A SEAT WITH A VIEW

I haven’t done one of my “Seats with a View” for a while, so as we went out for a lovely walk around Coate Water Country Park, just five minutes from where we live, earlier this morning, thought I would get Mr. HCB to sit on a seat and then show you some of the views as we walked and sat.

It is certainly a beautiful Spring day and so warm in the sunshine, so long may it continue.  There were lots of daffodils blooming, as well as primroses, dandelions, celandines and violets and it was a joy to see all the leaves just bursting out from the buds on the trees.

As we walked, Mr. HCB enjoyed spotting various birds, and we saw and heard Great Tits, Blue Tits, Long-tailed Tits, Coal Tits, Chaffinches, Chiffchaffs, Thrushes, Wrens, Robins and a Nuthatch as we sat on various seats on our way round.  It was wonderful to listen to the birds singing and just enjoying the peace and tranquillity.   

We watched Swans, Coots, Mallards, Canada geese, Greylag geese and other water birds on the lake and also saw Cormorants and Herons sitting on nests in the heronry.   We had decided to go early, and after our two hour walk, when there were lots more people about, were glad we did because we were able to listen and watch undisturbed.

In the centre shot, Mr. HCB is looking towards what is known as “The Council Oak”, which is described by Richard Jefferies, an English nature writer, who was born at a nearby farm in 1848, in his book, “Bevis, the Story of a Boy”.  The tree is looking rather worse for wear, and apparently, in about 1990, this magnificent oak tree suffered from a natural and rare condition known as “limb drop” when it lost its crown but hopefully it will survive and the part that was still growing had plenty of buds on the many branches.  The farmhouse, plus outbuildings, gardens, a copse, orchard and vegetable gardens is now the Richard Jefferies Museum which houses a large collection of memorabilia about the author.

No visit to Coate Water would be complete without a shot of the iconic Art Deco style diving platform.  This was completed in 1935 and was in use until In 1958, when due to a public health and safety concern, swimming at Coate Water was forbidden and because of this, the diving platform has been out of use since.

A glorious Spring morning when we were free to roam as we pleased, which made us realise how blessed we are, as we continue to pray for those who are going through such terrible times in Ukraine.

“The exceeding beauty of the earth, 
     in her splendour of life, 
          yields a new thought 
               with every petal. 
The hours when the mind 
     is absorbed by beauty 
          are the only hours 
               when we really live...”
Richard Jefferies : The Life Of The Fields

P.S.  If anyone is interested, you can find my previous "Seats with a View" here.  x