Waddesdon Manor

Today’s (Sunday, 17 November) trip was to this lovely stately home. It has been closed for the last month and is only open for a Christmas display. The display was lovely. There were Christmas scenes in all the rooms, a question to answer about each room (to win a prize), and the place was stunningly done up. I wasn’t all that impressed with all the Christmas stuff although there was a couple of rooms which weren’t standard Christmas. One of the scenes was “The Snowman” by Raymond Briggs and for anyone who’s not read or head of this delicious children’s story, have a read. Here’s a version, I think the narrator is David Bowie.

Anyway that bit was delightful. Christmas carols all around the place. But I would have liked to have been able to see the house without all the glitz of Christmas around. So we mainly looked around the grounds and they were pretty stunning. Starting with:

Now how stunning is that !!

Now this was interesting. Topiary. And judging from what I’ve read, it was done for Queen Elizabeth’s Jubliee and I gather that during the Jubilee year it was near the house itself, whereas now it’s tucked away in a corner. Also in the couple of photos I found of it, it was flowering. I would love to have seen it in flower.

Sadly, most of the outdoor statues had been covered up or removed for winter. These were in one of the gardens, looking vaguely like ghosts. Again, I think I have far too much imagination.

I rather like this picture. Not sure how to describe it. I think it is a party of ghosts getting ready for a night of scaring people. The big guy in the front of the photo is telling them all to behave themselves.

Notice the trees are rapidly losing their leaves and starting to look quite stark.

This was the road up to the Manor gates. Looks like any suburban street until you get past the gates.

And the ornate gates. All these places seem to have incredible gates.

These are all out of order. I seem to be just following my thoughts tonight.

These thingees on the building tickled my fancy for some reason. I wasn’t sure if they were little verandas or stairs or what. I don’t even know what to call them. Hence the word “thingee”

 

Here they are close up

Not veranda. Not stairs. Simply decoration. However, the stairs inside follow the pattern of the outside and are spiral stairs.

As usual, I was not allowed to take photos inside. A shame, but I do understand.

This was the back of the building I photographed waiting for M&K to come out of the shop.

From the manor we walked to the old stables which today had a mini-market.

How good job did I do on that one. I really like this one.

Among the shops in the Stables there was a van selling donuts, dipped in chocolate while you waited. You got three donuts on a skewer and the guy in the van (very cheeky young man he was), dipped them into the melted chocolate while you waited. Then you needed hundreds of serviettes to clean yourself off afterwards. I didn’t take a photo of them, I was too covered in chocolate to manage my camera.

There was also a train. Now anyone who knows me, knows I like trains, even this kind.

As you can see, the day was slightly dampish. A bit of rain, but not enough to stop us from wandering around without getting drenched.

A magical cave

We’re not allowed to go in because we might disturb the hobbits that live in there.

And the last thing we saw was the aviary. I tried to get some photos of the birds, but the mesh between me and them seemed to bamboozle my camera sometimes. This photo was fine for some reason.

This is a Sulawesi Ground Dove. Apparently they can’t fly and are not native to the UK. But hey, you get that and she is rather pretty. I’m assuming she’s a she.

My final photo for this blog.

Madeleine

Monday, 17 November 2008

Pontcysyllte Aqueduct

(Pronounced pont-kuss-uth-tay)

Saturday (the 8^th) was a very full day. Again I am going to break this post up into a couple (or more).

This aqueduct is an incredible structure. Built by a man called Thomas Telford between 1975 and 1805 (it took that long to build it). It is 126 feet (over 38 metres) high. You can walk across or you can take a narrowboat. Why it was built? I haven’t a clue. It is an impressive structure and as far as I’m concerned, lovely to look at but anyone who decides to go across it in a boat is totally NUTZ !!

This was what I saw:

And that was where I stopped. I went no further. Kahless did. Brave woman. She took my camera with her and got some great photos. Brave woman. She put the camera around her neck so she didn’t drop it down, down, down, never to be seen again. Which is what would happen if you fell !!

And this was what she walked on.

And below was

So off went old Kahless with my camera safely attached and this is what she saw:

 

How stunning are they? Almost (not quite) but almost worth the risk !!

And this

Not near as stunning as the scenery

And just for those who are interested. These are my wellies. Well used by this stage.

The information sign (as usual I had to take a photo of the sign as well)

 

I have no idea what this is, but if you look closely you can see an anchor, some bolts, bricks with names on them and all sorts. But what it is supposed to mean I have no idea.

I showed Kahless the path that went down under the aqueduct and asked if she wanted to walk down. We thought about it and then decided that the down would be easy. The up would be bloody hard and that we were tired from earlier in the day so we gave it a miss and headed off home.

And yes, the boats go across the aqueduct. Here’s a Flickr image of someone doing just that. It’s too late in the year. All the boats have gone to bed for the winter.

 

And that's where we were!

So that’s all for this one folks.

Madeleine

Thursday, 13 November 2008

Wales: Stokyn Hall

After my experience in Singapore, I am still a bit wary about my choices of places to stay.

This time, I really lucked in with my accommodation in Wales.

Parts of Stokyn Hall were built in the 1600s and the building has been changed, and added to over the years. Besides history, Stokyn Hall has accommodation to die for.

My room:

Lovely and large with many drawers and things in the drawers to help if you’ve forgotten something. I found a hair dryer, a couple of toothbrushes, still in the pack, soaps, shampoo, conditioner and probably more I didn’t discover in my travels around the room.

Not only was the room large and warm, but it was comfortable as well. The bed was great and the room had plenty of space to spread out.

The house is at the top of a hill and coming up the road late at night, Kahless and I were laughing about this being a place from The Rocky Horror Picture Show and all it needed was some fog and someone to come out dressed like Dracula.

This is the road in the day time. Now imagine this road, in the dark, with a bit of fog and rain and let your imagination run wild !!

I’m afraid we did !!

Llinos and James Penman were superb hosts. From welcoming me when I arrived, to being there when I returned at night after a long day, to making sure I had plenty to eat, to showing me around and giving me the history, one or the other was always available.

I can’t remember all the details Llinos told me about the house.

What I do remember is this:

This is part of the old kitchen. Now of course totally replaced with a modern kitchen.

My room was built and then they realised there was no way to get into the room, so they built this glass entranceway.- a bit like a glasshouse.

It looks so incongruous in one way, and so delightful in another way. When I saw it, I expected to see it filled with exotic plants.

The old stone table which dates back to I don’t know when. Llinos would be able to tell you.

And we mustn’t forget Max the dog who protects the place with his bark when I came in at night and then would want to be patted and loved. Here he is waiting for a stick Kahless to throw the stick.

I almost forgot the incredible bathroom. A combination of old and new. Lots of hot water in the modern shower,

or alternatively a long soaky bath.

I even had an old fashioned bell pull in my room. The bells are still in the kitchen. Only one works and it wasn’t this one !

B&Bs can be a bit of a gamble sometimes. Sometimes they are great. Other times they are awful. This one is perfect. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a place to stay in Wales.

Madeleine

Thursday, 13 November 2008

Chester: The Wall 2

This next bit is difficult to show the scale. These photos are looking over the wall, across the water (canal, moat??), and down.

This one is looking back outside the wall across what I think is the Shropshire Union Canal which you can see on the map earlier. But I didn’t go to find out what street had the front of the houses.

I love this photo.

If you look closely you will see all the little gardens.

This garden in particular took my fancy.

Thank you Photoshop Elements. I do love playing around with photographs.

Imagine having a back garden that overlooked a canal and a Roman wall.

Then we came to King Charles’ Tower. I didn’t get a great photo of this. It decided to hide behind a tree.

King Charles was 'ere

Oh, yes. The pigeons. This photo is almost a story in itself. 

"Chester City Council has constructed a pigeon coop & feeding area at the Kaleyards, where people who wish to feed pigeons can do so.  The coop is designed so that pigeon eggs can be removed.

The Kaleyards pigeon coop is situated in the car park and can be accessed via Frodsham Street, or via the Kaleyards gate at the end of Abbey Street."

http://www.chester.gov.uk/council_services/environment_and_health/pest_control/pigeons.aspx

Apparently, the pigeons in Chester are becoming a hazard, so this was built to try and control the pigeon population.

However, amongst the pigeons, Kahless spotted this for me.

Another pest I’m told. The gray squirrel that has taken over from the native red squirrel and the numbers of red ones are limited.

They are still cute.

By now we are coming to the end of our walk. This photo shows the path looking in the other direction.

I’m afraid I got a spot of rain on my lens. You can see on the right the start of the gardens to the cathedral and on the left hand side, the Roman wall that stops walkers from falling off the edge !!

This photo is looking towards the end of this part of our journey.

This clock apparently is the second most photographed in the UK after Big Ben.

This is the Eastgate clock.

"The clock was placed on the Eastgate in 1899 and commemorates Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee of 1897. The wrought-iron was made by John Douglas's cousin James Swindley of Handbridge. This clock is by J. B. Joyce of Whitchurch. Until 1974 it was hand wound once a week."

http://www.chestertourist.com/clock.htm

And this is partly why our journey finished here. Repair works.

From the top, this is what we could see:

Chester on a Sunday. Shops are open. It is Remembrance Day Sunday and there is a service happening in the Cathedral as we were walking. Christmas lights are up and the streets are busy.

I will finish with that. There is much, much more that we saw that day, but that will be, hopefully, another post.

Madeleine

Wednesday, 12 November 2008

Chester: The Wall 1

I've had to divide this into two posts. It was so big that I couldn't upload the post.

What to say about Chester? Amazing city. Right now, sitting here trying to write about it, I am speechless. So many impressions. So much to see and process. I don’t really know where to start. So I will start with boring things to get my brain going.

We drove from Talacre into Chester, about a 15—20 minute drive. Sunday before Remembrance day. We parked the car and started to walk to places that Kahless wanted to show me.

This was my introduction to Chester.

The Bridge of Sighs

Seems like every city has one. In this instance, according to the Chester Chronicle:

“THIS little bridge can be seen at the top of Northgate Street where the road crosses the canal.

It was installed in 1793 by Joseph Turner so that prisoners from the jail could cross what is now the canal to the chapel to receive their last rights before execution.

Using the main road to transport the condemned men provided too much opportunity for escape. The bridge itself had iron railings to prevent suicide attempts.

The Bridge of Sighs today is an inaccessible object of curiosity as the jail and chapel have gone.”

http://www.chesterchronicle.co.uk/chester-information/chester-attractions/2001/07/09/the-bridge-of-sighs-59067-11143708/

It is right next door to The Blue Coat Hospital where poor boys were sent to be educated. For some reason it was called a hospital but it was really a school.

“Founded in 1700, Blue Coat was a school for young boys whose parents did not have enough money to send them to regular boarding school. It was a school that promoted religion and learning. The boys were fed and learned their four ‘R’s’: “reading, riting, rithmetic and religion.” The boarding school closed in 1949 only later to be acquired by the University of Chester as a history department. “

http://realtravel.com/chester-journals-j3671405.html

 

Looking down

How excellent is that, hey? Roman walls.

Then we climbed up some stairs and looking down, this is what I saw.

 

I hope this gives the idea of how far down it was. If this doesn’t, the next one will !!

Damn it was a loooong way down !!

I am walking along Roman made walls, looking down on the city of Chester. Now this is a first for me. When was the last time you did something for the first time. On Sunday, the 9th November 2008 I walked along a Roman made structure !!

This was our route on the wall. The black arrow was where we started and the black line shows where we walked. Oh, I really do like my technology !!

The red line around the city shows the extent of the wall. On Monday, before my train, I picked up a bit more of the wall. That’s another story.

This sign tells a bit about the Roman walls. I love taking photos of signs. They help me work out where I was at any point in time, helps remember place names and how they were spelled as well as gives information.

Some of these walls I was walking on date back to AD, and have been added to and taken away from over the years.

You may have to zoom in to read the writing.

This is what the path looked like on the wall. Hey, guys, I’m walking along a wall that was originally built in Roman times. How kewl is that !!

At this spot, there are stone walls on both sides of us. Later, there is only one. For some reason, I didn’t have too much trouble with the height. Read what I eventually write about the aqueduct when I get to that !!

There is constant moss and plants growing from the gaps.

There were some shops along this part of the wall. We stopped in an old bookshop, with a long bearded man, and some really old books. I was tempted by a couple but as usual, thought about my luggage going home and the weight of books.

On the other side of that wall is a sheer drop for I don’t know how far. But a long, long way down.

As we get a bit further along, the second wall disappears and we are looking down on the Cathedral. And that will be another possible post. I’m not sure if I’m going to write about the cathedral.

The pigeons sheltering along the wall, staying warm and out of the wind and cold.

Stay tuned. Chester: The Wall 2 will be here shortly

Madeleine

Wednesday, 12 November 2008