Calming down with Rich's Cider.

We made it!

We actually got up at 0530 am, I got through my complicated timetable of medications, got ready and we were off in the car at 0730 am.

And even though the motorway was terrible - one jam after another, and we got stuck behind a slow motion road sweeper in Weston Super Mare - we got into Banksy's ' Dismaland' in time.

I think one of the side effects of cancer is getting drunk on things you like or that you missed out on - in my case I should have spent my life with images and I've been making up for it ever since.

I came out completely mind blown by some of the things I saw and I'm going to do the Blog backwards to get my head straight.

The whole Banksy deal was that if I got there, there was going to have to be Cheddar Cheese and Cider involved as well for Robyn.

So afterwards we had a few adventures and then we had a long search but we found a well known farm cider maker in Highbridge, just outside Burnham on Sea.

It wasn't easy to find but we got there in the end and took home a delicious gallon of smooth as silk Somerset cider;

 

They make a big range of bottled ciders - we saw them in various tourist shops we visited and they even distil apple brandies and vodkas but we were there for some straight 'out of the barrel' cider sold in bulk.

 

We had a tasting session and I went for Medium, Robyn for sweet....Robyn won.

 

Either way it is delicious.

 

There are plenty of farms selling their own cider and ideally I would probably chosen a small operation but we were late after a long day.

 

Last time we were here we drove past 'Thatchers' which is a very well known cider I drink occasionaly - it was like a huge factory.

 

So Rich's Cider was a good choice. There's a nice shop;



And a little museum full of old cider presses and huge barrels, going right up into the roof of the barn;

These days they have a long line of stainless steel holders but it's still a farmyard operation with lots of reminders of another era.

These are old cartwheels converted into chairs;

Their orchards stretch out behind the farm;

There were plenty of apples getting ready for next years cider.

They have a restaurant and toilets - it's a nice, free attraction in a county where everything costs a fortune.

But I'm sentimental - the highlight for me was hiding in this photo;

Every year a family of swallows struggles all the way from North Africa to summer here, in the barn. You can just see one here but whenever I got my camera out they hid. They would fly out - see me and be off!

Or they would swoop back into the barn as I was fumbling with my camera.

For me, no summer is complete without sight of a swallow - swooping and diving through the sky, playing chase and catch up with its friends ......for the sheer love of just flying, of just being alive.

They have elegant swept back wings and normally I marvel at them high up on the hills and cliffs I used to climb - today it was just the most happy accident I got to see them again.

And we got a rainbow over the Mendip hills as we left too;

 

 

 

A really special, unforgettable day.

 

And a nice glass of cider to finish up with.

 

Neil Harris

 

(don't stop till you drop production)

 

Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

 

Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

 



The Magick of Glastonbury.

Off on our Road Trip!

We started by taking a look at Stonehenge where we spent the night over the Summer Solstice last month.

Ironically, the best view is from the busy A303 - here it is in the distance;

Even if there are lots of people (and there always are) it's magnificent;

We hadn't really thought things through - it was the last day of July and a Friday....all the roads were packed with people off on holiday.....the road around Stonehenge was stationary.

All the same we made it to Somerset in the end and stopped off for a moment at Worthy Farm, Pilton which is the home of The Glastonbury festival;

It started as a blues festival attracting a few hundred people to raise money for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and over the years it grew to a multi million pound phenomenon attracting over a hundred thousand people.

It still raises money for CND and other good causes, run by Michael Eavis and his daughter Emily.

It finished about a month ago and everybody had gone home when we got there.

Except for the sewage man, that is. He was still clearing up!

We stopped to take a picture of where we were heading - Glastonbury Tor in the distance;

The Tor dominates the whole area and especially the little town just by it.

It's very historic, full of mystery and magick;

 

So, in the church yard is a 'Glastonbury Holy Thorn', which uniquely blooms twice a year; at spring and Christmas; 

 



 

Legend has it that Joseph of Arimathea planted his staff on the top of the Tor, which then grew leaves and flowered. It's more likely that the tree was worshipped by the pagans who first settled the Tor; flowering twice a year would have seemed miraculous. The Christians took over the thorn just as they took over the Tor. 

 

But it's a good story.

 

The town is full of little alleyways and even more little shops; 

 

 

 



This is the towns cross - Christianity goes back to it's earliest days here.

There are some really ancient buildings, this is the Tourist Information centre;

This is the Abbey, destroyed by Henry VIII in the dissolution of the monestaries. Nowadays the monks are trying to cash in on the myths and magick of the area by claiming that King Arthur and Guinevere are buried in the churchyard.

I don't think so!

There is a 'holy well' and more besides that we didn't have time for.

Glastonbury is now a centre for magick, mysticism and all kinds of crystals, witchcraft, healing....you name it. Most religions have a presence here.

There was convention of 'Goddesses' in the assembly rooms and an 'Enchanted florist'.

Everything the prospective Wizard, Warlock, Witch and....interior designer would need is on sale; 

 

And even if you think it's all nonsense, it's all very charming; full of nice, friendly people who don't mean any harm.



 

 

The locals are very tolerant of it all, in a town where 'The Old Religions' would always have had a quiet place in the shadows, long before the visitors came along.

 

After we had a look through the town, we were off on the second part of our day - Glastonbury Tor!

 

Neil Harris

(a don't stop till you drop production)

 

Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

 

Contact me:  neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com