Isle of Man in August

The Tower of Refuge in Douglas harbour.

Empty beaches in August (Douglas)

The Isle of Man has captured my heart  with its variety of scenery, weather and people. What a great place to visit in August - the beaches were empty, parking mostly free and no queues! And yet The Curate and I would never have visited except for being introduced to the Isle as part of exploring church vacancies. We returned this time under our own steam to explore a little more fully. It is definitely an interesting place to visit - either for the famous TT racing or in the quieter weeks. 

Snaefell 2013 feet above sea level (Top)

We have taken the mountain railway to the top of Snaefell, visited places from east to west and north to south. I hope that we will be able to return again because we still have more to see!

Maughold (East)

Point of Ayre (North)

Peel (West) and warm enough to swim.

Castletown (South) with nasturtiums on the beach.

And seals on the beach at the Calf of Man (south)

Postcards from a Broad

The weather forecasters tell us of rain and flooding across the UK and we have had dramatic changes from rain that bounces off the ground to sun bathing warmth to winter north winds. (All of this in one day!) The weather has not stopped us swimming in the sea or exploring the Norfolk countryside.

 

We have visited churches with thatched roofs and flint porches. We have climbed church towers and surveyed the flat lands and the dramatic weather changes.

We have stood on the sand dune that protects our cottage from the North Sea and watched sunsets silhouetting the distant lighthouse. We have seen the sea change to pink as the churning evening tide froths and foams in the dimming light.

In the mornings, we have placed the first footprints on the washed sands and found the treasures left by the turning tide. We have run on the golden white beaches and swum in the grey blue sea – often observed by a curious seal. She lifts her head above the waves to see who is making all the noise.

The Curate and I feel very comfortable and at home in East Anglia. We love the wide, ever changing skies and flat lands with their ancient broads cutting into the landscape and fields that seem to stretch to the edge of the world, and horizons broken by church towers and towering poplar trees rising up into the skies .The contrast to Dartmoor is refreshing and energising.

Granny's Garden

My mother's garden is beautiful at the moment - a true English garden, hidden from sight behind a village house. What a wonderfully relaxing (dry) place to start our holiday.

 The greatest gift of the garden is the restoration of the five senses.  ~Hanna Rion

 

One is nearer God's heart in a garden
than anywhere else on earth.
  Dorothy Frances Gurney

A break in service.

Apologies for the break in blogging - The Term Has ENDed! The Curate and I (and the Collie and Lakeland) are escaping up the M5 motorway. There is a weather warning from the met office and we are expecting a month's rain in twenty four hours. It must be summer! 
We are returning to the East coast for a beach holiday. For the last few summers our families (who live there) have complained about the lack of rain in the summer months. Some people have even taken to planting drought resistant plants in their gardens. So we are leaving the beautiful south west beaches and the amazing moor ( and the rain) to head back to East Anglia and visit family before we are head to a house in the sand dunes of Norfolk. We are really looking forward to it.....and I'm not sure if internet even exists in these wild eastern places.

Is this where I really belong?

 It's half term and we have braved the freezing weather to travel across to the East side of the UK. This is where I grew up, went to school and university, met the Curate and got married. The red brick houses with their red tiled roofs look familiar. The wide open skies and the flat muddy stretched fields are part of me.

  I woke this morning, in the cottagey bedroom where we are stayingand opened the curtains to see the surrounding countryside blanketed in snow. I was whisked back to the time when we stayed with my grandparents in North Essex and I had woken to see the world covered in snow. I must have been about 3 or 4 and today, I experienced that same feeling of awe, excitement....joy! How wonderful to experience that again. - Am I really an Essex girl?