Pettistree Mini Outing to Essex

Once again, we ventured south into Essex, on our mini outing. Mini - because due to various ailments, many of our members could not come along - also, because we only went to three churches...luckily, a nice warm spring day with sunshine, the kind of weather we have been longing for over the past month..

The first tower was Langham, a church set well away from the village but close to Langham Hall. You approach down a long lane of trees...the ringing chamber has been recently moved upstairs, and the bells are now much nicer to ring - and there is some impressive woodwork, a very impressive organ screen..

We also liked the church cat, Jerry, who is well  known and has his own chair and cat blanket near the ringing chamber. He lives at the Hall and until recently had a brother....

...a very friendly cat.....the church helpers have to make sure that he is outside the church when they leave --not difficult when it is sunny as he likes to sit in the sun --but difficult to find a black cat when it is cold and dark --luckily he is usually to be found on the vicar's seat, or, the bellringing seat....

We took the scenic route through Constable Country to Earl's Colne. This is an old-fashioned eight..

You may have noticed the "mistletoe ball" in the tree outside the church. These are not uncommon in Suffolk and Essex. The plant is a parasitic one and only grows on certain species of trees. It remains green throughout the winter; one can see why it was considered a fertility symbol - hence "kissing under the mistletoe" - a hangover from our pagan past...

The tracery looking into the ringing chamber was impressive....

The last stop was Coggeshall....this church was bombed in 1940 and had to be rebuilt after the war...

We went into Coggeshall to have lunch at the Chapel Inn, a very old pub...this is a clock tower built for Queen Victoria's Jubilee...

More old buildings...

The interior of Coggeshall church is lovely and airy...the bells are a really lovely 10, rehung and augmented from 8 for the Millennium. We rang well considering that most of us only ring on 6 or 8 bells. We attempted Grandsire caters and finished with Yorkshire major.

A nice day out...