Skywatch Friday - Old Rhodes Town

Old Rhodes Town

(Click to enlarge and cross your fingers!)

Sunday mornings on holiday, after I've been to church, I always like to walk around the edge of the Old Town and look over the walls.

The Moat was always dry apparently but was still a formidable barrier to attack. Now it's landscaped with grass, palm trees and pines and you can walk through it.

There are 4 kilometres of defensive walls developed by The Knights of St John mainly as a defence against the Turks in the 1480s.

This was yet another day in May where there was not a cloud in that heavenly blue sky!

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Post 104

Skywatch Friday - 3 April 2009

Crook Hall Gardens

This is a lovely peaceful place to visit right in the heart of Durham City. Hard to believe it's just a few minutes walk from the Market Place. I worked in Durham for years and didn't know it existed. If you like English country gardens this is just up your street!

Crook Hall is a Grade 1 listed Medieval Manor House. It has a 13th Century banqueting hall, and a 17th Century Jacobean room. Not large but very charming. It is supposedly haunted by the ghost of the White Lady. You are advised to avoid the Jacobean Room if you are sensitive to ghosts. I mustn't be as I didn't sense anything. It was rather cold in there on one of the hottest days of the year, but old stone buildings were designed to be cool in summer and warm in winter.

13th Century Banqueting Room

Children can leave messages for the White Lady and there were lots there! When we visited there were lots of pieces of art there, stained glass balloons and kites, butterflies in a net, ceramics and a strange metal object like a bottle in the centre of the maze!

There were lots of things for children to look for such as gnomes and bear heads and a maze to get lost in. Not for too long though as it is quite low.

Alan Titchmarsh described it as "A tapestry of colourful blooms" and it certainly is. You can wander through different gardens such as the Secret Walled Garden, the Shakespeare Garden, the Cathedral Garden and the Silver and White Garden.

Cathedral Garden

The Moat Pool is very tranquil, hard to drag yourself away from it. There are lots of little tables and chairs around the various gardens if you just fancy relaxing, taking in the wonderful scents and the peace of the place.

Moat Pool

If the weather is fine you can enjoy a cream tea out in the gardens and if it's not, just go into the Georgian Dining Room.

The "delightful views of Durham Cathedral" from the gardens were unfortunately spoilt by a huge crane, but luckily just a temporary thing! It's an absolute gem of a place if you like gardens and it's as the leaflet describes, "an oasis of peace in the heart of Durham City".

There are various events going on throughout the season and although it's open mainly from late May to early September there are other activities going on at Bank Holiday times, Halloween and Christmas. For more detailed information about the gardens, opening times, directions, parking, prices and special events check out the website

Crook Hall Gardens
Frankland Lane
SidegateDurham
0191 384 8028info@crookhall.co.uk

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Skywatch Friday - 20 March 2009

Kalithea Bay, Rhodes.

Yes, I know there aren't any clouds. That's because I've hardly ever seen any when we go on holiday there.

I'm looking forward to our next holiday there this year. Blue skies and lovely warm weather, I'm in countdown mode.

Skywatch Friday - 15 May 2009

Now this is a picture I look at a lot when I need a fine weather fix. Clear blue skies and a beautiful calm blue sea. You might have already seen it, I have it on the side of my Blog. Yes, it's definitely one of my favourites.

It's a view of Kalithea Bay in Rhodes from a hotel we've stayed at about four times now. They have great gardens with lovely sweet smelling flowers. The beach is nothing to shout about but there's lots of lovely swimming pools.

Oh I'm dying to go back and yippee, not long to go now!

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Skywatch Friday - 5 December 2008

Well we finally got the white stuff! This is the view from the back of the house this morning, grey skies and it looks like a black and white world!

Yes, four inches of snow, forecast by the Met Office well in advance and still the place comes to a standstill!

This is the view from the front of the house and I'm dreading going out to pick up my grand daughter. Doesn't look like the gritters or the snow ploughs have been out yet.

Here are my grandchildren an hour later playing in the back garden. They let me bring Nathan home from school at lunchtime too. Thank goodness I don't have to go back for him at 3 o'clock, the roads were terrible!

This is really Lauren's first snow. We've had very little since she was born. The last time I can remember snow as deep as this (and it's not really deep) was about six years ago, when Nathan was her age, four. This will be the first snowman built in our garden in years.

Well here we are about 3 hours later. There's a little bit of blue sky, some lovely creamy clouds and someone's turned the colour back on. The grey snow clouds have gone, for now!

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