We are presently engaged in a fascinating house exchange. Bruce and Maggie are enjoying warm autumnal weather in our home on the edge of the forest in Belgrave Australia, while we enjoy a month in a village near Cheltenham U.K. in the Cotswolds. It is quite possible that nothing significant has changed in cute little Prestbury since the introduction of electricity. The pubs, the post office and the store are exactly as you would expect to see in an episode of Thomas the tank engine. We have the particular pleasure of living in the 15^th century Priory in the shadow of the bell tower of the very old St Mary’s church. Prestbury has the distinction of being one of the most haunted villages in Britain.

It’s best known spectral form is the hooded shape of a monk known as “the Black Abbot” and whose appearances take place mainly at Christmas, Easter and on all Souls day. His ghost is rather conservative in that it seldom deviates from a particular route that begins inside the church and, having kept a straight trajectory through the grounds of the old Priory, (That’s our place!) vanishes into the wall of a cottage on the high street, where he announces his arrival by noisily moving things about in the attic.

Seriously, at the time of writing, it is 9.15 pm on Good Friday, not about to go wandering in the church yard a la Midsommer Murders.

Please enjoy a little wander about a few rooms of Maggie and Bruce’s place. And keep a lookout for the ghost of the Black Abbot.

Oh, and the Mendelssohn by courtesy of Zoe & Amir.

Partly to avoid feelings of excessive grandeur while living in Maggie & Bruce’s lovely home and to see how the other half lives, We went to see the Duke of Marlborough’s shack, Blenheim Palace, in the village of Woodstock. Early in the piece John Churchill – later to become the first duke – had the foresight to marry Sarah who was best buddies with Queen Anne. This of course led to all sorts of opportunities. The most significant being to lead the Alliance that trounced the French in the battle of Blenheim, the turning point in the war of the Spanish succession. About 1704. The Queen gushingly gave John most of Woodstock and 240,000 pounds, quite generous back then, to build the house of his dreams. Now, in the course of wopping the French, John had noticed Versailles. Nothing would have pleased him more than to stick it up the nose of Louis XIV, but alas, the 240 thou didn’t go quite that far. Nevertheless, the estate is seriously impressive.