Monday, December 26, 2016

Aloha to Weekly Winners, Penelope Keith and Hidden Villages (UK TV program)

River Dee

Happy Boxing Day!  I hope everyone enjoyed the Christmas and Hanukkah weekend.  I was a winner with cat related gifts - my family knows me well!

We have winners at SOS Aloha - Catslady, Gretchen, and Marjorie win a book choice from my convention stash.

Last week, I spotlighted HIDDEN FIGURES - an upcoming movie portraying the African American women who contributed to US space program in the 60s (link).  Last night, I enjoyed HIDDEN VILLAGES, broadcast in the US on PBS. From the Independent (link),

Penelope Keith, best known for playing lofty neighbour Margo in The Good Life, has proudly outed herself as "a villager" to present Penelope Keith's Hidden Villages on More4. This leisurely three-part wander through Britain's rural communities is inspired in part by Sir Brian Batsford's cover illustrations for a 1930s book series, and, naturally, it's very picturesque. The village greens, the church spires and the thatched cottages are all here in plentiful supply ...

Balmoral Castle
visitscotland.com

We joined Penelope in Series 2, Episode 3, as she visits Royal Deeside outside Aberdeen, Scotland.   Hubby and I targeted Royal Deeside during our trek to Alba in 2008.  From the Royal Deeside website (link),

Welcome to Royal Deeside and the eastern Cairngorms National Park. We hope that once you have read these pages you'll agree that this is a very special part of Scotland.

The Dee runs west to east and is mostly bounded on both north and south by high hills with few passes. The castles of Deeside offered their owners control of east-west travellers in the valley and north-south travellers using the mountain passes.

Castles include the Queen's summer residence, Balmoral, plus several properties maintained by the National Trust for Scotland - Craigievar Castle, Crathes Castle, and Drum Castle.

This is why I love Alba.

You can watch the episode (and visit other villages) at this link.

Craigievar Castle
Youtube (link)

I am giving away a book choice from my convention stash. To enter the giveaway,

1.  Leave a comment about "hidden villages" - do you have any near you?  I live near Savage, Maryland - a sleepy "village" near the I-95 corridor that grew up around the historic Savage Mill (link).

Or, of course, you can leave a comment about Scotland.

2. Comments are open through Sunday, January 1, 10 pm in Baltimore.

3. I'll post the winner on Sunday, January 2.

Mahalo,

Kim in Baltimore
Aloha Spirit in Charm City

Crathes Castle
royal-deeside.org.uk


19 comments:

  1. we've got lots of hidden villages around - everyone goes speeding by on the interstate highways!

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  2. I would love to visit Scotland and visit these villages and castles. Some day I hope. We live outside (10 Miles) the oldest town in Tennessee. They have done a nice job of keeping its historic look, especially in the downtown area. I grew up in a smaller town in Northeastern New York near the Canadian border. When we travel, we look for small towns with unique personalities.

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  3. I don't know about hidden, but I have lived in a few places that if you drove through & blinked you would miss them.

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  4. Great pics, wood love to
    Visit
    Kimh

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  5. No sadly no near those

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  6. Scotland is on my bucket list. There is a village called Chester about half hour from where I live. It's like stepping back in time to late 1800's - early 1900's. Every cottage & home are now Antique stores. The whole of Main Street is now for eating and/or shopping antiques.
    Carol L
    Lucky4750 (at) aol (dot) com

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  7. Scotland is on my bucket list. There is a village called Chester about half hour from where I live. It's like stepping back in time to late 1800's - early 1900's. Every cottage & home are now Antique stores. The whole of Main Street is now for eating and/or shopping antiques.
    Carol L
    Lucky4750 (at) aol (dot) com

    ReplyDelete
  8. We do not have any hidden villages that I know of. Maybe they remain hidden from me. There are some lovely typical New England towns in Litchfield.

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  9. There are a ton of small towns in central Texas, however I don't know that they'd classify as hidden.

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  10. I've been to Savage!

    I like Havre de Grace. It was almost the capital of the US. It also has a beautiful lighthouse and is nicknamed the duck decoy capital.

    denise

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  11. Thank you so much for the win and congrats to the other winners. We have a lot of ethnic communities hidden in plain site all around our city of Pittsburgh,

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