Estate of the nation

I believe I am quite a grounded individual possibly due to the fact that I have hung out with royalty, eaten their ridiculously small cucumber sandwiches AND received hate mail from Fergal Sharkey! So when I rock up to ‘private property’ like Gayhurst House, and towards the end of this week the Corteenhall Estate in Northants the opulent splendour of the grounds and general attitude of people that wander around their estate in hats made from dead birds doesn’t faze me despite having a number of chance meetings in the past with like minded land owners who, should they have had another sherry and any more bad news from their brokers would have shot me dead for trespass!

Corteenhall Estate this week was fine though and as I drove through the beautiful sunny autumnal afternoon splendour of a bygone age there was no sign of any chinless wonders, only the occasional farm labourer chasing a chicken or laying man traps close to fuel storage tanks for members of dale farm to enjoy later. On the subject of the travelling community camping illegally on your land I was offered this little pearl of wisdom by the farm manager as the best possible action to be taken. When it last happened to the neighbouring farmer he took his big tractor to the illegal encampment and after a polite suggestion that ‘they might like to move on’ picked up one of the mobile homes on the fork type attachments and proceeded to head for the gate. When one of the pikeys protested and stated the obvious that it wouldn’t go through the gap sideways he reassured them that there was no need to worry as he would just tip it over the hedge! Apparently at that point they all decided to move on.

During some very rare ‘ME’ time yesterday I drove over to Stockgrove park which has some lovely woodlands and a lake with a view to enjoy in the late afternoon sun. I always find this very relaxing and good for the soul only to have my anticipated peace and tranquillity shattered by the fact that the fascist owners have now installed barriers and a £2 fee for parking. Because I had already invested over 10 minutes of travelling time and possibly £5 pounds of petrol into the trip I reluctantly paid and displayed and trekked deep into the forests of Bedfordshire gnashing my teeth. It was an absolutely glorious day and the flora and fauna soon made up for it, but then I came across this;-

Yes, Dangerous tree and Wasps nest along with crime scene tape! No sign of either so I can only imagine that wasps had moved on after getting stung (like me) for the two quid parking and the dangerous tree was being cautioned by the special branch.