Today was not tropical. The raincoat, merinos and long pants are essential gear plus 'don't leave home without your brolley' takes on a different significance here.
Here are a few photos which I was able to load which show the variety of landscapes in the town.
We arrived in Derry after a very comfortable bus trip from Sligo. The route took us along the Wild Atlantic Way and offered great views of the coastal bays and rural farms. Everything is very tidy on the farms but on a small scale compared to home.
Big skies out here with rather turbulent cloudscapes today. Patches of rain from time to time but when the sun came out it was a great scene. Clear air and fresh temperatures.
When we arrived in Derry we had to find our accomodation which was not too far from the bus stop and when we did William, our host was very welcoming. We got settled and then went out to have a look at the town. It was not raining so we walked the walls first in case it rained tomorrow. The forecast was not promising.
The walls are the best preserved examples of city fortress walls in Ireland and the only remaining completely walled city in Europe. They were build in the 1600 's by local lords to keep out maurading tribes.
There is a lot of history here and the walls tell a story. First,was of the attempt by King John to conquer the the town. The apprentice boys refused to open the town gates in 1688-1689 and a 105 day siege by King John followed. The local citizens held out and the King returned to London but later the town was undone by the Cromwelian army and power then passed to the Royal house of England after another battle on the walls.
Plantations were set up by King Henry 8th to colonise Ireland in 1641. English settlers were sent to colonise the city. They were instrumental in changing the face of the town and how people lived their lives. I had no idea what an impact it had, in fact I had not heard the term Plantations in the context of colonisation before,
The city is founded on history it seems at first glance but it has a history to of shirt making,linen trade, agriculture and fishing.
We ate at Browns, a cafe nearby with an award for best service. I had a beautiful meal of pan fried cod served on a ratatouille type base with new potatoes.
Today we visited the magnificent neo Gothic City Guildhall, still in use for city governance and built in 1887. It has been burnt down and also bombed by the IRA during its history. It has a magnificent set of stained glass windows illustrating the history of the city. While we were there the city organist was playing so we were able to listen to his recital in a lovely setting.
The weather cleared a bit so we set off to visit The Bogside. We walked up Rossville street where the British Army fired on the Irish Army who were holding a procession and carnage followed.
This area was famous for the troubles and the Battle of the Bogside, Free Derry and Bloody Sunday. It was at the heart of the rebublican cause.
This was a classic story of a fight for civil rights in modern times. Many people lost their lives during this period. The memorials highlighted the age of many as youths,so sad for families.
It started to pour while we were looking at the murals painted by local artists at the request of local people to illustrate the 'troubles'. They make a powerful statement about the impact of the troubles on people's lives here,their politics and the history of the town.
We visited the Peace Wall, original murals and monuments to Bloody Sunday victims before the rain drove us back through the city walls into the craft market shopping area where we had a coffee and I tried a treacle scone.
Back to our apartment for a break and lunch before taking a walk over the Peace Bridge to the area over the river. This is where the British Army were stationed in the barracks along the banks of the river. We walked around this area along the river until the skies looked very threatening so we headed back across the bridge.
The rain eased so we walked up through the entry gates to the town and wandered around inside the walls before strolling back down the walls past the little St Augustine's Church on the site of the first monastery in Ireland built in 546 AD by St Columba before he left to go to Iona. The current church was built in the 13C and has the oldest Graves in Derry. Church services still take place regularly.
Tomorrow we have booked tickets to travel to the airport. It is a bit of a walk but I guess my legs will hold out. They have done many km this trip.
We had a great bus trip through from Belfast to Sligo. It was wet first thing but the day improved and we enjoyed our trip through rural Northern Ireland to Enniskillen where we caught another bus to Sligo. The first trip we paid in pounds and the second in euros.
We crossed the border into Southern Ireland without any fanfare or even any signposts.
There was a beautiful trip up through villages and several small towns before we entered a beautiful Valley with a lough and steep hills complete with a significant waterfall. It was a lovely drive.
We arrived in Sligo at 4.40pm to be met by our host who had arranged another B and B as he had double booked us so we are at the" An Cruise in Lan" and our host is Liam McGettigan,shades of Five Rivers.It was a good option as we had a very comfortable room and a great breakfast. Nice people.
Our stay was a short one, we enjoyed the town,it had quite a European feel to it,flowers on the bridges,lots of cafes and pubs with a river running through the town with salmon running. Fishermen lined the bridges and when we looked over the side we could see the salmon running. Quite a sight.
We went on a free walking tour in the morning before we caught the bus to Derry and we saw the Abby built in medieval times,along with the Yeats House and Spike Milligan house.
Our guide had lots of good stories to tell. Storytelling sits well with the Irish. She told us of Spike's refusal to get a British passport because he would not give allegiance to the Queen so he got an Irish one and his epitaph is in Gaelic so not to offend." I told you I was ill".
The abbey was rebuilt after the first fire. The pope called on the good people of Sligo to put their hands in their pockets to fund it's rebuild,particularly the rich residents. As an inducement he offered them a direct path to heaven.
Another story was that of the abbey again when the plaque struck. Apparently if you were rich enough to have a coffin you had a bell inside so if you came too inside you could ring your bell for a rescue. Apparently people lined up outside the grounds in the hope of rescuing someone.
The men in the nearby prison had to do hard labour and that involved walking 10,000 steps a day pushing the big water wheels for fresh water. It saved them because they had fresh water to drink so no prisoners died of the plague.
Anyway we had to leave the tour in order to walk to the bus station to catch our bus to Derry at 1.30pm.
What a great day out we had today. The day was cloudy to start with but as we travelled up the coast route to the Giant's Causeway the day improved and then suddenly the sun came out, no wind so it was very balmy and the views along the coast were lovely. We stopped first at Carrick Fergus Castle which we had visited on the Hop On tour yesterday before travelling further up the coast.
We passed lovely traditional fishing villages with their whitewashed frontages or of grey stone construction, they are very neat and tidy, some have pretty gardens and there is usually a pub or two with beautiful hanging baskets outside. The countryside is so pretty too,very green,no wonder it is called the Emerald Isle. Lots of farming communities with cattle and hay fields being based and some cropping happening. Everything is on a small scale compared to home.
The drive up the coast took a couple of hours and throughout the trip our bus driver Troy, regailed us with anecdotes and jokes in his Irish way,I think these guys have a different gene pool,anyway very entertaining.
We stopped at Carrick-a-Rede for keen folks to walk the rope bridge across to a headland. We decided we did not need to do this as we have plenty of experiences on shakey bridges!!!
This stop was for two hours so Brad and I went for a walk along the headland towards the next village which was lovely. We met a chap walking his dog and we had a chat about the area before walking back to the quarry area which turned out to be the site of a Game of Thrones scene so the place was packed with fans. This series has had the same impact here as Lord of the Rings had in NZ.
We climbed the cliff areas and looked out to Sheep Island. History says it was good for grazing 7 sheep and starving 11. Now days it is a bird sanctuary for cormorants and other search birds. Seals can be seen here too.
We had two hours here as it is quite a walk to the bridge along the cliff and back so a nice stop to get fresh air and see the local scenery.
From here we went to the village of Carrick-a-Rede for lunch at the pub. It was the best seafood chowder I have ever tasted,full of flavour and packed with fish bits. The pub was also involved in the Game of Thrones filming and the No 6 door was to be found here, plus you could sit in the throne and dress up in the costumes for photo shoots! Did we? No, but many did.
From here we continued up the coastal route with a brief stop at the Whiskey Distillery at Bush Hills. Not really my thing but we explored the shop and admired the wooden barrels before climbing on the bus for the eagerly anticipated visit to the Causeway.
We had booked for the tour so our guide appeared clad in his kilt of Causeway tartan. A fine specimen he was and he gave us a good insight into the geology and history of the area. His family had been here since the earliest times and had been shore dwellers rather than fishermen and life for the people had changed over the years. He was a third generation guide and his wife's family were Purdies and dated back to earliest times.
We got two versions of how the Causeway came about. One from our bus driver on the Finn McCool giant myth and the other on the volcanic origins over six hundred million years ago followed by an ice age and ice packs changing the landscape and revealing the basalt headlands.
Basalt columns are not new for us but this place is an amazing sight despite that. It covers a huge area, we only saw part of it but it was a gorgeous day and the sea very calm so we explored the site and enjoyed the whole experiencing of visiting the eighth wonder of the world. The whole sight was covered by people visiting the National Trust site and buses bussing people back wards and forwards.
Our last stop was at the Dunluce Castle ruins on cliffs overlooking the sea. This ruin dates back to medieval times but more recently has seen life in the Game of Thrones and it certainly had an impressive presence in terms of atmosphere.
Our trip back to Belfast followed the motorway route so we were about an hour plus when we reached the city. It had been a great day out.
An amazing area to visit. Nothing new about basalt columns for us but the size and scope of the area is what is significant. It is encased in steep cliffs and extends for miles along the coast.
Our trip to Belfast has been excellent. I wish we had longer to explore this area. We have had amazing weather too. Two sunny,mild days to explore the city and take a trip up to the Devils Causeway.
Our arrival here was not as smooth as we had hoped. Our flight was two hours late leaving Gatwick so we eventually arrived at our accomodation at one o'clock. I had rung and kept them up to date with our travel but we were not very popular on arrival. It is a comfortable place a little further out of town than we thought but on a bus routes so it is fine. We just catch the bus outside and it drops you into the City Hall.
Yesterday we decided to do the Hp on Hop Off bus tour to get familiar with the city layout and to see what other places we wanted to visit.
The bus trips were great value and came with a personal commentary in the gorgeous accent, I could listen to all day. All the quids have a sense of humour with some fairly hairbrained stories to tell. Good fun to listen to.
There first tour took us around the city and places like The Titanic and ship building areas,the largest Celtic cross in the world,the City Hall,the Stornaway Parliament building set high on the hill with an elegant entranceway ,the Peace Gate and the walls that divided the catholics and protestants. The 'troubles' are behind us say the guides but work is still needed before the walls come down. It was interesting driving around these areas of conflict as flags were flying following the 12 July Commemorative Parade and it was still evident the allegiances of the districts we drove through. Apparently the flags fly at half mast because the ladders do not go higher!!!!
Queen's University was a lovely area and we had hoped to get back and have more time there but time is running out. The City Hall was another one, Ace worth a visit but maybe we may fit it in before we leave on Wednesday morning.
The second tour took us out to the Castles. There are two castles, one is a recent one donated by Lord Shaftesbury and it is now a tourist attraction with lovely views over the city. It had attractive gardens, one in particular was the cat garden where a mosiacs cat was a centrepiece.
The other castle was at Carrick Fergus and it dated back to William of Orange days when he defeated his cousin King John and took over the castle. A little man standing four feet tall, there is a life sized statue of him outside the castle ruins.
This tour went along the coast and up the hill above the city so great views on a lovely balmy day. We enjoyed this tour in particular.
After the tour finished we popped into the Information Centre and arranged our trip to the Devils Causeway for Tuesday as the weather is still to be settled.
After that we walked along to the Titanic Centre and went into see the display. This is a world class event. It was voted top visitor attraction in the wold recently and you could see why. A lot of planning obviously to present something to this level.There were amazing audio visual effects,the sounds of ship building and the interactive screens brought the era alive. The cabins and furnishings of the different classes below deck was interesting and the personal stories added reality to the experience. You even had a ride in a shuttle through the different levels of the ship.
It was a very absorbing experience which took about two and a half hours to see so it was a long day by the time we got back to our accomodation and found somewhere to eat.
Tomorrow
is the Devils Causeway to look forward to.
This was a different garden to anything seen on this trip. It was inspired by Monet's Garden and it has featured on Gardeners World. Our guide told us the interviewer was extremely nervous as she did not like water and boats and she had to carry a four hundred thousand pound camera around with her. She has not been back!!!
The garden is not far from Chester but it seemed miles away in the countryside with horses riding by and the infrequent train service passed their place.
It was created out of wetlands around a pool area on the edge of the Delemere Forest, a royal forest. The garden is in a valley and they get very heavy frosts in winter and sometimes snow so everything has to be hardy. I would describe it as an informal garden.
The garden was developed by the parents but both sons have trained in garden design and horticulture so they run the nursery side of the business and their wives run the cafe and live locally. It is a real family business which they obviously love.
The boys have built the bridges around the walkway over to the island and created small plantings of specialised plants in the swamp lands. The main waterway is a stream which runs right through the property and has swans, Moorhead, and kingfishers plus three types of woodpeckers live there.Willow trees,elders,a monkey puzzle tree and three types of rare bamboos grow here. Quercus Forest Pansy seemed happy in these conditions and he had a rare redwood growing here of a golden variety.
They specialize in unusual plants in the nursery gardens which is beautifully set out and a credit to them.They had a lot of salvias,lilies and astlibes of all colours and some of them were very tall growing.They had a Waterlilly pond and chicken coops so plenty of interesting nooks a crannies along the way to explore. Magical.
The gardens also display lots of Candelabra Primulas,astilbe varieties, hostas,hydrangeas, ferns and trees which like damp conditions. It all created a very peaceful place with all round interest with places to sit and watch the birds or look at the lake. Not sure I was keen for the blue boat though. It looked awhile since it had been used.
It was rather eerie and magical under the trees and they were hosting a production of Twelfth Night next month which would be a great setting for the performance.
Twenty years ago Jo and I visited Chester at Christmas on our ill fated holiday. We celebrated Christmas with an orange and a chocolate bar atop the old city walls so it was very interesting to return twenty three years later.
The weather made it difficult to get into the city for a look around as it was raining several days when we arrived back into the hotel but one evening it cleared so I went in after tea for a look around. I had memories of the old clock at the entry to the town and I was not disappointed. It still looked commanding.
It was built to celebrate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897 and is one of the most photographed clocks in the country.
I wandered around the main streets and walked through the rows. It all looks a bit tidier than I remember.
The Rows are unique to Chester. They are two tiered medieval shopping galleries with distinctive black and white architecture. They are over 700 years old and give Chester a distinctive heritage style.
The buildings here are so interesting as the original buildings have two to three levels,the lower one being the warehouse stores and next up for selling and the owners would live on the top floor. Many of the buildings in the timbered style date back to the thirteenth, fourteenth century. A lot have been restored but the dates are displayed on the buildings. The old pubs and Inns are beautifully maintained with their hanging baskets and traditional name plates hanging over the doors.
The history of the town goes back to the Roman invasion who ruled here for three hundred years.
Chester was an old Roman town called Fortress Dewa and built to keep out the Welsh tribes from across the border. The ruins date back 2000 years and there are still some old Roman ruins to be seen. You can see the old Roman Gardens from the city walls and there is an amphitheatre nearby but I did not come across it on my travels. It is the largest as yet uncovered in England and seated 7000 spectators.
The Cathedral was established by William the Conqueror a thousand years ago and remains a landmark in the town. They did have a reversal of fortune when they backed Cromwell over the Royalist army and we're under siege for two years until they surrendered and made to pay.
I visited the Cathedral and memorial gardens for the Cheshire Regiment and walked the walls down to the River Dee and the old Bridge gate leading out to Wales.
The canals lead past the old industrial areas and riverboats were moored along the banks,once this was the largest port in the north west until the River Dee silted up and trade was rerouted elsewhere.
Our hotel in Chester was called The Queen and in a handy position across the road from the Railway Station. It was a comfortable place but it had some bizarre adornments in the corridors hacking back to its namesake. We were all intrigued by their tastelessness and no desire to replicate any of it.
Our afternoon garden visit was another drive through pleasant villages with lovely old brick houses, some with thatched roofs and others tiled. The old age of 'England being a green and pleasant land' is certainly true around this area. Narrow roads though,not sure how the bus driver copes.
We eventually arrived at Mount Pleasant Gardens in Kelsall, close to the Delaware Forest and fifteen minutes from Chester. Took a lot longer to inch our way back in rush hour traffic to Chester on a Friday night.
This was an interesting garden in a number of ways.
It was a young garden,twenty years in the making and set up by the current owners on ten acres of land. It is a sculpture park and the owner also sells Christmas trees so it is a lifestyle garden.
It had the 'wow' factor as the photos of the wild meadow show. We walked through this area before the rain struck and it is a mix of wildflowers but yellow is the dominant colour now, it was red poppies a month ago according to the owner who took us on a tour of the garden and described the evolving nature of the place. He had built most of the structures and done the landscaping himself.
It was undisciplined. There did not seem to have a rhyme or reason to the plantings. I guess it lacked cohesion but that may be because we have got used to more formal designs.They certainly had a lot of plants on show and much was healthy enough but it would have benefitted from a plan leading you through the various areas. I liked the Japanese Garden. I thought that was well done and the area around the house with th pond was attractive.
The sculptures,these were varied and added some drama to the overall garden. They were for sale so no doubt the landscape would change over time.
There were some notable trees which have been grown from cuttings but the redwoods are going to dwarf the house and garden in time so selecting trees for suitability to size has been an issue. There are lots of Monkey puzzle trees too which will cause a few issues as they grow.
Anyway it was an interesting visit and the wild flower meadow was a highlight for me.Magic.
We had a cup of tea here before departing for Chester . The minute we set off the skies opened. How lucky were we. It had been spitting on and off during the day but not coming to much,now is the hour and it is still raining. Hopefully by the time we leave tomorrow it may have cleared up and the sun may shine......
I had not heard of Arlington Hall before our trip but what a revelation our visit was today. Not a very warm start to the day either so well kitted out with our wet weather gear we set off after breakfast ready for anything Huey threw at us. Turns out he was not as destructive as predicted.
It took about an hour to drive to the Hall. It has quite a history as a garden of note and it is used by various film companies,most recently for filming Peaky Blinders, a BBC production of a blood thirsty genre. Apparently the title relates to the Caps worn by the bodies who had knives embedded in the brims aiming to blind the enemy. On another note it is where Coronation Street burials and weddings take place in the chapel.
The same family still live here and various members of the family have added to the original design done in the eighteenth century, two hundred and fifty years ago. The war years caused much neglect but the current owners grandparents undertook to restore it's grandeur and what we see to day is a tribute to their vision and the next generations. Today it is the home of Viscount and Vicountess Ashbrook.
The double herbaceous borders here are magnificent, full of structure and awash with colour and form. Apparently they were the original herbaceous borders identified on the original plans (1846) and in their day they set a trend and became a fashion leader. Jenny would love these borders.
The long beds were full of phlox,stock.daisies,salvias,roses and a host of perennials which are carefully graduated in height with some climbers for height and structure.
When we arrived here the gardens were opened early for us so we were ahead of the crowds. You enter the garden and arrive into the walled gardens where you enter a herb garden,a vegetable garden with a variety of fruit trees espaliared along the brick walls and a huge glasshouse with figs and peach trees and many frost tender plants.
The vegetable garden had these lovely borders of white and red rugosa roses on both sides of the main walk with a red double climbing polyantha roses over arches along the walk .This garden had lots of old roses in several different plantings. There was a huge collection of vegetables growing happily in their sheltered conditions. I want a brick wall !!!!
This garden lead you further into another large walled inner garden with a fountain in the centre. A formal arrangement but some lovely borders here too with lots of plantings on the walls so there are many layers to look at. There were some lovely hydrangea plants in this garden. Formal seats and places to sit and admire the scene,statues and plinths contribute to the formal look.
From this garden you emerge into the long herbaceous borders , hedges beautifully trimmed, some striking topiary also in this area too for dramatic interest. From here you move to the Ilex Avenue, the tennis court and another private area for burials of their horses with odes to their memories recorded on bronze plaques.
There was a lovely stream in this area too with rhodendrons and azaleas, hostas and acid loving plants with a pretty walkway leading out to a haha looking out over the farmlands.
This was an extensive,beautifully maintained garden with many sheltered private gardens to enjoy. There was a gorgeous old Victorian tea cottage for taking tea set amongst shrub roses ,fuschia and climbing clematis ,ladies mantle and catmint borders. Just lovely.
You walked on much further to the Grove and woodland walk with a sculpture trail and beautiful old tree specimens set in lawns. In the spring this is a riot of bulbs followed by plantings of rhododendrons,magnolias,azaleas and camellias. There was a film to watch showing the history of the garden and a film of the garden throughout the seasons.It would be a lovely place to visit in springtime. The autumn colours looked dramatic too.
We had time for lunch here before moving on to our next garden after lunch.
A cold and rather grey, threatening sky greeted us as we loaded onto our bus for our drive to Tatton Park about forty five minutes away traffic permitting. Conditions did not look favourable for our anticipated day out but it eventually improved and the temperatures rose slightly during the morning. Good weather to keep on the go.
The trip to Tatton was lovely. Through lovely rural farmlands,cows,horses and lots of grain crops. We passed several canals with houseboats plying the canal. I have to say when I looked at the other side of the bus their views were of wind farms and industrial artifacts like towers and electricity pylons .
We arrived at the park ahead of the crowds,gates were open but just so no queues to get on after about a ten minute walk from the car park.
Tatton Park is a big estate and has been in the National Trust for about fifty years. There are large areas of deer parks and the house and gardens open for visiting as well.
The show?Yes I did get there and I did enjoy it. It was much more interesting than this year's Hampton Court. The layout was easier and I thought the gardens were more interesting.
The RHS themes this year are the same but it is how it is interpreted that gives each show its character.
The focus is on sustainability, greening townscapes and bringing back wildlife into gardens all were expressed in the gardens and featured in the talks on offer.
I loved the schools gardens sections. Very individual as you might expect but so much diversity in the entries. Children had taken a book and bought it to life in their displays on caring for the environment. Ratty and Toad, Jemima Puddle duck and others all had their habitats enhanced with bug houses and seed sources,nectar sources etc. A lot of work had gone into this section.
The Young Designers section was very strong. The gold medal winner here was Michael McGrath with his garden of the future. The metal structures and plantings draw attention to the need for plants to adapt and change for the future.
There were decorated small shed spaces, the one featuring music and dance stood out amongst the war themes on offer.
There were gardens for workers to take to the outdoors as a workspace and they were tempting.
Another section was about bus shelters and how to green them for the customers, everything from vegetables climbing up the frames to edible treats and flowery walls took the eye.
An award winning garden featured the use of water in the home garden and how to use it sustainably with porous materials to drain water away and store it for later use. The second photo is of this garden.
There were a number of medical research gardens which were lovely.offering peace and tranquility through their illness. Remember Me was a favouite of mine. It was designed for dementia sufferers and it was was quite special with circular pathways emphasising the nature of the illness bringing you round into smaller enclosed spaces filled with scented flowers. The journey became more chaotic as the illness advanced until the pathway ended with beds filled with chamomile plantings to soothe and scent the air. The metal panels around it had words stenciled into them of relevance to those who share the journey.
The same planting themes featured here too of perennials, strong colours and grasses with spikes of white,deep pink and lemons.
The floral pavilion was huge and plant sales booming. I would be a buyer under other circumstances but I stand and stare!!!!
There were lots of stalls selling an amazing array of gardening items,a garden art Marque which had some lovely things on sale,pity about the baggage allowance!
There were also excellent stalls of local foods. Cheshire Cheese is still number one cheese in the UK but there was plenty of competition.
Stalls sold garden arts,tools,clothing.infact anything needed for gardening could be found here. There were Pimms and Champagne outlets,music to sit and listen too,talks and Q&A sessions so nobody could say they did not have enough to do.
Before finishing the day I went to look around the Tatton Parks own garden too. Again a large expanse of parkland and farms but the garden is lovely.
The Japanese Garden here was excellent and so we're the walled gardens so by the time I walked back to the bus at 4.30 pm I was knackered.
Our trip to Cheshire started early. I had to be at Tothill Street at 7.30am so I left Lou's at 6.00am and caught the tube to St James Square where the bus was parked. There were only five of us to start the trip but we gathered up people along the way to Cheshire.
It was a long bus trip up through the Midlands via Birmingham to Crewe where the last group joined us. Not far from Manchester and Kristen's old territory.
We had a lunch break in one of those drive in stations before heading to the Wirrel Peninsula and the Ness Botanic Gardens for our afternoon tour.
It was a lovely drive down the Peninsula through little old villages of Burton and Ness. Picture perfect but no time for stops!!!!
We arrived with time for a cuppa before the tour started.
This is a significant Botanic garden in temperate climes so it features plants from all over the world. Indeed it's founder Mr Bullet introduced rhododendrons and camellias and many other plants to Britain because he sponsored plant hunters in the 19th Century to explore foreign policy, aces and bring back botany specimens for research and propagation.
He left the huge property to his daughter on his death who then gifted it to Liverpool University who manages it today with much reduced staffing.
Our walk took us through stone gardens,Meadows, herbaceous borders,vegetable gardens using permaculture methods water gardens and through the more intimate landscapes where weddings took place.
The range of specimens is huge. We passed redwood trees, a huge monkey puzzle tree and a new strain of later flowering azaleas bred by a Liverpool plants man.
It was an amazing garden and much more to see at different times of the year.
Some images from my walking day out in Regent Park and Westminster City......
Another warm and sunny day in the city. Perfect for walking in the park methinks. Checked out directions and set off on the tube to Regents Park.
The park was lovely, richly coloured borders with perennials and grasses along the big borders and the beds had petunias and salvias, lavender and daisies in an assortment of lemons to purples,reds and some blue focal plantings.
The Rose gardens were still looking good considering the time of the year but it was mainly the Austin's and moderns which were flowering. The Rose Garden is a lovely place to find a seat and watch the world go by.
I walked around the sculpture displays and found the boating park which was doing a roaring trade today. The ice cream vendors were smiling as well.
It was a lovely way to spend the morning.
After a couple of hours I caught a bus to Victoria and walked to Winchester Tube which took a lot longer than I thought but I arrived with a few minutes to spare for a walking tour of Winchester City,second city to be established after London City established by the Roman's.
It was pretty warm during the 2.00pm walk which lasted for two hours but I made it and enjoyed hearing the history behind such famous landmarks ,such as -Big Ben is not the correct name for the famous clock but it is the Elizabeth Clock Tower although no one calls it that.
We passed the Houses of Parliament just as a huge demonstration of men on pizza bikes roared around protesting about acid attacks and asking Parliamentarians to do more to protect them. Our guide was having a struggle making herself heard.
We heard about the establishment of a monastry on the site by King Alfred the Conqueror who was a very pious king but sickly and he was unable to do a pilgrimage to Rome so he ordered the establishment of the Jesuit Monastry on the site to be known as west (direction) and minster (name for church) now known as Westminster. He later decided to build a palace here but he died before living there and it ultimately burnt down as did a number of the buildings here. Apparently Henry the Eighth also built a huge castle close by with two thousand rooms which was also burn to the ground.
Anyway many more details followed of life and strife which shaped the place today. We visited the Dean's courtyard at Westminster Cathedral and some of the lovely old Georgian houses in the nearby streets. Several places had blue medals noting the life and times of famous people like Sir John Geilgud, a recent one and Sir Lawrence of Arabia.
A lady came out of her house to show us the moulding of a new statue for Emily Parkhurst which they hope to have installed in Parliaments Square. There is already one we saw in the gardens next to Westminster but women feel that it does not do her enough justice.
We walked along a street where the guide showed us the air raid shelters signs leading down under the streets during the blitz. The last one in 1941 did a lot of damage in this area.
We finished up outside Westminster Cathedral where kings and Queens are crowned some are buried and some have wed. It is also the place Winston Churchill did not want to be buried and when asked why, he replied, there are too many there already who I could not agree with! He was 93 at this point so still had a witty rejoiner.
There was a service coming up which I could have attended but I was feeling a bit sore after six hours hiking around hard surfaces so I may go back to see the interior another time.
Poets corner sounds worthwhile.
I hiked back to Victoria and caught a tube home for a rest before getting ready for the big garden tour tomorrow. An early start🤔🤔🤔🤔
Today was a gorgeous day in the city from the time I woke up you could tell it was going to be an outdoors day or as the weather forecaster would say,"a blue sky day."
Lou and I decided to meet for lunch on Regents Canal as I had been waiting for a suitable day for a walk along the canal.
The 91 bus takes you close to the canal en route to Kings Cross so I started from there and walked in the direction of the green steps where I was to meet Lou.
The canal is home to so many houseboats of various sizes and shapes. Many are lived in and some even sell things. There was a Word houseboat selling second hand books and offering coffees.
People grow all sorts of plants on their boats,from annuals to herbs and even some vegetable plots with beans and peas on tripods sitting on board.
The water is murky and I did not fancy a swim but it was a lovely walk along the tow path towards the city.
The green steps duly appeared and it seems they are covered in artificial grass for the summer months and people were enjoying their lunch or catching up with friends. There was a resident group of geese who were very industrious,preening and cleaning themselves much to the interest of the crowds.
Lou arrived and we took a walk through the developments here. It is a transformation of an old industrial site from Victorian times to a regeneration of the area for business and community living. It is most impressive and Lou has been the P, awning officer responsible for this development. Something to be very proud of as it is now a great living space with recreational amenities and quality housing.
One of the interesting features was the redevelopment of buildings inside the old gas works frames which are heritage protected so the architects have built a building inside the metal structure and developed an up market site with reflective panels and walkways.
Another building was having the roof restored in a modern but traditional way. Lou said the Heritage people loved it but the Victorian Society were against the concept. The concept P, and look stunning though.
There was a lovely square with water features which took my eye too, kids were loving being able to run through the fountains of water watched by their parents,very safe for playing in.
Anyway the place we were to have lunch was closed so we bought lunch from the Waitrose shop and sat on the steps in the sun until Lou had to go back to work and I continued along the canal until I ran out of puff and caught the bus home.
