Five on Friday: Tulips and carnations

This week is the first anniversary of Five on Friday! A special thank you must go to Amy for organizing the link up.

This week I'm sharing some photos of the flowers that I was given on Sunday, Valentine's Day. I really appreciated the bunches of white tulips and carnations from my husband as I love white flowers.  He also bought red tulips and carnations for our daughter and granddaughter so it was rather a flower fest at teatime on Sunday afternoon as they gave me a bunch of red tulips.  There were phone calls to other family members.  It will soon be Easter and we're looking forward to another family reunion. Easter is early this year and for that reason we're not going to Italy in March as we usually do. We're missing Italy, but it should be warmer when we do go.  It means that I've been able to settle into a routine since Christmas and can go to various events that take place in March. The eldest grandson who arranged for us to visit the Yorkshire vineyard will take the day off from work and is now going to drive us to Holmfirth. He's also booked himself and his mother for the tour and lunch when she comes up from Berkshire to stay in the Easter holidays. 

The cards that we exchanged are from my collection of old postcards.  The one above is "A page from a Victorian sketchbook"  with paintings of polyanthus and forget-me-nots, anemones and roses. The other postcard (below) is one from another collection from a time when we visited a display house full of orchids at the Eric Young Orchid Foundation in Jersey. Our honeymoon was spent in the Channel Islands and we went back again to celebrate our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary.  We've never been back since then, but having spent those two happy holidays there and as my parents often stayed with friends on the island the association and memories of a interesting and beautiful place are special to us.

A weekend walk: High Bradfield and Damflask Reservoir

Another busy week in our house. On Sunday we had family visitors coming at teatime, but we managed to go out for a short drive and walk beforehand. The weather was good, but just as we got back indoors the clouds rolled over and there were snow showers for a while before the sun came out again!

I've written about Bradfield many times so I won't add much more other than posting some photos and some new information that you might find interesting.  There's always more to find out about the history of a place even one that's so close to where we live and has become familiar and I'm sure this post won't be the last on Bradfield Dale.

This narrow path leads down to Low Bradfield and follows the contours of the hill.  It's known as the Kirkgate Steps or the Fairy Steps.  Actually, it's a well-worn "burial path" which made it easier in past times for villagers in the lower settlement to walk up the hill bringing coffins to the church.  As you can imagine, even today, it's difficult for vehicles to get up these steep hills in snowy or icy weather conditions.  The path ends by the main entrance gates to the churchyard and the Watch House.

snowdrops in the graveyard

We could have sat outside on the balcony of The Old Horns Inn and enjoyed the view (first photo), but it was very cold and we were glad to sit inside by the fire.  

Before going back home along the top road we stopped for another walk along the path by Damflask Reservoir near the rowing and sailing club. There were no boats out on the water, but quite a few joggers and walkers taking some exercise.

As I've mentioned, we arrived home just in time before we had some sleety snow showers.  I spotted a few crocuses in one of the flower pots and it won't be long before the daffodils are in bloom.