Longwood Canal Festival

The Longwood Canal Festival took place on the 13th-14th of June at Longwood Boat Club and field across the Rushall Top Lock off Aldridge Road. There were classic cars, craft stalls, children's games, real ale bar, burgers and hotdogs, vintage working boats, have a go canoes, and boat trips. Our local dog rescue MFH held a dog show on the Sunday and raised much needed funds with their tombola stall. We were pleased to see Best in Show go to a staffy.

And we're off...

Inseparable

The Jam Butty

Best in Show

Walsall Arboretum

The Arboretum in town is a lovely place to walk round, whether you have an hour to spare or an afternoon. Here is what they say on their page...

"The Arboretum is Walsall's Premier park located within half a mile of Walsall Town Centre. Comprising of 170 acres it is one of the oldest parks in the borough originally developed around two flooded limestone quarries and opened as a public park in 1874"

We've seen many improvements to the park this year, from the new Visitors Centre opening...

to the upgraded bandstand....

Photo by Phil Griffin

and the added attractions for the children...

Photo by Phil Griffin

Photo by Phil Griffin

Now that Summer is under way the splashpad is open again and you will find a list of times at their Facebook page here

Photo by Phil Griffin

The park is beautiful and well worth a visit. We'll have lots more photos to share in later posts :)

Brownhills Canalside Festival 2015

We spent a lovely afternoon at the festival and thankfully the sun had come out by the time we got there. There was lots to see and do: stalls with crafts, food and drink, tombolas for local rescues; music;  kayaking;  boat rides; firemen; and even Minions! 

Photo by Kay Griffin

Photo by Kay Griffin

Photo by Kay Griffin

Photo by Kay Griffin

The birds of prey were by far the star of the show....the local rescue and breeder Armitage Bird of Prey Centre were there with many birds, some of which you could hold.

Kestral

Falcon

Eurasion Eagle Owl

Snowy Owl

Barn Owl

Harris Hawk

Tawny Owl taken by Kay Griffin

We'll definitely be going back next year.

A canal in Pelsall

We have some lovely stretches of canal in Walsall, so pretty and peaceful. We parked up at Grenfell Road in Little Bloxwich and joined the canal on Stoney Lane and walked towards the Pelsall Junction bridge. In minutes it feels like you are in the countryside....

What a lovely place to sit.

 You see some lovely flora......

and fauna.......

On the nest, photo courtesy of Phil Griffin

Coots, photo courtesy of Phil Griffin

and finally, a photo of the Finger Post through the Pelsall Works bridge. What a lovely walk that was :)

Gorgeous Summer flowers

Hi, it was a changeable day today, one minute we had clouds, then sun and then rain. I've heard on the news though that next week could be a scorcher with temperatures reaching 30degC! Far too hot for me. 

Here are some gorgeously bright flowers I photographed with my phone in my Mom's garden in Bloxwich the other day.....

Marigolds

Poppies

Peony

I love orange flowers although the peony takes some beating for prettiness :)