Out of Gas

 Thaxton School . Bedford

Sheep Creek . Bedford

The house caught my eye…looked abandoned so we started to pull in…then a big dog chased us out lol

Sheep Creek . Bedford

Just some things from our drive on Sunday 🙂

Kane

 

This guy ❤️

Cemetery at Cloverlea

 

Claytor Nature Center . Bedford

Not too far from the farmhouse is this old family cemetery…

There weren’t a lot of graves…

I wonder if they lived in the farmhouse at one point…probably…

If you didn’t know the little cemetery was there you would miss it…

Some of the names there are: Watson, Morris, Reed and Carnefix, that’s an unusual name…

As I get this post ready to go I’m saddened by the death of Lisa Marie Presley…I can’t believe it…they have had their share of heartache ❤️

Today I’m grateful for this whole wonderful week I’ve had! I had to use up some vacation time and it was a nice lazy week hanging out with Kane (our new puppy) and we went and had dinner at Christian’s and his fiancé’s house and then last night I took Kane to Ashlyn’s house to play with her puppy! It’s been a good week 🙂

Linking with:

Thankful Thursday

Signs2

Ash Tree

 Claytor Nature Center . Bedford

When we were here I remember a lady telling us that this Ash Tree is one of 3 of the biggest in Virginia…

I couldn’t find any info to back her claim but I’ll take her word for it…

I wonder how old it is?

Virginia Claytor Memorial Garden @ Cloverlea

 Claytor Nature Center . Bedford

I’ve been showing you around the house, now let’s go see the beautiful gardens…

The views of the mountains are amazing!!

I want a garden like this!

It was September when we were here and quite hot…Nick found a nice place in the shade while I wandered around the gardens…the hummingbirds were so loud flying over his head!

It was fun identifying so many of the plants I have learned about since working in the garden center at Lowe’s!

The reflecting pool…WOW!!

The stairs leading back up to the house from the reflecting pond…

I wasn’t kidding about wanting a garden like this lol…

“This beautiful garden grows in loving memory of Virginia Arnold Claytor May 9, 1927 - January 18, 1998

who so loved the land, animals and flowers.”

Me too Mrs. Claytor, me too…

Linking with Tom’s Tuesday’s Treasures

Cloverlea 3

 

Cloverlea . Claytor Nature Center . Bedford

So I just realized I was calling this Clover Lea when in fact it is Cloverlea lol…it does make a difference…

While trying to find more historical info on this house I realized there is a Clover Lea in another part of Virginia…

What does Cloverlea/Clover Lea even mean?

You would think there would be a ton of history out there on a house this old (1780 or 90)

But that’s not the case…I do know an Andrew Boyd Claytor and his wife Virginia owned this back in the 50’s until his death…

It was Cloverlea Farm then …it has had several additions added since it was first built…I read somewhere that there is a “Buttermilk Wing” because an owner saved up money selling buttermilk to add that addition…

I also read that you can spot the original construction in the chimneys…painted rock is original and painted brick was added later…

This part doesn’t look too old to me…

Mr. Claytor donated the house to the University of Lynchburg after his death…

You can rent the house out for an overnight stay or as a wedding venue…I’ve seen mention of using it as a museum…I’m in favor of that!

A few years back they checked out what was up in the attic…you can see what they found HERE 

On a side note, that newspaper story is from the Toronto Times…how crazy that I have to link to Toronto because our local newspapers charge lol

Tomorrow I’ll show you around the beautiful gardens!! 

(These were taken in September 2022)

 

Clover Lea 2

 Clover Lea Farmhouse . Claytor Nature Center . Bedford 

A little closer view…I want to show you around the beautiful gardens and the super old Ash tree but I’m struggling for time tonight so just another little sneak peek! Isn’t it an amazing old house though?!

More tomorrow lol

Clover Lea

 Clover Lea Farm House . Bedford

Because I said I was going to show you the farm house today, here it is…I have more to show (tomorrow lol) but I didn’t want to miss a post today because I am trying to keep up with my blog again!

The oldest part of this beauty dates back to 1780…we’ll get closer tomorrow…I’m exhausted!!

Tuesday’s Treasures - Claytor Nature Center

Claytor Nature Center . Bedford 

On New Year’s Day we decided to go on a hike…

We decided to go to Claytor Nature Center in Bedford…

We’ve been before but haven’t been on all the trails…

On this day we chose the River Walk trail…

We were so surprised by this beautiful area we came upon…

Kane quite liked it too!…

This area along the trail is called “The Narrows “

While this week has been spring-like and warm, there was still ice left over from the previous week’s freezing weather…

I even saw baby frogs!…

The last time we were here was during the summer and I have pictures around a beautiful old farmhouse that is there…I’ll show you that tomorrow!

Linking up with Tom’s Tuesday’s Treasures 

Skirt of Moss

 Claytor Nature Center . Bedford

“And when thou art weary I'll find thee a bed, Of mosses and flowers to pillow thy head.”  John Keats

I have a thing for moss!

CDP Theme Day - Photo of the Year

 

Ozzy . January 2022

Today is Theme Day and we pick our photo of the year…while looking back at my few posts from 2022 I came across this snowy day the first week of January last year. I had to pick this one. Ozzy loved the snow, even in his old age. This was one of the last pictures I got of him out enjoying the snow (sadly he passed away later in June).

To see more theme pictures visit City Daily Photo