A SEAT WITH A VIEW

After having our streamed Church services on Facebook, this morning it changed to Zoom Church and it went very well.  It felt good to be able to sing altogether, although we kept our contribution muted and we had a great sermon from Frank, who encouraged us to look around us and see things and ask God what He was saying to us and then perhaps to give that word to someone else.

We went out straight after the service and when we stopped in Eastridge, I found a gate with a combination lock - I took a photograph and sent it to Frank and told him that I felt God was saying that we didn’t need a combination lock to get into His presence, His door was always open and we could just walk in.  I will be looking for more things during this coming week!

Mr. HCB had remembered to put the folding chairs in the boot, so we were able to sit and have our picnic lunch overlooking the valley above the village of Aldbourne at Eastridge - a private agricultural and sporting estate of over 2,000 acres of grassland, arable land and woodland in the heart of the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.  Eastridge is near Ramsbury and also close to the M4 Motorway - however, it was very peaceful where we were and we couldn’t hear any traffic at all - just the sound of the occasional gun being fired, birds singing and cattle in the lower fields.  Interestingly, this was the first place we came to when Mr. HCB had his new hearing aids, and I remember feeling very emotional when we got out of the car and he said to me "I can hear the birds".  

Normally, it is Mr. HCB sitting on a seat, but today I sat in one of our chairs and just enjoyed the beauty of the surrounding countryside and listening to the various sounds.  Through his binoculars Mr. HCB was watching a kestrel on a telegraph pole some distance away, so I decided he would make a good subject for the middle photograph of my collage, and it was my seat that had the view today.

After we had finished eating, we sat for a few minutes more just enjoying the peace and then drove on towards the woodland that is part of the Eastridge Estate.  It is just a single track road, so I went into the woodland whilst Mr. HCB carried on looking for birds.  I found lots of treasures, as you can see - from the tree at the top right - with some pareidolia - that almost looks like "The Scream" - rosehips, blackberries, daisies, acorns, holly, hazelnuts and red berries at the very top, but we couldn’t identify these - so perhaps someone can help us.

What a beautiful afternoon and as I have already said, so peaceful and away from any crowds.  We meandered home along tiny country roads and hardly saw anyone else - we crossed the M4 motorway about four times and each time looked down and said how glad we were that we were on these country roads and not charging along and having to keep up with the busy traffic.

As we drove home through more Wiltshire villages, we both agreed that we love our county with its rolling downs and it was good to see combine harvesters out with the farmers “bringing in the sheaves”, so we feel very blessed to live here.

We are now back home and just about to go out and have afternoon tea with our neighbours - we missed seeing them yesterday as our son and granddaughter came over, so we sat out in the garden with them.

“We were put on this magical planet, 
     not to dominate and consume her, 
          but to care for her and love her. 
To harrow gently. 
     To harvest gratefully. 
          To build reasonably.” 
David Paul Kirkpatrick : The Dog