#ledbury

12th c. romanesque capitals beneath a chevron arch, proto stiff leaf details and two charming gaping heads, central west door Ledbury parish church (the Church of St. Michael and all Angels) . Built out of red and buff coloured local sandstone.

My host at my accommodation queried why I would want to drive fifteen miles to Ledbury, deeming there was nothing much to see there. But I had a whale of a time. Ledbury has a lovely street of half-timbered houses, one of which contains this painted chamber. This was only discovered in 1989, long after my family left Herefordshire.

The house was inhabited by the town constable (evidently a more long-standing role than that of village constable, which was usually a rotating unpaid voluntary role). The room acted as a court of 'Pie powder', a corruption of the Norman-French pied poudre taken from the 'dusty feet' of the miscreants who were tried there as a court of first instance.

The painted pattern is in the style of a Tudor knot garden.

The room abounds in moralistic texts culled from Sternhold & Hopkins's metrical psalmbook of 1549, the Geneva Bible of 1560 and the first prayer book of King Edward VI, i.e.

A good conscience is a continual feast Better is a little with the fear of the Lord

Diplomatic Ties - The Series.

Recently I posted Diplomatic Ties part 500 here. I realised when I looked back at old pictures that I started this blog 10 years ago. The idea from the beginning was to take pics of my large collection of ties. It was also an opportunity for my wife to showcase her photographic skills (all pics are taken by her with just a few rare exceptions)..

The blog has changed and developed through the years. Today it’s not only the Diplomatic Ties series. In the series there are only ties that I haven’t photographed before. Now we do other shots as well. I sometimes post other things apart from clothes, either here or at the Allkindsofgoodmusic blog. In the beginning we posted only on Tumblr (I miss Tumblr of 10-15 years ago!), now Diplomatic Ties is also at Instagram and a separate blog (links below).

Of course I’ve added plenty of new ties since we started 10 years ago. I also don’t have all the old ties left. Some I’ve sold or given away, others have been lost or damaged. My interest for ties still remain, but the biggest change compared with 10 years ago is how much I’ve developed the rest of my outfits. I’m no longer a collector of ties, rather a collector of classical menswear. I’ve also tried to incorporate my interest for perfumes, which was almost non-existent 10 years ago.

To celebrate 10 years of the Diplomatic Ties blog, I repost the first tie in the series, a lovely linen tie from E. Tautz. I post both the original photo (with the hat) and a new styling from today, thereby bookending the first 500 Diplomatic Ties posts. 10 more years?

In the new pics I wear a jacket from Dressler, a bespoke shirt from Götrich, a tie from E. Tautz, a Ledbury ps, pants from Loro Piana, Mauléon espadrilles and Moscot shades. Scent: Ormonde Jayne Ormonde Man

Also check out our website: Diplomatic Ties.