – warehouses and the like – to exhibit their work in the city.

I really enjoyed this particular showcase, ‘Emerge’ at Spitalfields, which featured the crop of young graphic designers, including Matt Lucas from Staffordshire University. His brilliant take on an astrological table was really inspired. Trouble was - I missed him by one day. (I should have read his table!)

Link: Matt Lucas at Emerge

Solar panels

You don't often see solar panels on private homes in Staffordshire. This householder in Tean clearly thinks they are the way forward though.

The literature suggests that they are an investment in the long-term, not just simply a way of keeping your bills low.
But, as the technology in gathering solar power improves, will they turn out to be that much of an investment?  It's a dilemma.

Skull & crossbones crockery

I decided to visit the London Design Festival, which runs across the city for a week in late September every year. The big event, '100% Design', was at Earl’s Court, where dozens of Europe’s leading design firms had stands.

I was really happy to turn one corner and find Denise O’Sullivan, who makes her colourfully individual ceramic pieces in north Staffordshire. She said that the latest news was that her newest range, a skull & crossbones crockery set, had attracted the attention of a bikers’ club; and she had been booked in to present tea for them at a rally.

Right. Hmm.

Link: Denise O'Sullivan / London Design Festival

Staffordshire way

The Staffordshire Way is the long distance footpath that crosses the county from the north, going south-east, and then zigzagging back into it south-west corner.

This sign is on the Teddesley Park estate.

Canal boat rises

The sight of a narrowboat slowly rising into view from down deep in a lock – it’s something that always makes me laugh, especially if I’m caught by a surprise.

Don’t know why it’s comical, but somehow it is.

Astral vinyl

In Staffordshire, there are one or two small record shops, run by enthusiasts, which will stock a lot of vinyl. There’s one in Rugeley and one in Stoke town for instance.

But only Astral Vinyl (in Hanley) stocks nothing but vinyl. Dave (seen here on the left) really loves the stuff.  

Although the records are not in alphabetical order, it doesn’t seem to matter, as Chris seems to know exactly where everything in his shop is (and what he’s got).  Just ask him – it’s all in his head.

If you're a fan of the black stuff, you'll recognise the album sleeve that Dave is holding - it's from an LP by Jimi Hendrix.

Link: Astral Vinyl record shop

The angel of Aston

There’s something very spooky about angel-memorials in graveyards. They should be reassuring, but they have exactly the opposite effect on me, even one with a beautiful face, like this one in Aston churchyard.  Her wings are really like pinions too; it's quite a piece.

The fact that her arms have broken off may contribute to her spookiness.

And I can fully understand why the makers of Doctor Who should have based one of their alien-creatures, the ‘Weeping Angels’, on these statues.

Link: The Weeping Angels

Migrating birds

Looking spookily like the birds in the Hitchcock film of the same name, these birds collect on a roof, gathering themselves for the day they finally take the big decision to migrate off south for the winter.
It's a gloomy sight. It means winter is on the way...

I also saw the first Christmas cards on sale a few days ago - another sign of approaching winter!

Spiritualism lives on

One of the most successful churches in the Potteries is this one.
I had thought Spiritualism declined out of sight after its heyday in the late nineteenth century (famous names including Oliver Lodge and Arthur Conan Doyle were believers then) - but I am clearly wrong.

The church here has a sort-of open service on the afternoon of October 1st when some new mediums are being inducted.

Fleas in Leek

The best weekly flea market in Staffordshire is the one at Leek (in my opinion), which is on Fridays. You can find some truly quirky stuff there, and the prices aren’t outrageous.  It takes place in the old market-square by the market cross.

As for other flea-markets in Staffordshire: the Newcastle flea market (sorry Newcastle) seems a bit predictable to me. I haven’t yet been to the one at Penkridge.

This post was featured on the City Daily Photo's Theme Day pages 

Misspelling

Does anyone care about misspelling?  I guess I do. 

Maybe it’s just me.

Burslem steel

One of the best laid-out parks in the Potteries is at Burslem. It’s a Victorian park with quite a pedigree.

They’re completely refurbishing it, and these new steel benches have been installed. I like the design, which is modern and attractive. They have the virtue of being vandal-proof too, I guess.

But some of my friends didn’t like the introduction of cold metal into what should be a ‘soft’ landscape.

Look at them apples

There are so many apples this year (well, so it seems to me) that people simply can’t collect them all off the trees.

Down the road from me, as you walk along the pavement, you crunch over the apples that have been falling unpicked from overhanging trees.

Jazz in the Hall

The Jan Harris Quintet play easy-listening swing standards, and their style matched beautifully the small but perfectly-formed concert room at Middleton Hall. It showed me that jazz can work quite well outside the pubs and clubs where I usually see it...

Middleton Hall is an old manor on the Warwickshire-Staffordshire border that has been lovingly restored by a volunteer-group of conservationists; and they were holding an open day.

The painting behind Jan, of the woman in the blue dress, is of Cassandra Duchess of Chandos. She was born at the hall in 1670, and was an historian and a painter. The painting itself may be modern though I think.

England - lush and shining

The odd weather over the past couple of days - rainy, windy, sunny, cloudy (all in the space of ten minutes, and repeated every ten minutes!) - has brought a real English September. Green and lush, turning into russets and ochres.

Of course, I also got soaked through in a thorough shower yesterday when the afternoon almost turned black...

Bringing up the past

Good ol’ Heritage Open Day. Today is the day that many historic buildings that are usually closed to the public are opened up - and we can all see them. (Sadly, not as many buildings as one would hope are in fact opened up, but there you are…)

One of the most unusual structures people got to see this year was the two-hundred year-old limekiln (which is on private land) at Sandon. The Staffordshire Historic Buildings Trust is gradually restoring it, having got it listed.

Chris Wakeling (second from left) of the SHBT was an enthusiastic guide.

Link: Heritage Open Day, Staffordshire / Sandon Limekiln

Rave in these caves

There’s not a lot of information about Beech Caves. The incursions into the rock, which created caves out of an original outcrop, must have been a way of quarrying for their sandstone, but any exact history seems vague.

They do seem to have been used for storing munitions during the war, but exactly who was storing the munitions is up for debate. They are abandoned now, and signs warn they are dangerous..

Anyway, even though they are a good walk from Tittensor, the nearest town, teenagers still like to hang out there and build little camp-fires and write graffiti and scare themselves, as teenagers do.
A local band, The Machine Is Off, even decided to make a video there. They called it ‘rave in a cave’…

Link: Music video made in Beech Caves (YouTube)

Lucky horseshoe pub

If you're feeling down on your luck, the Horseshoe pub at Tatenhill should restore your fortunes. Passing under the giant horseshoe over its doorway should do the trick...

Quarry-watching, a new pastime

The quarry environment at Freehay (named Croxden Quarry, oddly) draw a lot of people - walkers and bird-watchers mostly, who can walk around the diggings area, though they are not supposed to trespass into the working area, obviously.

And I think it's great that the quarrying company, Tarmac, has created a bonus for them by providing custom-made viewing platforms, like the one in this photo.
Obviously, it makes the site safer: by stopping the curious wandering on to the working part of the site to see what's going on, but it still shows some public awareness by the company.

However, hmm, why anyone would want to sit and watch diggers at work is a mystery to me!

Though I guess the need to sit and watch is more comprehensible in the case of bird-watchers.

Branston pickle

This is a sight to warm the heart of a Staffordshire person. In the cupboard of a kitchen belonging to a small firm I was visiting, I noticed that the two jars with apparent pride of place were both Branston foods.

The famous pickle was first dreamt of, made, and named after the village of Branston in east Staffordshire - though, in fact, nowadays its production is elsewhere.

Staffordshire is equally famous for Marmite - which is made at nearby Burton.

Link: Branston pickle (Wikipedia)

Sunset pubs

There are a number of pubs in Staffordshire where one might go specifically for the sunsets. They have to have a sloping beer garden (facing west of course), and a good long view to an even horizon.

The two pubs in Dilhorne, the White Lion (excellent view) and the Royal Oak (not bad) both fit this bill – I took this photo there.The best of all though for a sunset must be the Cheshire View pub, high up at Mow Cop, at the north end of the county. It has a view stretching seventy miles, from where you can see over three counties; people often go there just for the sunsets.

Summer wanes in Dovedale

Summer seems to be visibly leaving us, and we now have to take advantage, when we can, of the last drifting moments of warm sun.

Here, in the Staffordshire Peak District at Dovedale, the visitors are, however, noticeably fewer in number already.

Womanhood in the mirror

When you walk into the toilets at Granvilles Bar in Stone, it’s quite a shock, because this magnificent mirror is the first thing you see. You don’t often come across a work of art in pub conveniences.

It turns out it's by a ceramic sculptor who trained locally, Philip Hardaker. Looking at it, it seems to be on the theme of womanhood, which is odd, as it has been placed in the gentlemen’s toilets. (At least, I think that’s odd).

Philip Hardaker has an exhibition coming up soon in the town, at the Radford Gallery toward the end of September.

Link: Radford Gallery

Blythe blithe cricket

Cricket is a strange game. I don’t think I could play it - as it takes up the whole day (I mean local cricket, not the mad Test game which can last even longer - five days…!), but I can watch it for hours on end.

Most local cricket clubs maintain a bar while the game is on, so the spectator can just sit there and slowly drift the day away in a soft & blithe semi-alcoholic hypnotised haze - a brilliant way to spend an afternoon.

In Staffordshire, some of the clubs have some great grounds too, with panoramic views across the countryside.
This ground, belonging to Blythe CC, is one such. The one at Stanley (in the Moorlands) is also spectacular.

Dried up bean fields

Not sure what’s happened here. The stalks on this bean field on the A38 in south Staffordshire seem to have withered, and the beans in the pods are black and desiccated. I know it's been a dry summer, but...

Weird.