Early walk

This morning both I and the Significant Other were awake at our weekday time of 6 am, and ready to get up. Outside, the birds were chortling and the sun was shining, so obviously we went for a walk. And just as obviously I took my camera. You just never know what you might see.

When I was a child my parents lived in a house opposite a row on horse chestnuts, and I loved those trees: shady in summer, conkers in autumn, and glorious candles of flower in spring. We have a couple of horse chestnuts in the village, and here is one of them. Gorgeous!

Just around the corner, near the church, there was more blossom, this time on the laburnum, set off nicely by the railings. These are Grade II listed, along with some of the buildings in the Flamingoland Park which date back some time. The Park was originally the home of the Lord of the Manor, and has some interesting architecture underneath the modern accretions.

Much of the estate was sold off in 1938, and further sales happened later after the 2nd World War. The houses in the village were mostly owned by the Lord of the Manor until then, so our house, for example, only became freehold in the 1960s, and we are only the second family to own it directly. You can see some of the sale information at the Kirby Misperton History website.

Further along the road, the oilseed rape was in full flower as well. It causes quite a lot of trouble for various allergies, such as hayfever, although strangely it seems to be the one thing that does not set my own hayfever off. Anyway, it was shiny and bright in the early sun so I snapped away, but I'm afraid my camera doesn't do it justice.

For some time now I have been trying to get a picture of one of the barn owls in the area, and today I caught one of them at breakfast, being watched by a local bunny. They were a long way off, so the picture is not clear, but for now I am happy with what I did manage to get. The bird was being coy about the camera, and had its back to us; but it peeked over its shoulder and so its fate was sealed. Maybe it was worried the bunny might get a taste for small rodent instead of cabbage.