A Country Walk

One of the joys of having my son living near me now is being able to go for walks together. He works as a supply teacher so often doesn't know if he'll be working until the morning of any day. This means our walks are often spur of the moment which is actually quite nice.

On a sunny day last week we had a walk out into the local countryside that was full of bright colours. We started off on the old Mineral Way footpath in Banbury and then headed across the fields to Drayton. Just as we were coming into the village we saw this beautiful ceanothus; I don't think I've ever seen one with such a vivid colour before.

I really must plant one of these in my garden as they obviously thrive in our clay soil.

We ere following the road through Drayton, heading for the next footpath when we looked over the side of a bridge and saw the most beautiful, tempting path ...

... winding up and down through the trees, it ran between two small streams - just the sort of place where you might come across a hobbit or two. This sort of footpath can't be ignored so we followed it to the end.

Luckily, it wasn't a long path and took us to a field from which we could see the path we had been looking for.

As you can see, the oilseed rape fields are out in flower at the moment. The flowers look beautiful and smell of honey but they make me wheeze terribly so I find them a bit of a mixed blessing. Just look at the colour though ...

This picture was taken from eye height 

- the flowers came up past my shoulders

We emerged from the yellow fields into Wroxton village, where I took the opportunity to get a few photos of a rather unusual little church.

Yes, that's right, it's a thatched church. This is the Catholic church of St Thomas and can you see who's standing just inside the wall?

I always like to see Mary as I drive through the village so it was nice to be able to get a closer look.

From Wroxton we walked across the fields to North Newington - more bright yellow, this time buttercups.

Just before Newington, we turned off through more rape fields until we came to this little wood which were looking particularly lovely in the sunshine.

I saw a buzzard in this wood a couple of weeks ago; they have a very distinctive call, a bit like a kitten mewing.

By the time we got back to town we were in need of an ice cream and, in my case, a very big cup of tea. I do like walking though - fresh air, beautiful countryside and exercise. what's not to like?