All those bushes with the glowing white blossoms. It was K's birthday on Friday and bank holiday on the Monday, so we took a long weekend and went to visit his parents. We took an early Thursday evening train after work, which also meant I could get away from it all after my promotion interview which was that morning (on which more below) - and as always when we go to Hereford, you get out in to countryside quite quickly, and as the train pulls further from London and gradually empties and the landscape through the window becomes more and more picturesque, you feel the weight gradually lifting from your shoulders...
And now that they are both retired, K's parents are making the most of exploring the Herefordshire countryside, which is something we have not done much with them at all - so on Friday evening we drove to a country pub for K's birthday dinner, taking in a gorgeous early evening walk along the ridge at Much Marcle (I also love the placenames in that part of the country...) with its panoramic views on both sides; and on Sunday we took a picnic and went to Wigmore, in the far north-west of the county, the region known as the Welsh Marches because it is right on the border with Wales and historically was a major defensive zone for the English. My marauding ancestors were on the far side of that border! In fact, not too far and not too marauding, and not too ancestral - my father grew up in Presteigne!
But this is where we were last Sunday -
- Wigmore Castle, a 12th-century ruined castle, managed by English Heritage. When they opened it to the public in the 1980s, the fact that they had preserved the castle's ruinous state was highly controversial - I guess people thought it should have been rebuilt so you could see and experience how the castle would originally have looked. But you can see and experience that in many other places, and over the centuries, this site had become a major ecological site for wildlife and wildflowers, so English Heritage were quite ahead of their time in treating this as a conservation area - they stabilised and strengthened the walls of course, and obviously did a lot of work, in very subtle ways. It was an extremely atmospheric and beautiful place. These were the views from our picnic spot - towards England...
towards Wales...
If you look at the large version of this picture, you can even see the spire of the church at the wonderfully-named Leintwardine.
Magnificent rolling hills. Sometimes you just can't beat the British countryside for beauty.
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And I got that promotion. I heard on Friday morning. I had been stressing about it and trying not to since the interview, which really takes it out of you, I can tell you. So I now feel enormously relieved, and proud and happy, and rather more relaxed than I have done in a while. Two colleagues from my department also went through, and we went out for impromptu celebratory cocktails on Friday evening - then K and I went out for a truly wonderful dinner at Upstairs - another one of Brixton's gastronomic delights. This gorgeous little place opened a few years ago, and we gradually heard about it via word-of-mouth because it doesn't advertise itself. You would never know it was there if you didn't know it was there - if you know what I mean! It's a converted flat above a cafe, with a bar on one floor, and the 'restaurant' at the top, all very tastefully-decorated and the food beautifully-presented and delicious. The dining area only seats about 25 people at the tables so it's an intimate place, and we started eating late so sat there gradually more illuminated by candlelight as the sun went down... Lovely. Even better for just having a 10-minute walk to get home.
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