October 13, 2026

Welcome to this week’s blog - as always, thanks for having a read. 

Donna has been recovering this week from what we think was Covid. We did grab a night in Bournemouth a week last Sunday to help her convalesce. Wherever possible she has been doing meetings via Microsoft Tteams or Zoom. On Wednesday Val kindly took her to Chichester District Council’s Planning Committee which included applications from Chichester and East Lavington. On Friday Donna attended the Lord Lieutenant’s Annual Justice Service at Chichester Cathedral.

This week we put out another Tim’s Travels. We filmed this at an interesting National Trust property near Bath, Dyrham Park. We did not go in the house itself because we wanted to get some steps in on our way to a hotel nearby we were given a night in for Christmas. You won’t be surprised to see the next Travels will be in Bath, which we will put out in a couple of weeks after the second 60 from Selsey next week:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bfwVJCQLJWBNFj1GOBgtriR_hgGmlnob/view?usp=sharing 

Dyrham Park’s grounds are quite hilly so, unusually, it is set in a valley. On the day we were filming it was quite windy. That has been a bit of a problem throughout, particularly when trying to do something on a beach. As well as wind noise there can be the added complication of crashing waves. I was interested to read about a wobbly wind turbine design. Apparently a swaying bladeless wind mast roughly 31 inches tall and 26 inches wide has reached about 460 watts in modelling, several times more than working prototypes have so far delivered:

https://www.ecoportal.net/en/swaying-bladeless-wind-mast-roughly-inches/39512/ 

When Donna and I visit places like Dyrham Park, we always make time for cake with coffee for me and tea for Donna. The National Trust shortbread and flapjacks are particularly nice. We are also Members of English Heritage who look after Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, Queen Victoria’s former home. Perhaps the most famous cake of all is named after her, the Victoria Sponge, but there is quite a bit a variation in the way people make it. Here’s a review of a couple of celebrity recipes for you to consider:

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink-news/victoria-sponge-cake-recipe-comparison-34709977?int_source=amp_continue_reading&int_medium=amp&int_campaign=continue_reading_button#amp-readmore-target 

CDC has renewed its Public Spaces Protection Order that relates to dogs, making it an offence in public places to fail to remove dog mess immediately and to not put and keep a dog on a lead when instructed by an authorised officer. Owners must also immediately remove dog mess and keep dogs on leads on public land when directed. This is in all publicly accessible areas in our district, including privately owned land (where no fee has to be paid to enter and excluding Forestry Commission land). It also continues to be an offence to allow a dog to enter a dog exclusion area, such as a small number of parks and play areas and, during the summer period, a section of Selsey beach.  All previous dog exclusion areas will continue under the new PSPO, and these rules have also been extended to include all privately-owned fenced children’s play areas as year-round exclusion zones.

As always, from the whole Team, stay safe.

Tim