Ok, Ok I may have borrowed the title from someone more famous.
It’s got chillier recently. As a beagle of an advancing age I can feel the chill more in my bones now. This doesn’t mean I don’t run around the garden in the rain and wind like a hound possessed, all the while singing the song of the breed so the locals all know I am out and about.
Lenny went for a walk earlier this week and saw the mists sitting across the field which fronts our house. We live behind the trees in the picture.
Then it rained. And rained. And rained. Just for one day and one night. The river rose around 2 metres and the field turned into a giant swimming pool for the ducks and geese, the sheep had to graze on the higher grounds and our walks were taken in slightly different directions.
It has receded now, to be replaced by some excellent muddy soggy patches where we can go splashing through, all the while give ourselves dirty bellies. Returning home to be towelled and dried, provided with food and being forced to sleep on/in our comfy warm beds makes us feel very fortunate to have a safe home.
This will be the norm for the next few months whilst winter spreads her icy fingers across our lives and pushes us to snooze more often in front of the log burner. I may be feeling the chill, but it won’t stop me going out and exploring. There is so much to see and appreciate where we live and to see the seasons give us new palettes of colour every day.
As it was Lenny’s birthday yesterday we decided to take him on a little stroll to a place no one had been to before. So we were loaded into the car once I had run around the garden singing the song of the beagle for around ten minutes. It was 7 am and our assistants weren’t too pleased at my ability to awaken all the neighbours.
Along to the end of the lane and we turned right, right again, travelled for around eight miles, turned left, left again and then right. Up the winding road toward a small car park in a wooded area at Rectory Wood. As the boot was opened we thought it a good idea to sing our song again to a chap who’d been out for a run. He didn’t look as if he would be putting us forward for any competitions. Out of the boot, through the kissing gate and then up the first slope toward a path signposted as Pole Bank. We saw the gradient of the slope through the woods and our assistants considered it safer to have all their limbs intact and not to have something akin to a mad dash through the tangled tree roots and down a vertiginous hill or two, dragged along by a couple of excitable beagles.
What’s down here?Its me!
We turned right, walked along the path and then descended back down through a gate to the town. We were having a great time, scenting everything and making sure we greeted everyone we came across. Through the town, left up the hill and then to a sign that proudly said “The Long Mynd” and the road snaked steeply up the hill past the sign.
We made the choice to turn left and follow a gravel path along the Town Brook on part of the Burway Loop. We strolled and pulled. I paddled in the stream at very regular intervals. Lenny scented everything and we got our leads tangled whenever we could, as it doesn’t seem to amuse our assistants.
Town Brook path
The path started to ascend and I was puffing like a steam train so we were forced to stop our exploration on the basis that I get very overexcited and I am likely to do myself some harm. We returned along the path until we saw a small branch off which lead down to a pool and around the edge of the wood, close by to where we had parked. Back up the slope and left into the shaded carpark. We were reloaded to the car and returned home with grins like Cheshire Cats on our faces.
Once breakfast had been served we thought it only right to snooze and dream of the brilliant adventure we had this morning. I hope Lenny has plenty more birthdays as I want to go many more times to the Long Mynd and Town Brook.
It’s been over five years since Lenny as an eight month old pup was dropped into my safe and secure little world. He arrived like a whirlwind, which then blew itself out after a couple of hours chasing each other around the garden. He proceeded to make himself very comfortable in his new life. He’s been involved in two house moves, holidays away to Cornwall and the Lake District as well as numerous weekends and day trips to see places and meet new friends.
Throughout the time he has been here, we have bonded and now we are like brothers. Sometimes we fight and squabble, with a subsequent telling off given to us (usually me 🙄). More often though we will just get along and play nicely, stroll around the garden or pull our respective parent around the garden, field or country lane.
When he first arrived I wondered what was happening to me. Now I see that he’s the best thing that happened to me, aside from me being adopted in 2013.
Happy sixth birthday Lenny, I hope you have fun and enjoy your day running around being silly. I might even let you win at bitey face.
As we awoke yesterday Lenny and I had little idea of what was being planned for us. All seemed normal as we were released into the garden for some serious pigeon and rabbit bothering, accompanied with the song of the breed wafting on the slight breeze across the fields. When we were hastily harnessed we thought nothing was awry but we stopped at the car on the way out of the garden. Adventures! 😀
Duly loaded into our prison cells we went along the lane, right, left, right, under the bridge and then followed the road. Around thirty minutes later we pulled up to a parking spot under the shade of a tree and were safely discharged to begin our shenanigans. Away from the car we went over a wooden footbridge which Lenny took carefully as he could see the river flowing beneath his paws. Along the path, up the slope, circle right, left and then crest the first hillock and there is was, the ruins of Clun Castle sitting atop the hill. Lenny scented a rabbit in the long grass whilst I was off toward the ruins for an explore. My exuberance was short lived however as I was stopped so we could read the sign that told us some history about the location. 🙄
We pressed on to the great tower and looked out over the countryside which was into Wales into a westerly direction.
Charge!That’s Wales over thereBit draughty
The town lay below us so Lenny and I were anxious to stroll around the town. Our assistants had other ideas and we forgot momentarily that we were still attached to them so we had to “behave” ourselves on the downward slopes and paths. Left past the bowling green, right up the lane, right again at the end of the road and right again along the high street. Then it was into the Square, left down the hill into the river Clun for a drink.
Plotting shenanigans? Us?
Then we retraced our steps slightly as we realised we hadn’t walked too far and there was more to explore.
Bit early for a swift half Lenny
We were enjoying this. Strolling past small shops selling some lovely things, we wandered right up along another footpath and then wondered why there were so many people all in the playing field. There was a running race taking place which looked like it could be fun, however we were told in no uncertain terms that Lenny and I were not doing any running. So we decided to try and pull as much as possible to as many scents as possible along the lane, which led down to a ford in the river where I waded in to get a drink and Lenny stood on the fringes as he’s not really a water hound. Once our thirsts were quenched it was up the hill toward St Georges Church. Some parts of the church date back to the 12th century but much of it was rebuilt in the 1800’s. We saw a sign that said there were Commonwealth War Graves within the churchyard so we paid our respects to the fallen by being really quiet whilst our parents read the roll of honour on the plaque. Then we were off down the hill and back toward the car. Thankfully it was parked under a tree so it wasn’t too warm. Lenny fair leapt into the boot, albeit into my travel crate but I didn’t mind. It is good to see him getting more at ease with travelling in the car.
Back home and our breakfasts were taken, after which, it was time for a snooze and then watch as the parents tried to make our garden into something less of a scrub patch.
And before anyone says anything I did not mess about, eat garden stuff, try to wind up Lenny or wander around bored looking for trouble. All in all a fun walk with plenty of scents and sights. I think I might go back. After all we were nearly in Wales. Only a few more miles and we can say we’ve crossed the border.
Until I blogged yesterday I hadn’t realised what we had done between our adventures on the train to Ludlow in late March and our sojourn to Wart Hill last Sunday. Here is a precis of our shenanigans, sorry I meant to say our adventures. 😀
Firstly Lenny discovered Sallow Coppice, a small wood close by Stokesay Wood. He said it was so quiet and pretty that he needed to explore every leaf, twig and fallen branch. Our dad however had different ideas.
We welcomed another beagle parent to our house, this time one from Houston Texas who was visiting the UK. We got chew toys which we played with quite nicely.
The field in front of our house dried out significantly and I could stroll down by the river, taking in all the sights and scents that accompany a meadow.
Sometimes Lenny and I are walked separately as avid readers will remember. We tend to drag our respective parent around after the same scent so they think its calming for us to walk separately to discover new things. In this regard Lenny found the back road to the next little hamlet of Lower Dinchope which he eagerly explored.
In the meantime I was discovering Stokesay Castle and all its interesting features. We swapped stories and then adventures at a later date.
In early May we accepted the offer of a guided tour from our good friend Griff to go and explore the bluebells at Hope Bowlder. Griff is a rescue like Lenny and me, so we always try to look out for his wisdom.
Lenny and I then swapped routes and he discovered Stokesay Castle, whilst I strolled up to Dinchope to see what all the fuss was about.
The route toward a place called Sibdon Cawood was next to be crossed off our list of places to explore. This walk involved traversing fields of wheat or barley as well as strolls down very quiet lanes. I must admit that there is a welcome dearth of traffic here.
At the end of May we had a visitor from Yorkshire, another beagle called Hector. We couldn’t play as he had a poorly paw and I was very overexcitable so we were banned from exploring the garden without supervision. Actually we were banned from the garden, full stop.
Then we took on the challenge of a 10 km circuit around Wart Hill via Cheney Longville which is a village named in the Domesday Book. Our exertions caused us to feel rather tired for a few days after our walk, which cheered our parents up for some reason. 🙄
Lenny decided to take dad to a place called Flounders Folly as a precursor to all four of us making the trip some weeks later.
The road past Stokesay Castle and the path through the lower part of the wood was the next assault on Lenny’s visual and nasal senses, with him doing the precursory legwork for a future visit.
In early July we made sure that everyone who went to vote was behaving themselves.
This was followed by our combined trip to Flounders Folly for a lovely view over the surrounding countryside.
Finally we welcomed another beagle visitor to our area. River was visiting Griff and we were so happy to show her around the meadow.
(L-R) Dex, Lenny, Griff (rear) & River
In between all these excursions we have been making sure that the fields and side roads, especially those leading to the Discovery Centre have been regularly pounded.
Phew, I never knew we packed so much into our first 4.5 months. I think I need to go and lie down.
Some may have noticed that I haven’t been prolific on here since our move to the countryside back in March. Some may have not. We’ve just been very busy exploring and making sure that the house is getting toward what we want it to be like. Then of course that stuffy work thing rears its ugly head for our assistants.
In any case we have been exploring and the miles under our paws seem to be increasing. We are starting to go to different places and expand our horizons, both metaphorically and physical (I suspect they weren’t words you thought you’d hear from a beagle). Last weekend was no exception when Lenny and I were bundled into the car and we set off along the narrow lanes to, well, who knew where. In this case our parents knew but didn’t bother telling us beagles in our travel crates.
Once parked the boot was opened and the vista was far ranging.
Thats Wales over there.
Unloaded from our comfy travel beds we proceeded into the field via the kissing gate and set our sights up hill along the path.
Lenny looking to go to the cow field
Within 50 paces we were swiftly halted as there was livestock in the field we were supposed to be crossing and let’s just say that livestock and me don’t mix. Chalk and cheese, oil and water etc. Not wanting to recreate any battle we were abruptly turned round and marched down the hill, across the narrow lane and through another gate toward a wooded hill. Now we’re talking! Lenny looked at me, I reciprocated and off we charged, baying and shouting until we reached the extent of our leads and realised we were attached to a parent. They always spoil our intended off lead shenanigans. Through the path close to the bracken, up the hill, turn right and left, back track to a viewpoint and then down the path.
The Long Mynd (one day we will get there)
Turn right then left, traverse the boggy patches on the path, avoid the bracken with its resident ticks (revolting things) and then out into the day light with a small pond nearby. Around the pond, up the hill and then to the road where we turned left and followed the curve of the road back to where the car was parked. We had walked this road before and typically our parents had not taken any pictures. When we got back to the car we were unceremoniously returned to our prison cells for the journey home.
We are trapped. Look at our forlorn faces.
Arriving home we assumed the customary position of snoozing whilst the day went on around us giving us time to dream of our next adventure as well as think about blogging more often.
My friends, I have been quiet recently and now I think it is time I let you all know why I have not been on here as much as I would like.
Lenny and I noticed that over the last few months of 2023, and more so until now in early 2024, that quite a few things have been disappearing into boxes and stored away into rooms that we are not allowed access to. We thought it was weird as we had encountered this before when we were told that we had been moved from our house with the lovely garden in the Chilterns to a posh new kennel, sorry a posh new house, closer to the seaside in West Sussex. What made us more suspicious was that we had also been taken out on short walks at different times of the day over the course of about 4-6 weeks, but we weren’t complaining as it was a walk, after all. Gradually our toys and beds were hidden away over the last few months and we were being barred from some rooms in the house.
Goodbye kitchenLenny, get out of bed!
We weren’t even allowed to say goodbye properly to our old house as we were made ready for our journey.
Is that it? Where are all my toys?
Well, it seems that our parents have hoodwinked us both again as we were loaded into the car and driven north by northwest for a few hours to be deposited in a half furnished house that had some of our beds, toys and food already in place.
Mum decided to take the busiest part of the motorway.
We recognised the smell of the house as it was where we had met up with our friend Griff back in November 2023 when we stayed for a week, apparently for a holiday. Yesterday the men who had stolen all our things on Tuesday arrived at the new house to give them all back to us. We were of course very happy to see them again and greeted them accordingly. We weren’t allowed to help the men though, for some reason. We made sure that our beds, food and toys were unboxed very quickly.
Some of our stuff (please ignore the Tring Brewery bags. Dad is to blame)
Sadly that also meant that the leads and harnesses came out of the boxes far, far too early for our liking.
This is now our “forever kennel” so Lenny and I can enjoy ourselves when the parents get the stuff sorted out. We have explored the field opposite, pulled our parents along the lane in front of the house, Lenny has been off lead in our lovely new garden and we have spent the last two nights sleeping merrily in our beds. It hasn’t stopped raining yet, which is a pity. We can see sheep in the field, we’ve watched a Red Kite take off from the hedge in front of the house and even saw a bat flitting around in the dusk on our walk last evening. All in all it’s a good start to our new life and home in Shropshire. We are promised walks to so many different places that we want to go and see them all at once. We have some tour guides lined up for when we are sorted out in the house a little more, which will be good as it might stop raining by then.
Our new kennel.
We will try to write more often once we have some of our belongings a little more sorted out.
Dexter 