Woke early and walked Mix before breakfast in the farmhouse. Then Rachel, Mum and I drove to Cranshaws where, in Ann’s absence, I conducted the service with help from Dorothy and Rachel on the theme of John’s Easter Message.
Back home I changed and then Tom and Dorothy collected us to go off to the Heavy Horse Show at Wooler. I was more than a little apprehensive about this because it had been raining hard all night and I have so many memories of wet show days in the west which were miserable in the mud.
We stopped off in Tweedmouth to visit HomeBase to buy the paint required to complete the loom room this week. We got a really good bargain: thirty litres of paint for the price of twenty litres and then a further 15% off. Not bad at all (and the reason we went to shop today). We also grabbed something to eat at Marks and Spencer.
We continued on to Wooler. I was convinced that I hadn’t been here before but Tom reminded me that I had accompanied him to a market here not all that long ago. Well, I had forgotten (it seems to happen more often now that I am retired).
There was a huge car park and we had no difficulty parking – the show had started at 9 o’clock this morning and was probably drawing to a close when we arrived, and many of the patrons had already gone home either having had a surfeit of heavy horses or having been defeated by the cold and wet (this morning it was extremely wet underfoot, we were told). However, we were fortunate, no sooner did we arrive than the sun came out and although many of the horses had left by this time, there was still plenty to see as we walked around the large ring in which the competitors performed. I took a number of photos which I have included below as a reminder of what we actually saw:
I suppose that we spent an hour and a half at the Show and then we set off for home, but on the way Tom took us on a detour (no extra charge) to visit Ladykirk which is actually part of the same charge as Swinton just down the road from where we live. The complete charge is Fogo and Swinton, Ladykirk and Whitsome, and Leitholm and I understand that it is going to be part of a larger charge once the present minister retires! Tom explained that Ladykirk is a very historic building, important because it is almost on the border between Scotland and England and was the site of a number of important discussions between forces from the two countries over the years. I certainly hope to learn more about Ladykirk and its story.
We made our way home and Mix and I immediately went out for a walk. I got some of my pictures sorted out before supper in the farmhouse at seven after which we relaxed in front of the stove and watched some television – Happy Valley: it turned out to be a good story and really quite fun.
Watched a bit of the snooker and then walked Mix before bed. It has been another really good day.
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