Cats in the Kitchen, Flora in the Garden

I am posting some more photos of the area in which I live, I don't live in the lakeland area of Cumbria, I live on the plains of Cumbria, so although I can see the fells [small mountains] in the distance, our part of Cumbria is green and lush as it is a river plain. The photos were all taken along the river about two miles from where I live.





The first photo is taken from a viaduct above the river. In January, 2005 we had terrible floods in this area, the worst within peoples' living memory. No one had seen anything like it before. Part of the A69 [a major through road] was just a swirling torrent of water and many homes were flooded, even in our village which had never flooded before. We were very lucky to escape the flood, at its height it was approaching our house, but some of our neighbours were not so lucky and had to move out. It was a time of high drama, the flood water cut off the village electricity supply and we had no power for nearly five days. We all helped each other through these days, sharing candles and one neighbour managed to get someone to bring some flasks of hot water to their house, so at least we could have one cup of hot tea or coffee a day. We listened on a battery radio to the local radio station for updates on what was happening in the area. After living by candlelight, without heating and with no means of cooking everyone was so glad when the electricity returned and we could eat a hot meal and be warm again.





This photo shows another part of the river, these photos were taken in 2004 and after the floods of 2005 some trees were swept away in the flood water changing the look of the river's edge. After the flood in 2005, when the water had receded, my husband and I took a walk by the river and were amazed at the size of tree trunks that had been washed down river. Unfortunately, we lost a lot of trees around our village, some were just uprooted and had to be cut down as they were tilting dangerously, they were beautiful old trees.



This photo just shows the view across the river plain, I love the patchwork look of the fields.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing more of my village surroundings.