Little things - for the layout outside the railway fence

[eastglosmog]

On 30/08/2021 at 00:07, Nearholmer said:

While we are on buildings, I snapped this “cheap at half the price” des-res in an estate agent’s window today.

 

 

 

Unfortunately, I couldn’t go in and ask for a brochure, to find out which of the four bedrooms was blessed with the gaping hole in the roof.

 

Make a nice model in the Gravett style on the layout, eh?

I walked past this place today, so took some photos just to show you what you are missing by not putting in an offer!

The room with cold running water (when it rains):

 

 

A well ventilated attic room:

 

The well lit living room:

 

 

Doors could do with a bit of attention, but given the sign,  you could get eggs delivered to your bed for breakfast:

 

 

 

Edited April 8, 2022 by eastglosmog
Restore photos

[Nearholmer]

So amazed/horrified am I by the price being asked for this "opportunity" that i looked-up the brochure on-line https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/104104583#/floorplan?activePlan=1&channel=RES_BUY It might be useful to nayone needing dimensions to make a model, and those wind-eyes are interesting.

 

The scary thing about it is that, given how much houses cost in the area, it probably isn't over-priced: you could probably spend what I guess it would cost to turn it into a house, and sell it on at a profit afterwards.

 

Anyway, I've diverted the thread enough: this is a rather big thing outside the railway fence.

[eastglosmog]

Too get back to smaller things, here are a few seen over the last few days.

The village pump at Kingham.

 

 

A stone footbridge.  This one is over a drainage ditch that may have been designed and dug by William Smith (father of English Geology) in his early years as a surveyor.  It is visible from the OWW just before the train reaches Kingham Station.

 

 

A footbridge over the River Evenlode, a very new replacement for the old bridge.

 

 

A wall by an orchard at Cornwell with buttressing.

 

 

A side gate into Chasleton House garden with dog hole (or maybe for a very lazy cat who can't be bothered to jump over the gate)

 

 

Finally, a milk churn loading platform, something that used to be very common outside farm gates.

 

 

Edited April 8, 2022 by eastglosmog
Restore photos

[corneliuslundie]

A good reminder about milk church loading platforms. As you say, they used to be common.

That dog hole seems just the right size for a lamb.

Gates both sides of that new bridge seems rather overkill.

Jonathan

[Nearholmer]

I was intrigued by that dog hole when I saw it, and wondered exactly why; I’ve never seen one before.

[corneliuslundie]

I have seen them in stiles, but this is the first in a gate for me too.

Jonathan

[eastglosmog]

10 hours ago, corneliuslundie said:

A good reminder about milk church loading platforms. As you say, they used to be common.

That dog hole seems just the right size for a lamb.

Gates both sides of that new bridge seems rather overkill.

Jonathan

The dog hole did seem a bit odd, I've never seen one before in a gate like that.  I would have thought most people would want to make sure their dog stayed in, not come and go at will.

I have seen gates provided at both ends of footbridges at several locations around these parts, don't think it is because the near end is in Gloucestershire and the far end in Oxfordshire and neither trusts the other to close the gate!

[Nearholmer]

I almost wondered whether it was for foxes or badgers, but you’d generally want to keep them out, not let them in to steal your chickens or dig-up your carrots.

[corneliuslundie]

Is the gate on a path or a garden gate? If the former I can see that it might be useful, like the similar arrangements sometimes built into stiles, but if a garden gate definitely not, unless for an extremely inebriated resident to crawl through on the way back from the pub.

Jonathan

[eastglosmog]

It's a garden gate, out onto the road (strictly onto a driveway ramp leading down to the road).  Road is not very busy (the village is pretty small) but it still seems odd.

[corneliuslundie]

I reckon it is so that the family dog can pop down to the newsagent to collect the morning paper.

Jonathan

[eastglosmog]

Just looked up the owners of Chastleton on the National Trust website.  Seems like the last owner, Barbara Clutton-Brock, was a widow with an army of cats, so maybe it was for an elderly cat who couldn't jump, after all!

[Nearholmer]

Its actually just a "conversation piece".

[steve1]

I thought this was interesting for several reasons:

1. It's a Victorian box, rare these days.

2. I've never seen a postbox that small before.

3. The GPO notice saying it's out of use but remains in place as a "feature of the building".

4. The building is an ex-station in Cliffe (called Hemingbrough even though that is a few miles away.)

 

steve

 

 

Edited September 1, 2021 by steve1

[corneliuslundie]

I don't know what happened to last Monday's post. Anyway, here it is again.

I spotted this really useful stretch of barbed wire fence the other day while walking on the Kerry Ridgeway near Cider House – the name probably a left-over from the day when the Ridgeway was used by drovers.

The next day we went to Hafren Forest and walked from the carpark towards the source of the Wye (you can’t actually get to the source as it is in a very steep sided valley). The footpath actually goes all the way to Chepstow, but we only went a couple of miles. It was a good job we didn’t all need a rest when we came to this seat.

 

I am not really sure what is shown in the next photo, taken on the same walk. I think it is an old tree stump completely covered by growths of various kinds.

 

More from Hafren Forest next week

Jonathan

Edited October 2, 2022 by corneliuslundie

[Darwinian]

On 30/08/2021 at 21:35, corneliuslundie said:

 

Gates both sides of that new bridge seems rather overkill.

Jonathan

I don't know about this but could it be to prevent sheep/other livestock getting onto the bridge where they could be trapped by dogs/fox.

[corneliuslundie]

Time for a few more photos.

First something probably not very common. I think it is a gauging weir. It is on a tributary of the Severn in Hafren Forest.

 

And nearer the carpark is this shelter. A very civilised place for a picnic on a Welsh summer day.

Slightly less luxurious seating but by the shine on it often used as such.

 

Hopefully more next week.

Jonathan

Edited October 2, 2022 by corneliuslundie

[Compound2632]

On 30/08/2021 at 21:35, corneliuslundie said:

Gates both sides of that new bridge seems rather overkill.

 

I've come across this on footbridges on well-maintained long-distance paths. Both gates open outwards from the bridge, so animals in the fields on either side cannot force their way onto the bridge and then through into the field on the other side. The ones I'm familiar with have sprung gates; it looks as if this one depends on walkers shutting the gates.

[mike morley]

3 hours ago, corneliuslundie said:

I think it is a gauging weir.

.

Gauging weirs are usually kept in immaculate condition with much evidence of solar panels and radio ariels.  That one looks a bit down-at-heel with no obvious means of keeping things monitored remotely, which I would have thought would have been a high priority in somewhere as isolated as the Hafren Forest.  Puzzled

Edited September 20, 2021 by mike morley

[eastglosmog]

There is a map of all EA river gauges here: https://rivers-and-seas.naturalresources.wales/?ngr=SO1105391698&layers=river

[MrWolf]

Not exactly a little thing, but repurposed alongside an occupation crossing on the former Midland Railway electrified branch from Lancaster Green Aire to Morecambe.

 

Edited September 21, 2021 by MrWolf

[corneliuslundie]

Odd, as I am sure that on the Severn proper a little way down from the point where that tributary joins the main river there is a building which I remember having an explanation that it is a gauging weir. But it is not on the map. I am not likely to get back there to check in the near future though.

And not sure of the future of that concrete signal post as a lot of the reinforcement is visible.

Which reminds me that I noticed today that the reinforcement in the concrete groynes on Aberystwyth beach, which are now in a bad way in places, are bullhead rail.

Jonathan

[corneliuslundie]

A couple of rather more natural things this week, also spotted in the Hafren Forest.

First a post or perhaps a tree stump which has been around so long that it has been colonised by the local plant life.

 

And some rather magnificent mushrooms (or are they toadstools?), about a foot acrossd and thereforte certainly bug enough to represent in 4 mm and upwards.

 

And as they say, now for something completely different. We often have low relief buildings on our models, but this looks as though it is a full sized low relief shed, unless it hides a cave behind the doors.

 

Anyway, it doesn't seem to be in regular use. For those who view this thread and know the area it is on Upper Dolfor Road.

 

And as a bonus, though by no means a little thing, this is a view from Upper Dolfor Road where it crosses over the new Newtown Bypass - ands Middle Dolfor Road passes under the bypass alongside.

 

Possibly a bit three dimensional for the normal baseboard construction.

Jonathan

Edited October 2, 2022 by corneliuslundie

[mike morley]

I was once told that mushrooms had brown gills while toadstools had pink gills.  Trouble is, on the few times I've thought to look since the gills could always be described as either pinky-brown or browny-pink with equal accuracy.

[Vecchio]

...

11 hours ago, corneliuslundie said:

A couple of rather more natural things this week, also spotted in the Hafren Forest.

 

And some rather magnificent mushrooms (or are they toadstools?), about a foot acrossd and thereforte certainly bug enough to represetn in 4 mm and upwards.

 

 

 

 

 

The one in the back of the photo looks like a cep (Boletus edulis or also known as Porcini), the one in front is either the same kind or from a related family (birch bolete), to say it exactly I would need to see the stemm. In any case both are edible and the cep is an expensive delicatessy.

 

There are mushrooms in the range of the German accessory companies like Noch, they are normally on the large side. With a little bit of patience and some miliput and paint they can be made for almost no money. There are some mushrooms on my layout Donnersbachkogel, made using this technique.

 

Like your photos. A very good eye for odd stuff.