Barton Fields in December

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Barton Fields December
The Thames Path below Barton Fields is very muddy on this sunny December day.
Barton Fields December
More birds are visible in the trees – now without foliage. They flit away as you approach and look shy.
Barton Fields December
Looking up from the bottom of the field, across through the willow herb and bare trees, the office buildings along Barton Lane are visible.
Barton Fields December
The newly surfaced Sustrans cycle path allows cyclists a smoother ride.
Barton Fields December
Similar surfaces have been introduced this year between Drayton and Abingdon.

Through Abingdon Town Centre cyclists are guided by a couple of signs back towards the cycle route, but nobody has solved how to get the cycle way through a town centre as a joined up cycle way
Barton Fields December
In December there are very few flowers. Berries are getting eaten or are drying out.
Barton Fields December
At the top end of Barton Fields – where wild flowers are such an feature in Spring and Summer, the grass is cut, the small trees are bare, and piles of hay provide a place for animals to remain warm during the winter.
Barton Fields December
Brown has taken over from green as the main colour.

Thankyou to the Abingdon Naturalist Trust for the chance to enjoy the fields for a monthly exploration in 2020. Barton Fields provided a green space for people to walk and cycle during the lockdown. But at the same time more people have been walking over what is intended as a wildlife habitat. Mini thicket fence barriers have appeared at some junctions to keep people on the main paths.

Carol on the Doorstep and Cinema in the Abbey

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On the Doorstep
For anybody wanting to join in with Carol on the doorstep at 8pm you need to access the sing along track of Silent Night for Carol on the Doorstep. You can follow it from 8pm using the Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIAlht4-GR2JDVZXYI9VAYA . Abingdon resident Bekah sings the carol, and the Youtube video has the words, so you can turn up the volume on your phone, tablet, laptop and sing along. The video automatically starts at 8pm, so you should be able to sing in time!. Some of your neighbors might be there too. Some neighborhoods could even provide their own band.
On the Doorstep
Here is the X13 bringing people back from the JR Hospital and from other places in Oxford. Not all of them have heard that The Abbey Cinema has reopened.
On the Doorstep
The Abbey Cinema can be found by going through the Abbey gateway.
On the Doorstep
If the lights in the foyer, up the steps, are on then there is a show going on.
On the Doorstep
Book online at www.theabbey.ac.

This Christmas you can see Live Panto! Beauty and the Beast.
or War Horse from NT Live
and much more.

Henry VIII’s men did their worst to dismantle Abingdon Abbey. A Cinema called The Abbey is now on the site.

Ock Valley Walk – mid December

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Ock Valley Walk
Anyone walking the Ock Valley Walk between Drayton Road and St Helen’s Close this December will be struck by the number of yellow leaves still on the trees.
Ock Valley Walk
The path is muddy and despite wearing boots I got splattered.
Ock Valley Walk
The Ock Valley walk is between two streams that carry rain water and some sediment down from the Vale of White Horse.
Ock Valley Walk
The River Ock flows under the busy Drayton road through two main arches.
Ock Valley Walk
There are other arches which allow more water to flow during flooding. In 2007 even they were not enough. The water backed up and flooded the Drayton Road.

The rounded concrete on the far side is where the bridge was widened.
Ock Valley Walk
The water can flow from the upper to the lower stream at this mini weir – put in to protect Ock Street from floods.
Ock Valley Walk
At the lower end of the walk there are a lot of old tree trunks, left where they fell, or piled in damp heaps and covered in moss – a home for creepy crawlies.

Art show in Abingdon and signs of old age

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Water Leak and Art Exhibition
There was the art exhibition at St Ethelwold’s House in East St Helen Street.
Water Leak and Art Exhibition
The artists were there to chat and I learned that they had produced more art than usual because of the lockdown. Claire Cross has created a lot of new Abingdon views during lockdown.
Water Leak and Art Exhibition
There was a one way system round the exhibition and so if you wanted to revisit an art work you had to go round again. There are always things you notice differently the second and third time round.
Water Leak and Art Exhibition
At the top end of East St Helen Street a water leak meant that a new hole was dug yesterday.
Water Leak and Art Exhibition
Most roads in our old town centre have had a hole dug in the last fortnight. Being the oldest continually inhabited town in England does have some drawbacks.