Although Autumn was just about over, and the temperature wasn’t that great, Sophie and I decided to wrap up warm and go for a walk around the Rising Sun Country park. There’s 162 hectares of nature reserve with ponds, woodlands and extensive grasslands; a farm and Countryside Centre, so we figured there’d be enough to point our cameras at. No history lessons today, just a gentle walk to see what Mother Nature leaves for us when summer is over.
setting off down the leafy path
our first wildlife encounter
on the blue trail
incoming
landing gear engaged
got all my ducks in a row
Autumn Falling
Donkey Duo
Red Berry Parade
Horses at Home
Until we meet again
Back to the future part III
half way round and there we’ll stop and have a rest, before continuing further afield, stay tooned 🙂
After the museum we went out to the anglo~saxon farm and village. Home to curly-coated pigs, Dexter bullocks, sheep, goats, ducks, chickens and more, this 11-acre site houses rare breeds which are the closest possible representatives of the animals that would have been present 1300 years ago. Generally smaller than those we see today, these breeds give a feel for what animals would have been like during Bede’s time. Anglo-Saxons used the bird species for their meat, feathers and eggs; the eggs were not only eaten but used to mix inks used by monks to illustrate their manuscripts. Cattle would have worked daily on farms to pull ploughs or carts, while sheep were kept mainly for their wool which was spun and woven into cloth. The farm is complemented by a number of replica wattle and daub and timber-framed buildings based on structures excavated within Anglo-Saxon Northumbria, and is a green haven in the middle of Jarrow.
We picked a good day for the weather.
curly coated pig having a snooze
ducking about
horn-a-plenty
Mr & Mrs Gander
at the bottom end of the site you can see across the River Tyne
Bi yellow thingy being brought up river
We then got round to the village bit where there’s a replica Anglo-Saxon cross, carved entirely by hand, and sits overlooking the River Tyne.
It sits above the village meeting place
and you get a good view over the village
There was a chap called Jim inside the building on the right of the above picture, and he was really informative, and let Sophie have a go at grinding flour
he’d also made a weaving thingy and was in the process of weaving some cloth
he’d also made a wood turner
for making utensils
This next building is a huge larder, you go down steps once you’re through the door and there’s sausages and herbs etc all hanging from the ceiling, but it it was really cold and dark in there!
All the fences around the farm were hand made willow woven
We left as the sun was sinking and we wanted to get across to the site of the monastery which is just down the road by the church, but that will be our next report, so stay tooned!
fraggle 