autumn stroll

i went a walk late afternoon around the ponds of the estate where i grew up,this place has changed alot since i grew up and my parents moved,we had a house on the main farm of the estate which we got with my dads job as county ranger,you hardly met anyone here when we grew up except people who lived on the estate and permit holders-yep you paid a small fee to the estate for the `privilege` of being allowed to walk around the 3000 acre grounds-that sounds like living in england now!,thankfully i had around the ponds to myself today and took some autumn pics,maybe a week or two early...
















this is the curling house where the curling stones were kept,up until the 1960`s when winters were alot colder curling was a comman winter pastime with alot of local curling clubs and winter leagues, i only remmember 1 winter when there was curling on the ponds,

this is the boat house...


and this was the ice house...



i once saw inside this-a drop of around 50-60feet with a ladder descending down,
in victorian times when winters were alot colder blocks of ice would be cut from the frozen ponds and put down there then meat would be lowerd down and preserved,in the bit film i made you can here the echo when i thump the door from the drop inside...
leaving the ponds over the white gate bridge with its waterfall theres a tunnel nearby hidden from view..,

which is an overflow from the ponds...

the nearby Mausoleum is the burial place of only one earl when it was built for several,

the statues above the gates are prettty cool...

i have seen inside it when it was broken into by theives expecting to find silver goods buried with the coffin,i was at the time at the local gamekeepers who went along to close the door,i will never forget what i saw..,steps descended inside to a stone coffin in the middle,the surrounding walls had encloves for coffins,the gamekeeper pushed the top back onto the coffin while we stood at the top of the stairs too scared to walk down!!!,it was like something out `return of the living dead!!`
the place used to be coverd with ivy and was cleared a few years ago,shame as it was well spooky before then,i dont scare easy in places like this having growen up around them but have taken friends here at night under a moonlight sky and when you thump the door of the tomb and they here the echo there quite happy to leave!!!,
nearby is a giant redwood,these were planted back in victorian times...

the holes are made from the native bird here the tree creeper...

its a shame to see the old greenhouses (knowen as glasshouses when made) fallen into disrepair...


in victorian times these glasshouses would have been the hub of future trees and plants that are now found around the estate...,its a shame to see them in this state now...,nothing lasts forever..,here a short film of todays walk...