October in our world



Coventry Transport Museum

Yesterday we went to Coventry Transport Museum

Its a free entry museum in the middle of the town, so we had a wonder around there.

They had a display called Wheels & Waves, an ehibition showing vehicles which British surfers use.

Did you know that you can fit a 9"4 board into a VW Golf, well you can, just. So they claim.

They look good, don't they, I bet they cost a fortune to get them looking that good as well.

Step back in time....

Thrust 2 is a British built Land Speed Record car.

633.468 mph by Richard Nobel OBE at the Black Rock Desert in Nevada.

We only went around the ground floor as we wanted to look around the town. So we decided to have something to eat in the new cafe at the front of the museum. There used to be one within the museum, but unfortunately this has gone and has been replaced by a chain.

Coventry was bombed during the second world war, the worst attack was on 14th November 1940, whenever I have read about this, I've always noticed that its my birthday, well 31 years later it was anyway.

The Cathedral took rather an hit and this is pretty much whats left of it.

On the Plot

I've started the winter work on our allotment.

We do winter digging, where by, if the weather is fine then you dig over your plot and leave the clods of soil turned over, over the winter.

I don't mind working in poor weather at all, but its not a good idea to work on frosty or water logged ground.

This is the drive way into the allotment, the colours look nice, don't they?

6lb of parsnips, its rather a good job they are hard to germinate, otherwise we'ed have alot more.

Its also rather a good job that we both like them!!!

Some nice new manure for the winter digging. Its important not to add this to any beds that you are going to sow root crops in. Otherwise you get rude veg.

And so the gardening year start again :-)

Stoneleigh Restoration Show

Today we went to the National Restoration Show at Stonleigh in Warwickshire, as another of our interests is classic cars.

This Maserati was in the car park...

...along with some less exotic but still well loved machinery.

As well as lots of trade stands and a large autojumble, various owners clubs have stands where they work on projects throughout the day. I hope they have a trailer ready in case they run out of time...

Not all the cars were nice and shiny...

Western Park

Western Park is abit of green space within a very very built up area of the city.

I have to say that I hadn't previously thought of it as being pretty, but I've changed my mind now. See what you think.

There isn't any formal planting for instance, but maybe that isn't always needed, there isn't a cafe either so you have to remember that.

The park appears to be empty, but it wasn't, I just got lucky with the shots, I think.

I've no idea who owns the house, or if anyone lives there. It isn't open to the public but it does look well maintained.



Giant Hanging Baskets

You might remember that earlier in the year I showed you this picture. The biggest hanging basket in the Midlands, or so it claims.

Would you like to see it now?

You can guess how many plants they have used for £1.00 - donated to charity of course.

Still looks pretty good for the middle of October.



Bagworth Heath Woods

We visited a (new to us) country park today, it used to be a Colliery but has been transformed into a recreational area. 

It was a very warm day for the time of year.

We walked around the lake.

The information boards say the council who run the park are trying out various ways of planting and maintaining the wood.

Hope you enjoyed our walk, we did.

The Garden Barn

Unfortunately, I forgot the camera, so the mobile had to be called into action, so the quality isn't great.

I'm trialing out bigger photo's as well, just to see how they look. 

We spotted this sweet shop, so had to take a photo as it looked great. We also bought a Christmas present as well.

Drinks at The Garden Barn

Fun, arn't they?

A Mini Heat Wave

I do not worship the sun, but I do like to see it all the same. You won't hear me saying "its cold", until its been below freezing all day :-0

When it stays like that all day, this day can be looked back upon. This is the beginning of October and unseasonable hot weather.

We had already put the table and chairs away for the year, but bought them out again for one last time.

The start of winter colour with lasagna planting underneath. I understand that is the term used at the moment, with layers of bulbs underneath the flowers.

The toms did ripen in the end. I was going to get rid of them last week, but as the weather forecast was for hot weather I thought I might as well leave them to ripen. No chutney this year, after all. But I would rather have toms. Very sweet they are too.

This sunflower is self seeded, either bought in by the birds or from the bird seed. We are hoping it will go to seed so that the birds can have some "home grown food" as well ;-)

Just to prove that it is Autumn.