On this occasion we skipped the Mother Goose bookshop at St. Helen's, the place where I bought a copy of 'War and Peace' last year, on the grounds that we already owned far more books than I was ever going to look at, never mind read. 'War and Peace' maybe looked at in the intervening year, but not read cover to cover, not in any of its three volumes.
Parked up at the Palmer Memorial, another handsome bit of memorial masonry, reminding me of that at reference 2. No watery side line on this occasion, but an interesting inscription, just about legible left if you click to enlarge - Cortana not managing very well with the bright sunlight on this occasion. Palmer being a monumental mason, as it were, otherwise a grand parson in the ancient order of etc etc. I imagine that this masonic grandeur must have blocked his advancement in the established church, his bishop not caring for his divided loyalties, MA from Oxford notwithstanding. Then again, maybe as rector (something I don't thing we get anymore, a gent. with access to the tithe for life) he got a good living and didn't have to worry about that sort of thing. No clambering up the greasy pole for him.
Rector of Yaverland, a small church more or less underneath the local big house. Probably a lot smaller than the rectory. An interesting church we have visited in the past, but not this year. Must mark it down for a visit next year to check the list of rectors. See reference 4.
Onto to the beach to come across the Garland Club, which I think we missed on the last occasion. A sort of beach version of a golf club building to look at. According to a council heritage document we have: 'the site of the bathing huts and ladies bathing club called the Garland Club off Ducie Beach', but that might have been a hundred years ago. More recently we have reference 3, but that does not seem not right either. A little work with google this morning suggests that it might once have been a grand private house, now sunk to B&B, but the web site given for that does not work. Further work needed.
And so round to the 'Lifeboat View Café which was still doing excellent crab sandwiches, rather better than those we had had at Ventnor the day before. The only error was to take chips with them, rather than having three sandwiches. If only I had read my notes of our last visit. The only small down side was the large number of Surrey people and other people with money, which we do not get on the more democratic beach at Yaverland. Not quite so full of themselves there.
Into the village, where we took in a craft fair, the church and a baker. Bembridge must be quite a posh place, because not only does the church boast an inside memorial to a captain in the Black Watch, noticed last year, but also an outside memorial to a colonel from the 2nd Battalion, Coldstream Guards, another crack regiment from, as it happens, much the same part of the realm. This chap was the grandson of an earl, almost a mandatory requirement in those days, the middle of the 19th century. Perhaps you had to be the grandson of a duke, preferably of Wellington, to get the 1st Battalion. Standards dropped a bit since then. Old traditions falling away, along with the regimental silver.
While the baker could do me a large Hovis - something I have not had for a while - and I assume that Hovis on the side of the load means that the baker has indeed used the Hovis flour and recipe as well as the tin - and three rock cakes. Rather darker than those from Yaverland, perhaps involving some wholemeal flour as well as rather more spice, but fresh and good just the same. The third rock cake survived to eke out the picnic for the day following.
Reference 1: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/crab.html.
Reference 2: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/temperance-movement.html.
Reference 3: http://www.garlandsbedlam.com/.
Reference 4: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=yaverland+church.
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