Should be here anytime now (in fact it's a little late) so with the weather getting warmer (supposedly) maybe the Cuckoo will be something to listen out for in the countryside of our beautiful England.

Hi James...the Cuckoo is generally here 27th April - yes as specific as that!

However, I had not heard it yet and started the thread wondering if others had. Soon after I started the thread I went down to the Village and Chris said hey up Ron the Cuckoo! Sure enough it was singing it's heart out here in Oxfordshire...the Cuckoo has arrived, so now we will get some warm weather.

The cuckoo has always been the sign of the start of summer. The old English song (13th century) 'Sumer is Icumen in' was written at Reading Abbey and celebrates the sound of the cuckoo.

The abbey is a sad ruin, but the song lives on.

YouTube Hilliard Ensemble 

It is also an example of how English of that time must have sounded. 

As you know I am just 30 miles away in Oxfordshire Edward and I don't know where the ruins of the Abbey are and yet I have visited Reading many, many times for work and pleasure. I will look it up, but at the moment I can't even begin to imagine where it is.

You are of course correct re Englands history, a fabulous and rich commodity that brings those from over the pond and elsewhere and has them gasping at the beauty of it all. As I often say....beautiful England!

The Pictures Of England website is the best on the net for such information.

Yes, Ron, I think of you when I see Wheatley Windmill from Watlington Hill. The Abbey Ruins are near the Forbury Gardens and Reading Prison. Unfortunately, the ruins are not accessible to the public at the moment for health and safety reasons (danger from falling masonry due to the wrong type of cement being used for repairs). The only accessible parts are the Abbey Gateway, which used to house a school attended by Jane Austen, and the Mill Arch. The Abbey Gateway is adjacent to the Crown Court, and the Mill Arch is just behind the Blade office building. There are also many artefacts from the Abbey on display in the Reading Museum. 

Sadly, we do not seem to be very good at preserving the old buildings, and you have to look hard in Reading now to find anything interesting amidst all the office buildings. 

Thanks Edward I now know exactly where you mean because the area is familiar to me, but in all my visits to Reading I have never noticed it.

As for Wheatley Windmill I live about half a mile away from it so next time you are at Watlington Hill looking this way, look for the red brick house, I'll be waving from the window! lol

Ron, glad to be of help about the location of the Reading Abbey ruins, but at the moment, you can only see them from outside of the railings which surround them. As for the Wheatley Windmill, I am not 100% sure it is the same Windmill that I can see from Watlington Hill, since there are at least two other Windmills in the vicinity - Great Hasely which is a little nearer, and Brill, which is further away. I must try to get a compass bearing to be sure which is the one I am seeing. 

If it turns out to be the Wheatley Windmill I am seeing, I would need some very powerful binoculars to see you waving from your window, since you would be about 11 miles from Watlington Hill.