Ashley's Plantation

A few weeks ago I discovered Ashley's Plantation, an area of deciduous woodland about half a mile outside the village. Some years ago a villager named Ashley planted hundreds of saplings in a low-lying field with a stream running next to it. He was a bachelor and when he died he left the field to the Woodland Trust on condition that it should be open to the public. The trees are now quite mature and in need of some attention, especially the entrance area, but the "plantation" has a certain charm, even on a cold winter's day when the trees are without leaves and its boggy underfoot. Now that I've discovered the plantation I will visit it again and see what it looks like in the different seasons.

Visit to London

Last week we spent four nights in central London, staying in London School of Economics accommodation during the students' Easter vacation (see photo). We met up with our nephew Steven and his 14 month old daughter Ellie and enjoyed fish and chips together in a riverside pub at Kingston on Thames. We'd never met Ellie before but she is a lovely little girl who smiled most of the four hours we were together (see photo). We also met our son Ben one evening after work and had a meal together in a very smart Thai restaurant. Afterwards he took us up to the 10th floor of his office block in the City where we had a fine view over the dome of St Paul's Cathedral with the big wheel of the London Eye in the background. The rest of the time we explored London and its many museums and art galleries. Our favourite was the relatively new Guildhall Art Gallery which has the remains of a 2000 year old Roman amphitheatre underneath it, only discovered during building work in 1999. Both art gallery and amphitheatre are open to the public for the princely sum of £2.50 (concessions £1) or free after 15.30 hours. Well worth a visit we agreed as we posed with William Shakespeare outside afterwards.