The Distancing Diairies - 5th and 6th May, 2021

 On Wednesday morning I awoke to glorious sunshine. After a wander around the garden, I did my Wii Fit work out, caught up with Blogland, checked eBay and clicked Buy It Now on a skirt that had been listed minutes earlier. After breakfast, we posed for outfit photos, Jon wore the western shirt and suede boots he'd bought from the charity shop on Sunday.

I wore my vintage Phool midi skirt, Gohill's exotic snakeskin boots and a top made from a recycled sari. Both of us put big coats on top immediately afterwards, the sun had vanished and it was horribly cold.

Our destination was Pipers, a traditional family-run garden centre, a twelve-mile drive away that has been growing and selling plants since 1947. By the time we arrived the heavens had opened and the rain was bouncing off Gilbert but, fortunately, most of the stock was undercover and I was delighted to see huge ginger and white cat curled up fast asleep on the counter.

After choosing a few plants and a sack of Pearlite we drove home via Liz and Al's where we had a coffee and were able to sit outside as the rain had abated. We had a wander around their allotment and a catch-up but were all dithering with cold after 40 minutes. Silly me for packing my gloves away on Monday!

Back at home, we unloaded Gilbert and had the rest of the leek and potato soup for lunch. I had grand plans for filling the garden waste bin and planting out my window boxes for the afternoon but it was just too wet and cold to bother. While Jon got Gilbert ready for his National Trust adventure in the morning I continued with the genealogy instead.

My 4x great grandparents, Harriet and Andrew (the gardener) Chapman had nine children, six of whom lived until adulthood. On my inherited family tree, next to their second eldest child, James Robison, Great-aunt Phyllis had scribbled Australia, which piqued my interest. Did I have family in Australia? After typing his name & date of birth into Ancestry.com I soon had my answer, James had died in 1883 in Woodend, Victoria. Although I wasn't able to access the immigration records, another person who'd researched my family tree had uploaded an extract from the journal he'd kept during his voyage. I couldn't believe my luck, how utterly wonderful to read my 3x great-uncle's words, brimming with optimism, curiosity and joy to be alive despite having been, at this point, at sea for two months.

I struggled to decipher James' 19th Century copperplate handwriting so this is a very rough translation:

Wednesday, Oct 17th 1849

At 6 this morning spoke to the ship which was ahead of us yesterday, she came within 30 yards of us and proved to be the Thomas Fielding from Liverpool to Port Phillip with immigrants 58 days out. She had taken the trade winds at Madeira and had only had to reef topsails once, hitherto had had one only wet day. Three berths on board, we exchanged longitude, compared chronometers, a deal of chaff exchanged with the passengers supplementing their soup and bouilli. She carried a great deal of canvas and gradually drew ahead of us on the starboard side. 

Wishing us goodbye and promising to report us on their arrival. Had had five deaths on board, was nearly out of sight at sunset. Several boobys following the ship.

Wind W and light, Lat 36.37 Lon 13.19

Thursday, Oct 18th 1849

Wind NW and light this morning. Saw a whale on the starboard quarter about a mile distant flowing up the water like a jet of steam every two minutes. Beautiful uplifting day. Took a great deal of exercise in the shape of walking up and down the deck.

Wind NW and M, Lat 36.44 Lon 16.15

Friday, Oct 19th 1849

Warm sun shining day. Wind west until 6pm when it shifted S and blew pretty fish. Ship walking through it like smoke all night. Read Howitt's journal, smoked and finished the portrait of the ship's cook.

Wind N&E to N, Lat 37.8 Lon 19.25

Saturday, October 20th 1849

Water looking quite green for the last two days owing to our being on the Great Bank of Agulhas. Stiff breeze from the southward and the ship flying through it, driving the spray before her as far as the jib boom end and creating thousands of little rainbows in the sunshine. Plenty of albatrosses, boobys, cape pigeons and whale birds. Flying about the ship, as usual, the tops of the waves breaking into little bits of white foam and everybody in good spirits at the prospect of a speedy end to the voyage.

Wind SSE, Lat 22.45 Lon 22.45

So many unanswered questions. I'd love to know why James travelled to Australia. He was too early for the Gold Rush but did he get involved in it when it started in 1851? By the ease in which he moved about the ship, he certainly wasn't a convict. I'm also curious about the portrait he was painting of the ship's cook. Could he have been the artist behind the miniature I inherited of Harriet, his mother? Do any of my Australian readers know Woodend? 

SOURCE

This took me up to teatime when we ate Morrocan pasties with potato lattices and homemade hummus. We spent the evening watching Waking the Dead and the brilliant Great British Sewing Bee, accompanied with rum and cola.

Thursday was the reverse of the previous day, the pitter-patter of rain on the window panes woke me early but by the time I'd got halfway through my Wii Fit workout the sun was shining. We had porridge for breakfast and, after Jon had made sandwiches, we made our way to the Georgian splendour that is Attingham Park in sunny Shropshire, a forty-five-minute drive away.

Built in 1785 for Noel Hill, Ist Baron Berwick, a former MP for Shropshire who received his title in 1784 from the Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger, after his work in reorganising the East India Company. Hill already owned a house, Tern Hall, on the Attingham Estate but with the money he received along with his title he commissioned the architect George Steuart to design a newer and grander house around the existing hall.

The estate originally comprised 4,000 acres but in 1800 it was extended to twice the amount. In 2018 over 470,000 people visited the estate, making it the fourth most popular National Trust property. 

Although the car park was rammed, the estate is so big that at times you have the place to yourself.

As long as you don't mind sharing with Scrap, Attingham's resident cat. 

We've visited Attingham many times but our most memorable has to be when Jon & I spent a gloriously sunny day there with Ann and Jos back in 2018 (HERE). 

Don't be fooled by my sunny photos, it was bitterly cold and a couple of times we had to run for shelter beneath the trees whilst the hail bounced off the grass but a glorious life-affirming couple of hours despite the inclement weather!

After a leisurely lunch in Gilbert, we headed back home and spent the afternoon pottering around the garden planting our new purchases, dividing up the crocosmia and watering everything in. 

Tea was pizza with a salad which included my home-grown micro leaves and Jon's mustard cress - yum!

I'm off to watch Waking the Dead and to endeavour to stay awake, those few hours of walking around Attingham have wiped me out. I promise to catch up with comments, blogs and messages tomorrow.

See you soon!