A balmy day on the rocks
Goldfinches clustered on dock seedheads as we made our way down the thin silver path to the sea. Most coastal flowers were over now, though yarrow, flat-topped and bone-white, still bloomed. Rose hips gleamed through tangles of briars. Agrimony seeds bristled, eager to snatch at clothes and be transported somewhere new.
A warm autumn day, we sat on sloping boulders below the Bathing House, its sandstone walls and tall chimneys stretching up out of the rock. Built in the early 19th century by Earl Grey of nearby Howick Hall, it was designed for his large family to bathe, with an upstairs sitting room so Lady Grey could check on their 15 children in the pools below. Chisel marks show where a tide-fed swimming place was enlarged. There are remnants of metal fixings for awnings and stepped ledges angled towards the sun.
Continue reading...