Trip to Alford (long)

I had been meaning to take some bits and pieces to the Greyhound Rescue charity shop in Alford for a while and yesterday finally got Round Tuit. Alford is a small market town in Lincolnshire and I carefully chose a non market day so there would be plenty of parking spaces and not too many people for Penny to pester for a fuss! Not that there are too many problems parking these days as the one main parking area is fairly large ....



... and a bridge leads to an overspill area which about doubles the number of car spaces. Alford must be one of the cheapest parking areas in Lincolnshire at £1 for up to two hours:



Alongside the car park and flowing under the bridge is a stream which, yesterday, only showed a trickle of water:







Much of the local surface water seems to flow in to this stream:



Once I had dropped off the stuff at the charity shop we went walkabout. Over the years there have been some nice alterations to this area of Alford. At one time the space in front of some of the shops was for car parking but now it is a wide paved area with a rather posh bus shelter and a space where one of the coffee shops puts out tables and chairs so we can enjoy refreshments and nice weather at the same time:



Nearby are some unusual looking trees which give me the impression that something else has been grafted on a Silver Birch trunk - or maybe it's the result of intensive pruning in the past:

   

A nearby street sign caught my eyes,

 

not an area I had explored before so we ambled round to have a look see. No sign of a windmill. Well, I didn't really expect to find one as many of these road names date back hundreds of years. There is no doubt there would have been a windmill there at some time in the past. There is a working windmill on the outskirts of the town. Among all the new red brick buildings I did find this old house:



I wonder what shape my property will be in if it survives over 170 years, which I very much doubt:



After a look round and plenty of fuss for Penny at the charity shop we came home.

Video of our route through Alford:


Once home I checked up on Shirley:



... and Smelly which is relegated to the greenhouse:

    

... and the £10 hanging baskets I bought from Louth Garden Centre a couple of weeks ago:

        

... which are part of my 'clock' area display this year. Should look nice in another month or so when all the plants are in flower:



Then it was time for elevenses and a well deserved rest, madam was especially quite and slept through until 2pm when she suddenly remembered it was walkies time.