The Flickr Villagesquares Image Generatr

Cartmel is one of our favourite places to visit when we are staying at our holiday home near the Cumbrian border. The beautiful village was originally built to support the Priory, but only the beautiful church and the medieval Gatehouse survived the Reformation. The Square is at the heart of the village and has several Georgian or older buildings on the side of it. In the distance, the unique tower of the Priory Church can be seen.

The medieval Gatehouse of the Priory at Cartmel, seen on the left, is on the village square. The other buildings here mainly date from the Georgian era, or earlier. This beautiful little village to the south of Windermere is one of our favourite places when we are staying at our holiday home near the Cumbria border.

Cartmel is a beautiful little village in the Furness area of what was Cumbria. There is a wonderful medieval priory church - reckoned to be the finest church in the north-west of England. There is a beautiful racecourse and a very attractive village square (pictured) with its Georgian hotel, pubs and coffee bars. The village is renowned for its food, with an award-winning restaurant and several independent shops selling a variety of products such as cheeses and sticky toffee pudding. We always look forward to our visits.

Cartmel is a pretty little village just a few miles south of Lake Windermere. It has a Grade I-listed abbey church that is regarded as the finest in the north-west of England. The village boasts a fine racecourse and an award-winning restaurant. It is also the home of sticky toffee pudding. Less than half an hour from our holiday home in North Lancashire, it has become a firm favourite.

Cartmel is a pretty little village a few miles south of the Lake District. It has a wonderful Abbey Church dating back to the 13th century, a racecourse, and several pubs, hotels, and teashops. There are independent shops, including a cheesemonger, which is a particular favourite of ours. There is a Michelin-starred restaurant and the shop where sticky-toffee pudding originated.

Village square in Kilronan, on the island of Inishmore in the Aran Islands (County Galway, off the coast of western Ireland), on a mostly clear afternoon in mid-September 2013. The memorial cross is dedicated to the Reverend Michael O Donoghue, who died in 1893 and whom the inscription describes as a “beloved priest and benefactor of Aran.”

Kilronan, whose official name is the Irish Cill Rónáin (“Church of [Saint] Ronan”), is the main community on Inishmore and its ferry port, with boats going to and from Doolin (County Clare) to the east and Rossaveal (County Galway) to the north across Galway Bay. The Irish name of Killeany Bay is Cuan Chill Éinne (“Bay of Saint Enda”).

Inishmore -- in Irish, Inis Mhór or Inis Mór ("Big Island") or, more officially, Árainn -- is, as its name implies, the largest of the Aran Islands (Irish: Oileáin Árann). It is the most easily accessible, as well. Despite the availability of flights and ferries, however, it still retains an aura of separateness as well as the local Aran dialect, customs, and traditions. Because the Aran Islands have drawn spiritual questers from prehistoric periods, many of the place names there, including Cill Rónáin and Cuan Chill Éinne, have their roots in sacred sites.

As the “bicycle hire” sign indicates, bicycles are one popular way to visit tourist sites on the island; locals, who used to rely on carts, now also drive motor vehicles.

Geologically, the Aran Islands are a continuation of the limestone karst landscape of the Burren, which is on mainland Ireland to the east. Their thin soil has been laboriously built up by hand to create small fields, which are typically separated by drystone walls (walls built without mortar, just stones).

(Information from Lalor, Brian. Ireland (London: A&C Black, 1988; Blue Guide) and Ireland: The Green Guide (Greenville, SC, USA; Watford, Herts., UK: Michelin Maps and Guides, 2010, ©2011), as well as logainm.ie -- The Placenames Database of Ireland -- and Wikipedia, both last consulted 30 July 2023.)

[Kilronan square afternoon 2013 sep 18 c; IMG_3814]

The thermal pool in the village of Bagno Vignoni (in the comune of San Quirico d'Orcia, Siena province in southern Toscana / Tuscany, central Italy), on a mostly clear afternoon in late April 1989.

The hot sulfurous springs here have drawn people to this spot since at least the Etruscan period; the surviving structure in the piazza dates from the 16th century, under the Medici. Towards the right, part of the Chiesa di San Giovanni Battista can be seen.

In the distance, the medieval tower Rocca di Tentennano (also spelled Tintinnano) overlooks the hill village of Rocca d'Orcia; it was constructed during the 11th-12th centuries, then reconstructed during the 13th century and later 20th century.

Bagno Vignoni is located in hills above the fiume Orcia (River Orcia), within the Parco Artistico Naturale e Culturale della Val d'Orcia (Val d'Orcia Artistic, Natural, and Cultural Park), which is also designated as a UNESCO World Heritage cultural landscape.

(Information from Macadam, Alta. Tuscany: Blue Guide (London: A&C Black ; N Y: W.W. Norton, 1993), page 317, and the Parco della Val d’Orcia website, the Italian Wikipedia, and the UNESCO World Heritage website, all last consulted 25 March 2021.)

(From the "archive" -- 1989. Please forgive the technical quality limitations of this image, which was scanned from an old slide. I hope that you will still be able to gain some idea of this interesting historic piazza.)

[San Quirico d'Orcia Bagno Vignoni bagno Rocca 1989 apr 23 dig; 47-064]

The church in the village of Vinzelles, in the Mâconnais area (département of Saône-et-Loire, Bourgogne / Burgundy, eastern France), on a partly sunny morning in mid-June.

Parts of this church, l'Église St-Georges (the Church of St. George), date back to the 12th century; its roof was replaced in 1925, as recorded in its tiles.

Vinzelles is surrounded by vineyards and is known for its white Mâconnais wines, including the appellation (an AOC) Pouilly-Vinzelles.

[Vinzelles sandstone church 2009 jun 9 c; IMG_1190]