High Street Features

This morning Jackie left the Modus alongside a protected tree in the Beaulieu car park.

From there we walked along the path to the High Street, Jackie to seek a gift in one of

the several tasteful shops, and me to gather pictures of them and other features.

A parked car reflected the awning of one of the outlets.

Vehicles were parked along both sides of the narrow street. A truck belonged to scaffolders, one of whom seemed to be sporting an impressively long mohican.

A split in a roof rack wrapper revealed snow crystals.

Decorative brickwork and pointed arches embellished early facades;

while modern aerials were installed on chimney stacks, such as those

glimpsed through bare branches. Another tree with a gnarled and severed trunk is engaged in healthy regeneration.

The Beaulieu Bakehouse restaurant, which was once the village bakery offers enticing indoor lamplight from its windows.

One wall bears a letter box bearing the initials GR, thus following the tradition since the reign of Queen Victoria, of allocating the stamp of the royal incumbent of the time. When this feature was fitted this would have been our current king’s grandfather. For the following seventy years they all bore ER, our longest ever reigning monarch. We await the first CR, for her son, Charles.

From the High Street can be seen the bus stop shelter alongside the lake of the Beaulieu River.

Hopefully not for the same original purpose as staddle stones, the job of which is to allow storage buildings to be lifted clear of the ground, the refuge stands on low brick pillar supports. The barns once stored produce such as grain or hay, keeping the contents free of ground level water, and preventing rats or other vermin from reaching them. The wooden building rests on the smooth round tops of the mushroom shapes.

Later, I gave the following posts the upgrade to Block Editing:

because of the stable stones link;

because it continues the story of the arrival in Old Post House and has now been categorised as Garden. (The garden mentioned in Bats, above, is Elizabeth’s in which we worked before moving down here)

because it explains the stray header.

This evening we all dined on Jackie’s tangy lemon chicken and colourful savoury rice with which she finished the Orvieto and I drank Puglia Nero di Troia 2020.

67 comments

  1. Oh, I thought you were going to tell us that the tree fell on your car.

    I’m going to try a lemon chicken today without using lemons. Since I’m allergic to citrus it’s a bummer. However, I managed to grow Lemon Verbena and it has a strong lemon smell and taste. I can’t wait to try it.

    I love the old buildings. Australia has a few but they are only a couple of hundred years old.

  2. Wonderful photos today, Derrick! I love the architecture of British homes and buildings, very different from here.

    Our TV broadcasts went fully digital some years ago, I am wondering if that is the case there too.

    I have been a licensed ham radio operator since 1980 and I can’t help but wonder when I see the similar TV antennas on the buildings in your photos. ????????❤️

    1. Thanks very much, John. Sue has explained that we still have the choice to go Terrestrial, which is sometimes a boon.

  3. My brain kept trying to work out why you would spot and airplane at the curb. The awning and the glass remind me of the back end of a jet. Funny that. I didn’t know about the initials on your post boxes. Here, a lot of our post boxes have gone by the wayside. There was a time when you could finding on most corners.

    1. Thanks very much, Alys. The back end of a jet hadn’t been in my mind, but I did hope the image would be enigmatic 🙂

  4. John’s comment made me smile.
    I refrained from answering that we too went digital many moons ago, but it hasn’t been forced upon us. Streaming is the norm for many.
    We still have a choice.

    Terrestrial TV still exists for those who don’t want cable and satellite, and when digital goes down, as it often does … we’re very pleased to still have the choice to switch to Terrestrial until digital comes back on line.

    Loved the post 🙂

  5. The old buildings have seen quite a few things over their time. If they could talk! The post box initials are interesting. That seems like a nice tradition to maintain, markers in the timeline of society. Please do let us know when you see the first CR.

  6. I’m a bit perplexed by the sign above the post box. I understand that 30 minute parking is allowed between the hours of 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., but what does “No return within 1 hour” mean?

    1. You can’t just nip round the block and come back for another half hour (if the spot is still free). Thanks for reading and asking, Linda

  7. Thank you for letting us go along with you on High Street via your wonderful photos!
    Bring on the chocolate! Ha! I enjoy dark chocolate. OOH, especially when it’s covering fruits, like raspberries, strawberries, bananas, pineapple, etc.
    I love seeing that tree regenerating! So beautiful and hopeful!
    (((HUGS)))
    PS…”I have this theory that chocolate slows down the aging process…
    It may not be true but do we dare take the chance?” ????

  8. Thank you for taking us with you as you wandered about the town. The tree does look protective. I hope Jackie found a gift.
    The initials on the postbox are interesting. We have to go to the post office to mail anything now. There’s one free standing box in the town outside of it, as well as slots inside.

    1. Thanks very much, Merril. We still have them in towns, villages, and their environs.

  9. You live in a very pretty village. I didn’t know about the royal stamp on post boxes.

  10. I love those little shops. Did Jackie locate what she was looking for?
    That tree inside a tree sure is unusual!

    1. Yes – with Mothers’ Day coming up I had to be circumspect. Thank very much, GP

  11. Great photos, Derrick. I like my roof antenna. I cut the cable and cost a couple of years ago. Don’t miss it at all. Never saw a building held up by a commode before!
    I was not happy when WP switched to block editing. I still click on the classic editor and continue to use it. I am still on the free WP site since 2016. I have to delete some photos from time to time to make it work.

    1. Smart of you, Dwight, to find a way to continue to keep WordPress as a free service for you. I am trying to figure out if I want to move to JetPack or not. I’m fearful that I will lose posts or followers.

      1. Thank you, Derrick. I get tired of the talking heads that are just going for the drama! What a waste of time. I haven’t missed them at all!

  12. It’s wonderful that you are able to upgrade all those posts, Derrick. Time consuming, to be sure, but well worth the effort when all is said and done. How many more do you have to do?

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