September 2019 Archives

Situated in seculded rolling hills near High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire is Hughenden Manor, home of the former Prime Minister during Queen Victoria's later years, Benjamin Disraeli. Disraeli, Britain's first Jewish Prime Minister, lived in Hughenden Manor with his wife Mary Anne from 1848 to 1881. The Manor itself dates to the mid-1000s, and it was also an important secret intelligene base (dubbed "Hillside") during World War II. After its use in World War II, it became under control of the National Trust who managed and maintains it.

The entrance for visitors is at the front of the house, which had its Gothic facade replaced with an Edwardian style using red bricks. 

A few of the rooms on the ground floor are dedicated to the house during its time as an intelligence base. This is where maps were drawn, printed, and distributed. There is information about all of these stages with a couple of the original maps on display with their target areas highlighted in magenta ink for the pilots to see in dim light. An example below is of Munich in Germany, which was a high profile target for destroying the Nazi party and hitting morale.

The Garden Room is where the guests would have waited for Disraeli and his wife. Many of Disraeli's items are located in this room, including a miniature portrait of his wife. 

Next to this is the Drawing Room. Originally, this was Disraeli's library with stunning views over the garden. After his nephew inherited the property, he changed this room to the Drawing Room and the back room to the library so that the books would be protected. The portrait above the fireplace is of Mary Anne, based on a smaller portrait in the adjacent Garden Room.

Below is a photograph of the library across from the Drawing Room.

On the first floor is the main bedroom and views over the back gardens.

The bedroom contains one of the first toilets, located beside the bed. It is a wooden box with a pot underneath it. Above the fireplace is a portrait of a young Queen Victoria and Albert, which was the first gift from Queen Victoria. The Queen disliked Disraeli at first, but he gained her respect after he gave a public speech about Prince Albert after his death, and this flattered the queen. She sent the portraits to him.

One of the other rooms on this floor contained information about Victorian funerals, such as sending invitations to funerals with black borders. The thicker the border, the closer of a connection you were to the deceased. Memorial cards were often sent. Disraeli is buried in the church located down the small road from the manor.

The above photograph is of the study. In the rooms upstairs, visitors can learn about Queen Victoria and Disraeli and see some of the gifts from Victoria to Disraeli.

The final room to see is on the ground floor, and it is the dining room.

After exploring the house, I walked to the garden behind. The gardens are beautiful, and they were in their prime when I visited at the beginning of September.

After exploring the gardens, I went to the Ice House. The Ice House was transformed in the 1940s to act as a film development studio or dark room for developing the film to use for the maps.

After this, I went to the walled garden to have a look around. Here there is a mixture of wildflowers, fruit trees, and vegetables.

The rolling hills here reminded me of home, and some of the trees are slightly starting to turn colour. I enjoyed this visit to National Trust's Hughenden Manor, and I loved the garden at the back.

American glass artist Dale Chihuly's works are currently on display at Kew Gardens in London in an exhibit titled "Reflections on nature". The artwork is scattered throughout the gardens to compliment the various plants and architecture of the buildings at Kew Gardens. Chihuly is from Washington State and went on to art school to study interior design, and he used glass in his artwork. He later went to Venice to work at Murano Glass where he learned even more about glass and the glass-blowing techniques, so there are some influences from Murano in his work.

Many of the installations are large-scale, and I am impressed at the scale of them considering that they are made of glass and must be very fragile as well as heavy (and dangerour) to move.

Paint brushes

Red Reeds

Ethereal White Persian Pond

Summer Sun

Scarlet and Yellow Icicle Tower

Neodymium Reeds and Turquoise Marlins

Cattails and Copper Birch Reeds

Sapphire Star

Niijima Floats

Lime Crystal Tower

Opal and Amber Towers

Temperate House contains several different groups of installations inside. The smaller ones are located throughout the greenhouse, in between plants or suspended from the ceiling.

Beluga Boat

Yellow Herons and Reeds

Green hornets and Gold Waterdrops

Red Reeds

Persians

Turquoise Marlins and Floats

In addition to the installations at Kew Gardens, the art gallery on the site (Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art) contains its own exhibition of Chihuly's work along with botanical artwork. There are several smaller examples of his work including glass wall hangings in three rooms and a video about the artist (which was too packed to watch or listen to). A couple of the different pieces are below, but they had so much more on display.

Basket

Persians

If you have not been yet, I recommend visiting Kew Gardens before the end of October (currently October 27) in order to see it. If you're not able to get there during the day (or even if you have and wish to see the art installations in a different light), a special Chihuly Nights event takes place during Thursday-Saturday evenings. In Chihuly Nights, the glass sculptures are illuminated at dark.

For over a decade, a street art rat by Banksy has remained covered to protect it from being painted over. The giant rat was in the centre of demolished buildings in a space known as "Red Gallery", which was a venue for many years for art, entertainment and street food but which had been renamed to "The Last Days of Shoreditch" in more recent years because of the regeneration of the area. The giant rat and a television (which I was not able to capture in the photograph below) was painted in 2004 and then covered in 2007. The only reason I was able to get a photograph of the rat uncovered is because the buildings have recently been knocked down here to make way for a new multi-storey hotel, which will surely make this part of London more soul-less.

Shoreditch loses more of its street art walls in this move, but at least I got to see the rat uncovered as I've known it existed behind the makeshift boarding. The rat was not uncovered for very long, and the last time I visited, the wall had been removed.

Another fact about the rat is that Banksy did not like this piece and hoped that it would be demolished. I am not sure if it has been demolished or if it has been sold, but I did not see the wall when I visited in early September 2019.

Earlier in the year, I learned that a new lion would grace the empty plinth in Trafalgar Square for only a few days this September, and I was looking forward to see it. I planned to visit it on Friday and then again on Saturday, but I have been extremely ill since Wednesday. I am still recovering, so I have been unable to see the lion in person; it was still on display today until 8:00pm for those well enough and brave the wet weather to see it. (Anyone who knows me knows that in order for me to cancel plans, especially on two days with glorious perfect weather, I must be really unwell, and unfortunately that's what has happened as I have spent the majority of Friday, all of Saturday and most of this morning in bed.)

The "Please Feed the Lions" is an interactive art installation by Es Devlin, who is known for using light and artificial intelligence. The sculpture comes via Google Arts and Culture ahead of London Design Week. Visitors feed the lion poetry or words. At dark, the words are projected onto the lion. 

Other artwork has been created for London Design Week and on show in other locations such as Finsbury Square and  Westminster Cathedral.

Back in 2006, I drove on a "White Horse Tour" of the White Horse chalk carvings around Wiltshire. I had intended on doing all eight of these white chalk horses, but time ran out, so I only got to see seven of them (all except Uffington) in 2006. It would be thirteen years later before I would ever see the oldest of the white horses, Uffington White Horse, which I eventually saw this summer. For more information, see my post: Uffington Castle and White Horse. Note that there are two additional white chalk horses in the country; one of these is located near Weymouth in Dorset, and the other is in North Yorkshire. In addition to white horses, there are other chalk figures, such as the Cerne Abbas Giant man (Dorset), Long Man of Wilmington (East Sussex), and many more figures that have since been lost. The oldest figures date from around 1000 B.C., but many have been created much more recently.

The Marlborough White Horse is located near the village of Marlborough in Wiltshire. It is also called the Preshute White Horse, and it is the smallest white horse figure. It was carved into the hillside in 1804, and it is low down on the hillside and obstructed by trees from some views. It can also be seen from the village. It was carved by a group of boys from the High Street Academy, which was a school, based on the design by pupil William Canning whose family owned the land and manor here. It was a yearly tradition to re-scour the design. The school closed in the 1830s, and one of the original scourers ensured that it was repaired in the 1860s after its neglect. The figure has grown thinner, and it was in need of more care in the early 2000s. Marlborough College does pay tribute to it in one of their college songs.

Marlborough White Horse

Broad Town White Horse is located near Broad Town in Wilstshire, and it was a little difficult to locate and in a remote area, which has given it the nickname "the secret white horse". The origin of it is unknown, but it was thought to have been carved by William Simmonds in 1864 who owned the farm then. He'd planned to make it larger, but it never happened. Others claim that they helped scour the horse in 1863 and were told that it was created fifty years earlier, but this may have been confused with one of the other white horses. Another story claims that the horse was cut in 1895 as a tribute to the birth of Prince George and celebrations related to his birth. The horse was covered during World War II, and it was not in good shape when it was uncovered in 1945. The horse was not maintained until 1991, and the people in the town now look after it, though it looked like it needed some love when I visited in 2006.

Broad Town White Horse

Cherhill White Horse's origins are not known, but it is thought to date to the mid-1700s. It may have been carved then to be associated with the loyalty of House of Hanover whose symbol was a white horse. It may have also been older and created to commemorate a battle in 878. It is also being attributed to being cut in 1780 with a design inspired by artist George Stubbs, who painted horses. In the 1800s, a local farmer had placed glass bottles into the ground to give the horse a sparkling eye; these disappeared and were re-added in the 1970s and disappeared again. Today, stones mark its eye. The horse was lit up to commemorate the new king and queen in 1937 (King George and his queen Elizabeth). The hillside now belongs to the National Trust.

Cherhill White Horse

Hackpen White Horse is also called Broad Hinton White Horse, and its origin is not exactly known, but it was thought to have been carved in 1838 to commemorate the coronation of Queen Victoria. There is parking on the top of the hill to visit the horse, and real horses do live in the fields around it. This area is probably noted for the saying "chalk and cheese", where the hills here were chalk but the ones on the other side of clay and popular for cattle grazing to create milk for cheese. The horse was scoured two years before I took the below photograph, and it looks in need. The next time it was scoured was 2011 and then in 2012, and the horse was illuminated afterwards. In 2009, red fabric was covered over the chalk for the Red Nose Day charity.

Hackpen White Horse

Alton Barnes white horse was cut in 1812 near Alton, Wiltshire. It was designed by an artist, and it is the second largest white horse in Wiltshire. Ever winter solstice, it is illuminated with candles, and it was illuminated in 2012 during its 200th birthday. It has been transformed into a zebra in the past, and it can be viewed for miles. On a clear day, it is said to be visible from Old Sarum. It is located near an Iron Age fort and long barrow. The artist who was meant to have carved the horse conned the landowner and got someone else to do it, and he demanded payment; the artist was later hanged for other crimes. In 2004, the horse was re-scoured but with chalk from a pit near the horse so chalk would not have to be transported, and this is visible and was a mistake. The horse was covered during World War II. When the horse is re-scoured, care must be taken as it is an area of protection. The horse was used in music videos. The horse has been met with a fair amount of pranks at being turned into a zebra and gaining an extra "limb".

Alton Barnes

The Uffington White Horse is located in Oxfordshire and on the edge of Wiltshire. It is the oldest white horse and dates from the 1000n B.C., and it is located near an ancient hill fort and not far from ancient tombs. I recently saw it earlier this summer, and it had been re-scoured earlier in the year. I think it looks more like a cat than a white horse because the body is long with a long tail and whiskers, but it is apparently a stylised horse and has a similar design to white horse carvings of the time. I think it would be amazing if it was indeed a white cat instead of a white horse. The white horse is very difficult to photograph because the hill is very eroded. It is best photographed from the air. This white horse has been mentioned in books, music, and in videos.

Uffington White Horse

If you have never completed a White Horse Road Tour (of Wiltshire), then I recommend it. Make it a day and have a nice stop at a country pub; you can even make a trip to see Avebury stone circle.

Canons Ashby House is a real treat to visit as it's a rare gem in the historical houses; it is an Elizabethan Manor House. Many of the older houses and castles were replaced by more modern houses with many of them dating from the 1700s-1800s or at least remodelled extensively. Although the house has had some work done to it, it retains much of its medieval character. Before the house, however, a medieval village occupied opposite where the house now stands; this is now a pasture.

The house was given to the National Trust in 1981 after it was in poor shape. However, its life began in the 1550s when it was inherited by John Dryden through his wife. It was then a farmhouse, which was extended in the following years. The family had always been involved in religion, and their child would become parents to Anne Hutchinson, who was a religious reformer in the American colonies. The house itself gets its name from the priory church nearby.

The house belonged to the Dryden family, and it was inherited by Henry Dryden. His parents and grandparents had lived beyond their means, so upon his father's death, he had to get the accounts in order. This meant that his widowed mother had to move here, and the house was old and not as comfortable.

The dining room dates from the 1550s during the first phase of the building, and it was remodelled in 1710. The furnishings date from the early 1900s.

The Book Room (pictured above) was created by Henry after he had to leave education behind in order to manage the house. His father's billiards room was turned into a library, and Henry was interested in history, architecture, and archeology. He ended up making repairs and alterations to the house and other buildings on the land as well as making repairs to the homes of the tenant farmers.

The Book Room was created in the 1550s, and the wood paneling is retained here with unique carvings. The bookcases were created in the 1800s. Many of the books were sold after the death of Henry in 1899, including a Shakespeare book "The First Folio". The National Trust retained the books that had connection to the house and its inhabitants.

The room next to the Book Room is the museum of Henry. He had become interested in fascinating items after helping to escavate the old priory on the grounds with his father when he was a child. The room is painted with the trompe l'oeil style to appear three-dimensional, and this was probably painted by Edward Dryden's cousin Elizabeth Creed and her daughter as it matches similar work she completed in churches. The colours are now faded; they would have been brighter when applied.

The case contains some tiles, pottery shards, bone, thimble, metal bracket, and a Bartmann jug (a popular medieval bearded man jug that originates from Germany).

The Drawing Room above contains wonderful vaulted wood-panel ceiling design and an original fireplace. The room was built in 1590 and then remodelled in the early 1700s.

The room next door to the Drawing Room is a bedroom, and the walls had been panelled over, which meant that the original wall painting and drawing had retained. These paintings date from the middle ages and probably depict a Biblical story about a lazy man who lay with lions, or at least some interpretation of the story. Some of the panels also contain geometric shapes.

Above is a close-up of one of the panels above the doorway. The doorway was actually moved and placed in this new place, so some of the painting is missing.

The above room is the Tapestry Room, and a story is told in this room that Henry married late at 47 years old to a wife who was 42 or 43. They had a child, but Henry was disappointed to learn that the child was a girl. The girl was named Alice. The room dates from the 1550s, and the room was remodelled in the early 1700s.

A couple of rooms branch off from a long hallway, and one of these rooms is Alice's bedroom. Alice was also interested in the same subjects as her father, and photography became a favourite interest of hers. She also befriended a local farmer's daughter who became a cook at the house.

At the end of the hallway is another room with a fireplace and crooked floors. The ceiling and one of the walls also has a medieval wall painting illustration of what appears to be a room, possibly to make the room appear larger. The ceiling contains emblems and some geometric shapes. 

Down a small set of stairs in the previous room, there are a couple of bedrooms for the maids and cook. The cook had the larger room, pictured above.

On the ground floor, a dining room with what appears to be original paneling is set up, and this is adjacent to the kitchen, pictured below.

Beneath the dining area is a cellar storage area where meat and other products would have been stored to keep cool. This structure would have actually been a farmhouse, which was then extended and added onto the main house. The kitchen was imported from Castle Drogo as it was similar, and the kitchen here had been removed some time ago. The kitchen also contains a clock that was used on the clock tower of the building.

A photograph of the clock mechanics and the clock is above.

After the visit to the house, I battled the wasps and enjoyed a slice of Victoria sponge cake and a bottle of lemonade. My visit was on one of the hottest days of the year over the August Bank Holiday, which is normally one of the wettest times of the year.

What I also enjoyed about Canons Ashby are the beautiful gardens laid out. The beautiful gardens enhance the beauty of the old building.

My favourite summer flower, the cornflower, was planted in the gardens at the bottom. This area is the vegetable gardens, and it was growing with artichokes, onions, beets, carrots, beans, sunflowers, corn, pumpkins, and zuchinni as well as beautiful flowers such as asters, cosmos, dahlia, and zinnia. These were bordered by lavender. There is also an orchard.

In 1899, Henry lost his wife and then spent his time gardening in these gardens. He cut his finger on a rose thorn, and the infection was the end of him. 

The priory church is a short walk away. It is all that remains of the Augustine monastary that was located here. It dates to the mid-1100s. The church, now called St. Mary's, was gifted to one of Henry VIII's friends after the monastaries were dissolved. A lot of the church was destroyed and made smaller; the original stone may have been used to build part of the house. It became the Dryden's place of worship and is one of the few privately-owned churches.

The little medieval village here, who would have used the church, met its fate with the Black Death as many of the villagers died. The rest were driven out by landlords.

I recommend a visit to Canon's Ashby, but I would probably state that it is better to visit during the summer months in order to take advantage of the beautiful gardens.

Summer has gone in the blink of an eye, and it's certainly been an eventful one for me. I still am behind on many things from issues dating from 2017 and 2018, and I begin to wonder if I will ever get caught up. I feel like I can't catch my breath. Between working all of those extra hours for months and dealing with incompetent companies for personal affairs, I am happy when I can have a break and see friends. Good friends from the states that I met in early university days came to visit England, and they spent a couple of days in London. This means I get to have afternoon tea with them.

In the past, I introduced them to Fortnum & Mason as I had had a lovely afternoon tea here and then we had enjoyed a lovely afternoon tea in the summer of 2013. Last summer, they also visited, and we had afternoon tea in The Parlour, but it had gone downhill so much, and I was very disappointed. I'd enjoyed it because the tea was one you could just pop in to without a reservation, it was less formal, and the service and food was nice. However, I had other plans this year for afternoon tea, but we had to cancel due to their schedule of something in the mid-afternoon, and this was the only day we could do afternoon tea. We decided to opt for an early afternoon tea in their Gallery tearoom; we did try their branch in the City, but the hours were not posted for afternoon tea, so we ended up trekking back to their Piccadilly Street shop.

The Gallery is laid out with tables and also seems a little informal, which I wasn't expecting.

We ordered our tea, which came with a savoury item and a choice of a sweet item. I had ordered the vegetarian dish, which was basically mushrooms in a sauce on bread. As soon as I cut into the dish, I fished out a huge hair! The staff seemed to be quite embarrassed and instead made me the pea pasta...I think they ended up throwing out the remainder of the mushroom dish. At least, I hope they did! The pasta was actually really tasty.

I had the strawberry tart for the sweet item, and my friends had the scones and I also ordered scones. I do enjoy Fortnum & Mason scones.

So, what is my verdict? I was still disappointed, and the massive thick hair ruined the experience for me and probably for my friends as well. Also, we were in a little bit of a rush to get them to their afternoon thing, so it wasn't that enjoyable. I was also disappointed that we didn't get to have proper afternoon tea. So, sadly, I won't recommend Fortnum & Mason for afternoon tea. Even though the staff did rectify the hairy issue, it just wasn't relaxing and enjoyable enough. Perhaps I am comparing it still to their service six years ago, but it has certainly gone down in my view. I do enjoy shopping there, and I enjoy some of their products, but afternoon tea there isn't great anymore.

Chartwell is located in Kent, and it is famous for being the home of Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of Britain during World War II. He lived in the house for fourty years until his death in 1965; after this time, the property became a part of the National Trust. Prior to Churchill owning Chartwell, the house/estate or parts of it date from the 1400s, and it was rumoured to have been visited by Henry VIII when he was courting Anne Boleyn, who lived nearby at Hever Castle. After this, it became a farmhouse in the 1700s and 1800s and was extended. Churchill saw the house in 1921, and he purchased it.

Churchill spent a lot of time at Chartwell and loved it. He painted, did work in the garden, composed speeches, and wrote books.

Churchill's friends ultimately sold Chartwell to the National Trust on condition that it was retained by the family, and the house was open to the public in 1966. It is one of the National Trust's most popular properties. It had been preserved to appear as it would have done in the 1920s-1930s. Unfortunately, many trees had suffered in a bad storm in the 1980s, so the gardens needed to have some repair work.

Today, the house contains personal items belonging to Churchill, including many paintings. A visitor's book is located in the hallway of all of the visitors who visited the house. In all, there were 780 guests, and signatures of celebrities and presidents and other politicians can be seen. Some of the items have been since bought by the National Trust with funds of 7.1 million for the honorary United States citizenship from John F. Kennedy and the Nobel Prize in Literature.

One of Churchill's pastimes in his later years was to sit by the pond and feed the goldfish. A photograph of the pond and some goldfish is above.

On the side of the garden is a little building.

The gardens at Chartwell are beautiful. I visited them in mid-August, and they were at their peak then. There is a mixture of flowers and vegetables and the garden also contains a pen of chickens.

In additon to the beautiful gardens, I visited the house, which is a timed entry based on a first come basis. On popular days, there are not enough tickets for visitors to the house, so do arrive early to get a timeslot for the house.

The room above and below has an outside balcony to view the garden from, and a couple of paintings from Churchill are located on either side of the fireplace.

The below room is the Drawing Room.

Below is Churchill's library.

The below room belonged to Churchill's wife Clementine. There are photographs of their children on the desk, and the room has beautiful views. One of the children's photographs is the firstborn girl, Marigold, who died when she was very young.

Below is the honorary citizenship to the United States, which was granted by President Kennedy to Churchill.

The below room is the main dining room. Some of the rooms in the house have been transformed into a museum dedicated to Churchill and the different roles he played - writer, artist, father, politician, war hero, etc. There is also an area about Churchill's furneral.

Chartwell is worth a visit; in addition to learning about Winston Churchill, visitors can wander around the beautiful gardens and take a short walk around the lake.

Every year, Leeds Castle hosts Leeds Festival of Flowers. 2019 marks the castle's 900th birthday, so the Festival of Flowers promised to be bigger than previous years. This year, I had a chance to go to Leeds Castle Festival of Flowers. The good thing about this is that visitors do not need an extra ticket for admission to this event; purchasing a visit to Leeds Castle gives the visitor free access for one year. I previously visited Leeds Castle in May for the annual motor show, Motors by the Moat, so this provided me with my ticket for the flower show. 

We arrived early, but there was already a queue, and we had to wait 45 minutes before we got into the castle. I didn't know what to expect, but I was wowed by the flowers as the displays were beautiful and helped to enhance the castle. Keep reading to learn about all of the displays at this year's Leeds Castle Festival of Flowers.

'Petals of the Moon' by Conny van der Westerlaken, Pasandeau Florale Vormgeving

Visitors enter the castle via the cellar, and this is where the first floral display was. The theme of the flowers were whites placed in white bottles and bowls to mimic candles. White petals covered the floor in places. The soft white petals complemented the white dress.

'Dancing in the Moonlight' by Maria Smith, The Lemon Hound

A circle of wooden branches, some covered and painted with linen and wildflowers, ferns, and thistles in shades of white, brown, yellow, and deep purple was the theme of the Heraldy Room. Some of the design also uses paper and wool plants. The circular floral arrangement with the lace-like flowers compliments the intricate ceiling. The artist was inspired by the ceiling and used a ring of flowers which were imagined as a silhouette in moonlight. The artist works with flowers and textiles. I did enjoy the range of flowers used here as it gives a "country" feeling to the room, which slightly contrasts the formal aspect of the room. The only problem is that this room was used as a waiting area before visitors could continue with the display, so I felt this one was over-looked.

I am not sure who created the displays in the hallway leading from the Heraldy Room, but the flowers here were beautiful in pastel shades of pink, blue, green, and coral.

'Boujee Boudoir' by Matthew Landers

The Queen's Bedroom was designed to compliment the orange four-poster bed and green walls. The floral design allows the viewer to see the bed framed with a mixture of green branches, plants, and coral-coloured orchids and pale pink roses. The fireplace on the opposite side of the room is also broken up by a display of the same flowers. The design includes British blooms mixed with subtropical leaves. The photo frame makes a nice touch to take photographs framed of the bed and a secluded area with flowers around the foot of the bed. 

'Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend' by Kent Area of NAFAS

The Queen's bathroom, down the hallway from the bedroom, has a stunning display incorporating the bath and fireplace with blues, whites, oranges, glass balls and diamond-shaped angles of white cloth on top of the fireplace and the window. The colour incorporates the sky blue dress and pillow.

'Dancing through the Delphiniums' by Philip Hammond, The Dorchester

The Queen's Gallery Room contains busts of Elizabeth I, Henry VIII, and Queen Mary. The room contains a long table, and it has been covered with blue, yellow, and white flowers. These colours make a good use of the surroundings in the room with the tapestry and delft pottery. The designer of the flowers in this room is the florist at The Dorchester, responsible for creating the main displays in the lobby of the hotel, room displays and displays for other events.

'Golden Times' by DK, Dennis Kneepkens

The King Henry VIII Banqueting Hall has been turned into a field of wheat, which smelled of wheat and brought a country theme to the room with mixtures of white, pink, and deep red roses and carnations. The sides of the room were 'planted' with strands of wheat, and the wheat was also used to create archways down the banqueting table. The table is set with large white vases of the flowers. These fit in with the red walls of the room and rustic floorboards and fireplace. This was my favourite display because it reminded me of the country.

'Floral Garden Party' by Claire Cowling, Thrive Floristry

The chapel of Leeds Castle has been transformed into a floral party featuring roses and dahlia, ferns, and grass with other foliage. The colours are rich and bright, giving the essence of a garden party. I really liked the design of the flowers on the ends of the pews and the window arrangements, but it lacked a little bit of consistency and I would have liked to have seen larger pieces in this room. However, I loved the use of colour and shapes/textures of the displays.

'Carnival in the Courtyard' by J & K Floral Designs

The courtyard in Leeds Castle was opened up to view the display inside, which included many tropical plants and bright colours, which gave the courtyard a carnival atmosphere.

'Keep the Drinks Flowing' by Ellouise Hasler-Stott, Flowers by EG

In the hallway at the top of the staircase is a pattern of a wine bottle with corks and bright red, purple, and white flowers that create an ombre effect that appear to be spilling from a barrel. At the bottom of the staircase is another display featuring a glass of red wine and the same colour of flowers. The design with the wine pays homage to the wine stored in the castle. The corks are designed in the shape of "900" to celebrate the birthday of the castle.

'A Modern Tea Party' by Jimmy Englund, Stilfloristerna

The Seminar Room in Leeds Castle was designed with a tea party theme in mind with teacups and cream macaroons and a garden of white flowers on the table, window ledge and in front of the fireplace. The green stems and hues in some of the plants help bring the green room together. 

'1920s Hollywood Glamour' by Plumpton College

Lady Baillie's Dressing Room has been transformed with white and cream roses and other flowers. The makeover was completed by Plumpton College in East Sussex, and the feature-piece is a beautiful white dress, which has become part of the floral display. The theme is to mimic a meadow. 

'The Interlude' by Helen Chambers, Evolve Flowers Ltd

Lady Baillie's Bedroom in Leeds Castle has been designed with the Art Deco theme in mind in keeping with the 1920s when she purchased the castle. The flowers are white and paired with sky blue feathers.

'Oh What a Night' by Morgan Douglas Nuth, Old Oak Floral Designers

One of the most unique floral designs this year is inspired by the love of a party. A centrepiece is created with 250 champagne glasses decorated with flowers, a "900" for the castle's birthday, a woven giant Martini glass with flowers pouring out, and a floral display around the fireplace. The floral displays contain straws and cocktail stirrers to add to the excitement.

'The Great Dame' by DK, Dennis Kneepkens

The staircase in the castle was also transformed, but it was hard to get a photograph of it because of the visitors posing for selfies on the staircase. The designer of this piece had created the "Golden Times" piece in the Banqueting Hall. The idea here was an English garden with cream roses and greenery.

'The Floral State of Mind' by Dr. Solomon Leong, Solomon Bloemen

The design in the Yellow Drawing Room is inspired by the quote "perfumes are the feelings of flowers". The display contains sliced bamboo sculptures intertwined with bright flowers, primarily orange and yellows in colour. The roses are scented, and this is where the concept of the perfume comes into play. I love the use of colour here with orange, yellow and muted pink/purple colours.

'Revels Through Thyme' by Trudie Easton Flowers

The design of Thorpe Room is an interpretation of the "English Knot Garden", inspired by the book "Herballor General Historie of Plantes" by John Gerrard; this was written inspired by the plants in his garden in 1956. The theme also is a focus on celebration and picnic with the castle's 900th birthday this year. Sky blue, green, and white are the colours used with the picnic area in the corner using mosses and wildflowers whereas the centre of the room uses more formal flowers.

'Dancing with Nature' by Heidi Lawley, HeiDesigns

The design inside the front door of the castle mimics a musical sound wave with bright orchids and clematis vines.

'The 900th Encore' by Louise Roots, Leeds Castle Floristry

The doorway around Leeds Castle and the "900" display in bright red and pink flowers was created to celebrate the 900th birthday of the castle. The flowers represent the glamour of the castle and the Hollywood film stars who stayed here in the 1930s.

'The Tea Party' by Jill Smith, Passion Floral Design

The colours of this tea party is stunning and beautiful. I love multi-colour displays, and this one works. The inspiration here comes from 'Alice in Wonderland'.

'Big, Bold and Botanical' by Country Baskets

The Barbican of Leeds Castle has become a playful world with vibrant floral sculptures. 

If you do ever get the chance to, I'd recommend a visit to Leeds Castle for the Festival of Flowers. And, since the entrance ticket is valid for a year, you can go back and visit again.

Sculpture in the City is a public sculpture trail that runs from May each year and is located in London's Square Mile, the City of London. Sculpture in the City is in its ninth year this year and has featured artists such as Damien Hirst, Antony Gormley, Ai Weiwei, and Tracey Emin and newer talent. I've been visiting the sculpture trail every year for the past few years, and I visited this year's trail a couple of weeks ago. Like previous years, a couple of the sculptures were shown the previous year so that visitors had a second chance to see the sculptures. 

This sculpture was on display for last year's sculpture trail and was created from the inside out. The obeslisk was made inside a wooden column filled with wet clay, and the artist dug her way out to leave behind this tunnel. Inprints of hands, legs, and knees can be seen in the shape.

'Climb' by Juliana Cerquiera Leite

'Dutch/Light' was commisioned to mark 350 years of the Dutch raid on the river Medway in Kent, which ended the Anglo-Dutch wars. The sculpture is made of Plexiglass panels where light reflects through and changes depending on the day. The Dutch represents the orange colour, and green represents England in this artwork.   

'Dutch/Light' by Jyll Bradley

This sculpture 'Sari Garden' was on display last year. It shows a large piece of cloth strung out along the street between lamp posts. It represents women and domestic life. It mimics laundry hanging out to dry.

'Sari Garden' by Clare Jarrett

Coley's work enhances the architecture of the sculpture and gives it meaning. The illuminated text reads 'the same for everyone', which allows the user to come up with their own meaning on the words. Is it a question or a utopian ideal?

'The Same for Everyone' by Nathan Coley

This neon sculpture was previously on display in Bristol and moved around the city to various locations picked by the public. It has also produced its own printed shirts, paintings, and fan base. The sculpture was also a part of the Sculpture in the City last year.

'I'm Staying' by Shaun C. Badham

This artwork, known as 'Arcadia' is a multi-part sculpture based on public signs. The artist, Leo Fitzmaurice, wishes to see how the sculptures relate to the space around them. 

'Arcadia' by Leo Fitzmaurice

This artwork is a fragment of windows made of primary colour see-through material. The measurements of the windows are from the Sampaio Ferreira textile factory, which is located in northern Portugal. The piece is interactive as the window panes can move, and each placement provides a different set of colours and views to look through.

'Series Industrial Windows I' by Marisa Ferreira

This neon sign sculpture shows hand gestures, giving it a social context in the placement in this public space above Leadenhall Market.

'The Source' by Patrick Tuttofuoco

This sculpture appears to be a series of stickers stuck onto the glass windows of the Leadenhall Building. These read: WITHIN A REALM OF RELATIVE FORM, A PURSUIT OF A FORM, AN ESSENTIAL COMPRESSION OF A FORM, AN ESSENTIAL EXPANSION OF A FORM, A DEGRADATION OF A FORM, AN OBJECTIFICATION OF WHICHSOEVER FORM, ALL TOGETHER NOW.

'Within a Realm of Relative Form' by Lawrence Weiner

Nina Saunders creates sculptures of everyday domestic objects. 'Abstract Mass' is a sculpture of chairs made of concrete. The chair appears to be comfortable upholstery, but this is actually just an illusion and is easy to see up close that it is cold and hard concrete. Saunders pushes the boundaries of private and public space and uses the material to help convey this sense of loneliness and placement.

'Abstract Mass' by Nina Saunders

This is a colourful sculpture inspired by the lava trees of Lava Trees State Park in Hawaii. The sculptures appear to be coming out of boulders on the ground.

'It Was Only a Matter of Time Before We Found the Pyramid and Forced it Open' by Salvatore Arancio

'Bridging Home, London' is an scupture commissioned in 2018 and was a part of last year's Sculpture in the City. The Korean house with bamboo garden was constructed by Do Ho Suh and represents a sense of displacement and integration. The little house appears to have fallen onto the footbridge on which it is placed. The theme of the work is migration to the City of London and East London, and the traditional building contrasts to the modern London architecture.

'Bridging Home London' by Do Ho Suh

This sculpture, 'Stagnight', was developed from drawings that that artist made while in Grizedale Forest in Cumbria in 1984. It was inspired by the drawings of trees and the shadows/silhouettes produced by light and shade of the trees. The 'stag' refers to a stag watching the artist but can also mean a 'stag night'. The sculpture presents the trees on top of a transport cart.

'Stagnight' by Michael Lyons

'Reclining Nude I' is an abstract and heavily-stylised reclining woman carved out of white marble. It is located off Bishopsgate in a churchyard.

'Reclining Nude I' by Kevin Francis Gray

This artwork is a neon poem made of neon blue letters, which appear to float in mid-air. The context changes in the night where the lights float more, and in the day, the garden becomes part of the artwork. It reads: "you've gone touching leaves in the moonlight".

'The Garden of Floating Words' by Elisa Artesero

This is one of twelve sculptures in a study of the Renaissance sculpture. It was also influenced by the Vietnam war where images came from and then recreated for the artwork.

'Site of the Fall - Study of a Renaissance Garden' by Reza Aramesh

Projected onto the ceiling of 120 Fenchurch Street courtyard is this beautiful botanic garden. It was inspired by the garden plans of the Stanford Wildflower Seeding Project and garden at Stanford Hospital. The flowers are animated, colliding with each other and breaking apart. This artwork was on display in July only.

'Botanic' by Jennifer Steinkamp

'Crocodylius Philodendrus' is a cluster of animal forms (deer, crocodiles, pigs, tortoises, zebras) that appear to be floating in air or life-size shapes of a child's toy animals. This sculpture was a part of last year's sculpture trail.

'Crocodylius Philodendrus' by Nancy Rubins

There is one more sculpture that will only be on display in the autumn. Much like the 'Botanic' sculpture, a couple of the sculptures only appear for a limited time.

Previous years of London's Sculpture in the City are included below:

• Sculpture in the City, 2018
• Sculpture in the City, 2017
• Sculpture in the City 2016
• Sculpture in the City 2015
• Sculpture in the City 2014
• Sculpture in the City 2013

Upton House is located in Warwickshire, and the house dates from the end of the 1600s and was passed down through several owners. In the 1920s, the most famous owner who also updated the house and gardens to what we can see today was the Samuel family (also known as Lord and Lady Bearsted), who founded the oil company Shell. The house was donated to National Trust in 1948 and maintained by them, and the furniture and furnishings were donated by the family later on condition that they remain on show to the public. 

Before visiting the house, I visited the gardens. During my visit last month, a singer was singing live music in the gardens at the back. The gardens were re-developed in the 1930s as they had changed little before then. The garden designer was Kitty Lloyd Jones, who became a close friend of Lady Bearsted during the re-design. She was responsible for the borders, rose gardens, orchard, and the pond.

The flowers were in full and beautiful bloom during my visit. 

The walled garden dips down at the end of the main garden from the house, and below this (in the valley), is the pond and more borders and trees.

Upton House can be visited to timed entry, so it's worth arriving early in the day. One of the first rooms was the Long Gallery, pictured below. The room was filled with paintings from Dutch Masters and peasants working in the fields, which were conversation-starters. The room is very long and L-shaped with a piano used for entertaining and plenty of seating dividing sections for guests to mingle.

The library was where Lord Bearsted completed his work for his company Shell when he was not in London at the Shell building on the Thames (known as Mex House) in the 1930s. The family had become wealthy after importing/exporting luxury goods, and one of the items that they were known for was creating painted shell boxes; this is how the company ultimately got its name 'Shell'. The library room has an open balcony to view the gallery room on the floor below. Below this room are the art galleries with important paintings and a sports room with pool table. There is also a large doll's house being constructed of Upton House at present, which is due to be completed at the end of the year for a grand Christmas reveal.

The most interesting room in the house is probably the very unusual Art Deco bathroom suite. This unique design came from America and was short-lived because of the resources then used for World War II, and few of these examples survive. The style was preferred by the wealthy, and it was created using aluminum leaf. It was later covered over, but drawings of the design and clippings of similar examples of the design existed in magazines, so it was re-instated (repaired) in 2001, but the aluminum needed re-plating as it had been tarnished.

The bedroom below adjoins onto the Art Deco bathroom suite, and this was Lady Bearsted's room. It has many items from Asia. Her room is next to the maid's room, which was also quite comfortable and required her to be there at a moment's notice.

The advertising of Shell in the hallways is also significant as some of these illustrations are the originals.

Visitors who were invited to the house could stay the night as Upton is considered a country house and a fair distance from a town in those days. For this reason, some rooms exist with basic elements for visitors to stay.

The dining room is located in a more private part of the house and contains some of the paintings of farm workers, peasants, and country scenes. 

The kitchen is located down the hall.

Have you ever visited Upton House? Although the house itself is nice to visit, I think that the gardens here are more attractive and require a visit, so this property is probably best to visit in the summer months.

A couple weekends ago, I visited Bournemouth to hang out with friends and watch the annual Bournemouth Air Show, which is always on at the end of August or start of September. Last year, I also went to the Bournemouth Air Show (see my post here: Bournemouth Air Show). I was not planning to go this year, but the weather was meant to be nice, so I decided to go. On the day, the reality was that the heavens opened in the morning with rain and thick cloud, but this luckily cleared by early afternoon so that the air show could begin with some delays. The weather stayed nice and sunny throughout the remainder of the day and into the night.

This year, the famous Red Arrows, always a favourite of the Bournemouth Air Show with many people, were not on display as they were touring America. We got to see several vintage planes, and the dusk plane attractions were also back with a few favourite displays. Check out the photographs below.

And here are the dusk displays with the Fireflies and Otto the Helicopter.

The fireworks on Bournemouth beach go off at 10:00 every Friday and Saturday night during the summer months. (I think this is just limited to the month of August now or possibly a couple of weeks in July in addition to August.) This year, I stayed for the fireworks.

And that wraps it up for another year of the Bournemouth Air Show. Previous posts about Bournemouth Air Show are below:

Bournemouth Air Show 2018
Air Show on the Beach - Bournemouth Air Show 2009

A couple of weeks ago, I received my summer make-up and beauty products that I ordered from feelunique.com. The past few weeks before that, I was feeling a bit uninspired and have just been going about my day-to-day tasks, keeping busy with everything due all at once. Feelunique.com sends up to five make-up samples a month with orders, so I choose these products in addition, and they arrive in a small sachet, which is just a one-time-use. (They came separately from my main order.) Here's the items I bought. Read below for a description.

Lottie London Glitter Switch transforming lipstick in 'dream on': This is a brand I became familiar with on the high street, and I was attracted to the packaging and the products immediately. This is a purple berry shade of matte liquid lipstick, and it promises to be non-transfer and provide a three-dimensional effect.

Too Cool For School Pumpkin 24K Purifying Mask: This is a facial mask with 24k gold flakes and pumpkin extract. This is the perfect autumn facial purifying mask.

Too Cool For School Pumpkin 24K Gold Mask: Similar to the purifying mask cream, this pumpkin gold mask contains 24k gold and pumpkin extract to create a perfect autumn mask.

TonyMoly Magic Food Banana Sleeping Pack: This is a banana facial cream that does its work while you're sleeping. The product smells like banana and comes in a cute miniature banana tube.

TonyMoly I'm Red Wine Sheet Mask: This wine sheet mask from TonyMoly promises to moisturise skin, and it can be kept in the refridgerator to cool before using.

TonyMoly I'm Avocado Sheet Mask: This avocado sheet mask from TonyMoly promises to moisturise skin, and it can be kept in the refridgerator to cool before using. 

Holika Holika Pure Essence Sheet Mask in 'Cucumber': These cucumber sheet masks help to cool, soothe, refresh and moisturise skin.

Lottie London glitter eye foil topper in 'faded': This is a glitter-effect eye shadow that can be used on its own to create a glittery appearance or on top of existing eyeshadow to create a semi-transparent glitter appearance. The colour I purchased is a bronze colour.

Lime Crime Diamond Dew 4.1ml - Limited Edition in 'Tinsel': This long-lasting eye shadow is a limited edition product in what appears to be a dark blue colour (though pictures show up to more more of a green colour). The glitter eye shadow can be used on its own or on top of existing eye shadow to add more 'pop'.

Moschino Fresh Couture Pink Eau de Toilette: This little spray bottle (to mimic cleaning products) for perfume is on-trend with good product design, and tha tis what drew me to the product. I decided to purchase the small size of the product to try it out. It is described as a fruity scent that uses grapefruit and cassis. 

Bubble T Mentos Rainbow Mini Fizzers: These bath fizz balls are for fans of Mentos sweets and scents, and I like Mentos, so the product appealed to me when I could try these fruity scents in the bath.

Urban Decay Vice Special Effect Top Coat in '3rd degree': This product is a top coat to wear on lips on its own or on top of existing lip stick to create a special glimmer. The colour that I ordered is a gold-brown shade.

Zoella Beauty Watermelon Lip Oil: This product from Zoella promises to hydrate lips, and it has been created with watermelon seed extract.

Holika Holika Honey Sleeping Pack Blueberry: This sleeping mask uses honey and blueberry to help repair skin and keep it youthful while you sleep. It smells of honey.

The sample products that I received include:

Lumene Glow Reveal Peeling Mask: This mask promises to hydrate skin as well as to give it a glow.

Thalgo Nutri Soothing Rich Cream: This company produces moisturising cream made from ocean to help keep skin in top condition. 

NUXE Insta-Masque Exfoliating Mask: This facial mask comes from French company Nuxe, whose products I have used before. I wanted to try this exfoliating mask.

Antipodes Certified Organic Rejoice Light Facial Day Cream: This New Zealand-based company provides skincare products with natural ingredients, which I thought we worth a try with this day cream moisturiser.

Aurelia Cell Revitalise Day Moisturiser: This day cream from Aurelia is made in Britain with organic ingredients, and I've used this brand before and wanted to try the moisturiser.

Since I discovered his first street art murals in London at the beginning of 2013, Italian-born street artist ALO has become one of my favourites. For the past couple of years, I have been photographing his new work, but I had not actually uploaded any of it. This post contains the new paintings and ones that I have discovered last year and others that I discovered previously but have not posted before.

ALO's work is always evolving slightly. His newest work uses pastel colours.

Some of his work in the past couple of years was painted with blue and red with black lines on white background.

And here's some of his older work that I photographed. In some cases, his work did not last long before it had disappeared or been stolen from the streets.

Additional work by ALO featured on this blog:

ALO paints new street art near Brick Lane
ALO returns to London and paints abstract portraits (2015)
ALO: 2013
'ALO Part 2'
'ALO part 3'
'ALO Part 4'

The KRAH is an Athens-based street artist who started on the graffiti scene in the 1990s, and he's now living in London. I've added some of his street art in previous posts but never saw much of his work at one time around London until this summer. This year, he's painted several walls around east London, which I have managed to photograph.

The KRAH are inspired by disorder and paint a grafitti style with colour and the use of illustration with some grafitti-tagging styles.

The below mural was one of their older pieces that I've not show-cased on this blog until now.

Let me know if you are aware of any additional pieces from them this summer. The above is what I could find, and it's mainly concentrated in Shoreditch and Spitalfields.

Shok-1 is a London-based street artist who uses spray paint applied thinly in order to build up stencils; I've watched him paint before when I worked on Brick Lane. In more recent years, he has procuded street art that appears to be a series of x-ray photographs. It has been over a year since we saw him produce anything on London's streets, but he was back this summer to create his most recent piece in Star Yard off Brick Lane. The most recent piece is named "Lost and Found" and features an x-ray image of a hand reaching down to a red heart (now looking a little faded) on the pavement below.

Previous work by Shok-1 on this blog:

Shok-1 Paints "Broken Heart" on Ely's Yard Gate
Shok-1 Paints "Masterpeace for Rememberance Day and "The Future is Rubbish"
'Elvis' by Shok-1
Shok-1 'MasterPeace' Street Art
Street Art: Shok-1
Street Art Round-up: Spring & Summer 2015
Street Art Round-up in Early Spring 2014

Last week after a busy work day, I popped along to the Secret Spritz Garden hosted by beverage company Fentimans in order to try some cocktails. Fentimans sells old-fashioned cola, rose lemonade, and other sparkling drinks with traditional flavours, and I've been a fan of the rose lemonade for awhile. They have recently started to get into the tonic and flavoured gin/alcoholic beverage market with some of their traditional flavours and created new flavours. The Secret Spritz Garden was set up to market these new flavours and their use in cocktails.

The Secret Spritz Garden was located in Clerkenwell for nearly the whole month of August, set up in between beautiful herbs and wildflowers in St. John's Church square. In addition to the cocktail experience, visitors could take different workshops in working with the flavours and ingredients, take a painting class, and listen to live music.

I had Rose Spritz, created with their rose lemonade drink and topped up with Prosecco. I also tried the English Country Cup, which was their take on a summer drink with Pimm's and their elderflower and rose tonic. Both cocktails were refreshing.

Fentimans Secret Spritz Garden pop-up is now sadly over. It was only open from 8th to 29th of August. However, their receipes for the cocktails can be found online, or you can buy their beverages or pre-mixed gin and tonic drinks.

Berlin-based street artist Thierry Noir is credited as being one of the first street artists with his colourful faces appearing on the Berlin Wall in 1984. The Academy Of Art Summer Show at Protein Studios in east London recently hosted Thierry Noir's artwork, and east London has recently become an outdoor gallery with some new walls being painted with Noir's colourful faces and other walls being refreshed with his previous work. 

Protein Studios had a lot of his work for sale, and I visited it after opening night; on opening night, there was quite a crowd.

One of the buildings painted was near the old Boundary Estate at Browns; the back side of this wall contains a paste-up from a year or two ago.

Rivington Street had this piece on a door and also some on Pizza Pilgrims at the corner of the street.

I believe that these two murals were freshened up as they had been there for a few years now. Both of these are on Rivington Street.

Further along and near Hoxton is another face.

This wall was painted on Luke Street in Shoreditch.

This face made an appearance on Brick Lane.

This one appeared at the end of Redchurch Street, replacing an older mural. It's hard to photograph this one as there's road work plus someone always parks out the front of it.

Outside Protein Studios is this piece.

Here are some more shots from inside Protein Studios.

Just a couple blocks away, you will find this on Holywell Street.

And this on (I believe) Curtain Road.

And, going back to Rivington Street, this building was repainted with Thierry Noir's faces. It was nice to see new work on this building, and an older Noir piece is opposite it.

I beleive that these are all of the new new pieces painted by Thierry Noir on his visit, and he's got plans to come back to London in November, so we will be seeing more of his work then. Keep checking back for updates.

More street art by Thierry Noir on this blog is located in the following posts:

Thierry Noir Paints New Murals in London
Thierry Noir and Street Art at Shoreditch Food Village
Street Art in Soho by Paul 'Don' Smith, Broken Fingaz, Amara por Dios, Thierry Noir, and others
Thierry Noir's Shop Front on Shoreditch High Street
Thierry Noir's New Murals on Rivington Street
Thierry Noir, RUN, and John Dolan Murals at the Museum of London
Street Art: Thierry Noir

Now that we are in September and having cooler days after the hot weather at the end of August, summer is feeling increasingly behind us. I've been noticing that the colours of the leaves have started to change slightly. I don't want summer to be over just yet, so I thought that I would bring you an update featuring Peggy Porschen Cafe on King's Road. 

Peggy Porschen's cafe opened nearly ten years ago in London between Sloane Square and Victoria Station and has since become a hit with celebrities and visitors to London who wish to grab a photograph of the attractive pink corner cafe front, which is often decorated with floral displays. I first visited last Christmas (A Christmas Visit to Peggy Porschen Bakery) and then again in February (February/March Heart and Floral Designs at London Shops). 

Due to the success of the first branch, Peggy Porschen's Cafe on King's Road opened in the spring this year, and I went along not long after it opened to check it out (Easter at the New Peggy Porschen Cafe, King's Road). I was in the area a couple of weeks ago in the warm weather and stopped back in for a drink and a cupcake. I had the summer berry cupcake and pink lemonade, and the cupcake looked stunning and was delicious.

I also checked out the summer decorations. The pink cafe catches a lot of visitors because of the pink building and the beautiful floral displays. If you're visiting London and like seeing the trendy places, Peggy Porschen is probably on your list of places to visit.

This Peggy Porschen's Cafe branch is generally quieter than their busier branch around the corner from Sloane Square/Victoria Station.