CHURCH ROOF PATTERN

This fancy roof-tile design caught my eye.
It's on a church in Gloucester.
I think I just like how the triangular shape of the vent shaft seemed to be echoed in the repeat pattern along the top.

SHEEPSCOMBE CHURCH

After displaying a few unusual church designs recently, here's an example of the more traditional kind of church you'd expect to see in the Cotswolds - it's the one in the village of Sheepscombe.

COOMBE HILL CHURCH

This is another church that has a quirky but quaint look to it. It could almost be Bavaria or Scandinavia, but truth is it's nearer Coombe Hill!

OLD CHURCH IN TREDINGTON

This is another church that has an unusual old style look about it.
It's in Tredington, 2 miles away from yesterdays Upleadon Court church.
Again, it too has one of those dumpy pyramid design roofs as well as Tudor era timber beams.
Since this photo was taken however, the Tudor beamed box has been replaced with wooden slats that resemble the air vents in the photo - and it now also has a new clock replacing this old rusty one.

UPLEADON COURT CHURCH TOWER

Last November I put and image of Lassington's tower up - which is a structure similar to the one above but it no longer has the church it used to be part of.
As you can see here though, this one at Upleadon Court, which is only 1 mile away from Lassington, still has the original church intact. The Upleadon tower itself differs from Lassington's as it is made of half timber-half brick while Lassington's is all stone, but they do share the same pyramid roof design.

LLANTHONY LEFTOVERS

This crumbling corner where nature has chosen to take charge is part of the ruins at Llanthony Priory in Gloucester.

RUBBLE ON THE HILL

I'm not too sure if this old ruin used to be one long structure or was two separate buildings, but there does seem to be the remains of a wall that possibly connected both ends.
The photo was taken around the May Hill area.

THE HALF LOAF BUILDING

The building on the right reminds me of a loaf of bread that has been sliced down the middle with the other half thrown away!
Anyway, this appealing ramshackle of a place was in the Upleadon area.

TITHE BARN - ASHLEWORTH

I placed my bike here deliberately in order to show the size of the doorway on this tithe barn in Ashleworth.

THE OTHER MANOR FARM

This is the second photo of a place called "Manor Farm" I've put up.
The previous one was located in Longney, and this one above is in Portway.
It seemed to have a kind of timeless quality about it so I tweaked the image to enhance this aspect, although the picture was taken in the late 90's.
Incidentally, the sign on the wall says "Capertons Pedigree Jerseys - Manor Farm".

DOVES ON LINE

Doves on line sounds like the name of a pigeon fancier's website but these ones here didn't seem to notice me as I cycled passed them one evening near Highnam.

THE DANGLING TREE

In contrast to yesterday's tree, the condition of which had been the result of man-made brute force, the plight of this tree near Sandhurst has more than likely occurred as a consequence of natural forces such as lightning or storm damage.
Well, unless some obese kids have been climbing up on it!!

CORSE LAWN STUMP

After yesterdays visually appealing tree examples, here is one that has the opposite effect.
This monstrosity on Corse Lawn appeared to be the victim of some extreme pruning!

FORTHAMPTON TREES

These 2 trees near Forthampton remind me of bonsai, the way they are shaped and the proportion of foliage.
It's natural trees like this that inspire bonsai enthusiasts of course, but you can almost imagine this pair miniaturised in a bonsai tray and out on display!

GLOUCESTER BONSAI EXHIBITION

I went along to this bonsai exhibition in a church hall in Gloucester sometime around the mid 90's and rattled off a couple of dozen snaps in the passing.
However, I forgot to adjust the distance setting on my camera and as a result most of them came out a bit on the blurry side because I was standing too close.
Anyway, this is a selection of some of the better ones to give you an idea of what the exhibition had on display.

TOTALLY BONSAI

When I spotted this place called Totally Bonsai, I thought I'd stop off for a little look around, and as you can see they had lots of very nice specimens on sale as well as stocking plenty of the paraphernalia that goes with a Japanese garden.
And this nice oriental oasis was located somewhere around the Staverton area.

WARNING - FROGS AHEAD!

I had become quite familiar with many of the road signs on display when cycling around the Cotswolds countryside, warning signs for animals like deer and cattle, but this was the only time I had ever seen one for frogs!
This was near Upton St Leonards.

BILLBOARD FUN

I reckon ad agencies ought to use cartoonists more often in their campaigns when you think that on the odd occasions when they do, we do at least get a bit of amusement out of it, unlike when they use celebs!
This billboard in Gloucester caught my eye - a threatening scene on ice with a nice cheery conclusion.

SUD MEADOW SKULL

I know what you're thinking..."It's a giraffe!"...but no, it's only the skull that's bone.
Besides, this being Sud Meadow, an area I was familiar with, I reckon this once belonged to a sheep.
Just wondering now though if I missed out on any satanic rituals?!!

THE SPRINGBOK BAR

This pub with a clean-cut look was The Springbok Bar in Cheltenham.
Again, it's yet another pub on Cotswolds Cascade being mentioned in the past tense, because although I'm not sure whether the springbok in real life is an endangered species, I do know for sure that this Springbok has now become extinct!

THE BLINKING OWL

This is one of the older photos I have which goes back to the very early 90's or maybe even late 80's - it's the Blinking Owl pub in Gloucester.
The last time I passed by the building, it hadn't changed much, but it became known as the Fox & Elm sometime around the early/mid 90's, and as far as I know, it still is.
I think I prefer The Blinking Owl name though - it sounds as if drinking there would have been a real hoot!!

ROVER IN OVER

This is "The Dog" in Over - or rather, it was The Dog but since this late 90's photo was taken, The Dog has been put down, the building given a lick of pink paint and is now called the Toby Carvery.

UNKNOWN PIZZA RESTAURANT

Bet you can't guess what this place is called?!!
Yes, Fabio sure did like to see his name up there!
The thing about the picture is, this is one of the rare occasions I can't recall the exact whereabouts of.
Was it the outskirts of Cheltenham? I can't say for certain.
If anyone is familiar with this restaurant, feel free to reveal the location in the comments.

OLD STEAM TRACTOR

I spotted this old steam tractor strapped to the back of a truck trailer, so when I was cycling past I whipped my camera out and took a shot of it while still on my bike.
This blast from the past took place near Epney.

RED LOTUS

Here's a nice sporty piece of kit I spotted in a showroom in Cheltenham.
A Lotus Elise convertible with a £26,000 price tag.

QUALITY ADVERTISING!

You can see the thinking behind this - a profile of a car on the roof of the premises to advertise "Quality Used Cars" - but I'm not so sure it works very well. To me, this particular example is like having an animal's skeleton to advertise a zoo! I don't get a quality reassurance from it, I get a "Scrap Yard" vibe!
Anyway, this was snapped in Gloucester.

OXFORD BIKES

"Now where did I leave my bike?!"
The building giving Oxford a touch of the exotic is the Said Business School.

ILLUMINATED CAR PARK

This was early in the morning rather than at night.
It's a car park fully lit up, taken at Gloucester bus station.