What a glorious month of May. The weather has been wonderful, with wall to wall sunshine (although this is forecast to change, as I write, to give us some much needed rain) and the flowers, both wild and cultivated, have put on a really first class show.
I wrote last month of being trapped in my own formula for the Photo Album. I feel, this month, that I could just fill the whole 49 spaces with flower photographs. However, in a way, having the seven different categories is a good discipline, forcing me to actively go out and take photos, rather than just using the ones that I just happened to have taken.
Because of this, I decided that this month, as you must have tired of pictures of cows, sheep and horses in the animals category, I would try for something different and, by stretching the term 'animals' a bit, I would get some pictures of Roy and David's bees. So, a few days ago, I phoned to find out when would be a suitable time, to be told Roy couldn't come to the phone as he was down in the garden working with the bees.
You will see in the resulting photos that I decided to go round then and there and found two spacemen dismantling one of the hives. When I got their attention they said come on up close, they wont touch you and, clad only in a T shirt and jeans, I did so and got some reasonable shots (given how nervous I was at being so close).
Having got my shots, I wandered away from them and knelt down about ten metres from an unusual looking hive, to get shots of the bees going in and out of the entrance. To cut a long story short, I only got stung three times. "Oh, they're an aggressive lot in that hive" Roy said - although really, he didn't need to tell me!
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Although I have lived here for over eight years now, I had never been to Okehampton Castle. I had seen a few shots of it in various papers etc. and had gained the impression that all that remained was a sort of crooked tower. Well, with the good weather, I decided that I should go and have a look myself and, at the same time, get some shots of Okehampton Church, high up on the hill, overlooking the town.
I was very pleasantly surprised on both counts. The castle is a very underplayed tourist asset and, even though I didn't get inside the grounds because I went too early, I could see that there is a lot more of it remaining than just that fragment that I had seen. Okehampton church grounds, again, were very impressive, particularly for their peacefulness but I couldn't get inside the church as it was locked - I got the impression, because of thieves.
The upshot is, that we now have four pages for Okehampton, on the site. I hope these help to redress the balance so that the town can be seen in a broader light and not just as a traffic jam with three supermarkets.
Each month, I look over the preceding month's news items to decide what to do with them. Some are obviously transitory and these just get ditched. Others, like the information, originally published in The Beacon magazine, regarding unwanted mail, are too useful to lose. For those of you who would like this information, it has now moved to the "Authorities & Churches" page, obtainable from the green button menus on every page.
A new feature, starting this month, is our Archives spot. The original idea for this website came just a year ago. It was then just an attempt to find out how to build a website, as my ISP gave me 10MB of web space free with |
my subscription.
This tinkering about led (don't ask how) to a site for our horse's diary, using a especially purchased domain name, a web hosting 'starter pack' and a template-based web design package. This was followed by the first full community site (south-zeal.co.uk) in June 2003 and its overhaul in October to become Beacon Villages. I have gathered together all I could rescue of the very early stuff and will now add each month's front page and Journal to the archive, as we go along. Just one word of warning. Not all of the page links work or have been disabled. If you go wandering too far, you might drop off the edge. If you do, don't forget your browser's 'BACK' button, it should bring you safely home.
Finally, I went along to the demonstration of dry stone walling, held at Ford Farm, Sticklepath, a few days ago. I mainly went along to get some photo's but, as far as you can without getting your hands dirty, I learned a lot as well. The Devon Rural Skills Trust Master Craftsman Dave Hannaford made it all look so easy, casual and unhurried. The day was hot and sunny but there was not a moist brow to be seen. The demonstration day was set up by the Dartmoor National Park and another is planned for July 7th, so if you missed this one you've got another chance. Don't miss it!
pete
p.s. I didn't know where else to put this. Whiddon Down get Broadband on
26/01/2005.
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