Here’s a few shots from last week. There's a bit of a theme...
This is the Pebble Alcove in the 18th Century gardens of Stowe. It was built in about 1737 and decorated like an Italian grotto; coloured pebbles are set into the rendering. It’s very charming, and as we found on a family picnic, the alcove is practical too; it can hold quite a few people when it rains.
Later that day I was at Willen in Milton Keynes, for Hiroshima Day the 6th August each year. Usually the lantern ceremony is up at the Peace Pagoda, (in the background) then the lanterns are taken down the steps and floated out on to the Lake. This year, because of the dodgy weather, the ceremony was in the temple.
I stood and waited for the lantern procession and watched the cyclists.
At last the lanterns were brought to the lake. Sister Maruta and the Revd Nagase led the procession this year. The rain had stopped, and the evening was cool. The redway they are on was once part of the old coach road from Fenny Stratford to Newport Pagnell.
Sister Maruta stands in the lake and accepts a peace lantern, one of the 150 to be taken out on to the water this year.
Volunteers put the last lanterns into Willen Lake North.
I found my way blocked on Newport Road in Woughton on the Green on Saturday; the high winds had brought this tree down, not far from the Jubilee Oak. The moment I got out of the car to take a photo, this tree surgeon appeared and leapt into action. He was a busy man that day.
Newport Road was also once part of the old road from Fenny Stratford to Newport Pagnell.
My day in the garden on Sunday was broken up by sudden, heavy showers that each lasted just a few minutes. There was no chance of drying washing that day!
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