Woodswell Blog

Sorry about the lousy pictures – I’d never tried to take pictures of jack-o-lanterns before! And this one from out our window:

Maya was adopted from the local Humane Society on September 1 this year. Sabra was adopted from them on September 21. Both cats are shy, but Maya came out of her shell quickly. Sabra is just starting to open up – that’s why her picture is of her in her tent. Most of her time Read More …

Today we left Oxford to drive to Windsor Castle and then the last night of our tour at Heathrow. AS we drove along we saw a lot of birds wheeling above the plowed fields. Later Ralph and I realized they were red kites. Our first views of Windsor Castle From the car park we walked Read More …

This morning we had a bus tour of Oxford and then spent most of the rest of the day at the Ashmolean Museum. The first section I visited was the Conservation area with a lot of textiles, including many textiles. Dino liked the Roman artifacts.

We headed out to Halton where the Bucks County Museum Resource Centre houses the Embroiderers’ Guild collection. The ESP group got special access to the storage area and were shown samples of the collection by the curator. The storage facilities – each item or group of item is stored in custom made muslin bags or Read More …

The museum contains many other exhibits. In the room next to the Embroidery Guild exhibition, there was a neat collection of sculptures of endangered or extinct species made from recycled materials. After spending the morning at the museum we drove to the little town of Wendover for lunch and a shopping break.

Dino found an old Post Office box!

Today we left Norwich and stopped at Ely Cathedral on the way to Oxford. Ely Cathedral is renowned for its stained glass and they have a Stained Glass Museum upstairs which explores the history of the art. The ESP group went on a guided tour of the cathedral which included a history of its construction Read More …

Clock Tower at the Norwich City Council building The Castle dominates the skyline of the town of Norwich and it is the obvious place to visit. The Castle usually holds a number of exhibitions, but since the building is being restored most of the displays have been removed and the castle is much as it Read More …

Today we took the coach from Bury St Edmunds to Norwich. When we got to Norwich, we had a coach tour of the town. We didn’t know why until later but it seemed strange that so many crowds were there with Morris dancers scattered throughout the town. Ancient walls are all over Norwich Norwich Castle Read More …