Taunton's Blue and then White Royal Mail Postbox - ICC Cricket World Cup 2019

In May 2019 the Royal Mail postbox in North Street, Taunton (outside what used to be the Post Office) was painted royal blue to celebrate the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.  Taunton's County Ground was the venue for 3 matches:

• Afghanistan v New Zealand, Saturday June 8th (New Zealand won)
• Pakistan v Australia, Wednesday June 12th (Australia won)
• West Indies v Bangladesh, Monday June 17th (Bangladesh won)

One Royal Mail postbox was also painted blue in each of the other towns and cities whose cricket grounds were hosting matches - Southampton, Leeds, Cardiff, Chester-le-Street, Bristol, London, Manchester, Birmingham and Nottingham. I'm not sure why blue was chosen as the colour for this occasion.

Unlike the gold post boxes, which were painted to commemorate local winners of gold medals at the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, the blue post boxes were due to be painted red again after the end of the 2019 Cricket World Cup.  However after the England team won the Cricket World Cup, Royal Mail decided to paint the postboxes white and gold.  I understand that after three months they will be painted red again. 

Update, November 2019 - the Taunton postbox has now been painted red once more.

Back of the post box in North Street, Taunton

Front of the postbox in North Street, Taunton

White postbox in North Street, Taunton

Back of the white postbox in North Street, Taunton

Gold plaque on the North Street postbox

The White Ladies of Ashill

The White Ladies of Ashill are located in a large field to the west of the church in the village of Ashill near Ilminster.  There are five white life size statues but only two of them are located adjacent to a public footpath: one of these is a lady sitting looking into a stream and the other is standing in someone's garden.  I presume they belong to whoever owns the field.  There is also a small modern stone circle in the same field. I realise now that I wandered off the public footpath when I went to look at two of the other statues.  The one I didn't go and see was the one in the far north-west corner of the field.  I have not been able to find out anything about them and do not know how long they have been there.

White Lady looking into the stream

Seated White Lady 1

White Lady 2

White Lady 3

White Lady 4 - in someone's garden

Stone Circle at Ashill

Robin Hood's Butts

Robin Hood's Butts are a group of 9 Bronze Age barrows located on the top of the Blackdown Hills at Brown Down.  Five of the bowl barrows are arranged together on a north/south alignment to the south of School Farm between the hamlets of Fyfett and Otterford.  Four of them have a diameter of c20 metres and are 2.2 metres in height.  The fifth one has a diameter of c28 metres and is 2.5 metres high.  The grid reference is ST 230 143.  The other four barrows are located at different points up to a mile to the south of the group of 5.

Legend has it that Robin Hood used the barrows to support the targets for his archery practice or that Robin Hood and Little John threw their quoits from one barrow to another, thus creating bowl shaped indentations on the top of them.  An alternative story is that they were created by giants throwing earth at each other.

Bowl barrows to the south of School Farm

Robin Hood's Butts, School Farm

Robin Hood's Butts

Robin Hood's Butts, School Farm

Robin Hood's Butts, School Farm