Glebe land tenant

Some land in the village has come up for rent. It is glebe land, belonging to the church. Glebe land was originally for the use of the vicar of the parish, so that he could keep a few sheep or cattle and supplement his ecclesiastical income. Some parishes owned lots of glebe land, like Morwenstow in Cornwall, which once had 72 acres. Robert Hawker, the eccentric vicar of the parish in the 1800s, farmed his glebe with devotion, turning it into a small but successful farm. The East Chinnock glebe is only an acre in size. I made enquiries from the diocese, which is now responsible for the village glebe, and within weeks had signed my first agricultural tenancy. (There's a first for everything.) Two of my pygmy goats have kidded since I retired, so I aim to move them, together with their offspring, onto the glebe land. It won't rival Hawker's farm, but it should be fun.

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Sea of Steps at Wells Cathedral

Frederick Evans photographed this famous set of merging steps to the Chapter House at Wells in 1903. It led to a host of photographers following, literally, in his steps, to capture the same scene (but mostly with less skill than Evans dispayed). The cathedral reportedly helped them out by putting marking points on the floor on which they could place their tripods. It's much less of a challenge to hand hold a digital camera in the same place today and to get a passable result in the limited light available. (My photo is first, followed by Evans' original one.)The steps remain an impressive sight and I was bowled over by the scene; seeing them and then walking up the steps is still an experience to savour.