Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Sleigh bells ring, are you listening,

In the lane, snow is glistening

A beautiful sight,

We're happy tonight.

Walking in a winter wonderland.

It is a bit late for sleigh bells but we were treated with some Christmas Card scenes this week. A few snow drops on the side of the road, in the garden and on the common on Monday led to a very snowy road by Friday and some adventures in between. We cycled to work on roads that buses didn't dare (we are told they didn't salt the bus parks so the buses were snowed in). So, many a hearty Bristolian trudged along while many others stayed in bed. There was snow falling on leafless trees and by the end of the week it was piled high on the footpaths, slippery where people had walked and wet and dirty where cars had driven. Snow, it seems can make some people grumpy but we like others had a week of enjoying playing in this winter wonderland.

In the meadow we can build a snowman ... and we did one night in our backyard, while another evening we went tobagonning in the near dark and then wandered back along the streets putting our hand print on many a car's snowy windscreen. We threw snowballs at each other and into puddles and generally had a great time. As we cycled to work we sang 'Walking in a Winter Wonderland' and later the Simon and Garfunkel song

'slip sliding away, slip sliding away, you know the nearer your destination,

the more you slip sliding away'

as our back wheel went in different directions to our front. All safe as long as we were slow (some pedestrians almost passed us) and very careful - its bit like skiing really - go slow enough to stay upright and continue down the hill. And on Saturday morning we pushed our car out of the park (a kind motorist stopped and offered to help as we couldn't get traction due to the snow and ice) and headed north to Risley Hall. The hall is an 11th century building, now a reasonably posh hotel - who could refuse a cheap winter break with a nice room, access to a pool, sauna, steam room and good food? Not us!! In the evening we lounged in huge couches reading the papers, having a drink and snacking on food - great choice for a wintry evening.

Lazing in the lounge, are we relaxing

Swimming around, are we exercising

Sitting in a steam room, are we having a good time

Sleeping in an 11th century bedroom.

If anyone can get that to fit the tune of 'Winter Wonderland' then you're better than us - but you get the picture!!

Sleigh bells ring, are you listening,
In the lane, snow is glistening
A beautiful sight,
We're happy tonight.
Walking in a winter wonderland.

But before getting to Risley Hall, we left the M1 to find a place to stop and have some lunch and found Calke - it's a national trust abbey - closed for winter but with lovely grounds that all the locals were visiting that day (they were actually envious of our sausage sandwiches and tea). The building didn't actually look like an abbey and apparently never was one but just called that in the early 12th century by Richard, 2nd Earl of Chester, a wealthy landowner. There was a religious community at Calke but this was dissolved around the time of Henry VIII in the 16th century and later the abbey was owned by rather a well off grocer John Prest. As it was closed (inclement weather I suspect) we didn't see the collection of treasures which included an 18th-century silk bed. We also didn't explore the cellars and servants' tunnels, the stableyards, or the walled gardens, the Orangery and the Auricula Theatre (these are flowers grown in Victorian times like Lucy Lockett). But we did take a walk around Calke Park and took lots of photos as we wound our way through the forest and along the path beside the frozen weir - where we threw snowballs in the hope of cracking the ice but with no success (we weren't the only ones). We saw sheep, goats and deer foraging for food and a couple of deer fighting for 'top dog' position, but most of the birds had probably moved to warmer climes.

Sunday was almost over before we surfaced for breakfast, but we did manage to drive to the National Tram Museum in Crick (closed), had a great walk up to the memorial for the Nottingham and Sherwood Foresters and then a drive to a reservoir for another picnic before making a stop at Bakewell (ever heard of the Bakewell tart - a bit of short cake with stuff in the middle, white icing and a cherry on top) - well Bakewell is home to this tart (and they make a scrummy lemon and coconut one as well). The town was busy and difficult to find a park so after collecting our goodies we headed to Buxton where we stopped at the Pavilion Gardens for our last picnic of the weekend (the only one in the car as it started to snow quite heavily). The gardens and buildings were based on the Crystal Palace in London and were quite magnificent.



So, that was the worst snow Bristol has seen in 18 years (and it continues with white stuff floating through the sky again on Monday evening). We did have visitors for tea last week (they are heading off to NZ in a couple of weeks and they hope good weather) and slid along the footpath to a neighbours on Friday night. We also got some wonderful sunsets over the common and I couldn't resist taking some photos of how the sun set on Thursday night. Fortunately, although it looked like the sky was on fire - it had none of the horrors that Melbourne is experiencing.



Thought I had better acknowledge the people responsible for the 'Winter Wonderland' song that we managed to destroy during the week with our singing and new lyrics. It was composed in 1934 by Felix Bernard (1897-1944) and the words written by Richard B. Smith (1901-1935). It was made famous by the Andrews Sisters and Perry Como. We'll have to find another song for this week!!