Pieces of Stone

We have passed through some gorgeous rural country on our way here to Stone.  Often times, simply by looking out at the word around, you could never tell what century you are in.  The beautiful weather has made it even more perfect.  All is right with the world. :-)

As we have traveled through this charming countryside we spied another sure sign of spring:

Momma Sheep with their baby lambs.  So cute!  You just want to hug them.  But Momma would probably take umbrage at that so we restrained ourselves. :-)

Stone does have other attractions besides its six charity shops. :-)  It has a local butcher, a couple of bakeries, food stores and such.  In the town center of Stone we discovered this old pub.  You can see the juxtaposition of old and new when you look at the building being constructed next to it.  I bet the pub will still be there long after they have razed the building next door.

Above is the local Catholic church in stone.  The church of St. Dominic and the Immaculate Conception.  The church also sponsors a priory school for students past the primary level.  After school the students are easily identifiable in their uniforms as they raid the bakeries, candy store and coffee shops.  Just as in the US, kids released from school are starving!

 This little female has been hanging around the tow path in front of where our boat is moored.  Although we have seen who we think is dad, this little thing has been almost constantly there.  We think she is building a nest in the hedgerow just off the path.  I see a population explosion in the near future although, unfortunately, we will not be here to see it as we do have places to go and things to see.