Ashburnham Place

We've just got back from a church weekend away, and I thought people might like to see some pictures of where it was, as the grounds were beautiful, even in winter. Its Ashburnham Place, if you want to look it up. The photos are just from a mobile phone, so sorry if the quality's not what it normally is on our blog.

First, a few pics of the grounds in general, which include two lakes:
Below the lower lake is a stream with an old weir in it:
and alongside it are the rusting remains of an old ram pump, which I assume used to supply water to the house:You can see the pipe the pump used to feed behind the remains of the old waterwheel:
Apparently there's some ideas about restoring some of this old machinery - I'd like to see it again if they do...

OK, now on to the woods! Here's a sweet chestnut way older than the ones we have in our own wood:
We've singled a few of the coppice stools we cut this winter, to let them grow on as standards, but it'll be decades before they're anything close to this one! Next, a giant redwood:
OK, I know it's only a baby one...

An oak with epicormic growth:and a variety of trees (mostly oak) that are dead or dying, resulting in a diverse habitat:That's all for now, I've got a busy week ahead with a few trips to London for work, and Tracy wil be busy with SWOG, which is expanding into Wales now.

Mike