A dead end sign meets its final form

On my suggestion Woodpeckers and I drove a few miles west to Frampton-on-Severn, where I had promised some colleagues that I would take archive photographs of an old cruck-framed cottage that has been on the 'Buildings at risk' register. It has been left empty for more than twenty years and with very little maintenance right in the heart of the old village. It is medieval, probably built about 1470, I gather, has had very little modernisation and is a fine example of a simple cottage of its type. Stroud Preservation Trust, of which I am a trustee, was asked to check on it and see what can be done to influence its care and hopefully its restoration. We need some pictures to show its state now when we repoot on how it might be developed sensitively in future. The building opposite to it in the centre of the village has just had massive investment and been completely renovated. But such renovation comes at a high cost and that would appear to be the stumbling block. We shall see.

As we neared the village we saw a sign for a Jumble Sale at 2pm. this cheered Helena up enormously as she is always keen on a good rummage and it was going to happen only a few minutes after we would arrive. After parking on road down the long village green, said to be the longest in England in fact, we walked to the end where there is a small road winding past through the old houses, including the one I was interested in. It turned out the village hall was only thirty yards away, so while I took the pictures and wandered around the back gardens, Helena went to work and came away with some good bargains. The village is rather wealthy these days and so that probably influenced the quality of the goods on offer, all proceeds going to the restoration of the village hall.

Before leaving we took a look at one of the three village ponds which are sited on different parts of the green. Sadly it was a rather lifeless sight and had fewer insects in the reeds, bullrushes and water lilies than I was expecting. So we went for Plan B which was to drive a couple of miles further to a pub on the banks of the river Severn where we have blipped from regularly. But that seemed rather quiet not only with few patrons but a lack of swallows and other birds that are often in profusion. I did see some goldfinches, sparrows, a reed warbler and some swallows in the distance but wasn't inspired by the light nor the state of the incoming tide of the estuary. It can't be good every time.

So we started to drive home and when we crossed the swing bridge over the Sharpness canal I remembered that last time I was there I had seen many swallows nesting under the bridge. As we passed over it I spotted quite a few, and as Helena didn't mind my stopping for a quick blip search, I spent a good fifteen minutes in the presence of the birds looping over and under me as I stood on the bridge. They do make me smile and even laugh at their antics, and I am sure that some of them stalled their flights right over my head just to have a good look at me. In a couple of pictures I can see their eyes looking at me. The man who controls the swing bridge told us that early in the morning the swallows line up ion the bridge, so I might have to make an early start one day and go down there. Slimbridge is only a couple of miles from there so I could combine it with another trip there as well.

I have put a mix of pictures from all the places we visited to day here on this Flickr gallery.

But my blip today is from Frampton village green, where I saw this abandoned metal sign pinned to a telegraph pole, that seems to have curled up with old age. The paint layers are all that is left of the original painted sign of a dead-end road, a T-shape, which you can still see. But I loved the textures of the layers of paint and their strange colours that have all been changed by the elements over what looks like many, many years.