Third Trip up the Hill

Adventure time with my friend Nikki. 

Prepared for the weather and anticipating flooded country roads.

Nikki had never been to How Hill before but I told her about my project on the way.

AIM FOR THE DAY: Find interesting things. Get muddy. Eat jam sandwiches. Take photos. Draw.

Baffled that she hadn't heard of the tower before and discussing how I could put in an offer with the National Trust to buy it. 'I'LL GI' YA' A TENNA?' 

Looking for natural textures and organisms on the way. Spiky thistles.

Wild ferns, makes a pretty pattern.

Ivy covering rocks. Cheeky ivy.

Random discarded horse shoe. We picked this up.

Weird bark. Gnarly.

Wet gnarly bark.

Geese. Do they have a set rank in the flight structure? The cool kids at the back, the nerds at the front? Nikki doesn't like geese.

Still there! Still standing!

Grungy rust. So punk rock. 

Being the idiots we are, we walked up the steepest way whilst another couple walked easily up the hill on the other side. Fools. FALLING DOWN IS PART OF THE ADVENTURE!

So many mole hills.

Stone walls. Texture. Patchwork colours. How long would it take to build something like this? Who carried the stone up here?

'It must have been so beautiful' - other couple on the hill. They knew nothing about the history of it.

Perhaps I'll find them and tell them what I have found out.

I did something risky. I squeezed through the bars of the gate into the outbuildings. I didn't break anything or move any locks, just squeezed through (and it was the biggest squeeze ever). I'm such a worrier and I hate doing anything wrong, so going in was an impulsive, naughty Jay-move but I was just so curious!

Not a lot inside, just some beer cans (which I tried to clean up a little) and animal skeletons. Why would anyone want to drink up here and why would they not take the cans away? Grr.

I think this is where the animals were kept when it was a farm house. Now they're just empty outbuildings locked away behind a gate. 

Pink plastered walls with graffiti. Mostly just names, but one strange message 'THIS IS THE WAY TO HEVEN'. Odd... why would you scratch that into a wall?

Found even more pottery inside and loads on top of the mole hills. Lil moles just digging it all up?

There's a door to the house in the outbuildings entrance that is locked with a padlock but the wood seems to be quite soft from the damp; I could quite easily wear down the wood frame past the lock to get in. I love this place and I don't want to break in or anything, I don't want to destroy it but I just want SO MUCH to see what it's like from the inside. Hm, If only the National Trust would unlock the doors, just for a minute, to let me have a peak. The view from the top window! I just want a moment of that.

More ceramics, beautiful things.

Nikki's thoughts on the tower: 'It's just so beautiful. And so forgotten. Why does noone know about it?' 'It's like you're solving a mystery, putting together all the little bits you find' 'You have to get married here, you know that?'