Around and About: June 2011

Tuesday 28 June 2011

Italy - Pacentro

Saturday 21^st May 2011

Flying to Rome

Across the mountains

Rome was hot as we waited for our bus, east to Sulmona then Pacentro in Arbruzzo.

Bus from Rome

Autostrada tunnel

Summer snow

First glimpse of Pacentro

Osteria Maggiore on the Piazza

We celebrated our arrival with a delicious dinner. As you can see, 9 pm was too early for the locals, but the dining room was full by 9.45pm.

From the soft villages of England to the strong light and marble streets of Pacentro was a shock. We were welcomed by Maddy from Birmingham, who sold up and moved to Pacentro four years ago. She speaks Italian and enjoys her life. We followed her up and up.

Up the marble steps

Up and up

To Maddy's door

Just below the 11th century castle walls

Where the women washed their clothes in the stream for hundreds of years

Her little house just below the castle, is very comfortable. I can see how this incredible Medieval village captivates her.

Maddy's kitchen

Maddy's living room

The view from Maddy's balcony

Settling In

Pacentro has the friendliest people and the most stunning mountain views, being on a tiny plateau saddle on the steep slopes of the Apennines east of Rome.

Pacentro

Our Piazza

With its church

and Ben coming home with the shopping......

to the awaiting cats.....

and a welcome reminder of our life in Italy.....

and its New Zealand roots.

Ben painting poppies

We were delighted to spend three weeks in Kiwi Casa, owned by a NZ friend of Ben’s. It was large and bright, inspiring Ben to paint the poppies in the valley below.

Poppies in the valley

Our small kitchen would provide a challenge in preparing a banquet.

Kitchen

The interior of the flat is large and very cool with each room having a small balcony and double doors with shutters.

One of three bedrooms

View from the bedroom

View from the living room

Sunset on the Appenines

Farm in the valley

Cool

Long curved corridor

Mirror and image

Walking Around

We spent a good deal of time exploring the village, with its hidden delights and wonders of ancient architecture.

Little church

Near here Mary and Alec from Oxford have a small house with a big garden. They paid 15,000 British pounds for the lot and share it with friends. They can see the snow on the distant mountain and the whole valley from there.

Mary and Alec's Terrace and garden

Horse fresco and ancient arch

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Deserted house

Many of the houses in Pacentro have passed into the hands of young relatives now living in Rome who are not interested in restoring antiquity. They stand abandoned and deteriorating.

Mary and Alec were lucky to buy one of these, and so was Richard from Boston. He works on his house with the help of Pietro, a local builder.

Pietro, Richard and Ben discuss retoration techniques

New ceiling and stairs

Via San Marco, the main street of Pacentro, shops below and flats above

Ben looking forward to siesta

The Villa is a small park just off the Via San Marco. It has a view over the Sulmona Valley and is a good placeto have a beer after siesta. Siesta is from 1pm to 5pm every day and NOTHING happens during siesta.

Some shops were worth looking at even though they were closed.

An up-market furniture shop just off the Piazza

Rose door

Houses below the castle wall

These houses are about 900 years old.

Ben thinks “It is hard to imagine how such areas have remained so unchanged.”

Monday 27 June 2011

Berkshire – Maidenhead - River Thames

....and Buckinghamshire – Taplow

Thursday 19^th May 2011

Maidenhead and Taplow are on opposite sides of the Thames, just over 30 kms from London. They are in different counties.

Crossing the Thames from Maidenhead to Taplow

When Ben was about 6 years old (1941), the Second world war was coming too close to his home in Kent, and he, with his mother and sister were evacuated, first to his mother’s sister, Aunty Florrie and then to her brother Bert’s house in Taplow. Bert is Cynthia’s father so their memories of the war years are shared, being cousins there together.

Walking along Cynthia's old street, Ellington Rd

Ben remembered his time in Taplow and Maidenhead.

“We walked down memory lane to the places close by where I lived, swam and played as a kid!”

The house stood as if waiting for them.....

....down memory lane

Their swimming spot at the end of the road

“This was also a nostalgic return to the Brunel’s Sounding Arch,

Sounding Arch

still the widest brick span bridge in the world.”

1838

The plaque reads " 1838 The Sounding Arch. I K Brunel (that man again) designed this bridge. The brick arches are the widest and flattest in the world - each span is 128 feet with a rise of only 24 feet. "

It seems he was forbidden to remove the formwork for fear the bridge would collapse. It eventually fell off in a storm.

We coo-eed and shouted into the arch and each time, the sound returned five times very distinctly.

Sounding the arch

Maidenhead Bridge.....

...with a train crossing

Many London celebrities choose to live in Maidenhead as it is close to London, yet serene and unhurried. Here is Rolf Harris’ house on the river.

Rolf Harris lives here

Buckinghamshire – Burnham

Friday 20^th May 2011

Aunty Florrie's Interment

Our time in England was intended to include a visit to Aunty Florrie, as we had done two years ago when we were there. We missed seeing her by a month or so, as she had passed on at nearly 96. We arrived in time to attend the interment of her ashes in the Hulm family grave in Burnham churchyard.

Burnham Churchyard

The family gathers

for Auntie Florrie's interment

Vi and Carol

Sarah's Family

Ben reflects -

Aunty Florrie

'With joyful memories for me and distant memories of Burnham as a kid, I came again to meet the family. The service was short but fitting in the graveyard, she and I had previously visted on our own and the only place she wanted to rest. SHE HAD MADE IT. The sun shone and all was well.'

We then adjourned to a pub for nuts and chips in the public bar before going on our merry ways.