Bisley village nestling in the coombe

At lunchtime I drove to the farm shop to stock up with some vegetables before going on to see Helena in Woodchester. The scudding clouds were still allowing the sun to shine brightly, despite the general clouding over since the clear blue sky early this morning.  When I'd got up the landscape was covered in frost and I was drawn to take my camera out to photograph the birds feeding on the downy buds of the tree close behind the house, which were just beginning to open into flowers. I've added an 'Extra photo' of a blue tit enjoying feeding as the sun melted the buds.

After leaving the farm shop I drove a different way back through the ancient village of Bisley, which was the centre of the Hundred in which Stroud now resides.  Bisley long predates Stroud as a local centre north of the River Frome with evidence of stone age settlements, standing stones and then later Roman settlements.  The well at the heart of the village, which I have sometimes blipped during the ancient Well-Dressing ceremony, emerges from the ground under the site of the church, which you can see on the skyline.  The stream which then forms has cut this coombe down through the layers of clay and limestone and it eventually runs into the River Frome not far from where we live.

I parked after I had left the village to look back as the light was delightful.  I stood on a stone wall and shot a few pictures.  The sheep have been very important components of this local Cotswold landscape and were the source of the wool for the industry that so important locally since medieval times. There was even a mill, called Crickety Mill, sited in the valley just down below where I was standing using the power of the water in the stream. Now it is a home, which I visited once about forty years ago just as it was being converted. 

I do love the views we get in this stunning landscape. The leaves are just beginning to appear on a few hedgerow trees and within a few days the appearance of this whole scene will change radically.