A visit to Chadkirk

Last week on a free day I decided to get my train 'fix' with a visit to Chadkirk on an estate situated north east of Stockport in the lovely Goyt valley. I had heard of this church dedicated to St Chad, a celtic saint who was a missionary in this area in 7th century, from my connections with the Community of Aidan and Hilda. I 'railed' from Congleton to Manchester and then on to Romiley. It was only a short walk down a steep hill to the church and walled garden backed by woods. A wonderfully peaceful place to commune with one's maker. The walks were interesting with lots of interpretive boards about the cotton industy in the past. To find out more visit the website at www.chadkirkchapel.org.uk

Congleton Food and Drink Festival

The Steel Tempo band was playing in the middle of the town during Congleton Food and Drink Festival on Sunday. Their music brought back memories of my daughter's wedding on Barbados 10 years ago in 1999.

North Wales

A few weekends ago I stayed with my friend in her static caravan on North Wales coast.

We had 3 glorious days of sunshine with lovely gentle walking, including Newborough Sands on Anglesey, the mountain at the back of the site and on the Great Orme at Llandudno. After attending a piano recital by Freddy Kempf at the theatre we were treated to a most spectacular sunset on the way back via Conway - and I had my camera in my bag!

Great Rail Journey

I have just experienced my holiday of a lifetime with 'Great Rail Journeys' travelling by train all the way to Austria as a 1st class passenger.

My journey began with Eurostar to Brussels and on into Germany staying at Konnigswinter near Cologne for the first night. Next day the route followed the mighty Rhine via Mannheim , Stuttgart and Munich and onto our resort for 6 nights at Jenbach in the Innsbrook valley (Tyrol).

My case which had been sent on by a company called 'First Luggage' was waiting for me in my room at The Jenbacherhof Hotel and well worth every penny spent!

The holiday was a dream come true with an excellent tour manager, 20 congenial companions (including an ardent botanist) and sunny weather.

My best day was a ride on the steam train 'the Zillertalbahn' up a valley to the resort of Mayerhofen.

Bluebell woods

I love to walk in the bluebell woods around Church Lawton at this time of year. The best time of day is early morning or late afternoon when the light is low filtering through the trees. This year I discovered a 2 to 3 mile circular walk taking in the church, Trent and Mersey canal, and 2 hidden valleys.

Rainy Photo Shoot

The mission of our annual Congleton U3A Photo Group outing this year was to take photos for the front cover of the summer newsletter. Having lunch at a local hostelry one member remarked that we should be out there whilst the sun was shining. How true a statement as it started raining at the start of the walk around Redesmere and Capsthorne estate. We did manage some shots before a downpour forced us to retire.

Every cloud has a silver - lining and the red umberella provided a focal point for this shot.
Pity the newsletter is in black and white!

A Secret Garden

What a way to start the glorious month of May with a visit to this lovely garden, even if we did have umberellas to the ready. 'The Rowans' near Malpas Cheshire is open to the public in July under the National Garden Scheme www.ngs.org I was fortunate to be invited as a guest with a friend as part of her garden design group and we had a personally conducted tour by the owners.