The park, woodland and the Octagon
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Blast from the past – JuL 2026
Donna and I drove out to the nearby village of Somerford Keynes to visit the sculpture park there. One of my favourite items was this rusty iron structure with red squirrels eating nuts, but they’re the kind of nuts that would usually be used with bolts. The squirrels and the nuts were made of steel! A sort of Dad joke sculpture – very nice! Donna’s favourite item was Boris, a really enormous Polar Bear of glazed white pottery several times life size.
‘Stratton Beach’ (so called) is a favourite haunt for local children where they mess around in the shallow water and build dams with old stones that used to line the drainage channels when the meadow was used to grow basket willows in the 1800s. It seems to have been quite a complex system back in the day, when basket making was still an important local trade with the baskets needed for all sorts of functions, now sadly replaced by plastic.
We visited Tewkesbury, strolled along the banks of the River Severn and took a look inside the Norman Abbey Church, with its imposing and very massive pillars. Construction began in the year 1102.
While we were in the town we also visited the old Baptist Church, the natural history museum, and a medieval house and shop. If you’re ever near Tewkesbury it’s well worth making the effort to come to visit and explore for a day.
On 25th, Cirencester Parish Church tower was open for visitors and it was a fine day. We made our way up in stages, stopping to look at the clock and the bells on the way up. The views from the top are good and I have a set taken in black and white when I was a teenager (or I think I have). It’ll be interesting to compare the old and new photos. The photo on the left is looking south-west from the tower, showing Cricklade Street running centre left and Castle Street centre right. The Cotswold stone corner-shop near the centre-right of the photo is the old John Jefferies & Son florist and offices (now Vodafone).
JHM: I wrote Climate emergency!; and Life will find a way. World events: The 2026 Algerian parliamentary election was held; and the state funeral of Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran assassinated during the 2026 Iran war, took place.
See also:
- Cirencester – Wikipedia
- Cotswold Sculpture Park Ltd – Website
- Visit Tewkesbury – Website
- Tewkesbury – Wikipedia
- Tewkesbury Abbey – Website
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