Walk around Knowle (Grand Union Canal)

Friday 3^rd June

Knot Garden

We are staying put today and going to explore Knowle, so we had breakfast then headed up the lane, a short way up on the right there was a pathway through a field so we decided to follow that and it came out into a new housing estate and then onto the road at the bottom of the village near the Toby Carvery.  Yesterday we saw a really nice bakery so we headed for that bought some lovely bread and fresh scones.

Archway to Knot Garden

Knowle Library

We then went to look at the library which is a very old building and dates from 1400 and at the back is an authentically designed Elizabethan knot garden which is accessed through an archway.  It was really interesting.

We had a walk around the shops and couldn’t believe it but we bumped into the lady who we had met in Lapworth walking her cavalier on the towpath then met her at the farm shop at Lowsonford, she said I thought I had got rid of you two, laughing.  We had a nice chat, she works on a Friday in the Charity shop in Knowle for a couple of hours, then said bye to her as don’t think we will see her again.

The King's Arms

We walked back to the boat, had lunch then decided to walk down the locks and along the canal to The King’s Arms where we were moored on Thursday.  It is a nice walk down the locks and there was one boat coming up, a chap on his own and had left some gates open, obviously too lazy to shut them, so we did our bit and closed them.  We walked on down and soon came to the pub.

They have a nice canal side garden so we had a cider and sat in the garden as it was a lovely sunny afternoon.  The pub building was completed in 1799 and was one of the first canal inns to open in 1816 under the name of ‘The Blue Bear’.  By 1841, it had become ‘The King’s Arms’ and remained such until the late 1930s when it became ‘The Cat in the Window’ because the Land Lord owned a cat which sat constantly in the window watching the world go by.  The building was also an Italian Restaurant for a short while before reverting to a pub called ‘The Heron’s Nest’.

It was renamed ‘The King’s Arms’ in 2014.

Heronfield Animal Sanctuary

Goats at the Sanctuary

Across the canal to the pub on the road is Heronfield Animal Sanctuary, so we went to have a look as they have a little shop.  We had a look around and left a donation. They take in rescued and injured animals and nurse them back to health.  In the field near the canal was two lovely goats.

We walked back along the canal, back up the locks to the boat.  We are staying here tonight then on the move tomorrow.