PEAR TREE LOG

pear tree log: I started this blog to keep my younger son, Jonny, in touch with life in Lincolnshire, while he spent a year working in China. That year turned into five! Now he is home and training to become a physics teacher. This is simply a patchwork quilt of some of the things I enjoy - life in rural Lincolnshire, our animals, friends, architecture, books, the gardens, and things of passing interest.



Thursday 27 June 2013

Strike a Light!

We got caught up in delays caused by roadworks - usual thing, 
queues of traffic, lots of maintenance vehicles, 
no men working.


We waited...and waited.
My gaze fell upon some trees - several wonderful, long, rows of poplars,
which look a little out of place in this rural landscape.
I remember reading that these trees were planted with the intention
 to sell them to Bryant and May,
the match company.


The company closed in the late 1980's.
Perhaps this is why these trees escaped the axe.
So, they tower very elegantly over undulating farmland,
looking as though they lead to
somewhere quite grand.

© IWM (EPH 4207)

I wonder how many match sticks were made from a single tree.
and just how many of these rows of trees
remain dotted around the countryside.
A crop which wasn't harvested.

Eventually, the lights changed and we moved on
to visit dear old Aunt Lillian.



The homeward journey is always sweeter.
Country roads, as much as possible.
Quiet, single track ones, 
preferably.


We met no other traffic
and had time to enjoy views like this.

After a hasty sandwich I harnessed Toby Too
and we set off for a 'training' walk,
along this track...


we both enjoy it, 
for different reasons.
I like the peace
he loves the smells,
the possibility of
encountering a pheasant
or a rabbit.


At the end of the track is a paddock with a wonderful assortment of animals...
are these sheep or goats?
I am never quite sure.
They miss nothing.


They share the paddock with this fat little pony,
who is companion 
to


this beautiful, milk-white steed
and a couple of little goats.

On misty evenings, as I look out across the barley field,
this lovely horse almost looks like 
a unicorn.

borrowed from sodahead.com

12 comments:

  1. Poplars come in rows here, too. They are along property lines, and especially further west,where the trees are fewer. I love the match story. I never thought about the wood they're made from.

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  2. Beautiful views,and the white horse does have a magical air about him.
    Jane x

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  3. Lovely pix. Poplars were planted here on the birth of a daughter, on the understanding that they would be cut down aprox 20 years later to pay for the wedding.

    No one told me that Bryant & May had closed. That's dreadful; another permanent fixture that is no longer permanent.

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  4. Great picttures of your lovely countryside! Jx

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  5. I love the photos of the road and byways of the English countryside! Walking a dog is such a great way to get out and explore. I hope Aunt Lillian enjoyed your visit.

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  6. Hello Elaine, They look a bit like Soay sheep to me. I used to be a spinster, but that's another story!

    Are you able to let Toby Too off the lead yet?

    LLX

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    1. Hello LL, A spinster ... sounds like another interesting story... As to Toby Too - I only let him off the lead in our fully fenced woodland at the moment. I know that with our wonderful trainer's help he will eventually be safe to go off the lead...which will be almost as scary as the first time one of my children went off on their own, so many years ago.

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  7. And there's the proof, you DO live in a storybook! Unbelievable photos.

    (I wonder why Bryant & May's felt it necessary to say "USE MATCHES SPARINGLY." Odd.)

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    1. Hello Mitch, I guess they have seen how many I sometimes get through while trying to light the Rayburn. ;-)

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  8. Those trees are lovely. So glad they weren't axed.

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  9. Your countryside photos are truly magical!

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  10. Sheep!!
    The third from the left looks like one of my Soay sheep

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