Ella Street

Ella Street is the kind of street where they paint trees with crows on the pavement and adorn the bollards with little birds. Where plants grow in drums and in little raised beds with birds painted on them. Where trees have ribbons wrapped round them and birds are fed from cast iron bird tables. And a black and white cat sits on a wheelie bin. It's a real nice street ...

More From the Treasure House

Last couple of shots from the Treasure House. On top we have a distant view of St Mary's and below County Hall, the red brick Victorian offices of East Riding of Yorkshire Council. 

From the Treasure House

 

No, not a cathedral but a mere parish church, Beverley Minster is surely a gothic masterpiece. This is the north side. I think I've shown it from all sides now.

For other posts on this building try here, here, and here.

Treasure House

Tucked away and slightly off the usual tourist paths is the East Riding Treasure House on Champney Road, Beverley. It contains the East Riding Archives and Local Studies, Beverley Library, a Museum and Beverley Art Gallery. There is also an observation platform at the top of this tower with views over the town some of which I'll show tomorrow.

That dead old tree

And while I was on Westwood I had another visit to that decaying tree that I posted in June. The tree itself didn't appear much changed, it's still hard and not crumbling in any way. I did, however, notice a large number of stinging nettles (Urtica dioica) which weren't there last year. Now nettles like acidic soil but the Westwood sits on chalk which is alkaline, indeed this tree is near Newbegin Pits; the old chalk pits. So looking this up on the web I find, as I vaguely remembered from my student days, that the decay of the tree will produce acids that alter the soil around it. So some subtle changes are happening.

That old chestnut

As I was in the neighbourhood I  did what I always do and paid  a visit to this old chestnut which I've posted a couple of times before but only in Winter ( 1 2 ). It and the dozens of other chestnuts on this tree lined road seem to be doing well contrary to tales of a blight affecting them nationwide. 

The Westwood is common land and cattle are grazed on it throughout the Summer and Autumn. They're fairly harmless but you have to watch where you put you feet 'cos they're not house trained by any means.

A change in the weather

Beverley Westwood

The blues skies and fine weather of Summer seem for the moment to have left us. Some really dark clouds looming throughout most of the day brought some sharp showers (and had me sheltering under trees) but not the deluge that forecasters had promised. Indeed it brightened up by evening time.

The Weekend in Black & White is here.