On the Oliver Cromwell with Steam Dreams

Had a great day out on the Oliver Cromwell with Steam Dreams 5th July 2014. From Horsham to Canterbury and back by steam power and vintage diesel.  We did not do the advertised return route thanks to a last minute change by Network Rail and returned a bit faster than expected. The staff were attentive and the Pullman service food very tasty.  Long gone are the days of British Rail cheese sandwiches on this train. 

The sound, smell, heat and noise of a live steam train just has to be experienced up close.

Parham House in Pullbrough, West Sussex

Spent a lovely afternoon at Parham house in West Sussex.

From the friendly greeting as we drove from the deer park into the car park, to the tea and home made cakes in the cafe this was just about a perfect visit to an English country house as you can have.

Morrisons Maths Fail - Small box cheeper than big box

This is one of those annoying "Small box is cheeper than big box" special offers.  Dated 7th July 2014 at Morrisons the shelves have no indication of the special offer just big boxes of Cheerios at 53.2p per 100g and small boxes at 33p per 100g.

In the Garden

A couple of unrelated gardening matters, about an innovation in tomato growing and a tree bug.

Firstly a tomato growing gadget that fits into a grow bag to promote growth and better watering uptake. It's called a Growpot and seems make a difference.  Looking at the tom plans, all planted at the same time those using the gadget seem to have better growth and density of foliage. Will report back on how the cropping goes.

The tree in the garden, some sort of ornamental cherry, had it's usual good start to he season with a fab blossom display. As usual the blossom only lasts a week or so but puts on a good show.

Now the leaves are all established I see that the ends are a bit curled and damaged. Having a hunt in the foliage this little bug was found. Looks like a Shield bug possibly a red legged shield bug like one of these.  According to the description 

"Adults are partly predatory, feeding on caterpillars and other insects as well as fruits."

 it is just as likely to be feeding on the critters as causing the problem. Not too worried as on previous years the leaves have been full of holes but overall the tree survives.

Some pictures of Old cars

A couple of fancy old cars spotted at the Durrant Hotel.

In Order Lotus Elan +2 , Stag Convertible, Renault Apine, Mercedes, Austin Healey.

Nice.

Some pictures of an old church

I love the textures of these old stone walls. Church is located in rural North Devon near Alwington and Fairy Cross.