Polesworth (exploring and ribbing from the family)

I had a couple of letters to post on Monday so took the opportunity to have a look around Polesworth and find a post box.  The route into the village from where we are moored on the canal goes over the River Anker.  The road bridge has been widened over the years so looks quite modern from this side.  The little stream joining on the left is an old mill stream – a large water mill used to operate in Polesworth.

Bridge over River Anker at Polesworth

Our mooring at Polesworth - good sunny spot with no mud for Karen to negotiate on her commute

It was good to find that the train station is on a line that runs through Leamington Spa.  We are on the lookout for places where Karen can get a train to work.  Unbelievably there is only one train a day that stops at Polesworth and that heads north which is the wrong direction!

This dovecote dates from the late 1600s but there seemed to be no way of looking inside.

The dovecote is next to the tithe barn which is also 17^th century but has been converted into council offices.  Buddy and I went charging in assuming it was still an open framed barn for the public to wander around (as at Bradford on Avon) only to be confronted by an alarmed receptionist.

A little further on is the gatehouse to Polesworth Abbey; all that remains of the abbey these days is the restored gatehouse and the abbey church.

There are several large country parks around Polesworth and in the afternoon I took Buddy for a good run around one of them.  The whole area was blighted in the open cast coal mining days but the casts in this area have been converted into green public places.  Part of our walk was along the wooded banks of the Anker and Buddy was out of sight ahead when I heard a lot of crashing in the undergrowth.  He had started two rabbits which were haring along towards me with him in hot pursuit.  They pulled up sharply when they saw me and then dived into a blackberry thicket (a la Uncle Remus’s Brer Rabbit) which fortunately Buddy didn’t attempt.

When we got back home I was confronted with this family WhatsUp conversation that was referring to yesterday’s blog.