A Kentish Man and his Wife in Tiverton

Visited Tiverton today: a quaint little market town  ~12 miles N of Exeter. It has an interesting old castle with some pretty gardens.

A Kentish Man and his Wife in Sydmouth

 Visited Sidmouth today. A lovely little town :  another 'jewel' on the 'Jurassic Coast.

A Kentish Man and his Wife in Lyme Regis

 Visted Lyme Regis today. Lovely quaint & unspoilt little town.

A Kentish Man and his wife in Exeter

Weather fairly good in Exeter today. Just had a heavy shower when we arrived back at the bus stop near the hotel. Exeter is a nice city. V. clean & tidy place. Spent much of the day around the area by the quay which has been restored as a heritage area with many of the old warehouses converted into restaurants & residences. Tomorrow we are going to Seaton & Lyme Regis. We leave the car at the hotel & travel around on local buses using our bus passes. Much less hassle & cheaper ( i.e. fuel & parking).

The Hungry Caterpillar

 

The colourful mullein moth caterpillar feeding on mullein in my garden. In contrast, the adult moth is of rather drab appearance like most of the noctuids.

Mote Park's Royal Dutch Shell connection.

Mote Park, the large popular park in Maidstone has an interesting yet little known connection with the Royal Dutch Shell Oil Company. It involves a previous owner of the park, Sir Marcus Samuel, whose family had originally emigrated to the UK from Iraq & ran an import/export business based on a shop in London's East End. A large part of the business involved exotic sea shells & Marcus & his brother, Samuel, made frequent trips to the Far East to acquire stock. It was during these journeys in the latter half of the 19th C. that Marcus noticed increasing numbers of oil tankers plying the major sea routes & realised that the oil export business could prove a lucrative venture. By the 1890's he had acquired a fleet of tankers & in 1897 incorporated the Shell Transport & Trading Company. (The name was inspired by his family's original business as 'shell merchants'.) In 1907 a merger with the Royal Dutch Oil Company led to the creation of Royal Dutch Shell with its famous pecten scallop trademark. Marcus Samuel acquired Mote Park in 1895. He was knighted in 1898 & became 1st Viscount Bearsted in 1921.

After his death in 1927 his son, Walter, inherited the park & sold it to Maidstone Borough Council in 1929 for £50,000.

Mote Park during these snowy weeks!

Children and green places

Forest bathing, 'shinrin-yoku', was developed in Japan during the 1980's & has become a popular method of relaxation in a country where people live in an increasingly urban society. It simply involves being in the forest to connect with nature and has become a proven method of improving people's mental & physical health. Interestingly,  chemicals called phytoncides released by trees, have been found to boost the human body's immune system.

In Europe the value of a forest environment in the education & development of children was first recognised in a major way in Denmark during the 1950's when the concept of 'forest schools' was first developed. The idea quickly spread to Sweden where the concept was further developed as 'skogsmulle' ('school of the forest troll'). Thereafter, forest schools sprang up all over the world with the common ethos of nurturing & promoting feelings of empathy for others & nature; sustaining & improving both mental & physical health ; & building confidence & independence. 

A recent study in Finland pointed to major health benefits for children exposed to a natural forest environment. A small number of gravel yard type playgrounds in 2 Finnish towns were converted into mini forests by replacing the gravel with natural forest turf & planting native shrubs & mosses. The children in the study were allowed into the play areas for a given time each day & encouraged to play with the turf & plants. The children's immune systems were checked before the study & 28 days after exposure to the newly converted playgrounds. It was found that the diversity of microbes on the children's skins was 1/3rd higher than those still playing on the gravel yards & significantly increased in their guts.

Analysis of blood samples showed beneficial changes related to the functioning of the immune system.

These results could have major implications regarding the rising rate of so-called autoimmune diseases such as asthma, eczema & multiple sclerosis among children in the western world. Many authorities believe that children are being exposed to far fewer microbes than in the past & that this leads to the immune system being less challenged & therefore more prone to making mistakes. Previous studies have shown a statistical association between exposure to microbial diversity & the development of a well-functioning immune system.

Figure 1: In the snow with my grand-daughter, Frida 11 months old, in the garden

Figure 2: Three generations in our local park

Winter heliotrope

 

Winter heliotrope growing alongside a lane at Boughton Monchelsea today.  It is actually native to N.Africa & proceeded to colonise our countryside after it escaped from a private garden in the early 19thC. Although it's classed as an invasive species it does provide a valuable nectar source for early emerging insects.