July 2024 - Blasdale Home

Game Fair at Blenheim

Posted on July 29, 2024 by SteveApril 5, 2025

24^th July 2024 – 29^th July 2024

R and attended the Game Fair at Blenheim Palace for the three days it was open, and a couple of days before the show started. We were sharing a pitch with long time friends Ann and Chris, and their Labrador, Luna.

The weather was mainly good, except that every time I went out to cook on the BBQ, the heavens decided to open, thankfully not enough to put out the coals. We took the van, while Ann and Chris took their tent and we all shared a pitch in this huge field. The field looked decidedly empty when we arrived. When the show started the site was looking fuller, but still had plenty of space.

Near us were some guys who came in their Land Rovers and camping trailers, which had drawers, water, cookers and showers. The men all arrived one day, and set up camp. Another day the women arrived, and there was much cooking and roasting done by the men. R was entranced by the man who had a brush and dustpan and preceded to decrumb the table, on which they had a tablecloth.

It was a long walk to the actual fair site, though buses were available, we did not make much use of them. There was also a long queue for the buses.

It was interesting talking with some of the vendors and finding out how much they were charged, and the incidental costs of using the festival site wifi, and the rumors that the mobile phone signal had been shut down to force the use of wifi. The mobile signal did work on the Friday, but the signal was out all day on the Saturday and Sunday, lending some credence to this rumour.

They were long days watching the horses and dogs perform, wandering around the stalls, eating, and in our case buying a new wood burning ceramic stove & wellingtons.

How to slow down a hungry Labrador

Visit to Oxford to Listen to Isabella Tree

Posted on July 11, 2024 by SteveOctober 3, 2024

11th July 2024

A trip into Oxford for the day. Silly Steve forgot his bus pass and had to pay £2.00 each way from the Bicester P&R to Oxford. It was a lovely hot sunny day, and we spent our time walking around Oxford. First it was the shops, and then down to the Botanic Garden where we had our first glimpse of the sculpture commemorating Philip Pullman’s daemons and Lyra’s and Will’s bench.

Next, we had an early supper at a Japanese restaurant called Edamamé. An exceedingly small restaurant. Today, Thursday was ‘Sushi day’, it was serving ony Sushi. Despite arriving early, the restaurant was almost full. It was efficient; orders taken, the food soon arrived and we were on our way.

We walked along the Cherwell and University parks, visiting ‘The J.R.R Tolkein’ memorial seat before heading to the Natural History Museum to hear Isabella Tree talk to a few select BBOWT members. We were initially entertained with canapes and drinks before the talk started. Isabella Tree had on display signed copies of her latest book, The Book of Wilding: A Practical Guide to Rewilding, Big and Small (Bloomsbury, 2023). The talk introduced the contents in the book, how she and her husband set about rewilding 3,500 acres of terrible farmland at Knepp in West Sussex.

An interesting talk which makes one think about the changes we can make to our gardens and lifestyles. Thankfully her techniques do not require us to become total vegetarians, animals are a prime driver in the rehabilitation of the land. It does though require us to be more selective in the meat we eat. The rewilding has been a success, with many different breeding raptors, and ‘turtle doves’, almost extinct in the UK. Cattle, beavers and pigs manage the land. The pigs and cattle adding some income through the butchery.

After the talk we headed on home.

Glastonbury Festival 2024 – Monday and Next Year Rod Stewart

Posted on July 1, 2024 by SteveDecember 20, 2024

1st July 2024

The festival was over, and the populace were leaving. This year, Love Fields laid on a Monday takeaway breakfast. This was new and lined our stomachs for the drive home. I hope they repeat. Except we chose to have a walk around the festival site to see if there were any bargains to be picked up. It was amazing how tidy the site was, hardly any litter on the ground. Too early to see if all the tents were taken home. A dry festival, so there should be no excuse to leave anything behind.

Rod Stewart

Let us hope next year when Rod Stewart plays the Legends Slot, that the weather will be kind.

We picked up a coffee, and some cut price nuts from a vendor. A walk up to the stone circle where some diehards were still sitting around. I stopped to take some more photographs of the ‘Model Glastonbury’ by Bellas’s bridge. I do this most years.

We left and eventually took the queue out of the grounds. At Love fields, because we were in the posh part of the site, we did not have to wait and were quickly on to Pylle Road. Then we stopped, there was the hour drive up Pylle Road, each site and camper van site prioritised their vehicles onto the road. The further we travelled the faster we progressed.

This was the first year I never saw the owners of The Love Fields. Owen was about saying goodbye to the glampers, but we missed him.

Selina and Phil purchased me a bottle of gin from Love Fields, called ‘We are not Worthy‘ gin as a thank you.

Anyway, we have our tickets for next year and will be at Love Fields yet again. Too early to say who is playing, other than Rod Stewart (Legends slot) is confirmed on the Pyramid stage. You can keep a track on festival rumours at the efestivals site. Another excellent site is ClashFinder where Glastonbury is a core listing. I find ClashFinder so much easier to use than the official festival apps. It has an excellent mobile webapp which works without a mobile phone signal. (Assuming you have registered and loaded your itinerary). You can also keep notes on each act you watch, and that information is there for you to review later, and on your laptop or PC. For those who like a hardcopy itinerary, you can print it out.