CAMERA CAPERS

 After leaving Winchester our coach travelled a few miles out of the city to the small village of Whitchurch.   We disembarked our coach and made our way to the silk mill, crossing the river Test. The building was built in 1813 and has been in various ownership over the years.   The Mill was rescued by Hampshire Buildings Preservation Trust in 1985 after the building fell into disrepair.  The Mill opened as a working museum in 1990 and in 2020 the Mill underwent a major restoration programme funded by the National Lottery. The machinery is all Victorian and the Mill Wheel is the original, although some parts have been replaced.  Apparently, some Victorian bodging was discovered during this parts replacement!   Nowadays the looms are powered by electricity, but wheel power is used occasionally for demonstrations, but not when we were there.    At one time the Mill produced 16 colours for Burberry to use in the lining of their famous raincoats.  Ottoman silk is produced here - this is us

 Another U3A outing with my neighbour and her humanities group.  Angie and I are not members of this group, but Sheila often has spare seats on the coach and offers them to me and Angie and other U3A groups.   The outing to Winchester was supposed to be for her group to visit the Ghurka museum and the King Arthur Round Table.  Anyone who didn't want to go to the museum or the RoundTable could make their own way around Winchester.  Angie and I decided we would go in the Cathedral as we didn't go in when we went to Winchester last December for the Christmas Fayre (which I didn;t write up about).  We then proposed visiting the Mill House.  Unfortunately, most of the High Street of Winchester was closed off for Freedom March. The coach had to drop us off at the coach park, which was quite a bit out of our way.  So, the Humanities group managed their visit to the museum, and Angie and I went to the cathedral, but we missed the other planned visits. The Lady Chapel Beautiful Alter Cl

 These are just few from Camber Sands itself.  We only visited to take some photographs as there really is not much there.  It has changed since my visits as a child - there is a long promenade now which there used not to be, plus the bungalows I remembered are now houses - some of them very modern.  The caravan site itself is much the same - very big, although the caravans are more modern.   I've also included a few more of Dungeness - we went back on our last day as there was an area we had not visited.   Camber Sands - tide out Camber Sands - tide out Camber Sands - tide in Dungeness Dungness Ann doing her favourite thing. Angie looking for something to photograph - taken through the underside of a catamaran Crows nest Here you can see what the crows had built their nest on - it's an old signal receiving post from WW2 St Thomas Becket Church, Romney Marsh.  The church is empty now, but visitors can view the inside by appointment. Finally....... A curious lamb That's all

 I had never been to Rye Harbour. even as a child on various holidays in the area, we only ever went to Rye town, and I have been there several times since.  So I was really keen to visit  Rye Harbour.  The harbour is some distance from Rye itself, it being an area where the sea is receding.   There is a small village which we drove through, but the area is now mainly a bird sanctuary, and very flat.    This is the famous red-roofed hut - I think now used for storage. We couldn't find much information about it, but Ann assured us it was famous! Where we had the most delicious lunch.    More soon.