A Mermaid in the Trough Of Bowland.

Langden Valley.

Bank Holiday Monday was a scorcher wasn’t it! I had been working in the morning so was definitely ready for a little trip out. The Lancashire coast was a possibility, but in the end we decided to nip up to The Trough Of Bowland, a valley and high pass in the Forest Of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. I was quite pleased with this idea as I had heard that a statue of a mermaid resides in the trough, and I wanted to find her. 🙂 Because of the intense heat we decided to leave Hugo at home and take him out for an early evening walk instead.

But why on earth is there a mermaid living in an inland Lancashire valley, I hear you ask? I was a bit confused myself. Even though the Trough of Bowland is the scenic route to Lancaster and the coastal towns beyond, this is the only connection to the sea , that I know of. Several babbling brooks do meander through the countryside though and three Water Intakes were built in the 1920’s. Langden Water Intake is the home of our mermaid. Her name is Miranda.

Miranda is quite easy to find. Park at the Langden Car Park by the brook. This site is popular with picnickers on sunny days and at weekends there is usually a mobile hotdog/icecream van parked up. Cross the blue bridge and walk down a tree lined avenue, following the track a short way into the Langden Valley. You will see a cottage and the water treatment works ahead. Peer over a gate at the side and you should see a mermaid perched on the wall of the settling pool. Of course, we somehow totally missed spotting her at first…and walked straight past. I then spied the statue through the trees and got quite frustrated, as I couldn’t get a good photo. 😦

Blue Bridge.

Behind the Water Intake.

We found ourselves looking over a fence at the back of the property, with lots of No Entry signs. I decided to chance it and climbed over the gate, snuck up to the wall and got a couple of photos. Luckily our camera has a pretty good zoom! Though in hindsight I really didn’t need to do this ( Wil got some pictures from over the gate I mentioned afterwards), it’s great that I now have shots of the mermaid from two different angles. 🙂

Miranda sitting on the wall by the settling pool.

Miranda.

Miranda was sculpted by water engineer George Aldersley in the fifties . She was modelled on his wife Madge and he actually sculpted the water nymph in their front room. She was possibly named after the mermaid in the 1948 film ‘ Miranda’ starring Glynis Johns , in the title role.

You have probably noticed that this mermaid does not have a huge swishing tail. She is apparently a twin-tailed mermaid, the statues legs tucked underneath her, end in flat fins.

Walking ahead into the Langden Valley.

After my spot of trespassing , we had a short walk into the Langden Valley. The sun was really beating down though, so we didn’t amble very far.

Looking a bit like the ‘Wild West’ 🙂

Brook.

Oyster Catcher by the water.

The cottage has a good view of the mermaid.

Wil’s photo of Miranda.

We soon headed back through the trees to the car park and treated ourselves to an ice cream to cool down. I also noticed a memorial to 25 air pilots who crashed in the Forest of Bowland during the second world war. The airmen were from Britain, America, Poland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Shade on a hot day.

War Memorial.

Time for ice cream.

Thanks for reading. If you would like to know more about the Langden Mermaid , I got my information from mermaidsofearth.com

Have you come across any mermaid statues, anywhere in the world?

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Hawthorn’s Photo Scavenger Hunt ~ April.

Hello there, I am joining in with Hawthorn’s Photo Scavenger Hunt once again. This month I have had to rummage round in the archives for my pictures. Feeling like a Time Traveller!

Rock. Back when Hugo was a pup we took him on holiday to Baycliff in Cumbria. Our holiday cottage was right on the beach so everyday was spent taking walks along the sands. In his puppy days Hugo didn’t like water very much. Here he is 5 months old and marooned on a rock. Bless him. 😙

Swirl. I spent a little while looking for swirls and whirls and ended up settleing for this bright display of swirly plates I saw in Essaoirra in Morocco some years ago. Also tagines make purrfect cat beds. Obviously.

Wood. I don’t go to many art exhibitions but a hanging display in the woodland of Grizedale Forest back in 2009 was a really effective gallery, I thought.

Balance. 2009 was also the year we went to the South of France…and found ourselves in Cannes, when its famed film festival was showing. Pictured is a rather dapper mime, balancing two white ( and very real) cats in his arms. Very bizarre.

Letter. In those days Brangelina was still a thing and this banner is a love letter to Brad Pitt and his then wife Angelina Jolie. The crowds were waiting for the star couple to tread the red carpet. Brad’s film ‘Inglorious’ was showing at the festival. We waited too…but alas not long enough! Our friends who we were holidaying with ,had an understandably cranky 18 month old with them. Brangelina were fashionably late of course and babies and international film events don’t really mix. C’est la vie.

My own choice. To show we were really there, early morning at the 62nd Festival De Cannes.

See what the other scavenger hunters have found over on kates blog.

Sunday Sevens 15th April.

Hi folks welcome to another Sunday Sevens, a collection of 7 or more photos from the last 7 days. 😁

On Monday eve I met a couple of friends for a date with some dogs! Isle Of Dogs is the latest Wes Anderson movie and it’s definitely got the Anderson quirkiness. The story revolves round a Japanese Cities population of dogs who are all banished to ‘Trash Island’ after an outbreak of doggy illness. One boy vows to get his beloved ( though some what tick infested! ) best friend back, so we follow the scruffy mutts adventures as they attempt to become reunited with their former humans. I quite enjoyed it. ☆☆☆☆

It was my sisters birthday recently so it was nice to get together with her little family to celebrate. We went out for a lovely meal to The Three Fishes in Mitton. I loved my Fish & Chips served on a fishy plate. 😊

My sister will probably kill me ( if she reads this!) but my favourite photo that I have loved this week has got to be a selfie she took of her and the cat. 🐱 Sis has just turned 41 and Chloe is 20 this year. Talk about the fountain of youth ladies. xx

Thank goodness Spring has arrived! Lots of colour in my local park this week. Always nice to see. 😁

Yesterday was a pleasantly warm day so we made the most of it with a couple of walks. We drove over the fells towards High Bentham, hoping to do a good hike round there.

Unfortunately we couldn’t let Hugo off lead as there were lots of ground nesting grouse in the grass. I was pretty delighted to hear their calls and catch glimpses of their eye-catching red eye flashes. I swear I saw a black grouse ( I think the one below is a red grouse) but now I’m not so sure. Anyway it was wonderful to see them….and also The Great Stone Of FourStones , a local landmark , that made us think of a mini Ayres Rock. 🙂 This glacial deposit has been used as a border marker for Lancashire and Yorkshire. It is said that it was dropped on the moors by the Devil himself, whilst on his way to Kirkby Lonsdale to fashion Devils Bridge. There are well worn steps carved into the side.

After larking about on The Great Stone we drove over to Clapham in North Yorkshire and had a wander along Clapham Nature Trail with Hugo. He had a splashing time in the brook with a couple of golden retrievers. 🙂

Thanks to Natalie at Threads And Bobbins for devising Sunday Sevens.

Hawthorn’s Photo Scavenger Hunt ~ March.

It feels good to join in again with Hawthorn’s Photo Scavenger Hunt this month. Heres what I came up with for the prompts.

Hole. I guess the most famous hole in Clitheroe ( teehee) is the one in the front of our tiny Castle Keep. Local legends to how it got there include Oliver Cromwell fireing a cannonball from Pendle Hill. Even less likely, the devil himself flung boulders at Clitheroe Castle, also from the top of Pendle. Which do you think?

Making. I attempted to make some Chocolate Truffles from my Eat What You Watch ~ A cookbook for Movie Lovers cookbook. They ended up looking more like onion bhajis! But they do taste like chocolate truffles. Success! The recipe is inspired by Vianne’s chocolate creations in the sweetly sensual film Chocolat starring Juliette Binoche and a yummy Johnny Depp. Well worth a watch by the way. 😊. These truffles are very rich though, I can only manage one with my mug of coffee..

Reading Now. You may be shocked to learn that I have never watched Star Wars! Yet I am reading this book by Princess Leia herself, Carrie Fisher. From what I have read so far she was one very funny, bat crazy, inteligent and gutsy lady. Enjoying it so far. Oh yes I know, I am still using my snowflake duvet set. Hopefully this is not a future weather prediction!

Black & White. Last weekend we met a llama and some alpaca on a walk to a local village. This black & white llama was definitely the most inquisitive and demanding, he came trotting over when he saw us stop at the fence. Wil gave him a bit of loose hay, then he tried to chomp my rucksack! I do love llamas though and a couple of years ago I dragged my family on a llama Trek in the Lakes.

Starts with an H. Well I just had to include a picture of our gorgeous Hugo for this one didn’t I. I think he is as much a part of this blog as me really. 🙂 Hugo is a three year old black labrador and we have had him since he was a wee pup. I definitely have a thing about labradors now as before Hugo there was Jake, who came with Wil ( his faithful shadow) when I met him. They are such a loyal , loving , mischievous breed of dog. I can’t imagine life without a labrador.

My Own Choice. The bright sunshine we have experienced recently has certainly brought out my blogs namesake, these cheery celandines. 😊

Happy Easter guys. Have a fantastic weekend.

Mermaids in the Movies.

I have a hankering to watch a Mermaid movie, then I remembered that many moons ago I collected a sea full of sirens, all in one post. 🙂 An Ocean of Ondines, , a Miracle of Mermaids. Let me know your favourite fishy tale. X

sunshine and celandines

I recently watched Pirates of the Carabean – On Stranger tides and the plot involves the pirates obtaining a Mermaid’s tear. This got me thinking ~ what other films feature fish tailed femmes?

I’ve come up with a list of eleven Mermaid movies. A handful I have seen but a few like Mr Peabody and the Mermaid and Miranda , I really need to watch them! If you know of any I have missed please feel free to comment. 🙂

Mr Peabody and the mermaid( 1948)

A middle aged man catches a mermaid whil’st fishing on holiday. Unfortunately he is also married and his attempts at hiding her in the resorts pool and bath tub make his wife think something ‘fishy’is going on.Starring William Powell and Ann Blyth.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of fire. ( 2005)

In the fourth Harry Potter film Harry has to dive into…

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Sunday Sevens 25th February.

Welcome to another Sunday Sevens. Managed to actually write two this month. 🙂

I noticed this book on the Instagram page of a lovely gift shop I know in Clitheroe ‘ The Keep’ just off Moor Lane…and I was intrigued. I love movies and I love food! So when Wil very kindly bought it me as a belated Valentine’s present ( Thanks Wil! ) I was delighted. We immediately decided to try out a recipe…and chose The Hawaiian Burger based on The Big Kahuna Burger eaten by Samuel L Jackson’s God fearing Hitman in Pulp Fiction. It was great! We also rewatched the movie. I had forgotten what a cool soundtrack Pulp Fiction has! I am sure I will blog about Eat What You Watch , A cookbook For Movie Lovers once I have attempted the creme bruliee from Amelie and/or Uncle Buck’s Giant Pancakes. 😉

Meanwhile this was Hugo when he spied the finished results. Oh Hugo……

Another book I happened upon recently at a second hand book sale is this beautiful book of bird illustrations from The British Museum, matched accompanying poems. It was only £3 and I love it. 😁

On Friday evening myself and friends Fi and Jo went on a spooky ghost walk round Hoghton Tower near Preston. Fi saw it advertised on Facebook and immediately decided we should go. Reputedly the 3rd most haunted house in Britain, Hoghton Tower seems to have a ghost residing in every room. As we were lead by torch light from wing to wing and down through underground passageways, we kept a nervous eye out for Ladies in white, Ladies in green, monks, little french girls, mischievous spirits and black dogs, amongst others. I wouldn’t have minded seeing the black dog. 😊🐕

Wil and I took our black dog on another walk to a country pub yesterday. My #walk1000miles challenge is going well. So far walked 220 miles in 8 weeks. 🤗

These two flew to the pub on their Broomsticks. 😉

Thanks to Natalie as usual for organizing Sunday Sevens.

Wintery Spring ~ Links & Likes.

Welcome to my first Links & Likes of 2018. This is a series where I like to include some links to a few posts I have ♡ recently.

February is a funny month. Spring is just around the corner( hopefully!) ,yet I still feel like hibernating! With snow, sleet, rain and hale all forcasted over the next few days in the North West, can you blame me if I cosy up under the duvet and snooze for the forseeable….

Yet I do have plans. 😁 Febuary is Snowdrop Season and I would really love to witness these first signs of Spring in all their gorgeous glory. Here in Lancashire Lytham Hall welcomes all to wander round their lovely grounds over the next couple of Weekends. Frames high-light the blooms for picture opportunities. Hornby Castle near Lancaster is opening to the public for Snowdrop Walks on the 17th & 18th February. Elsewhere The National Trust has details of early blooming gardens on their website. Hopefully I will be out and about searching for snowdrops in the next few days.

Other plans I have for February include a Ghost Walk at Houghton Tower and a Girls Night In Clothes Swap Party. So really, hibernation is not actually an option. 😄

Snowdrops at Lytham Hall. Image off Pinterest.

Christine has been playing Colour Bingo with her camera. A great idea for a blog post!

Amanda visits a Train Station , where an iconic Romantic Movie was filmed in the 1940s.

Louise marks the beginning of Spring ( Imbolc ) at the Marsden Fire Festival.

I love Rosie’s post about close encounters with cute seal pups. Aw.

This Tea Time Mango Cake looks and sounds delicious on Shilpi’s blog. 🍰

The Typewriter Girl has some perfect ideas for filling February with fun and light. 🙂

Its going to be A Dog’s Life for Gina, as she prepares to welcome a cute new arrival. 🙂

What are your plans to brighten up a dreary February?

Thanks for dropping by. X