Last week we drove to the village of Sowton - just on the other side of the motorway from our house. Unfortunately an entire row of thatched cottages were destroyed in a fire there only last month.
This photo, taken from a distance, was the only one I took because some of the owners were there moving furniture out and I didn't want to be insensitive. You can't really see the scale of the destruction here, but it shocked us both. The whole area still smelled of burning.
Our walk from Sowton took us past Bishop's Court, home to 20 Bishops of Exeter over a 300 year period before it was sold in 1546. I'm not actually sure how old the house is:
The thatched gatehouse:
We saw our first ladybird larva of the year in a hedgerow:
A beautiful field of barley:
This Ephemera species of mayfly was near the river Clyst:
Very sad to see the devastated cottages. Love the Mayfly.
ReplyDeleteBishop's Court looks fascinating: splendid almost in its own way.
ReplyDeleteYou were certainly correct in saying that your photo couldn't show the scale. It looks awful from the news photo.
I would never have recognised a ladybird larva. Another lesson hopefully learned.