Bad Sobernheim

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Still in the same area of Germany is the town of Bad Sobernheim.  The town is on the River Nahe, and in the middle of the Pfalz wine producing area.  This fountain is in the centre of the town, and like most German fountains provides a place for the younger members of the community to cool off in warm (or even not so warm) weather - and no-one seems to mind at all!
Bad Sobernheim is a spa town, a place to which you can go for the benefit of your health, perhaps for rehabilitation following an operation.  You can even have a "health holiday" paid for by your health insurance, and towns like Bad Sobernheim have facilities to ensure that recovery from whatever has ailed you is a relatively pleasant process.
Originally a spa was associated with drinking specific mineral waters which had healing effects on different parts of the body.  German spas come in a variety of different types - it's not just the "different" water, but it might be the specific type of health treatments available, or it might be the fresh air, that would allow a town to call itself a "Bad".  Bad Sobernheim specialises in the Felke treatment: mud baths (the mud contains various different minerals, which are prescribed for each individual,) exercise, and a specialised diet, once again depending on the individual needs of the patient.  Among those who can benefit from it are people suffering from burn out, and also those who are overweight due to bad eating habits.

Odernheim am Glan

Odernheim am Glan is an old town in the Pfalz, in the middle of one of the largest wine growing areas in Germany.  It's a bit off the beaten track these days, but in the Middle Ages was much better known as being close to the monastery of Disibodenberg.  The monastery had an attached hermitage for nuns, and it's here that Hildegard of Bingen was educated.  Hildegard is one of the most famous and earliest of the medieval German female mystics. It was at the Disibodenberg that she had the first of her visions, which were eventually described in her work "Scivias".  In 1147 she left the Disibodenberg, for reasons which are long lost, but were probably to do with the lack of space for the growing convent, and set up a new convent on the Rupertsberg, where the River Nahe flows into the Rhein.  The monastery is now a ruin, but the bell in the Town Hall is reputed to have come from the monastery.

The town lies on the River Glan, which winds its way to the Nahe, and thence to the Rhein.  The weir which provides a perfect mirror for the mill will have held the water back to power the original water mill - as you can see by the roof of the low building, it now uses a more modern form of renewable energy!

New year, new theme

It's been a while since I added any pictures to the blog: winter is not really a time for actual photography, (or at least this winter hasn't been) so I though I would go back and add some photos of German towns.  To begin with, a small town with a big name - this is the town of Frankenstein in the Pfalz region of South West Germany.  I don't know whether Mary Shelley named the creator of the monster after this place, but it certainly felt like it!  The day was overcast, and the town is in the bottom of a fairly steep-sided valley. The whole area is amazingly unspoilt - it's part of a forest-based nature park, but the trees are mostly conifers, and the day we were there it felt as if they were swallowing what light was available.  The castle dates back to 1146, but situated where it is, it's not surprising that it is now an a fairly ruinous state, having been occupied by the military in various wars!

Reflections at Oxburgh Hall

Oxburgh Hall is one of the most intriguing National Trust properties in East Anglia.  The whole building is a gem, a Tudor mansion built in warm brick, surrounded by a moat.  The interior is fascinating, with insights into the lives of the Roman Catholic minority in Tudor times, including a priest's hole which you can enter (if you are flexible enough to get round the 90 degree bend!) and embroideries worked by Mary Queen of Scots during her captivity in England: some of the detail on them is fascinating from the point of view of the exotic creatures which are pictured, some obviously from life, and some more from the imagination.
But the day that we visited the attraction for me was the reflections of the castle in the moat.  Much of the fortification is really for show: the house has been altered considerably since Tudor times, but the main gatehouse is still much as it was.
The best view of the gatehouse, paradoxically, is from the back, looking over the low building which replaced the original Great Hall.

It looks more like a keep from this side!
On either side of the low building we are looking over are two square towers.

It's quite strange how the brickwork looks warmer in the reflection than when seen directly.  The last of the "reflection" pictures shows one of the wings of the house, or perhaps side walls might be a better term.  The side ranges are basically one room thick, with a corridor to the inside.

One of the things which seems to have changed over the past few years is the attitude of the volunteers in National Trust houses.  In the past my memory is that they were a little like museum curators, whose attitude as at least as much related to the security of the objects as to anything else.  But tis time the people we spoke to were real enthusiasts for the houses they were showing off, and their friendly and informative attitude added greatly to the enjoyment of the visit.

Ely Cathedral

Ely Cathedral dominates the fen country in the west of Norfolk: it sits on a lowish ridge but the countryside around is so flat it is visible for miles.

Viewed from the river bank it looks simply massive, as much like a fortress as a cathedral.  It doesn't have a spire, but instead has a unique feature of an octagon shaped tower, with large windows close to the top.

Inside the octagon is a wonderful painting:

The work in the octagon is genuinely medieval, the rest of the ceiling was restored in the nineteenth century.  It's one of the most striking pieces of architecture in any British church, and because the upper stories are full of windows gives the whole cathedral an amazing quality of light inside.  SDG.

In the grounds of Ickworth House

Ickworth House is just outside Bury St Edmunds (of which more later.)  The estate is a classic English landscaped park, originally designed by Capability Brown.  The centrepiece of the estate however looks just about anything but English - except in its eccentricity!

The rotunda behind the tree is the centrepiece of a two-winged quasi Georgian "house", built on an enormous scale so that the Earl of Bristol (who was also Bishop of Derry, but spent most of his time collecting art in Continental Europe) would have an appropriate building to showcase his art collection.  Things never work out as planned, though, and much of it was confiscated by Napoleon.

The immediate surroundings of the house are more Italianate than British, based largely on structural trees and shrubs rather than displays of flowers.

The tree collection is very striking: exotic conifers and cedars predominate, and the general effect is extremely impressive.

The estate also contains a magnificent walled garden, which has been converted into a vineyard.

In many ways this is a much more conventional layout, though the vineyard is relatively recent  The brick used is a particularly attractive shade of warm red.  Part of the walled garden is let out as allotments to local residents.  Currently the National Trust, who own the estate, are engaged on a large programme of tree planting, which will enhance the parkland views, and are also considering whether or not to re-instate, at least partly, the old Victorian kitchen garden which used to occupy the walled area, using the planting books which have been preserved with the rest of the estate documentation.
The outside wall of the garden contains a summerhouse, which overlooks a small ornamental lake.

Ickworth is a wonderful place for a visit, no matter whether you are interested in the art (the collection includes works by Gainsborough and Titian) or the grounds, which offer very varied walks (well waymarked!)

March in October

One of the best things about being somewhere you don't really know well is the way in which serendipity plays a part in what you see.
Whilst in Cambridge we stumbled on the town of March, which was originally a place we were simply going to pass through, but which turned out to be really interesting, even if one of its major attractions turned out to be closed (and we wouldn't have had time to do it justice even had it been open)

March lies on the River Nene, one of the rivers which meander through the Fens on their way to the North Sea (although it meets the Great Ouse first!)  The first picture is of the Town Hall beautifully reflected in the river.

At one end of Broad Street is the fountain erected to celebrate the coronation of George V.

The fountain is very striking: cast iron, and supplied by the Saracen Foundry from Possilpark, Glasgow.  The Saracen Foundry specialised in ornamental cast iron work, although much of what they made has been lost over the last century - the Second World War in particular, with the necessity to reclaim cast iron for the war effort, made great inroads into the monuments that they had supplied.  In the heyday of the British Empire Saracen Foundry products were sold to many cities round the world.  The fountains often follow a fairly standard design - octagonal, and as in this case localised by the addition of relevant shields.  One of the shields in March shows a white stork, which is a little unexpected as even then the bird was really a rare visitor rather than a breeding species in the UK.