Halloween Happenings

Today is the 31 October and there are mysterious happenings in the Artful Garden. Look through the gate if you dare.

Spelltacular

Halloween bunting drifts in the air.

Jack- o'- lantern Bunting

The clock is ticking towards midnight.

Tick tock

The lanterns are ready for when it gets dark and mysterious.

Light your way to trick or treat

The Turnip lanterns have a grim smile.

Never trust a smiling turnip

Beware of looking at the summerhouse you may see a ghost.

Ooooo ahhh

Giant cobwebs spin their magic and there are hungry spiders looking for more than a fly.

Come into my parlour

Can you see the two black spiders?

A broomstick and cat have got stuck in the apple tree.

Catabaloo

Looby Loo is looking very witchified.

Witch one are you?

Bobby Barley is trying to get the apples but has anyone cast a spell on them?

Beware of the rosy red apple

Boozy Floozy thinks she must have had too many 'Wicked' beverages and her nose has turned green.

Hic

Charlie Barley is cobwebbed and I wonder if he will fly on his broomstick.

Hocus pocus

Crazy Maisie is spellbound by everything. 

Crazy Maisie in another world

The Bottle Boys are hatted and cobwebbed.

A web of wonder

Do you like my hat?

For him

For her

Lotta Bottle is doing an impersonation of Miss Havisham.

Where is my beau?

 Funky Chicken has been to Spooks and Sorcerers.  

Chickened out

An beautiful calandula the perfect colour for Halloween.

Stunning orange

Beware of witches they are everywhere.

Witch way to turn

Pottering Around

On my canal boat holiday I visited Burleigh Pottery. I was intrigued to look inside a bottle kiln.

Burleigh Pottery from the canal

 A diagram of a bottle kiln.

Look at all the different names for the parts of the kiln

The outer 'skin' of the bottle oven is called the hovel.

A superb shape and you can see how it got the name bottle

The working conditions in the potteries was very hard, long hours for little pay which was often paid by piecework.
The narrow doorway, the 'clammins' or 'wicket' was just wide enough for a man with a sagger on his head to pass through.

Such a small entrance both in width and height

A sagger was the box into which the pottery was stacked.

Great care had to be taken when packing the sagger

'You let the fire out on your ovens and you were suppose to wait 48 hours until it had cooled - ours used to be open after 24 and it would still be red hot inside. Then men would climb on inside and they used to have five overcoats on and about 3 jackets wrapped around their wrists, and they would have to lift the sagger down with their padded arms.' A consequence of this was life expectancy was 40 years. 

Saggers stacked inside the kiln

The firemouths were spaced around the outside of the kiln.

Ready for the fuel

A view looking up through the chimney.

Iron bands were known as 'Bonts' expanded and contracted with the heat

Burleigh Pottery from the 1930's.

Simple floral designs

Look at the shape of the cup and the handle

This mosaic 'throne' was on the towpath at Stone.

A great idea

A close up of the mosaic.

So inventive

We saw several timbered houses during our holiday.

Timbered and thatched

How many white panels can you see?

Along the canal were buildings for the workers who maintained the boats and the locks eg. blacksmiths.

They lived in the outer sections with a workshop in the middle

This building used to belong to Cadbury and there was space to load and unload the delivery boats. 

A working wharf

Lock keepers houses varied in size depending on their responsibilities.
I would love to live in the castellated Roundhouse at Gailey Wharf which is now a canal shop. 

A building without any corners

Speedwell Castle at Brewood was built in the 18th century on the winnings of a racehorse.

Lovely gothic windows and currently for sale

The canals pass through some industrial areas. This is a salt factory in Shirleywich. Towns with 'wich' in their name were involved in the salt industry. 

One pinch or two?

Roses and Castles are featured on traditional canal boats and canal ware. Each family have their own designs.

A Buckby can was used to store fresh water

Decoration on the cabin door

How many times have you seen this sign?

Hop along now

A beautiful sunset.

Stunning

Canal Capers

I am delighted to announce that Kirkoswald achieved Silver Gilt in the Britain in Bloom Awards.The Artful Garden was described in the report as 'very innovative and interesting' I feel very honoured by this accolade.

These last two weeks I have been on a narrowboat on the Four Counties Ring covering the counties of Cheshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire and the West Midlands. 109 miles and 99 locks. It was a wonderful holiday being so close to nature and the slow pace of travel allows you to see the countryside in detail.

Narrowboats come in different lengths and some are personalised.

A motorway of canal boats

I love the toadstool storage containers, why be functional when you can be creative?

Pause for Jaws and look at the reflection in the water

 An example of an old puffer boat.

This old steam engine has been restored

Steam power replaced horse power on the working canals

Here is an example entering an empty lock with one set of the lock gates open. 

Locks vary in depth some are as deep as 12 foot. 

The towpath has it's own bridge alongside the lock

Harecastle Tunnel is dog leg shaped and the water is tinted orange by the ironstone in the rock. Boats are timetable as the tunnel is so narrow boats can only travel in one direction.

Entrance to the tunnel with the barrier which is only raised as a boat appears

Exit from the tunnel 

Bridges come in all shapes and sizes and they are often very narrow in width and quite challenging when trying to navigate as the towpath moves from side to side and they are only a couple of feet wider than a narrowboat. All the bridges have a number. On some bridges you can see the rope marks left from when horses were used to tow the narrowboats.

What's my number? The first bridge on the Shroppie' the Shropshire Union Canal

A bridge leading directly into a lock. You can just see the rope grooves on the right handside of the bridge. 

Wonderful contours on the bridge at Autherley Junction

This beautiful bridge is on the Shugborough Estate

Not many bridges have railings

A tunnel through the rock

This is one of the highest bridges on the Shroppie and the bridge was made high as it was built on the Chillingham Estate

Milestones appear at intervals to help you calculate your distances. 

The are not nautical miles

We travelled over several aqueducts.

A damp misty morning

It is fascinating to look at the gardens that border the canal. Many people seem to have a different idea about a waterside residence.

Let's party or at least chillax

We saw herons pausing on the canal bank that took flight as the boat got near.

Grey heron

Nature is often replicated.

Like a bird on a wire

Mute swans with cygnets just changing their feathers from dirty brown to brilliant white would come gliding near the boat when you moored. They appeared at the kitchen window hoping for some food. They are beautiful graceful birds with large orange feet and powerful orange/yellow beaks.

Do you think I am just swanning around?

We also saw some Canada geese.

Goosy goosy gander wither shall I wander

Elephant grass is grown along the Trent and Mersey canal.  It is dried then cut for fuel.

Ginormous grass with no elephant in sight

This wagon is decorated by a Winnie the Pooh fan.

Is the driver's name Christopher Robin?

This horse was made from redundant canal gates and beams, what a powerful sculpture.

Stunning and original

These horses are made from driftwood I would love to have a garden big enough to have one grazing on my lawn. 

No horsing around here these are thoroughbreds