Swindon's Forest Festival

The stand run by the Swindon Climate Action Network - working to inform the people of Swindon about the effects of climate change and the benefits of sustainable transport.

Visit their web-site at http://www.swindonclimate.org.uk/

In many ways this stand sums up the ethos of the Forest Festival and highlights the many people in and around Swindon who are working to protect our environment. I spotted Brian Burrows still working tirelessly on the Save Coate campaign - well done Brian (and Jean) for keeping on keeping on.

This is the tenth anniversary of one of Swindon's best events. Held at one of my favourite local places to walk - the Lawn, it remains relatively unsung. Lots of people of all ages enjoying the hot sunny day (first one in August) in the relaxed atmosphere of the festival. Live music, stalls (e.g. mushroom growing, organic and Fairtrade produce), make your own bird-box, plus a food and drink tent. This year there were some low-key woodland games for the youngsters - of all ages.


Excellent local band, I'm afraid my picture doesn't do them justice. The singer has a lovely voice plus is a talented guitarist and flautist. A rather breathless violinist joined them a bit later.
Find out more at
http://www.myspace.com/thesweetplums

Traditional woodcraft being demonstrated

TWIGS is a community garden set up with the aim of giving people who have experienced mental health problems a chance to regain confidence and learn new skills - a stepping stone to recovery, further education or work. The garden is open every Wednesday and Friday - described an oasis of calm from the stresses of everyday life, it can be found at the back of the Manor Garden Centre in Cheney Manor.

Ukuleles in the bandstand

Ukebox Jury in the Town Gardens bandstand -

still without its roof after the lead was stolen from it earlier in the year

I have written about the Town Gardens and the bandstand several times before. I, like many other Swindon residents, was very upset when the lead was stolen from the recently renovated Victorian bandstand earlier in the year. But the bands played on ..... the regular brass bands have been there on Sundays during the 'summer', often in the rain. Today I wandered past and the sun was actually shining. This group of men and a couple of ladies were putting on a splendid show with their ukuleles. Their leader did a very good line in corny jokes which pleased the people of all ages who were sitting around. Their good natured renditions were mostly of early sixties standards though they did a really good version of 'Make Me Smile' by Steve Harley and the Cockney Rebels.

Had the sun not been shining they would have brought it with them - in fact their CD was on sale and I found myself buying a copy of "Painting The Clouds With Sunshine" - not because I'm a great fan of the ukulele but because of the enthusiasm and good humour they brought to the bandstand in the park.

Find out more here:
http://www.ukeboxjury.co.uk/

Invisible Stones

The above stone is one of the most unusual I have seen - it looks as though it should be standing upright as is nearly 13 foot long and much wider at one end than the other.

By chance I found these sarsens a couple of evenings ago - they are outside a small group of private flats at the top end of Grosvenor Road which leads to a footpath that used to access the old Princess Margaret Hospital (now the site of a new housing development). I walked past these stones in the past without actually seeing them - the other day I saw them.

The amazing quality of these ancient grey stones that originate from the sarsen drift on Marlborough Downs is their ability to become invisible - to blend with the background. I wonder how many people actually look at them and ponder on their history.


The east side of Swindon is peppered with sarsen stones - I've spotted them at Coate Water, at Shaftesbury Lakes, the Lawns, Queens's Park, at the start of the cycle track on Queen's Drive (route of old canal), on some open ground opposite St. Mary's Church in Rodbourne Cheney. They also crop up on the roundabout and outside the garden centre in the Rodbourne Cheney area.

Pete Glastonbury, who is a local expert on Avebury and Stonehenge believes, there was once a stone circle where the M4 now runs. I have to speculate as to what happened to the stones - did they get buried under the motorway or were some of them saved to be relocated around the old part of Swindon.

Star Windows at the Health Hydro

The door to what was once the Ladies Turkish Baths - from both sides to show the effect of the light shining through it.

The Ladies Turkish Baths - now just the doorway to some treatment rooms

Two of the beautiful star-windows which are tucked away in the more secluded parts of the building. One is very high up serving almost as a skylight, the other small star-window is actually in one of the 'smallest rooms' in the building - but I managed to find it.

Today I finally got around to attending one of the many health therapy sessions at the Milton Road Health Hydro. I had an alternative motive however, as I had been meaning to take a closer look at the little star window which is visible from the road.

The history of the Health Hydro is very much linked to the Great Western Railway. To quote from Mark Child's 'Swindon - An Illustrated History' Milton Road Baths. Built in 1892 at a cost of £10,000, the building featured two swimming baths........ Metal rings are still in place on the outside wall to allow patrons to tether their horses.
There is a plaque on the corner of the red brick building which says the following:

THIS TABLET WAS ERECTED TO PLACE ON RECORD THE EXISTENCE OF THE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY MEDICAL FUND SOCIETY WHICH FROM 1847 PROVIDED A MEDICAL SERVICE FOR THE EMPLOYEES OF THE RAILWAY AND THEIR DEPENDENTS.

THE SOCIETY CEASED TO FUNCTION UPON THE INTRODUCTION OF THE NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE ACT ON 5TH JULY 1948 AND WAS DISSOLVED ON 31ST MARCH 1949.

Cycle path hedgerows

Out for my usual lunchtime walk today - along the cycle path that runs from Queen's Drive to either Stratton Road or Greenbridge - you have a choice of directions . It is a fairly busy path used by the workers employed in the Greenbridge area, dog walkers, school kids (though on holiday at present) and the odd lunch-time escapee (me) out for a little forage - a sandwich shop nearby.
The cycle-path has the remnants of ancient hedgerows which still exist, as it used to be the route of Swindon old canal and also runs alongside the little river Cole.

Conkers almost ready to drop

Elderberries hanging in lush clusters

Blackberries

These were some of Nature's nuts and berries seen along the hedgerows during my lunchtime walk. Much more to observe, wild flowers, butterflies, bees (still busy) hawthorn bushes in bright red berry - autumn seems to be coming upon us this year while we are waiting for summer to start.

The old GWR Sportsground

One of the entrances to the once well kept Great Western Railway Sports Ground, tucked away at the back of Shrivenham Road. It has stood lock and abandoned for several years and, at present, I am not sure why it hasn't been built on yet (research needed).

The overgrown abandoned tennis courts

The view from the far side of the sports ground - I walked the perimeter of the ground with a friend during my lunch break today. We entered through the shrubbery and bushes along the Greenbridge cycle track that runs along the far side of the ground - technically I guess we may have been trespassing. What was astonishing was how quickly Nature has reclaimed the field which was no doubt once well manicured - blackberry brambles, around the edges, thistles and ragwort across the field - a haven for butterflies. There was evidence of foxes or other small creatures with tracks leading into the bushes.

One of the several wonderful old horse chestnuts on the far side of the ground

The Lawns again - naturally

One of the magnificent Scots Pines dotted around the Lawns

The line of five holly oaks just by the entrance at near the Planks.

One of the two lakes at the Lawns - today I spotted a young heron. We watched each other for a few seconds until it took flight (sorry no picture, I wasn't quick enough).

Ruins of an Italian Garden

Looking across the ornate balustrade towards the ruins of the little church of the manor - Holy Rood.

The well in the garden, now sealed off. The well was fed by the underground spring which rises around this spot and now feeds the lakes at the bottom of the hill.

The ruins of the Italian Garden tucked away in a corner at the Lawns - previously part of the the manor house that stood on the grounds until the the 1950s when it was demolished. The grounds and house had been occupied by American armed forces during the Second World War. In the 1950s the army huts still remained in the grounds of the parkland, now known as the Lawn; these were used as temporary classrooms for the mid 1950s influx of children attending Holy Rood School. Many of these were the children of Polish refugees and this marked the start of a flourishing Polish community which still exists in Swindon today.

The Beauty of Nature in Stained Glass - Lydiard Millicent

All Saints Church at Lydiard Millicent


The beautiful stained glass window in All Saints Church at Lydiard Millicent

A blackbird, thrush and robin at the bottom of the window. Swallows in flight and the dove of peace. In each of the trees there are more birds - another blackbird, a small brown bird in the blossom tree and blue-tits in the silver birch. At the top of each panel there is the sun, moon and stars.

Details from the bird window in All Saints Church - a blackbird and thrush amid spring flowers, bluebells, crocuses, daffodils and celandines.

The Walled Garden at Lydiard House

Hollyhocks

Iris like a goddess bold

Purple drapes her beauty so

That her magic men may know

From her still pool rising cold

Scarlet Salvias swoon and drift

Heavy with their maddening bloom

Silver sanctuaries of gloom

Their heads the dew-sheathed peonies lit

These drunken Pagans sing all night

All but an enchanted row

Of hollyhocks that grow and grow

By the house-wall out of sight

Not a sound or note they make,

But they're growing, growing fast

Skywards they are marching past

Pinks and foxgloves in their wake.

(WJ Turner 1889 - 1946)

At the centre of the Garden is a sun dial (a replica of the original)

How well the skilful Gardner drew

Of flow'rs and herbes this Dial new;

Where from above a milder Sun

Does through a fragrant Zodiack run;

And, as it works, th'industrious Bee

Computes its time as well as we,

How could such sweet and wholsome Hours

Be reckon'd but with herbs and flow'rs!

(From The Garden - Anrew Marvell 1621 - 1678)

I had the pleasure of spending some time in this beautiful, walled garden today. Out for a walk with a friend, we returned via Lydiard Park and, whilst the rest of the park was relatively busy being the first day of the school holidays and gloriously sunny, the walled garden at Lydiard House was a place of peace and tranquility.

Hinton Parva (Little Hinton) and St. Swithun's Church

St Swithun's Church - to quote Alfred Williams from Villages of the White Horse [written 1913]
"The pretty church stands adown the slope at the foot of the hill, in the midst of a group of picturesque chalk-built cottages and farmhouses, out of sight of the highway, except the red-tiled roof of the tower, which rises up and peeps over the tops of the trees and cottage chimneys. The little building is very ancient, Saxon in style, quaint without and within, with round arches, beautifully carved oak woodwork, centuries old, and old fashioned box-pews, the whole pervaded with a sense of calm peacefulness ........" Alfred Williams wrote this in 1913 and, having wandered in last week whilst on a Ridgeway walk, I have to agree. Nearly 100 years later the little church still retains the same sense of peace and simplicity.

The 11th century arches within St Swithun's Church

The font in St Swithun's Church

The information inside the church describes this as a Saxon font, however, unsure that this was the case I checked with some knowledgeable people on the Avebury Forum who confirmed that this style of font is actually early Norman. Many thanks to all who aswered my enquiry.

The Coomb

Thanks to Pippa, my delightful walking companion of a few days ago, for showing me this place. A deep ancient coomb, possibly formed by the 'run-off' from glacial melt at the end of the Ice Age. In the background a field of blue-gey linseed crop can be seen and along the banks of the coomb grew cornflowers - the first I have seen this year.

Hinton Parva or Little Hinton as now been designated as a Conservation Area by Swindon Borough Council.

Bishopstone

The most picturesque village in north Wiltshire, Bishopstone nestles at the bottom of Cowtail Coomb underneath Charlbury Hill. Its village pond is fed by streams running off the Downs and it was once renowned locally for its watercress beds. Alfred Williams refers to them in his lovely little book Villages of the White Horse (first published in 1913). He also informs us that many of the ancient thatched cottages are built of chalk.

We spotted a, now quite rare, water-vole busying itself in one of the streams, completely unaware of our presence.

Just a short journey from bustling Swindon and the motorway, it is immensely peaceful and timeless.....

A wooden (weathered) carving of stags in rut tucked away in the shrubbery

The old water mill

The parish church of Bishopstone, St Mary the Virgin

The parish church is Norman in origin though only a doorway in the north chancel remains. There are also the remains of a medieval stained glass window plus a beautiful modern stained glass window depicting the Wiltshire landscape see

http://wrens-and-hedgesparrows.blogspot.com/ link (entry on July 3rd)

Wanborough and the Village Church

There are only three churches in the country that have both a spire and a tower. One is quite close on the other side of Swindon at Purton, the other is in Ormskirk in Lancs.

According to Alfred Williams in his book Villages of the White Horse "Here, according to well-maintained tradition, stood an old heathen temple, used by the sun-worshippers; and here, on the identical site, stands the grey old church today, the tower and steeple of which rise high above the valley, and are visible for many miles in the country round about"

The front entrance to St Andrew's Church in Wanborough

Wanborough is a short bus ride from Swindon town centre (Nos. 46/47). The name comes from 'wain' meaning cart and Wanborough was once a village of far greater importance than it is today as it was the last settlement near the old Roman road, Ermin Street, before the scarp slope of the the Marlborough Downs and the ancient track, the Ridgeway. It consists of three levels - Upper Wanborough (where the church is situated), Lower Wanborough, and Wanborough Marsh.

Referring again to Alfred Williams' Villages of the White Horse

"The village of Wanborough is one of the most ancient in the whole island. Long before Julius Ceasar set foot in on English shore there was a settlement here, on the hilltop looking to the west over Swindon, which was probably a fortified camp ages before the one contructed on Liddington Hill opposite."

Jurassic Swindon - Quarry Wildlife Park

A very hidden corner of Swindon, tucked away behind the beautiful Town Gardens in Old Town is the Quarry Wildlife Park, sponsored by http://www.bbc.co.uk/breathingplaces/

Jurassic sandstone rock between 155 - 145 million years old. Part of the old quarry works of Swindon Purbeck stone, which became in massive demand from 1666 when it was used to help rebuild the streets of London after the Great Fire.

Some of the foliage in the warm sheltered little haven of wildlife.

Last autumn I started the Hidden Swindon blog, bringing it to what I thought an appropriate conclusion on April 23rd - to coincide with the bluebells coming out in Croft Wood. However, on Sunday afternoon I finally found this place, having heard about it through the BBC's Breathingplaces project. It is tucked away behind the Town Gardens which I had photographed extensively in various lights not knowing of the hidden wildlife garden just the other side of the fence (accessed via a small road called the Quarries).

It so epitomised the hidden aspect of Swindon, I had tried to capture earlier that I felt I must re-start 'Hidden Swindon' in the hope of further illustrating how interesting our town really is if you take the time to look.

Bluebell Day (St George's Day)

The bluebell is reputed to bloom on St George's Day (23rd April) and in former times blue was worn on this day.

I started this blog in September last year as the leaves were just starting to turn to gold. The first picture I posted (just to see if I could) was the bluebells in Croft Wood - so it is the bluebells in Croft Wood that I now come back to.

I have tried to show another side to Swindon, the quiet, leafy places that can only be reached by foot or cycle. Swindon has so many tucked away little places, my focus has been around Old Town where my favourite places seem to be. I have also discovered the rivers Ray and Cole and have followed their courses through various parts of the town. Where there is a river or stream there is invariably a corridor of trees and wild flowers.

There is a clear message running through this blog or rather, stepping out briskly as on a bright dewy morning, which is basically to leave the car at home. Go out on foot or bicycle, hop on the 49 bus out to mystical Avebury - discover the joys of nature and local history. Whilst improving the quality of your own life you will also be improving the quality of our beautiful, fragile planet.

So at this point I am going to take a break to work on

http://wrens-and-hedgesparrows.blogspot.com but I will be back later in the year to add more to Hidden Swindon.

Bandstand blues

The bandstand in the Town Gardens - picture taken earlier this month (5th April)

Thieves rip lead from bandstand

It is very rare for me to post a news item on this blog so this is a sad exception. Yesterday I walked through the Town Gardens in Old Town - a place of peace and tranquility loved by people of all ages.

I was appalled to find that thieves have ripped the lead from the roof of the bandstand. This is especially sad as only two years ago local residents raised £10,000 towards the cost of its renovation (with the remaining cost coming from the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme). It was reopened amidst much celebration on St George's Day (23rd April) 2006.

The gardeners at the Town Gardens were shocked and distressed when they made their discovery on Friday morning and visitors to the park have been moved to tears at the sight of the damage to the much loved Grade II listed bandstand.

I should not really comment on my thoughts about the perpetrators of this theft. Such activities are commonplace enough in our modern world, however, when it happens to somewhere that brought so much pleasure to so many people feelings of violation kick in.

The roof will be repaired and no doubt appropriate measures will be taken to protect it in the future. Hopefully it will be ready for the summer months when local brass bands play on Sunday afternoons and the scene becomes one that is quintessentially English - to be enjoyed by all.

[Acknowledgement to the Swindon Advertiser for the headline "Thieves rip lead from bandstand" and for some of the detail above which was reported in yesterday's edition]

New life

Yesterday I spent a most enjoyable afternoon exploring Wroughton, a historic downland village close to Swindon and on route to Avebury. Much to see, an old mill, the river Ray* running alongside the paths and gardens, the beautiful Clouts Wood and the bright, blustery downland. I was thinking about making my way home when my companion for the afternoon, Elaine, pointed out a duck at the side of the village pond. The mother duck was sitting 'watch' over her little brood, we counted nine in total, huddled together in the warm afternoon sunlight.
Here's some of them ......ahhh !

* The river Ray meanders its way through this blog. It rises somewhere out near Wroughton (around Priors Hill I believe) and flows through many of the places I have talked about in previous posts - as it makes its way to the Thames.

Downland by Wroughton

A family of Shire horses in a downland meadow by the Wroughton Science Museum - previously an RAF site (part of it visible in the background).

There is a larger male horse just out of shot and the trio came galloping over to us - initially a little disconcerting but it soon became clear they were very friendly indeed.

Steep downland by Clouts Wood - possible earthworks. Two ancient battles are understood to have taken place on the slopes of Barbury Castle and Ellandun, both nearby - this part of the downland is likely therefore to be the site of burial grounds.