Bray

A picturesque village stopover.

Photos of Runnymede

A lovely Sunday.

Nick and Els took me on a lovely drive to Cliveden Estate, a stately home run by the National Trust  in Buckinghamshire. It was once the home of the Duke of Buckinghamshire.
This is a part of the UK I did not know anything about so it was a special day out because we also passed Runnymede where the Magna Carta was signed back in by King John on the 15 June 1215.
Nick took us on to have a look at the site and we were able to walk over to the installation of bronze chairs to represent the signing. It is set on a beautiful field framed by trees and next to the Thames River. The National Trust look after the site and the area has been signposted and upgraded recently to celebrate an anniversary of the signing. It is a popular picnic site today and many families were walking and picnicking on the grounds.
These surprises and special areas of history make the UK so interesting. Who knows what you will see next?
We drove on towards Maidenhead and Cliveden Estate. Els used to live here many years ago which is how she knew about the estate although she had never been there before.
There is a hotel here,400 pounds a night to stay here!!! Nick and Els thought it might be a nice place to have a weekend break until Els looked it up online and saw the costs involved.

The grounds are extensive and beautifully maintained by the trust who are upgrading and working on the restoration of the front terrace overlooking the Buckinghamshire countryside.
We visited the little chapel overlooking the countryside called the Oriental Chapel,
featuring glass mosiacs panels depicting the apostles and paintings of the virtues of  Faith, Hope, Charity etc.
We walked along to the partarre and admired the colourful plantings of gladiolus, begonias and salvias etc in triangular box hedge gardens. A formal design with views out over the countryside and back up to the house.
The walk ended  with a statue of Greek classical origins  set in a half moon shaped planting of colourful bedding begonias.
We walked back up to see the perennial borders which were really striking and superbly planted with graduating heights of reds,yellows and bronze colours.
After we explored Cliveden gardens we drove to Bray where we had a drink at a 15th Century pub called the Hinds Head. The famous chef Heston Blumnental owns this place and it is cooky like his cooking.
This town has two Michelin starred restaurants in a small village. The Fat Duck and Riverside so all you foodies will know where to go for a dining experience.

After our drink we drove to Windsor and walked around the town and castle walks. The Queen was in residence so flags were flying. I did not realise that she could walk out the gates and pick up a pizza!!!
It was a lovely strolling around the castle walls and into the Royal railway station now a shopping mall. Surprising to see the beggars on the street here outside the palace. We saw The leaning house and the gate the Queen drove through. Unfortunately the light was not good for photos so it was hard to get a good perspective but it is an impressive castle.
We left about seven and drove back to London for tea. It was warm enough to sit outside and eat our dinner. We had lots of delicious  left overs from our barbecue last night with Jenny Durling. Such a good night that was too. We missed Lou and Jonathon but hopefully they are having a great holiday in Spain,swimming and relaxing in the sun.😎😎😎😎

London in Summer

The weather has been marginal for summer since returning from Ireland. Cool and cloudy, with heavy rain which has kept temperatures fairly low so getting out and about has been daunting.
I went in to the city on Tuesday to have lunch with Brad and go to a baroque string concert at St James. It was chaotic in the Crypt where we met for lunch. Full of tourists,families on holiday and queues  for food so we abandoned that place and headed to St James Square where it was quieter but then the rain started. It bucketed down so brolleys  became a weapon or shelter whichever you came up against.
The day ended well as Lou and Jenny met me for a drink and a meal at the local pub in Stroud Green. It was great to catch up with Jenny and hear she had managed her shift to her new flat successfully.
Anyway the concert was great and well worth the effort but I was not keen to stay on town so set out for the bus in the rain. Puddles everywhere so I was drenched by the time I got the 91.
Another day Lou and I watched the movie, "A Man Called Ove". We had read the book and enjoyed the movie,another one similar to, "I Daniel Blake".
Later I took Lou and Jonathon out for dinner at their favourite Italian restaurant in Foothill Road. It is not far from here so we walked to and from and the skies cleared enough for a pleasant walk.
Lou and I walked Coco the dog on Tuesday night. It turned out a much better evening than earlier so we walked up towards Highgate and then back down the walkway to Finsbury Park along with all the other dog walkers.
Monday was not such a miserable day so I cleaned the flat windows and cleared  the washing backlog before going for a walk in the park. Later I went into Trafalgar Square to the National Gallery to complete my circuit of the old masters. It was a bun fight inside as the tourist season has hit top gear and the galleries were packed with people and public transport rather hot and stuffy so I was glad to get back to the flat.
I made Coronation Chicken for tea which Lou likes and then she introduced me to a new detective programme set in the Caribbean which we are now addicted to. Must say the travel bug suggests these islands would be a nice place to hang out in.
Anyway my time in the UK is coming to an end. This weekend I stay with Nick and Els out at South Ealing before catching my flight home on Monday.

A day trip to Faversham

It was a place I had read about and Brad also recommended it as a place worth visiting. It is an historic  market town with its location noted in the Doomsday Book back in 1066.
The settlement though goes back to the stone ages and the first settlers would have walked here from Europe according to the stone ages artifacts found around the river.
The trip takes about an hour from St Pancras on the South Eastern line and you travel through the 'fruit bowl' countryside so orchards and granaries flashed by as well as hops and vineyards which made for a pleasant trip.

Once I arrived I found the visitor centre to see if there was a way to visit the Mt Eiphram Gardens or Balmoral House gardens but as I expected they are hard to access without a car so I settled for a walk around the town.
They had a historic route map to help the quest so off I went to find the pond and the river where there was a walk along the salt marsh which I thought would be worthwhile. It was refreshing to get out into open spaces and feel the wind on my face.

The town is known for its gunpowder production-500 years years of explosive history according to the records. It was probably tbe first place in England to manufacture gun powder. Needless to say a few explosions are noted in their historical records!!!
The Oare marshes were the site of a huge manufacturing site now home to salt marshes and migratory birds.

Nowadays the brewing industry has a presence here as did oyster harvesting and The manufacture of carbon dioxide cartridges for quarrying.

The town is full of historical buildings  with  their original facades preserved. Timbered and brick dwellings date back to the 16th Century. The Market Place features a very well preserved Guildhall but only the original Tudor piles survive. Fire has taken it's toll here too.

There are old abbey remains here too with a carving of it out of a stump. Quirky. Abbey Street had some particularly attractive houses with little gabled windows and very small ornate doors leading off the street. You would not need to be a six footer!

The port area is on a river now silted up from its original heyday but many boats are still tied up here and some are grand old ladies.There are some canal boats here too.
I had a lovely lunch in a garden shop down in the old port area. There was an amazing old tool shop here too with restored forks and spades and everything you could imagine in a garden.

I enjoyed walking along the river, eating blackberries on the way until the rain started so I headed back to town to look at the op shops where I found a few treasures to take back to town.

I got back to Waltersville Road in time to cook up  some spicy chicken for dinner. Lou and Jonathon were packing for their holiday to Spain so it was nice to have a final meal together. Jonathon had been to Ireland for a few days so it was a nice catch up time.

Chester Photographs.

Some images of Chester which I can get to load.

Chester revisited in 2017

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.

Leaving London tomorrow

The adventure is coming to an end. The time has flown by but it is time to leave and pick up on my usual life at home in Dunedin. Sounds like it is going to be a rude awakening from the news reports about snow and flooding.
It has not be very sunny here in London, grey cloud cover every day with some rain most days but muggy.
It has been a brief stay in London this time.
I met up with Wendy and Rod after we came back from Scotland and we went to the Georgia O' Keefe exhibition at Tate Modern together. We were very imoressed at this exhibition and the scope of her work.She lived until 98 so she had plenty of opportunities to explore different themes that excited her.For me it was  her extroadinary use of colour that makes her work so dramatic and so well drawn. She believed that something of beauty should fill a space created by a line. That resonated with me.

Later we went up to the top of the new addition to the Tate and enjoyed the views over London - free here so we made the most of it.The brick work cladding on the extension is eye catching too and sure to start a new trend in building design.

We had a great afternoon and it was so nice to see them both and best news is all is going well now for Rod since his incident at New Year.You can see from the photos they are in good form.

Rod took the photo of St Paul's steeple being attached,detached by a crane. He has an eye for such shots.

We enjoyed a lovely lunch at a pub on the South Bank just near the Tate and caught up on all the family news before they caught the train home to Hitchen and I explored around St Pauls before catching the bus home and cooking tea.

I had lunch with Brad, Sue and Clare Church at St Martins another day which was great.Clare and I just bumped into each other in the cafe and we both thought we were having one of those encounters people talk about but it turned out Brad had organised it.
I went to see the National Portrait Gallery latest collection of paintings and an embroidery exhibition celebrating Capability Brown's anniversary. Clare is about to come home to Dunedin to live. She is staying with Christopher for a few more days so we will catch up at home.
Yesterday I met up with niece,Jenny and we went to a book event at Foyles to hear some new writers read and discuss their current publications. The theme was around families and what constitutes a family in different cultures and within existing norms. Later we had a meal and walked back home so a very interesting evening.
Lou,Jenny and myself are all dining at Nick and Els's tonight for a family catch up. I am looking forward to that but not the trip home the following day.

Summer scenes in Scotland

Some of the images taken on our weekend in Scotland.

Summertime in Scotland

Louise and I were invited to stay in a loch side cottage with friends for a weekend at the end of July to farewell Kersel, a long time friend who is off to try life in Sydney.
We were lucky enough to get some reasonable flights with Easy Jet so set off mid morning on Friday for our weekend away.

Lou had to do some work from home before we left so she called a taxi. Just as well we left early as there was a major accident on the motorway and we crawled along for ages before our taxi driver breathed a sigh of relief and we cleared the crash site.A large truck had careered across the median barrier and straddled  both directions of the motorway. Chaos.
I think many people missed their flights that day.
It was lucky Lou had booked us well ahead of time but we arrived with ten minutes to spare and then the plane was delayed for an hour!

Anyway we arrived to find Kersel waiting for us in sunshine. Lou and I had packed for poor weather but the sun was shining and we had a lovely drive up through Loch Lomond, Luss and over to Loch Fyne where we had gone a few years ago to track down the family castle.

The drive took a couple of hours deep into Argyle territory before we arrived at a remote part of the peninsula. It took a few attempts but we arrived at Loch Escog and found our cottage on the edge of the loch as promised.Other friends had already arrived so it was drinks all round sitting  outside in the sunshine and meeting new people from Glasgow who were friends of Kersel.
Later we had a lovely meal cooked up by Hutton and Nicky and played board games until time for bed.
Saturday was promising to be rather dull and wet but the boat was pumped up and some hardy souls went out for a canoe followed by a swim would you believe!!!!
I went for a long walk around the loch on a pathway called Cowal Way but it did not lead me back quite like I expected so my walk ended up a marathon and I was late for lunch.
Later we cooked pizza and ate inside as it had got a lot cooler as the day progressed.I think I was still acclimatised for Avignon conditions so I was glad of my merino.Lou went for a swim but I was not tempted.
Sunday was time to pack up and tiki tour back to Glasgow to catch our flight at seven.
The day was very overcast and cool but we explored some of the little fishing towns along the trip home before farewelling Hutton and Nicky on the car ferry while we visited the Benmore Gardens at Dunoon.
By now it was raining so we could not linger for too long before we set off for Glasgow.We went on the car ferry too which was a new experience for me.
We said our goodbyes to Kersel and waited for our flight.Again it was delayed for an hour so a long trek home but a great weekend.

Walking on Hampstead Heath

Sunday. A lovely autumn day,a day for relaxing and indulgence or a stiff walk to favourite places.
Lou and I opted for the latter and after organizing a meal for the evening with Clare, hanging the curtains and dispatching the rubbish we set out by bus for Hampstead Heath and a walk up to Parliament Hill, the highest point in London. From this vantage point you can see many of the landmarks on the London horizon.
Lou has lots of anecdotes  to share of consents she has been involved with on some of these elegant homes.We walked passed the home of Liz Taylor and a Richard Burton plus the home of Katherine Mansfield.
We spent a pleasant hour walking along tracks through the heath,climbing Parliament Hill and walking past the bathing ponds.The skies were lovely too although I think they probably signal a change of weather rather than a conclusion to a lovely day,
We caught an overland train back to Crouch Hill station which saved us a walk back from the heath and climbed the hill home in good spirits to find Jonathon had fixed up the curtain rails and they were hanging perfectly.A job well done.
We watched Ireland play Italy in an unconvincing fashion before dining together with Clare over a lovely chicken dish created by Lou and a NZ trifle.
Another memorable day.

London sojorn

My week in London has been very pleasant,the sun shines every day and I have enjoyed the company of Lou and Jonathon in their new home and walked Lou's surrogate puppy,Coco a couple of times.

Initially I had a rest and recover day as I think I have been on the go since I left Dunedin in August and it was nice to chill out and restore some order to my packing.Not much need for the light gear I have been wearing on the Costa Brava. I have dug out the jeans and warmer gear.

So far I have revisited some of my favourite places in London and been lucky enough to see some art exhibitions and plays at the National Theatre and tomorrow morningI am going to meet Wendy and Rod in the city to see the Ai Wiewei exhibition at the Royal Academy and then have lunch together.

Yesterday I went down to the South Bank for a wander in the sun but I was lucky enough to get tickets for a play, 'The Red Lion' at the National Theatre later in the afternoon which was a bonus as it was the final performance after a very successful season.A brilliant play set in a football changing room - not initially captivating stuff but it was a powerful look at relationships between new and old blood,power and corruption and a very sad end to an emotionally complex play.

Today I was lucky to see another play by the same playwright.This was called,'Three days in the Country' and again followed a complex set of relationships between the inhabitants of the country house.This play had a big cast,about twenty people and the staging was effective for how they brought characters on and off the set.
While there I was able to get a ticket for Jane Eyre tomorrow night so that will be my quota done.I would have liked to see Nicole Kidman's in a West End play which is getting very good reviews but very hard to get seats,only ones available you have to be in the queue by six am!!!

I also went to see an exhibition of Doris Day photos at the National Portrait Gallery which was great.Very nostalgia, to see all those beautiful hats,gowns and elegant attire of the era.
So much to see in this place but I am enjoying the vibe of the place and just being in the moment.Walking along the Thames and watching the boats plying tourists back and forth,listening to the buskers and watching the antics of young skate boarders demonstrating their skills is all good fun.Lunch at Gabriels Wharf in the sun and a browse amongst the book shops kept me entertained for the afternoon.
The trip back home was not so much fun as there was a huge traffic jam which forced people onto the tube and you could hardly move.Not much fun.Not sure how people do it years on end.We are lucky in the space we enjoy.