Llama? alpaca?

I know that alpacas and llamas have been bred as livestock in this country for quite a little while now – but it’s still a surprise to turn a corner and suddenly find a few of them staring at you. They still look pretty unusual to me.
These beautiful creatures can be found in Ellastone.

Still not sure which is a llama and which an alpaca though.

Beautiful Ilam

The Ilam estate is completely idyllic, isn't it?
Because it's all owned by The National Trust it's beautifully maintained, and in this instance, is free to access - even the garden in the forefront of this photo, which is part of Ilam Hall (now a local youth hostel).
The estate church is a gem - it's St Bertram's, and goes back to Saxon times. Pilgrims come to the saint's tomb to pray.

Great walks too!

Links: Ilam Estate / St Bertram

Burslem Pantocrator

This extraordinary mural showing ‘Christ Pantocrator’ looks at first sight like it could be a mosaic some 1000 years old, and from a Byzantine church.
In fact, it was painted in the 1930s by a young woman who had family here in Staffordshire at the time.

It is amazing to walk into St Joseph’s Church in Burslem (which has a pretty ugly exterior to tell the truth) – and suddenly see this huge dome over the altar holding this image in its bowl.
Moira Forsyth had a famous painter father (Gordon Forsyth), but she went on to become pretty special herself.

A good image for Easter Day!

Link: More on Moira Forsyth / Christ Pantocrator images

Come thee in to The Anchor

The Anchor Hotel in Teanford has this catchy poem inscribed on its side, designed to encourage the thirsty passer-by to take a comfort break.  It starts, as you can see “Come thee in and sit thee down…”

The inn itself dates back to 1757, but I should think the poem is much much later, even thought it’s written in dialect.

The highways authority must have approved of the sentiments in the poem I think. Otherwise, why would they have put up a sign here saying ‘give way’? (ho ho!!!)

Good Friday flowers

I was walking past Eccleshall Church today and I saw the Easter flower-arrangers were already in. I was surprised to see them on Good Friday (the day of Christ’s death) – a very sombre day in the Christian calendar.

However, one lady told me that they had been allowed to put up the Easter flowers on strict condition that they did it after three o’clock. This is important – as 3pm is the supposed hour of Christ’s death on the cross on Good Friday.

Dunkirk's gas

This gas base reminded me of that incredibly irritating screen-saver which consisted of a series of coloured pipes growing and growing into a twisted complexity that eventually destroyed itself. It was hypnotic and maddening.

For some reason this isolated spot outside Audley village is called Dunkirk, so this unit is known as the Dunkirk Gas Plant.

Tribute to a brave man

The Colin Grazier Hotel is a puzzle to most visitors to Tamworth. Who was he, they ask, and they assume he was a local businessman or politician.
In fact he was an ordinary sailor who died in action in World War Two, when he showed amazing courage in entering a sinking German U-Boat, to find and retrieve some codebooks that were known to be in it. Sadly he died returning yet again into the U-Boat. Those codebooks helped the Allies later to intercept and interpret German signals.

For some odd reason – probably the British obsession with secrecy – the story didn’t emerge for many years, when Grazier was finally, posthumously, awarded The George Cross.

To me, it’s admirable that this pub company decided to name their pub after him – even though it must have known that few visitors (and probably very few young people) would even know who he was.

Saved from the bogs

Tracks can stay very boggy, even in the Spring, especially if they are near streams or in poorly-draining areas..

Country-walkers like myself would sink in these nasty bogs if it weren't for the Ramblers Association, which builds ramps like one on the Teddesley Park Estate, to ensure footpaths remain walkable.
Kudos to them!

Link: Ramblers Association

Supporting walls

Walls that need this sort of support are clearly ones to walk well clear of. The odd thing was that they looked so solid.

As I've mentioned before, a poem I'm really fond of is the one by Robert Frost 'Mending Wall'. It seems relevant. In it are these lines:

"Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offence.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down!"

Weetmans Bridge

Weetmans Bridge, which crosses the Trent at Little Haywood, is so called because, when it was built in 1888, it was paid for by public subscription – and a man called Joseph Weetman was the largest donor.

It hasn’t changed much in the last hundred years, and its surface is still cobbled. 

This photo is part of the monthly 'Theme Day Photo' run by City Daily Photo; the theme this month is cobblestones.   Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.