The Tolpuddle Martyrs

A couple of weeks ago, my human and I went to visit another of her work colleagues for a business meeting.

After a hard morning's work, we had a very civilised lunch in the colleague's beautiful garden, on what was a rare sunny day in May.



A stroll to the end of the garden brought us to a pretty stream, where they apparently sometimes hold rubber duck races!



The house was situated in the village of Tolpuddle in Dorset, so we were treated to a very interesting history lesson about the Tolpuddle Martyrs, who were transported for trying to set up a farm workers' union in the 1830s.

This the the information board set up next to the tree where they supposedly met to discuss their plans:



You can read more of the details in this shot:



And here is the plaque set beneath the tree itself:



A few years ago, it was feared that the tree was dying, so a cutting was taken and a new tree planted, which is by now almost fully grown. Luckily, the original tree is still going strong, so now there are two!

The whole day was very pleasant - productive work, lovely weather, beautiful surroundings, and an interesting history lesson!

Trains and Gyrocopters!

Last weekend, the humans and I took an exciting, if fleeting, trip to York.

The hotel we stayed in was made up of old train cars:



It was a lot of fun finding our way to our room through the narrow passageways:



All the decorations were appropriate to the theme:



And the room itself was very snug:



It was all very exciting, up until the express to Edinburgh went past about ten feet from the window and the whole room shook!

But still, it was fun exploring and discovering other features of the hotel, like the special room next door:



And the signal post in the carpark:



We had a lovely Greek meal in the dining car, then a good night's sleep, considering the frequency of trains.

The next morning, we travelled to the nearby airfield for the main purpose of our trip - gyrocopters!



My human's parents bought a gyrocopter lesson for my other human for his birthday, and the trip started with a tour of the facility, which had various types of gyrocopters on display:



To save on weight, one of them had the fuel tank actually in the pilot's seat - I think that would make me rather nervous!



The gyrocopter my human went up in was a bit more modern, though this vantage point was still somewhat precarious, particularly considering how windy it was!



Ah, this seat is more comfortable:



It was all very interesting, and a good time was had by all!