Welcome to the Rudloe and environs website.
Here you will find news, articles and photos of an area that straddles the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in north-west Wiltshire.
Contributions in the form of articles or photos are welcome. Even those with completely contrary views to mine!
Thanks to the website builder 1&1 and Rob Brown for the original idea.
Rudloescene now, in January 2014, has a sister, academic rather than anarchic, website about Box history here: http://www.boxpeopleandplaces.co.uk/
It contains thoroughly professional, well-researched articles about Box and its people.
Contact rudloescene through the 'Contact' page.
Meteorological autumn is upon us as the 1st September 2024 litter pick takes place. The title picture shows Dave dishing out plastic bags to the stalwarts.
As Dave reaches for the plastic bags in his panniers, Derrick hands them out to: Rod, John, Madeleine, Lorraine and Meg. Mike has already departed so with yours truly, there are nine of us.
Rewind five minutes and Derrick leads the pack (Lorraine, John and Madeleine) heading for the rendezvous point as Dave heads off down Leafy Lane on his electric bike to pick up plastic bags
This seems to be a regular occurrence in Leafy Lane. A car has crashed into the iron railings of Leafy Lane Wood.
Peace in the valley (By Brook) on this first day of autumn
Peace also at Rudloe Firs as the 2019 planning application (19/07824/WCM) for a slope shaft for Hartham Quarry has expired. Permission was granted on 31st March 2021 with the condition that work would commence within three years*.
*Perhaps the applicants, Mr Nicholas Johnston and Sir Henry Doulton, have come to realise that there is much more money to be made from the development of green fields twixt Pickwick and Rudloe in which they have an interest.
Old Man's Beard on A4 dry stone wall, Long Close Avenue beyond
Ivy in flower in Leafy Lane from where there was an incredible buzzing of hundreds of insects (bees, wasps etc)*
*The Woodland Trust website states: 'Nectar, pollen and berries of ivy are an essential food source for insects and birds, especially during autumn and winter when little else is about'
This month's haul, ten bags, which will be collected by Wiltshire Council's French contractor tomorrow (Monday)
The 4th August 2024 litter pick has come upon us with astonishing speed. The stalwarts are shown in the first photo below and Madeleine can be seen setting off down Leafy Lane in the title picture.
4th August 2024 and the stalwarts are getting ready for the off, from the left we have: Rod, Lorraine, Meg, Madeleine, Dave, Gordon, Bernard and Derrick; Mike has already departed so with yours truly that makes ten of us.
Bernard and Derrick, bags at ready, set off down Boxfields Road
Juliet balconies of sorts at Halfway Firs - one window is a non-opener and the others can only open a little way before fouling the balcony
The A4 verge and dry stone wall with the recently-sold woodland (Rudloe's green lung) beyond. The Green Square organisation included this woodland in the sale of a Prestley Wood Road bungalow ('for development').
Convolvulus arvensis at the foot of the A4 dry stone wall
A modest haul (apparently) but there are bags still to come. Unusually, Wiltshire Council (idverde) collected the bags on the evening of the pick.
7th July 2024 brings the first litter pick under the new Labour government. Actually, if we were to believe the weather forecasts, this pick would have been postponed - it was 'supposed' to be pouring with rain along with thunderstorms. Title picture shows the litter-free (now) summer growth in the strip of meadow twixt the Bradford Road hedgerow and Park Place.
The stalwarts gather for the July pick: Rod, Lorraine, John, Bernard (brave), Derrick, Gordon (hidden) and Dave. Mike has already departed as usual and with yours truly, that makes nine (looks like midwinter rather than midsummer)
Here's the proof - Gordon sets off down Leafy Lane to do his 'patch'
John and Lorraine setting off down the Bradford Road beyond the Rudloe Triangle
Bernard scouring Boxfields Road
Convolvulus arvensis on the Bradford Road footpath by the entrance to Toghill Crescent
The loneliness of the long-distance litter picker (Lorraine)
Along with the title picture, the following gallery shows summer growth in the strip of meadow twixt the Bradford Road hedgerow and Park Place
John and Lorraine (honest) in a clear (litter and traffic) Bradford Road
Litterers cider of choice (must be cheap) - there were about a dozen of these in various locations
Poppies in the A4 verge above Copenacre. As with every year, Wiltshire Council will be spraying this verge with weedkiller in the coming weeks. As our grandson would say - "Idiots".
Derrick and Gordon wend their way home along Leafy Lane after the morning's work
This month's modest haul (difficult to find the litter in the summer growth) which will be collected by the left-wing French government's contractor in the morning (Monday)
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