From Poundbury

An early breakfast in the grand dining room of our hotel. A breakfast which was not as comfortable as it might have been due to the draft coming off the windows, this despite what appeared to be double glazing units in the sashes. Not helped by, we were told, by one of the cleaners being keen on opening them to get a bit of fresh air in - this despite smoking have been abolished before the place was built. An opening which can be seen in the snap above. Despite which, I was rather impressed that the sashed opened at all. Keeping such large windows in working order can be a bit of a business.

Visible in the first snap lower right, but here in all its glory. More layers of fakery, this in a hotel which had plenty of real brown wood furniture in its bedrooms. This in the form of a brown wood printed curtain to a piece of pale wood furniture. The green boxes lower left contain the store of breakfast juice: no claims to fresh pressing here.

Then checking that I had not left anything in the drawers, I was amused to find that one of them was lined with what appeared to be old letters. Hard to be sure now, but my money is images of old letters had been transferred to much larger sheets of paper for use for décor purposes, rather than actual old letters being stuck to the bottoms of the drawers. Although I dare say you can buy up large bundles of old letters of this sort at provincial auctions for next to nothing. Like those run by HRD of Brading on the Isle of Wight, for whom see reference 2.

Bing is not telling me what the HRD is, but Gemini manages well enough. I don't remember the Lilliput Antique Doll & Toy Museum, but I do remember plenty of stuff of that sort, a hangover from the days when Brading was a stopping-off place for all the coaches heading down to the hotels of Sandown, Shanklin and Ventnor. 

A close-up of the sash window in our bedroom, which I now believe to be of plastic construction, after the way of every body else's double glazing units. Even if the catches are of entirely traditional form. I dare say the same as the rather larger windows in the dining room.

As is our custom, we headed for home right after breakfast. It is unusual for us to do anything much on a day of return, other than return, Unlike than some correspondents, who like to get more value out of every day away.

So checked and BH proceeded to the Waitrose across the square to do a bit of stocking up - not least for the picnic to follow. I took the opportunity to capture a wet trolley; No.1146 according to the new numbering system.

After which we headed off for Blandford Forum, generally retracing our steps to Epsom. At some point a low flying kite. Lots more fine views between Blandford Forum and Salisbury. A substantial traffic jam southbound on the Salisbury ring road. A stop for petrol on same. Lots of westbound traffic on the A303 and the M3, but more or less OK the way we were going, this being Good Friday. More or less OK at the M3/M25 junction. And so home to take our picnic - with my having driven the whole way, more or less without stopping, rather to both our surprises.

A picnic which included, in my case, some slices of beef from Waitrose. Cut rather thick by the standards of Sainsbury's which goes in for wafer thin for most of its meat products and very lean. I have learned that the trick here is to use a little butter on the (white) bread, which is not necessary when one has beef with a decent amount of fat already in it, such as the fore rib we buy for roasting purposes.

Later in the day, a visit to the Screwfix whitebeam.

The Screwfix borage, last noticed at reference 3.

And what appear this morning to be some small white bluebells - rather than small white daffodils - over the Longmead stream. Must take another look to be quite sure.

A couple of days later the marigolds in one of our (leaf filled) micro-ponds were looking very well in the morning light. But I have noticed before that the telephone seems to struggle with this sort of bright yellow, reducing flowers to not much more than a yellow splodge.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv6.blogspot.com/2026/04/to-portland.html.

Reference 2: https://www.hrdauctionrooms.co.uk/.

Reference 3: https://psmv6.blogspot.com/2026/04/a-seasonal-carpet.html.

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