November 2021 Archives

Silverstone's Lap of Lights have returned for a second year this year but have rebranded from "Lap Land" to "Lap of Lights". The idea is still the same in that drivers drive around the Silverstone Circuit to see different light displays. This year had different displays to last year with an "around the world" theme where visitors tour through Europe, the U.S.A., Asia, and the Arctic. For last year's photographs and write-up, see: Silverstone Lap Land.

The start of the light trail depicted Europe with London buses, Italian and French cars parked along the track, a lit-up Eiffel Tower, a replica of the Italian job heist with Minis along the track, and snowglobes with different Italian cities depicted inside them.

This continued to the U.S.A. with different scenes inside and on the side of large trucks.

From here, we continued through some light displays with moving lights.

We saw some lit-up pyramids and Chinese-style lanterns and colourful lights that changed into different colours.

From here, we went down the main straight where there were different colours of lights on the ground, in the air, and smoke machines.

The end of the trail brought the Arctic and Santa waving from a log cabin.

Since there aren't any restrictions this year, we could visit the Lodge in the main building at Silverstone where live music was set up alongside street food, a bar, and other activities (axe-throwing, ice skating, etc). 

Previous year's light display at Silverstone can be seen below:

Silverstone Lap Land (2020)

Located in Devon, Knightshayes Court is a grand Gothic-revival Victorian mansion with parkland. The house is considered to be quirky in design and not to everyone's taste; it is the work of William Burges. The garden and parkland contains a varied collection of 1200 plant species, and there is also a walled kitchen garden. The first house was built in the later 1700s for Benjamin Dickinson, who was a wealthy merchant and mayor or Tiverton. The current house was built about 100 years later and slightly up on the hill to avoid views over a lace factory and other factories in the area.

One of the people that lived in the house most recently was Joyce Wethered, a female golfer. The house contains a room with some golfing items and information dedicated to her.

Knightshayes Court has been owned by the National Trust since 1972 and opened to the public since 1974. All of the flowers in the house are fresh from the gardens as the last occupants of the house specified to the National Trust as a condition. These fresh flowers made such a huge difference in showing off the beauty of the rooms.

I first went to explore the walled garden and was surprised to see some late summer flowers in bloom during my mid-September visit and the start of the harvest of pumpkins, squash, and grapes.

After exploring the walled garden, I had a walk to the mansion. It is probably a five minute walk away from the walled garden.

There are some interesting gargoyles on the front of the house.

The entrance hall or great hall has high ceilings and painted with designs and a lot of detail.

This led off to some smaller rooms.

We were told of the game room and the different carved figures around the room are different animals designed as the "seven deadly sins".

The dining room had a few paintings, though some of them are suspected as being fakes. The ceiling has been carved and painted with mottos around the top of the ceiling, the fireplace, and so on. I think that this strong sense of detail and taste was not appreciated by everyone. 

A smaller octagonal-shaped room showed off some ceramics and additional paintings. This is the "Morning Room". It also had nice views along one side.

On the other side of the Morning Room is the library. The library is a beautiful room with carved and painted ceilings and opened into another dining area.

Through the library is another dining area with a fireplace that has a lot of detail carved into it, and this opens into a sun room and conservatory area. This room contained some paintings and expensive furniture.

There are some nice views from the gardens, and the parkland does span on for miles.

The gardens along the side of the house are set in little "rooms" with a different theme of each, such as hedging or ponds. Beyond this is more parkland with sculpted landscape and planted trees.

I enjoyed the visit to Knightshayes and enjoyed seeing the house and the gardens. Unfortunately, we were not able to see the full house open due to the pandemic, so hopefully it will be open when I next am in the area to visit it.

Off of the Devon coast and in the mouth of the Bristol Channel is a three mile long and one mile wide island called "Lundy". The small island has a tiny corner shop selling the basic necessities (and doubles as a post office), pub, a few lighthouses, and a chapel. The island is popular with rock climbers, hikers, letterboxers, and wildlife enthusiasts. Some stay on the island overnight, and the power is switched off between midnight and 6:30 in the morning, and phone signal is also sparse. This is a place to switch off from the rest of the world. The island has a population of twenty-eight people (by the 2007 census). The island is owned by the National Trust and managed by Landmark Trust.

I had an early start at Ilfracombe, leaving just before 8:00 in the morning. The sun was out.

Further along, some sea life was spotted. A few dolphins decided to follow the boat and jump around us. We stopped to watch them for several minutes.

We approached the island at high tide.

A couple of seals were bobbing along in the water at the dock.

Nothing really prepared me for the big walk up to the top of the island from the docks. This walk is intense. But once up on top of the island, it's relatively flat.

We passed a house. A lady came out of the house and was carrying a bag. She explained that there was a bird in the bag, and they were going to let it go. She said the name of the bird, but I do not remember. She said that we were welcome to watch, but we declined and continued up the hill. The next building we passed was the church. St. Helen's is the church on the island. It's a fairly large church for a small population.

The island of Lundy has been occupied since early times, and some of the carvings on stones on graves and around the island date from the 5th and 6th centuries.

We then passed the postbox on the island, which is in the wall of the pub. Lundy has its own post service with a "puffin" stamp, which is a collector item. As the visit was a Sunday, we had to wait for the shop to open.

The Marisco family have connections to the island with a castle in their name. In 1235, one of the family killed Henry III's messenger and an agent working on behalf of the family attempted to kill Henry III. The family fled to the island and built a castle. The pub is named "Marisco" on Lundy and serves drinks and food at select times. The island was also home to monks and pirates. Pirates would capture people and sell them as slaves.

We opted for a breakfast in the Marisco pub. It is filled with sea-related items, including items salvaged from ship-wrecks.

My primary goal was to do the letterboxing. One of the letterboxes is in the pub.

After collecting the first letterbox, we walked around the island to discover others. The views are breath-taking.

Lundy has seen a lot of shipwrecks. "Jenny" was a ship returning from Africa, and the only survivor was the first mate. A cove on Lundy is named after this ship. The "Montagu" was another ship, crashed in the early 1900s. There are some abandoned cottage remains on the island and a little quarry.

The remains of a German Heinkel bomber is located on a flat section of land. The plane crashed in 1941, and the surviving Germans burnt the plane so that it would not fall into enemy hands. 

We crossed to the other side of the island - the side facing the open ocean and not Devon. It was here that I saw a large herd of brown goats. There are officially more goats on the island than there are people...

This area of the coastline had beautiful views and rock formations.

We ran out of time to look for all of the letterboxes, but we did locate about seven. We headed toward the lighthouse to get back to the "village" where there is another letterbox.

Unfortunately, I could not climb the stairs as I am afraid of the heights. The bloke had to do it.

We had enough time to get some drinks at the pub and write some postcards. I didn't realise that there was outdoor seating at the pub, and I only discovered it afterwards. This chicken looked happy hanging around the pub garden.

I posted the postcards in the Lundy post box.

We then headed back down to the docks. I am glad that we got there early. This was not my idea of fun. The tide was out when we got to the docks, and the only option was to climb down this ladder to get to the speedboats. At the bottom of the ladder was the open water. I dislike heights and water. These are two fears. The next time that I return to the island, I will have to make sure that it is at high tide (and leaving at high tide) or I take a helicopter.

The seals were firmly planted upon the rocks as we left Lundy island.

Now I've just got to return and complete the letterbox hunt. All of the letterboxes cannot be done in one day on the island. We had between seven and eight hours on Lundy. The only solution would be to stay on the island for a few days and hope for good weather on those days.

It has been almost ten years since the remains of Richard III were discovered underneath parking in the centre of Leicester, and I remember reading about it and seeing the story unfold on the news. There's now a museum, "Richard III Visitor Centre", on the spot where the remains of the king were discovered, and I could not leave without visiting the cathedral next door as that is where his remains were later interred (in 2015). I love history, and the story fascinated me, so I really wanted to see this exhibition when I was in Leicester over the summer. I happened to visit the attraction on a special day for King Richard III - the day that he was buried all of those years ago (1485) and also the day his skeleton was discovered. This special day was marked with white flowers at the spot where he lay buried for hundreds of years.

The attraction opened in 2014 following the discovery and formal identification of the king. He was the last king killed in battle, and the site he was buried was Greyfriar's, a chapel in a monastary complex. The complex was destroyed sometime after 1538, and there were some accounts that bones were thrown into the river. On the first day of the search, Richard III's body was discovered, but they were not then aware of the discovery. The attraction is across several rooms and features a film with some excerpts of the Shakespeare play, history of the king and lineage, the battle that claimed his life, how his remains were discovered and then verified, and the portrayal of King Richard III in the media as a villan and inspiration to other characters. One of the most evil is that King Richard III is credited for murdering his nephews, who were only small children. They disappeared, but their skeletons were discovered in the Tower of London. Richard III is thought to be responsible for this.

A replica of the skeleton is on display, and visitors can see just how bad the spine was. At first, those who discovered the skeleton did not know it was the king, but they noted the age of the skeleton, age the body died, injuries to the back of the skull, and the medical condition scoliosis. Richard III suffered from scoliosis, which is a condition of a curved spine. All of these fit the profile of the king. To formalise it, they traced back DNA on the maternal lines via Richard III's sister and concluded that the skeleton was Richard III. Also to note that the feet of the king are missing due to foundations work in the Victorian age, but they thankfully did not move the rest of the body.

In addition to the DNA profiling, the face of Richard III has been reconstructed. The person who reconstructed it did not know the skull was Richard III's skull, so it is remarkable how much his likeness in artwork replicates to the model created (see below). However, I think as he was unpopular, some of his depictions would have been less than flattering of him.

The final part of the exhibition was to see the place where he was discovered. This is its own room with the area exposed with glass fit over the top. The area of his grave is lit up and imposed with light model of the bones to see how his body had lain in that grave. He was buried quickly, so not much care was given to his burial. 

As mentioned earlier, the white flowers can be seen below to mark the special day.

A monument is located in the room adjacent, memorialising the king who lay forgotten beaneath a car park for a very long time.

Richard III was buried in Leicester Cathedral as per court decision in March of 2015, though it was not a popular move for others who thought his home of York or notable Westminster Abbey would be more appropriate. I visited the cathedral.

Leicester Cathedral (also known as Cathedral Church of Saint Martin) was built on Roman ruins and was mentioned in the Domesday Book. The oldest parts of the cathedreal date to the 12th century, but the building today is mainly Victorian.

Leicester Cathedral is a modest size without too rich in decor compared with other cathedrals. Its walls are whitewash but the arches retain their stone colour.

The stained glass is beautiful. I had a wander around the different areas of the cathedral.

Richard III's grave is marked in a prime location in the church with a slab of marble that has a cross cut into it. This looks like a sword when looking at it from below, I was informed. It looks much nicer in real life.

That marks the end of my journey to locate King Richard III and to understand more about the king and how he died and how his body came to be discovered hundreds of years later. A mystery of the king's remains are now solved, and people in future generations can learn about the king.

This year was a low key Thanksgiving Day for me because I had to work for part of the day. It is a long story, and I don't want to go into it on this post. Anyway, I visited Ye Olde Greene Manne in Rickmansworth for Thanksgiving Day after work. I first visited this pub a little over a month ago for Sunday Roast. This time, I had the "festive menu" for Thanksgiving and had a tukey meal with vegetables, a tomato soup to start, creme brulee for dessert, and a bottle of champagne.

Quite a few Sundays ago (sometime in early October), I visited this pub for the first time and had Sunday roast.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my readers.

Thanksgiving Day 2020 (Lockdown Edition)
Thanksgiving Dinner at Riding House Cafe
Thanksgiving Day with Benjamin Franklin House @ Clothworker's Hall (London)
Thanksgiving Lunch @ Jackson + Rye, Chiswick
Thanksgiving at The Jones Family Project
Thanksgiving at Balthazar (Covent Garden)
Thanksgiving at Christopher's Restaurant in London (Covent Garden)

My first ever visit to Montacute took place in mid-September. Montacute is an Elizabethan house with gardens and parkland in Somerset, and it is maintained by National Trust. The house was completed in 1601, and it has the longest Long Gallery of its kind in England and houses over sixty Elizabethan portraits. The grounds have been used as a filming location for various productions from "Wolf Hall" to "Sense and Sensibility". The owner of the house obtained wealth through lawyer positions in Parliament and acted as prosecutor during the Gunpowder plot.

The house was built on land that once belonged to Montacute Priory. The owners did not have fame for very long, and the house was sold and ended up being gambled away by another family. Items were sold, leaving the house an empty shell. It was acquired by the National Trust in the late 1920s.

The mansion was built in an "E" shape, which was one of the common plans for Elizabethan houses. 

The Great Hall is built with Renaissance style stonework. 

The Drawing Room and Parlour lead off of the Great Hall.

The Great Camber is furnished as a library today and is one of the most impressive rooms in the house.

The anteroom is a small room with paintings and leads off to other rooms, such as the main bedroom. The main bedroom was used in the early 20th century as a bedroom and included a plumbed bath which is hidden in a wardrobe. The bath appeared in a boxed in room.

Here are a couple of other bedrooms on the first floor.

One of the rooms contained an exhibition of stitchwork. These were bought and collected, and the human element best explains their history. Girls would learn this art and practice it in their free time. These pieces of cloth would be practiced on and kept in the girl's possessions with the other items. They would continue to learn their skill. Flowers seem to be the most common. A lot of these were used as gifts with messages stitched on some of these. 

The main feature of the top floor is the Long Gallery, which is 52 meters long. It is the longest surviving Long Gallery and contains various vantage points to look over the grounds. Long Galleries were features and used as entertaining and exercising in poor weather. The rooms off of the Long Gallery contain exhibits from the National Portrait Gallery. Only a couple of the rooms were open, and these rooms showed prints of Tudors and Stewart monarchy.

There are over 300 acres of grounds. The yew trees in the garden have been trimmed for a "melted" shape, which was inspired by snow in 1947.

The grounds outside of the formal gardens were filled with sheep.

Montacute House is a pleasant house with grounds, and I was happy to explore the rooms and to look at the paintings. I also learned that this type of house is a common style of Elizabethan architecture and layout.

The towns of Lynmouth and Lynton are positioned along the coast in Exmoor, Devon, and these towns receive a lot of the tourist trade. In 2020, I made my first visit through the towns and visited the picturesque Valley of Rocks. I'd planned to park there and walk through the town, but the weather was not particularly great in my visit this past September, so I used the parking in Lymouth. I visited Lynmouth Gorge first before doing a little bit of shopping and then heading to the Lynton Cliff Railway.

Lynmouth is located at the mouth of the coast - the Britsol Channel - and has quite a few shops that cater to the tourist trade. Crafts, alcohol, sweets, souvinirs, and light bites can be enjoyed here. Lynton is at the top of the steep cliffs.

Further along is the Lynton Cliff Railway, a funicular railway that takes visitors to the top of the very steep cliff, saving their legs. Normally, there would be amazing views up here, but the weather was not the best and had low visibility.

At the top of the cliffs (Lynton), is a small green hut that serves teas and light snacks. I managed to get afternoon tea and a light bite for the bloke for our lunch.

I had a wander around the shops at Lynton.

On the way back to the car, I had a quick look inside the model railway. I will have to go in and have a proper look next time, but there is a model village and train set and a lot of stuff in here, and it all looks interesting. Unfortunately, the car parking is advance payment, and I ran out of time.

Oh, and this isn't Lynton or Lynmouth particularly, but outside of the towns are cattle that graze on the moors on Exmoor. 

For more information about Lynton and Lymouth in this blog, see:

Valley of Rocks

Back in 2015, a few Mexican street artists came to visit London ahead of an exhibition, and they left several wonderful new artworks around London's walls. A few years ago, I came across one of the remaining ones that was painted at that time and was still visible, and it was a collaboration between street artists Acaro and Libre HEM. I've been recently going through all of my unpublished street art photographs, and thought that it was time to post this one. I recently covered both artists before who worked on this collaboration, and the links are included at the bottom of this write-up.

The black and white illustrations of animals is the work of Acaro. Animals are often depicted in his work with birds being a popular subject. The heads of the creatures appear to be skeletised.

This compliments Libre HEM's work well with the heads also having their own form in his colourful geometric style of painting.

Libre HEM's work is colourful and often features animals that are formed with geometric shapes and colours. Order and chaos are used in his artwork, and bright colours are often used. In the style painted in London, the upper part (heads) of the animals are formed with geometric colourful blocks. 

Both styles come together to create a natural scene with a fox hunting a hen with other hens or parts of hens painted on adjoining walls. 

Posts about some of the other street art by Mexican street artists, including Libre HEM and Acaro, that appeared in 2015 at the time that the above piece was painted:

Stinkfish, Acaro and Mazatl Street Art
Mexican Street Artists Take Over London Wall 
Fusca and Mazatl Street Art

The area I live (west London) is surrounded by so many wonderful choices for meals out. I don't actually go out a lot, but sometimes going out for a Sunday roast is a treat. I don't have to prepare, cook, and clean up afterwards, and the house isn't left smelling of food. The Coy Carp is a Vintage Inns pub chain and is the first pub that I visited after I moved into the area. The pub is situated in the bottom of a valley between the Grand Union Canal and a river (River Colne) on its own little "island". The entrance is approached across the river via a bridge, and there is some outdoor seating. (Previous posts about the pub can be seen at the end of this write-up).

The pub was always quite popular and does get busy, or it used to. I would have the occasional meal here until one day a few years ago when I was served chicken that was too-well-done that it was chewy and flavourless, and I have a rule that if I could cook it better, I won't return. (Okay, that makes me sound like a bad cook, but I expect that people who have been employed to cook should be able to make something edible at least.) This led to giving the pub a miss for perhaps four years until I had heard that the quality had improved, so I decided to head over for Sunday lunch.

I ordered the chicken, and I think the bloke had pork (or maybe it was lamb). The roasts are served with gravy and seasonal vegetables - onion, broccoli, onions, peppers, zuchinni, grean beans. Roasted carrots, potatoes, and Yorkshire puddings were provided on the plates. I found the food to taste nice, and it was not over-cooked. There were plenty of vegetables, which we could not possibly consume, but I guess it is better to have too much than not enough.

For dessert, I had the chocolate brownie. Vintage Inns chocolate brownie is always rich and gooey (or at least the few times that I've ordered them). This really goes down well with the ice cream, and it came with a chocolate shard too.

For Sunday roasts, the Coy Carp did deliver. I would visit again. For additional posts about the Coy Carp in Harefield on this blog, see below:

Festive Sunday Lunch at the Coy Carp, Harefield (Middlesex)
Dinner at the Coy Carp in Harefield (Middlesex) 

After several years of nearly going and one year of cancellation, I finally was able to tick another item from my London bucket list: watching The Lord Mayor's Show. The day is packed with a parade starting on the river and continuing into the streets, events, and fireworks in the evening. The fireworks and procession on the Thames were cancelled this year. The parade still went ahead, though, after its cancellation last year. The show dates back over 800 years. This year sees Alderman Vincent Keaveny elected as the 693rd Lord Mayor of the City of London in 2021.

The Lord Mayor's Show has only been cancelled a couple of times in history, and the last time before last year was in 1852 due to Wellington's funeral. 

The parade is made up of livery companies, charities, bands, and military and defense personnel. The important figures, such as the Lord Mayor, arrive toward the end of the procession. The Lord Mayor arrives in a gold-plated beautiful state coach.

In addition to all of the livery companies and charities in the parade, there are additional historical aspects retained. Gog and Magog are two wicker giants and known as the guardians of the City of London and have been carried in the procession since the time of Henry V. It was common to carry effigies of pagan figures (or perhaps victims to play in the rituals) in these parades in ancient times, and that tradition is carried on today.

Another quirk of the parade is the Great Twelve Livery Companies. Livery companies have been added ongoing through the years, but the first twelve include Mercers (usually associated with exports/imports of luxury cloth materials), Grocers, Drapers, Fishmongers, Goldsmiths, Merchant Taylors +, Skinners +, Haberdashers, Salters, Ironmongers, Vintners, and Clothworkers. Other livery companies can be asked to participate. The order of the Merchant Taylors and Skinners has been known to cause a disagreement, so they alternate sixth and seventh place yearly.

Overall, it was a good day. I could have stayed and waited for the parade to return to the City or watched it from another location on the return journey. Perhaps I will see it later one year and watch the fireworks, if they are ever set to return. 

Street artist JimmyC has recently returned to London to paint in Shoreditch off Curtain Road. This mural is called "Vaccine Nation" and depicts nurses giving vaccines with the blue NHS as the primary colour of the artwork, which is relevant to what is going on this year. JimmyC's work in London has become well-regarded with high profile status in the past decade - a portrait of Usain Bolt during the 2012 London Olympics, a David Bowie tribute painted in Brixton that became an icon after the signer died, and various other murals. Miraculously, one of east London's oldest murals is from JimmyC and still exists a few blocks away on Whitby Street, and it was painted a decade ago now. You can find all of these pieces in the links at the bottom of this post.

I also spotted the below mural of a portrait some time ago, but I cannot remember where it was located. Both murals use the artist's trademark painting style featuring paint daubs.

More artwork by JimmyC that I have posted about in this blog are:

London Cityscape at Blackfriars by JimmyC
JimmyC Swan Street Art by Borough Market
JimmyC Updates South Bank Shakespeare Mural
JimmyC Paints Wall of Hearts to Honour Victims of Borough Market Attack
JimmyC Paints "Royal Wedding" Mural for St. Christopher's Place
Mick's Hands
'Open the Mind'
JimmyC Redchurch Street Heart
JimmyC Paints Shakespeare on South Bank
Street Artist JimmyC Paints Caledonian Road
RIP David Bowie & An Afternoon in Brixton
New Mural in Ever-Changing Shoreditch by JimmyC
New 'Spring Offering' Mural by Bailon and Sliks (JimmyC, Zadok Sonar Uno)
New JimmyC Mural on Joe's Kid (Cafe), Fashion Street
JimmyC Street Art - New Inn Yard, Brick Lane, Hackney Road
New Street Art by JimmyC
Street Art: JimmyC

Mexican street artist Stinkfish, who was born in Columbia, has previously painted a few murals on London's streets and has exhibited some of his work in the past. The artist has recently painted a new mural on the popular Hanbury Street wall off of Brick Lane. The new mural uses the bright colours and geometric shapes to create a side-on portrait of a boy. Further down the street, visitors can see another mural that was painted by the artist a few years ago (Stinkfish Paints Hanbury Street Ahead of "Portraits in Transit"). Stinkfish's style is easy to identify as his portraits use bright colours and geometric shapes. The portraits depict strangers that he has photographed without the subjects knowing, and they are transformed into wonderful works of street art across the world.

Previous work by Stinkfish that I have covered in this blog can be seen below:

Stinkfish Paints Hanbury Street Ahead of "Portraits in Transit"
Street Art: Stinkfish, Acaro, Mazatl

Street artist JimmyC painted a mural at Blackfriar's station (on the south bank) a year ago in October. The mural, titled "London Cityscape" had been in planning for a few months with the viewpoint of the mural from the point that it was painted (Blackfriar's), and it depicts the skyline with the Shard and other recognisable buildings.

JimmyC (James Cochran) is a street artist who lives in London but was from Australia. He uses an impressionist style of painting that is easily recognisable, and other murals by him can be seen across London, such as the Shakespeare mural on the south bank.

More artwork by JimmyC that I have posted about in this blog are:

JimmyC Swan Street Art by Borough Market
JimmyC Updates South Bank Shakespeare Mural
JimmyC Paints Wall of Hearts to Honour Victims of Borough Market Attack
JimmyC Paints "Royal Wedding" Mural for St. Christopher's Place
Mick's Hands
'Open the Mind'
JimmyC Redchurch Street Heart
JimmyC Paints Shakespeare on South Bank
Street Artist JimmyC Paints Caledonian Road
RIP David Bowie & An Afternoon in Brixton
New Mural in Ever-Changing Shoreditch by JimmyC
New 'Spring Offering' Mural by Bailon and Sliks (JimmyC, Zadok Sonar Uno)
New JimmyC Mural on Joe's Kid (Cafe), Fashion Street
JimmyC Street Art - New Inn Yard, Brick Lane, Hackney Road
New Street Art by JimmyC
Street Art: JimmyC

London-based street artist Fanakapan has been known in more recent years to paint chrome and foil balloons across London's walls. In the week leading up to Halloween, a new mural appeared at the popular Pedley Street wall off Brick Lane. This work, titled "BITER", shows a vampire balloon staring at a pink neon smile emoticon. I love seeing work by this artist, and I am glad to see this wall reclaimed with some great street art. I watched as the artwork was being completed.

I also snapped a photograph of another mural that I discovered by the artist peeking out from the Star Yard wall onto Brick Lane. Fanakapan has painted in this location before, so it is good to see that the wall has been refreshed with another balloon face. 

Located on the Essex coast east of London and in the Thames estuary is the town (designated 'city' at the time of the publication of this post) of Southend-on-Sea. I visited Southend-on-Sea over the summer in order to see the hare sculptures placed around the city (Hares About Town Hops into Southend-on-Sea) and to explore somewhere new. This was my first visit to Southend-on-Sea.

While I was off searching for the hare sculptures, I was able to explore the the area. I did know that Southend-on-Sea is famous for its beach, though I did not expect it to be nearly as big and filled with attractions as it was. 

The centre of the town from the train stations feels a little derelict, in my view. Everything comes to life down along the coast. Actually, I did walk north of Southend's Victoria Station, and there are quite a lot of nice areas and parks in this direction, such as Prittlewell Priory and the beautiful gardens (A Visit to Prittlewell Priory, Southend-on-Sea: Lockdown Edition). 

Of course, there's all the large rides and amusements along the seafront at Southend. There are so many rides for all ages, and as it was a warm and dry summer day during the summer break, it was pretty busy. I walked up the coast, and I spotted a funicular lift to the top of the cliffs. It did not look like it was running on the day, but I am not sure.

The tops of the cliffs are beautiful with gardens and a Victorian promenade style. I stayed at the bottom of the cliffs and doubled at the top of them on my walk back to the pier.

I stopped for an ice cream, which was delicious. I will not name the place because I went back into the cafe to have another lemon sorbet and witnessed (along with another two customers) as one of the women staff took the partially-eaten sorbet and emptied it back into the ice cream machine. Now, I'd contacted the company about this on a couple of different platforms, but it has not been responded to. I will also note that others have complained about the same exact hygiene issues at the cafe with the description of the same staff member. So, I will not be recommending it because hygiene should be taken as a priority - particularly in today's world with the pandemic.

From here, I climbed stairs to the tops of the cliffs and walked back toward the pier. The views are lovely from here, and I could see the pier and lovely gardens and buildings.

There are so many green areas to sit around to enjoy the views.

The war monument at the top of the cliffs is impressive with beautiful flowers.

A statue of Queen Victoria overlooks the sea from the clifftops.

I headed back down the stairs so that I could go to the pier. I am not sure what these little castles are for in the gardens, but I liked them.

I wanted to do the pier train ride as I had never been on a train ride on a pier before. I wanted to get across to post a postcard because posting a postcard from the end of the pier will be postmarked with a special stamp. Visitors have the option of the return journey with the train or can walk one way. I actually had no idea that the pier was as long as it was. I did not know a thing about Southend-on-Sea pier, and I am glad that I did not walk back. The pier is so long (1.3 miles long apparently) and a little "scary" because you can see through the wooden boards to the sea below. I had to wait awhile for the train to return to take me back.

The end of the pier has some food and games.

At the very end, there is a sign that tells you that the pier is 1.33 miles long.

You can even play crazy golf on the pier! I wondered how many golf balls ended up in the sea.

The other attraction that visitors can see is the lifeboats at the station at the end of the pier. This is a little shop where visitors can buy gifts or make donations. 

I only had the day in Southend-on-Sea and did not leave too late, but it was a good introduction trip and left me with some thoughts for places to visit and things to do if I were to ever visit again.

Further posts about Southend-on-Sea on this blog can be seen below:

A Visit to Prittlewell Priory, Southend-on-Sea: Lockdown Edition
Hares About Town Hops into Southend-on-Sea

I recently met up with a friend in Dorset, and we had a long walk around the estate and a chat. The autumn colour has come later this year, and a lot of the trees have not yet changed much. It is possible that they will simply fall off, or it could be a late autumn like we had in 2019 when the trees finally changed at the end of November. This autumn has been a wet one, but we managed to have a dry day for our walk around the estate at Kingston Lacy. The last time that I visited Kingston Lacy was for the snowdrops walk in 2019! This was my third visit to Kingston Lacy as I had visited twice with friends in 2018 - once during the summer when I toured the house and once at Christmas for their winter illuminations, which were free to members.

The estate walk is approximately three miles long, and it starts off on the edge of the cattle pasture.

I've been into the house at Kingston Lacy twice - once to see all of the rooms and once to see only a few of the rooms that were open and decorated for the holidays in December.

The walk bordered the pasture for awhile before circling around into forest.

As you can see from the photographs, the leaves are starting to change with the orange maple below.

In the forest was a large holly bush full of red berries.

By the time we came near the end of the circular estate walk, it was mid-afternoon and starting to look like it was going to get dark with the sun low. Darkness is the downside to this time of the year.

More posts featuring Kingston Lacy on this blog:

I spent a day at the Country Living Christmas Fair in London this week. The Christmas fair is organised by "Country Living" magazine, and it aims to bring together advice and workshops along with a shopping experience. I visited the fair with a VIP ticket, and this enabled me to do a bit of shopping and put my items in the special cloakroom, enjoy free hot drinks and Prosecco all day, and have a place to sit. As with any of these events, lack of seating and long queues for the food is a problem, so the VIP ticket is worth it. The Christmas fair was held near Angel station at the Business Design Centre.

Workshops can be attended with a cost associated with them, but I did not bother. I had planned to attend some of the discussions and demonstrations, but I ran out of time. There is so much to see, and I spent my time looking around the different sellers between returning to the VIP lounge to have a seat and a glass of Prosecco. 

When I arrived, I took a few minutes to relax and enjoyed a glass of Prosecco and a slice of carrot cake. The drinks were included with the cost of the VIP tickets, but any food was an extra charge. The carrot cake was delicious. I had a lemon tart later in the day, but it was not nearly as nice.

I spent a long time looking around the different vendors. The food items were all located below the VIP area, and it was a smaller space. I purchased some gin, oils, a knife with holes in the blade that cuts through items easier, chocolate, cheese, a cat food monthly subscription, and a subscription for a weekly meal delivery company. There were so many other items to purchase from clothing to jewellery, candles to crafts, decorations to artwork, body care to experiences, home goods to craft supplies. It took the whole day to see everything, and I parted with a small fortune.

I headed back to the VIP area for a late lunch, and I had the thyme chicken and a cold potato salad that came with it. There were a couple of other cold sides that I could have had, but I dislike beetroot and the salad came with dressing.

Overall, I had an enjoyable day looking around the Country Living Christmas Fair, and I did struggle a little bit with heavy bags. Part of the problem was that all VIP members receive a large goody bag on the way out, and it contained a few heavy items. 

Masala and Coal (also known as Masala Coal) is a pub restaurant located near the Ruislip Gardens underground station on West End Road, and they are known for their Asian (Indian)-style tapas and cocktails. The restaurant opened three years ago after an unpopular pub was transformed under new management. My first visit to Masala and Coal was during the height of the pandemic last summer once some restrictions were lifted and indoor dining was permitted. It was recommended for its cocktails, and two-for-one cocktails were good.

We had a selection of tapas-style food, and this included naan bread, rice, skin-on fries, chicken, and lamb.

After the delicious food and cocktails last year, I saw that Masala and Coal decided to run their first ever bottomless brunch on Halloween with a Halloween theme. The bottomless brunch included bottles of Prosecco.

There was a slimmed-down menu for the bottomless brunch, and the brunch is a three-course menu with the bottomless Prosecco. I ordered the Chilli Paneer, and the bloke ordered Nairobi's Crispy Bhajita, which is a spicy potato in batter and fried. I preferred the potato to the paneer, which I didn't care much for the flavour. 

The main course was a choice of burger, and the bloke had lamb while I had the chicken. The burgers came with fries and half of a corn cob. The burger, fries, and corn was really good.

The last course was the sweets, which was a disappointment. I was expecting Halloween-themed sweets as stated in the advertisement, but we received a selection of store-manufactured sweets consisting of macaroons, profiteroles, eclairs, and cream slices with a few dollabs of whipped cream. The eclairs did not taste fresh, but overall the dessert was a disappointment.

The decor in the pub-restaurant is trendy with neon, plenty of plants, and dark walls.

I'll definitely be back for cocktails and food.

In 2019, Australian street artist JimmyC (James Cochran) painted a mural of two swans near Borough Market, and I discovered them after visiting the area recently. The swans are located in a railway tunnel on Redcross Way, virtually opposite Borough Market. 

More artwork by JimmyC that I have posted about in this blog are:

JimmyC Updates South Bank Shakespeare Mural
JimmyC Paints Wall of Hearts to Honour Victims of Borough Market Attack
JimmyC Paints "Royal Wedding" Mural for St. Christopher's Place
Mick's Hands
'Open the Mind'
JimmyC Redchurch Street Heart
JimmyC Paints Shakespeare on South Bank
Street Artist JimmyC Paints Caledonian Road
RIP David Bowie & An Afternoon in Brixton
New Mural in Ever-Changing Shoreditch by JimmyC
New 'Spring Offering' Mural by Bailon and Sliks (JimmyC, Zadok Sonar Uno)
New JimmyC Mural on Joe's Kid (Cafe), Fashion Street
JimmyC Street Art - New Inn Yard, Brick Lane, Hackney Road
New Street Art by JimmyC
Street Art: JimmyC

A sunny day makes exploring National Trust properties much nicer, and I had some sunshine when I visited Lytes Cary in Somerset in mid-September. Lytes Cary is a manor house with a chapel and gardens, and the manor dates from the 14th century (although it has had parts added to it throughout the centuries). The chapel was constructed in the mid-1300s. The name of the property comes from the Lyte family who lived at the manor house for over four centuries, and 'Cary' is the name of the river.

The Great Hall at the manor was added in the 15th century, and renovations restored the house in following centuries after it was leased to farm tenants. In 1907, Walter Jenner purchased the house and restored it with 17th and 18th century furniture, tapestries, and paintings. Many of the rooms were used to store farm equipment and barrels of alcohol. The house was left to the National Trust in 1948.

A small "chapel" room in the manor house backs onto the entrance of the chapel, and a small window here permits servants and others to observe communion from the house. 

The chapel can be entered once you have exited the house.

The Parlour was restored with wood paneling.

In the Great Chamber, the ceiling has plaster decoration with the family coats of arms. The wall displays the royal coat of arms and Tudor roses, symbolising loyalty to Henry VIII.

A little room off the Great Chamber contained a "campaign bed", also known as "knockdown furniture". These items could easily be folded up and transported, and they were used primarily for traveling armies and date from Roman times (or before). The owners wanted to retain the sense of luxury. The room itself is so tiny, and I couldn't get a great photograph of the bed, but the room is only large enough for a single bed.

Another bedroom contained red wallpaper and four-posted bed.

The 17th century gardens had disappeared by the time that Jenner purchased the house, and there is record of a varied orchard. New gardens were constructed with an Arts and Crafts design. The gardens were laid out in a series of 'rooms', and these 'rooms' are separated by hedging. An orchard makes up one of the 'rooms', and another 'room' features a fountain. 

The garden at the front of the house is called 'Apostle Garden' after twelve trees planted; the twelve trees were planted over 100 years ago. This garden, when looking from the house, leads to a 'water tower' feature beyond the gate, but the 'water tower' was actually built to imitate a dovecote.

There are lovely views around the gardens.

The parkland around the house was the site of a deserted medieval settlement.

I enjoyed my visit to Lytes Cary and found it to be a nice property to visit with several different picturesque views.

Bonfire Night 2021 is a go! Last night, I headed over to the back of McGovern Park in Ruislip to get some photographs of the fireworks display. I had planned to buy tickets, but they wanted a negative test for COVID, so I had to wait for the tests to arrive, and by the time they did, the tickets were sold out. I ended up in the park behind McGovern Park with about thirty or fourty families at least. I did not know just how close to the fireworks I was until they started going off. Then, after a couple of minutes, I looked down from my camera and the sky to see part of the tree and something on the ground on fire. I was being pelted by ash and bits of firework. I moved away and watched the place where I had been standing light up with more sparks that descended from the sky. Yes, so I am a novice at fireworks. They were banned privately with health and safety at large displays being strict. I made it out okay, though!

In terms of "Bonfire Night", it has become less about the bonfire and more about the fireworks. McGovern Park did have a bonfire that you could see through the fence, but there wasn't a place to get a good photograph of it. The shouts and voices from the funfair rides could be heard before the show.

Tonight, the Ruislip Rugby Club had their annual display, which was unable to go ahead last year. I was going to go, but I decided to watch them from afar. None of the photographs came out as good as the ones I took last night, but that was to be expected.

Covent Garden became home to a public art exhibition in October by artist Whatshisname (also known as Sebastian Burdon). Burdon created giant dog balloon sculptures, and these were placed at various locations around Covent Garden. Burdon is an artist from Poland, and his work has exhibited worldwide. This installation follows the earlier Chila Burman neon sign artwork that took over the market hall this summer (read about it here). 

It's nice to see Covent Garden decorated with flowers again and busy, and I took some photographs of the different displays on my last visit. I enjoyed walking through Covent Garden when I worked on the Strand, just before the pandemic hit.

There are four balloon dogs to see. The first one I came across is a green one, called "Happy Balloon Dog", and it is crouched next to a balloon.

Another "Happy Balloon Dog" is in an orange colour, and instead of crouching next to a balloon, it is crouching next to a pumpkin. This balloon dog sculpture is located inside the market hall.

The next two sculptures are stretching balloon dog sculptures. One of these is red, and the other one is yellow, and these face each other outside the front of Covent Garden market.

The balloon dog sculptures were only on display until the end of October.

Crome is London's first cafe serving exclusively French toast and hot drinks. I love French toast, so this cafe was right up my street. Nestled on James Street in St. Christopher's Place (just north of Oxford Street), Crome is nestled amongst several other cafes and restaurants with ample seating indoors and outdoors. Visitors can enjoy savoury or sweet French toast. The savoury comes in different flavours, including a Flamin' Cheetos and cheese flavour, an avocado and egg hollandaise flavour, and a black truffle and mushroom flavour. The sweet flavours include berry and Lotus Biscoff flavours.

Visitors also visit the cafe for the colourful hot drinks, including bright purple Ube lattes and red velvet or Oreo hot drinks. There are also different flavours of lemonade and cold drinks to enjoy.

Crome only opened its doors this summer and gained a lot of interest on social media.

I visited on Halloween weekend and ordered the berry sweet French toast, which came with a syringe of strawberry compote. This was a Halloween special. I ordered a strawberry lemonade to drink.

The French toast is delicious, and I have to make it back to try some of the other flavours of French toast.

All Saint's Day (All Hallows' Day) is on November 1st, the day after Halloween, and it is observed in Christianity as a day to celebrate all of the saints. The following day (2 November) is known as "All Souls' Day", which commemorates those who have departed. Some countries consider November 1 as a holiday, and families often light candles and put flowers on graves. The day was most likely observed as a replacement or Christianisation of the Celtic pagan harvest festival Samhain.

In Poland, families celebrate All Saints' Day by remembering the dead. Families visit cemetaries and memorials to light candles and leave flowers. Ruislip in West London is noted for RAF Northolt where squadrons of Polish pilots helped defend the skies. Many lost their lives, and a memorial is located off a roundabout on the A40 into Ruislip. Known as the Polish War Memorial, the memorial commemorates the squadrons by name, location, and battle. The walls of the memorial contain all of the known names of those who gave their lives. Each year, people who live in the community visit the Polish War Memorial to light candles and pay their respects.

Sutton Hoo is the famous ship burial of an East Anglian king from the 600s. The story of Sutton Hoo has appeared in a documentary called "The Dig" earlier this year, and I believe that this has brought more people to the National Trust-owned site in order to explore the story.

The site contains a visitor centre, replica ship sculpture, and two exhibition areas. Visitors can also explore the burial area or have a walk in the grounds near the river.

When I arrived, I headed toward the burial mounds first. These are located a short walk away, beyond the home that the owner lived in during the excavations.

Edith Pretty was living in the house, which overlooked the earth mounds from the southern windows, when she requested for the excavation work. She had an interest in archaeology as excavations were made when she was a child. The Woodbridge Flower show has a discovery in 1937, and this rekindled her interest in the mounds. She hired local archaeologist Basil Brown to do some work. Some of the mounds had been robbed.

In the summer of 1939, he went to work on the largest of the mounds at Sutton Hoo. It ended up being an Anglo-Saxon ship burial, and the grave robbers did not dig down far enough to discover the treasures. In August of 1939, Edith Pretty donated the finds to the nation. The UK prepared for war, and the escavator Basil Brown covered the ship trench to protect it. 

The new observation tower was only opened up a week ago when I visited Sutton Hoo in early September. The tower can be climbed for views over the mounds.

The landscape of Sutton Woo was settled for at least 3,000 years. Before the mounds, the lands were farmed, and 1,400 years ago, the land became a sacred burial place by the Wuffing dynasty. Each mound was a memorial to an individual who had passed. After the Anglo-Saxons, medieval farmers used the mounds as rabbit warrens, and robbers stole from them in the 17th century. Gradually, farming and other activities reduced the height of the mounds. The mounds would have been much higher, and one of them has been reconstructed to its original height.

The great ship burial mound contained a 27-meter long ship with space for 40 oarsmen. The markers at each end of the mound dictate its length. The wood rotted away in the acidic soil, but the iron rivets remained in place. The ship burial was a symbolic ceremony for the deceased king to take his next journey to the afterlife. The possessions were located along the king's body in the boat, including the iconic Sutton Hoo helmet.

The burial is thought to be King Raedwald, who ruled East Anglia in the 600s. After the Roman occupation, Germanic and Scandinavian people (known as Anglo-Saxons) came to live in parts of England. King Raedwald died in the 620s, and he had an impressive ship burial in the customs of the time in his ruling dynasty of Wuffings.

After visiting the mounds, I walked back to the house to see the exhbition inside the house. This talked about the excavations of the burials and those involved. The first iron rivet discovered as a piece of iron with five additional ones in a position, marking the stern of the ship. It is on display in the house.

Some of the original objects are located at the British Museum, but there are replicas and some original objects at the museum at Sutton Hoo. The findings are the considered the greatest treasure discovered in Britain. The helmet is a replica.

One of the mounds at Sutton Hoo contains the grave of a young man buried with his horse. Weapons and harness for the horse was included in the grave. He was of high social standing and semed to be valued by the king due to the lavish items in the grave.

The king's grave contained a purse with several golden coins and other gold items, placing them within northern Europe. The items in the graves connected East Anglia with the rest of the world - garnets from India or Sri Lanka and items from throughout Europe. 

Ship burials were common in Sweden, and the helmet and shield in the grave may have been gifts from connections with relatives in the North Sea. 

In addition to the expensive items, there are buckets and remains of bowls from funeral feasts. Some of the other mounds contained cremated human remains.

The visit to Sutton Hoo is fascinating and contains a lot of information about the items discovered and their importance in this area of England.