Burmarsh Herefordshire

Images are sourced within 2km of 52.119953/-2.6850576 or Grid Reference SO5347. Thanks to Geograph Open Source API. All images are credited.

Flat field near the River Lugg

This flat field lies near the river and offers a distant view towards Sutton Walls hillfort.

Jeremy Bolwell

Pastoral scene near Marden church

This herd of cows are resting in the warm Spring air in meadows near the church at Marden.

Jeremy Bolwell

Marden war memorial

It's always touching, thought provoking and poignant to be out walking and come across a war memorial unexpectedly. Here I am carefree in warm Spring sunshine and the names on this memorial, along with thousands named elsewhere, have made that possible. This is a fine memorial and lists men of all three services who gave their young lives in the World Wars. 'Live thou for England as I for England died'. A very thought provoking standard set at the very highest level.

Jeremy Bolwell

Courting swans on the River Lugg at Marden

These two were raising and lowering their heads together swimming closely side by side and inter-twining their heads as I approached and hardly ceased as I passed and paused to take this shot.

Jeremy Bolwell

Horses in the meadow at Laystone Bridge, Marden

The Skewbald horse was really energised, encouraging its fellows to rear and trot and at one point they all cantered around the field, then stopped off for a drink in the River Lugg.

Jeremy Bolwell

The Big Society in operation in Marden

I thought that "where there's muck there's brass" but I'm glad to see that the operator of a stables in the village can see the bigger picture and is offering, in Springtime, large sacks of horse manure free to any takers. What an offer. Everyone wins.

Jeremy Bolwell

Redundant stile near Marden

The second of two bypassed stiles on this stretch of footpath near the village.

Jeremy Bolwell

Footpath approaching Sutton Walls hillfort from the north

Sutton Walls is not a lofty eminence but certainly would have been a natural defensible site in a loop of the River Lugg. Apparently skeletons were excavated from a section of the hillfort's single defensive ditch with battle wounds / broken bones and a number were decapitated, presumably by the Romans as an example after a battle here. The interior of the hill has been quarried and backfilled.

Jeremy Bolwell

Part of the interior of Sutton Walls

The tarmac area of hard standing is associated with the gravel quarrying activities in the hillfort. The path on the left cuts across the hillfort at this point.

Jeremy Bolwell

Track in Sutton Walls

This track must be associated with the gravel quarrying activities on the site. Rabbits have been pretty active here too, with a large warren on both banks alongside this track.

Jeremy Bolwell

Hillside just to the south of Sutton Walls hillfort

From Sutton Walls the hillside slopes down to the valley of the River Lugg and also has extensive views towards the eastern flank of the Black Mountains, the Sugar Loaf at Abergavenny and Coles Tump near the Monnow Valley.

Jeremy Bolwell

Herefordshire countryside in early April

Just as supermarkets and retailers have been reducing carrier bags to help the environment then agriculture takes up the slack. Frost protection that will break down under UV rays I suppose but this one field alone has hundreds and hundreds of metres of it. But consumers want their crops on the shelves early so who really is at the start of this mad cycle?

Jeremy Bolwell

St. Michael's church, Sutton, Herefordshire

A very picturesque village church with a large graveyard.

Jeremy Bolwell

Springtime in Herefordshire

I usually look out for yellow oil seed rape fields as a sign that April is underway but of course it's the polytunnels and ground sheeting that come first!

Jeremy Bolwell

Footbridge in meadows near the River Lugg

The OS 1:25,000 map has a moat marked near here and there certainly are plenty of lumps and bumps in this field, all man made by the look of them and certainly arguing for some sort of moated medieval house complex or similar.

Jeremy Bolwell