June 2022 Archives

I planned a birthday visit out in the middle of June and visited Snowshill Manor in the Cotswolds. The National Trust owns and manages Snowshill Manor (once a monastary), and this property is completely unique to others that I have visited. The reason why it is so unique is that it is essentially a museum and contains collections of hand-made items that collector Charles Wade, who was known as an artist and eccentric, collected during his life. He set up the manor house as a museum of these wonderful items and lived in a modest home next to the manor. 

Snowshill Manor became a National Trust property in 1951. The manor house dates from the 16th century, and on the estate are a dovecot, brewhouse, garden buildings, and cottages. The land that the estate is on belonged to Winchcombe Abbey, given by the king of Mercia after Roman rule in 821; Britain was divided up into areas with Mercia being a large kingdom in the middle. In the 1085 Domesday Book, the manor was mentioned, and it was also then gifted by Henry VIII to his wife Chatherine Parr after the monastaries were removed in the mid-1500s.

The manor is located a ten-minute walk down a hilly trail. In the opposite direction, visitors can enjoy a bite to eat at the cafe. The trail contains several viewpoints, and sheep graze in the fields.

There is a walk up to the manor with fruit trees and wild meadows.

The oldest part of Snowshill Manor was built in 1550, and these were the last few rooms explored. Additional rooms were later constructed to the house. Farmers lived in the manor for awhile, but Wade purchased it in 1919 after he saw the estate advertised in a magazine during the war.

The collection that Wade put together contains over 22,000 objects. Amongst the items are the "room of 100 wheels" (bicycles and other items), Samurai armour, toys, clothing, tools, musical instruments, carved bone-made games pieces, cabinets, and a wealth of curiousities. All of the items are hand-made with skill.

Visitors to Snowshill Manor need to book their time to see the manor in advance as it has limited numbers and is not open every day. The first room to see upon entering is the Turquoise Room, which is pictured below. One of the famous samauri statues is also located in this room so that visitors can see it in better light. Apparently, it was used in some promotional material for the estate recently. There is also a carved ship from Asia depicting a brothel ship, which I heard one of the volunteers discussing.

Items made from carved bone are located in a cabinet below.

Everywhere you look, there is something unique to see. It is impossible to see it all during a first visit.

The samauri room was one of the most memorable.

There was a room filled with items of fashion. Wade himself loved to dress up in different outfits to humour his guests.

The original model village that Wade built can be seen on cabinets above.

There were a couple of rooms filled with toys.

This is the room of 100 wheels.

The final interior photographs below are the oldest rooms of the house.

As the manor itself displays the collection built up over a few decades, Wade himself lived in the Priest's House next door. This is a modest home, and it is said to be haunted by a monk. Visitors could only peer through the windows as they are blocked off from entry. Photographs of this modest home are below.

The gardens at the estate were created in the early 1920s with inspiration from the Arts and Crafts movement. Wade created a model village to display in the garden, and the original buildings are located inside the manor. Wade built it between 1907 and 1914 and installed it to amuse the daughter of a writer friend. The model village even has its own name - Wolf's Cove. From 2012 until 2018, National Trust volunteers worked at re-creating the model village from photographs, and this was installed at the site in 2018.

The exit is down the hill with the gardens and orchard. 

I found Snowshill Manor to be an interesting place to visit. I did find quite a lot of the items to be considered creepy for my tastes. I do like how he saved these items as they would not be here today had he not, and that craftsmanship would have been forgotten. 

I think what creeps me out the most about this, other than some of the items themselves, is the personality that they express in the maker. These items were worked by so many different souls in the past, and it feels as though their soul is a part of the item and a part of the house. I am 100% confident that this place is haunted with some of those souls. I would not like to visit alone.

South coast-based street artist My Dog Sighs has painted all over the U.K., and he's got a couple of artistic styles involving eyes, stick figures, and sombre-looking faces. Readers may recognise the "eye" style, which is pictured in this post and which appeared for Re:Claim Southampton last autumn. The artwork is on a brand new wall at Westquay shopping centre in Southampton. The wall is partially-covered and on the edge of the new restaurants and in a walkway to the cinema and indoor food court.

The artwork showcases "Background Bob". "Background Bob" is an alter-ego of 13-year old Noah, who has epilepsy and cerebal palsy. He paints background paintings where other artists would contribute to the foreground or on top of the painting, and his work kicked off during the lockdown. He produced over 200 paintings and published a book for charity. Noah appears in the eye of the artwork.

The artwork that "Background Bob" submitted was on cardboard, so it was recreated on the wall by My Dog Sighs.

Previous work from My Dog Sighs on this blog is located on the below links:

Street Art by My Dog Sighs in Cardiff
Street Art in London from My Dog Sighs
My Dog Sighs on Rivington Street
My Dog Sighs 
My Dog Sighs
Mural in a hidden alley in Blackall Street
Collaborated with street artist Midge
Manchester Street Art
My Dog Sighs @ Bristol Upfest 2015
Artist My Dog Sighs' Hug Mural in Bedminster, Bristol

Street artist Elno, who is from Spain, has painted across the U.K. One of her most recent murals is located in Southampton, painted for Re:Claim Southampton last autumn. She has been paiting in London since at least the end of 2015 and often collaborates with other street artists. She enjoys using bright colours, and the majority of her artwork features faces.

Note that it is not Elno in the picture below; it is some random person who was watching me take some photographs.

More of Elno's work on this blog:

Meeting of the Styles 2018
Street Art Round-Up January 2018
Early 2016 Street Art Round-Up
Leake Street Tunnels 2016
Street Art Round-Up 2015-2016
All-Female Paint Jam in Blackall Street

Mister Samo is a trans artist from Portsmouth who speaks out about gender identity and who has painted and contributed to various LGBTQia+ events, such as PRIDE. Last autumn, Samo painted at Westquay in Southampton for Re:Claim Southampton, a new street art festival that saw street art painted on various walls in the city.

Samo's work is located on a new wall on the side of Westquay shopping centre in Southampton. This new piece of wall is located near the outside restaurant area and near where the new cinema is. There's a small partially-covered stretch of wall extending along Westquay to this new area where there is a cinema and bowling alley.

Samo's work uses bright colours and abstract imagery. 

Hares of Hampshire is a new sculpture trail taking place in Winchester and Southampton this summer. Nearly thirty large hare sculptures, each painted by a different artist with a different style, and many more smaller hare sculptures, have been placed around both cities. The hares will be on display until late August, and I am happy to say that they are all within easy walking distance of each other. The hares will be auctioned off after the trail, and they will raise money for The Murray Parish Trust charity, which is designed to help children who have experienced trauma.

I've taken photographs of all of the large hares in Winchester and Southampton.

"Oriana" - Sally Goodden

"Hockley Hare" - Catherine Ruth Church

"Doctor Who Hare" - Caroline Fairbairn

"The Wishing Hare" - Sophie Hardy

"McGregor" - Paint Barn Ltd; "Rusty" - Allison Allan

"Look Up and Within" - Abigal Wicking Art; "I Wish My Love Was a Cherry" - Tracy Dovey

"Hamish Mackie Boxing Hares" - Hamish Mackie

"Armoured Hare of Winchester" - Jason Curtis; "Mr March" - Illona Clark; "Hare of the Dog" - Christain de Ferranti

"Alloy Jack" - James Murray

"Dazzle" - Kezia Hoffman

"Captain Discovery" - Rachel and Phillippa Corcutt

"Forget Me Not" - Jan Erika

"How Many Rabbits in a Rabbyte?" - Jason Curtis

"Wavy Hare!" - Amy Bourbon

"A Wild Walk on the Downs" - Rachel Alexander

"Hero Hare" - Jenny Leonard

"Carrying For the Natural World" - Raine Yeung

"LEPUS Roman Hare" - Emma Abel of abelmosaics

"Hero Hare" - Jenny Leonard

"H.R. Hare" - Amanda Quellin; "24 Carrot Hare" - John Illsley; "Piette the Hampshire Hare" - Phil Daniels

"Flora and the Midnight Garden" - Marnie Maurri

"Poly" - J Masson

"Hartley Hare" - Jackie Purtill Fine Artist

"Be Your Beautiful Self" - Jenny Muncaster

"Chalk Stream River Itchen" - Wendy Bramall

"Doodle Hare" - Natasha Hillary Art

"Shine Bright Through the Dark" - Reilly Creative

Street artist Perspicere is known for creating art installation pieces made of thread or string. It's always a little tricky to capture these pieces, and they never last too long before being broken and not looking their best. I've come across many of the artist's installation pieces, but by the time I have seen them, they are not looking the best. At the end of last year, Perspicere has been pasting up some new styles created with thread. These feature portraits and other subjects created with thread for the dimension. They last longer than the installation pieces wrapped around fences, lamp posts and railings, though. Below is a selection of the artist's work across east London that I have managed to capture over the past few months. In addition, I have added a couple of older artwork by the artist that feature geometric shapes and can give an idea about the evolving style of Perspicere. 

Some of the artwork has been damaged deliberately or by others passing through.

The oldest pieces in this post actually both date from 2015 and are located on Great Eastern Street on a wall that used to be reserved for street artist murals. The style is in geometric shapes, and we can see the evolution of the artist's work from more crude threads in geometric shapes to realistic portraits.

More artwork by Perspicere that you can see is located below:

Street Art Portraits Made of String from Perspicere
Street Art Round-up in East London

Street artist Dave Bonzai is from the south coast of England and has spent a lot of time in London. He was inspired by hip hop and grafitti, and one of his most popular styles of street art is best described as "liquid chrome". He creates words and symbols that appear to be formed on walls in liquid chrome. A few of the artist's pieces across London can be seen below, although none of these (to my knowledge) exist now as street art gets painted over quickly.

The Postal Museum opened in 2017, and I find it difficult to believe that it's actually been that long! I gave charity to the museum and was able to get a tour of it before it was officially opened to the public and also before it was completely finished. (One of the last elements to add was a series of videos to display on the platform.) Visitors of the blog may remember that post, but here it is again: A First Look at the New Postal Museum. The Postal Museum re-opened to the public again after over eighteen months of being shut, and it was re-opened in August. Those who had donated were encouraged to return. As I had not yet seen the completed museum, I signed up to attend.  

The visit was a "look at your leisure" of some of the static exhibits and information boards, a ride on the postal trains (adapted to take passengers instead of mail bags), and a walk on the rails through the tunnels to see the plaques printed out and nailed to the sleepers for the charity donations. These events are also quite good because all of the members have a story as to why they donated. Some are in memory of others - perhaps a lover of trains or in memory of someone who worked or were associated with these mail tunnels. One of the plaques is for an engagement of two postal workers.

There's quite a lot of re-development taking place in this part of London, and the land opposite Mount Vernon postal site (now the museum) is currently being re-developed. I was also happy to see a large mural on the side of a building here; it was commissioned by the Postal Museum, and the artist is Atma Art. I am not sure what the plans are for the development across the street.

The mail trains have been re-built for passengers. These would haul bags around. The mail tunnels were built to quickly send post through the network. Instead of this going above ground where there were delays, they engineered these series of tunnels underground. There were several stations along the way to send the post across London. I cannot remember how much post was sent per day, but there was a lot more than is sent today. The postal museum was in operation from Victorian times and ceased in the early 2000s. Remember that we did not have email or the Internet or fax machines readily available until more modern times, so any document or correspondence was sent via the post. This is a difficult concept for a lot of people living today to grasp.

Ops. We were told that the "west" and "east" signs had fallen off, and a colleague had put them up the wrong way. 

We had a trip on the rail, which gradually passed by a platform. Some of the tunnels were used for Christmas parties, and children were also invited. A lot of people have contributed to the history of this museum as some of the workers are still alive.

The videos I mentioned in the introduction are a part of the rail journey. The train stops and displays a series of imagery and animations relating to each decade of the London post system. 

On the way back through, a different video was shown. This depicted three different letters of correspondence that made their way through the system. One was a little girl who shared Queen Elizabeth's birthday and wrote her a letter. Another one was a journalist sending a letter to a writer. I cannot remember the third option. Most of the correspondence would be day-to-day and what we would send as emails now.

After the rail trip, we could look around at the static displays and also use some of the interactive displays - such as changing the signals (which I have never been able to get my head around) or sorting mail during a moving platform.

The final part of the visit was to walk through the tunnels. This requires a hard hat and being able to duck or crouch down at certain places where the tunnels are very low. It also requires stepping over the sleepers and track and signals and other equipment and simply watching steps not to trip. 

As always, it was an insightful visit and a historically-important place that is probably under-stated. I think more videos about the history of the museum and exhibitions would be welcome. There's currently a postcard exhibition, and I think having some royal mail memorobilia on display would also be interesting and take it to a new level - stamps, advertisements, a postbox, special ink stamp, etc. Those who love the trains won't be disappointed, and perhaps a model train set showing the tunnels would be nice.

On the outskirts of west London (but still a part of Greater London and within the M25) is a village called Ickenham. Ickenham is the last significant urban sprawl before the countryside, and the Chilterns are just beyond. Ickenham has a small stretch of shops in a couple of parades near two major roads. The village has nice parks and riverside walks, a Jacobean mansion (closed to the public), and a village pong with water pump as its main features. The village has a community spirit with an arts and crafts group busy creating decorations from yarn on the top of postboxes and another group who dress up in dinosaur suits and parade around the town. 

Ickenham Festival started in 1976, and this is its 44nd year as the last couple were cancelled. The festival takes place over ten days with a variety of different events taking place across those days, and the theme this year was a focus on the Platinum Jubilee. The largest day of the festival was this past Saturday as this was Village Day and included a large line up of fair, activities, a concert, and fireworks. 

I started my journey at Ruislip Gardens where there are also yarn-bombed postboxes. The one above was for the Platinum Jubilee.

After arriving at Ickenham, I discovered several postboxes with a village festival theme.

I had to take a photograph of the iconic pump.

The day started shortly after 12:30 with the parade from Swakeley's park to Milton Court Open Space via the main roads. The traffic was not completely shut off due to the town being a popular through-road from various areas, such as Uxbridge, the M40, and Ruislip. This parade started with a small train and ended with a small flat-bed vehicle where a guy was playing a drumset.

Some people made the extra effort to come in the fancy dress as requested by the organisers. The fancy dress was Jubilee-themed.

Ickenham Dinosaurs made an appearance.

There were only a few classic cars, jeep, and motorbikes.

The dinosaurs re-grouped at the entrance to Milton park, where many tents were set up with games, items for sale, and much more.

There were a couple of people on stilts.

There were beautiful flowers.

I watched the children with the maypole.

Unfortunately, the weather was not great even though it had been beautiful all week long. Temperatures were cooler, and it rained a little bit. The main concert was held for the evening, and fireworks were to follow.

The Village Hall had a cake sale and a beautiful Ickenham Fesitval cake with ducks.

After a quick wander around, I enjoyed an all-day breakfast at one of the cafes on the main street.

On the way home, I walked past St. Giles' church, which dates to 1335. I could only peek in the door as a concert was taking place.

For more information about Ickenham, see my post of the river walk from Ickenham to Ruislip here.

To mark the Platinum Jubilee celebrations, a new sculpture trail has been launched in London between Covent Garden and Victoria. The trail, known as "The Queen and Her Corgis" celebrates the beloved corgi breed of dog and the Queen. The corgi has become a symbol of Queen Elizabeth II as she has owned around thirty of them for many years, and they often appear photographed with her. This year, the corgi was used everywhere as a symbol for the Jubilee. There are nineteen corgi sculptures to see in various locations, although the majority of them are around Victoria. All of them are unique and named after one of the queen's own corgis.

The names of the corgis include Carol, Crackers, Dookie, Holly, Heather, Fergus, Jane, Whiskey, Emma, Willow, Tiny, and Susan. Dookie was one of the royal family's first corgis, and he earned the name "The Duke" because he was a cheeky dog. Fergus is one of the newest, and he is actually a dorgi (a corgi cross with a dachshund). Susan is another one of the famous pets because she was gifted to the Queen on her 18th birthday. Below are the corgi sculptures.

"Sandy" - Sophie Malpas

"Monty" - Alison Salter

"Linnet" - Jeremy Clarke

"Crackers" - Berengere Ducoms

"Emma" - Rebecca Hardaker

"Jane" - Rowana Mallett

"Whisky" - Aga Skiba

"Carol" - Jurga Amehome

"Tiny" - Alex Cullen

"Sherry" - Dominika Karc

"Fergus" - Alice Esme Greenacre

"Susan" - Miya Tsuruda-Behan

"Muick" - Vera Todd

"Sugar" - Soul'D

"Willow" - Hannah Sykes

"Dookie" - Kirsty and Brittany Design

"Heather" - Olivia Clarke

"Holly" - Holly Holder

"Honey" - Olivia Brotherridge

The corgi sculptures are each unique and painted by a different artist, and the sculptures can be seen until late July. They have been in place since the end of May.

Last August, I visited the Newarke Houses Museum in Leicester. It is one of the museums managed by the city and includes the museum of Royal Leicestershire Regiment as well as other collections important to Leicester's history and unique culture. The museum is occupied in two buildings: a 14th century chantry house and 17th century Skeffington House. The houses were used during the Civil War but sold in 1908. Skeffington House was a school for boys, and the chantry house a private residence. They were both acquired for the museum in 1953 to coincide with the queen's coronation. The museum is in the middle of De Montfort University in Leicester.

At the back of the museum is a pleasant courtyard of gardens, and it dates from Victorian times with exotic trees and other plants. The end of the garden walls has gun loops cut in by Cromwell's troops during the 1645 Civil War. The front of the buildings contain box hedging in geometric medieval patterns.

In front of the museum is the Magazine Gateway, a listed building dating from 1400 and part of the original castle. It formed the gatehouse, and a wall enclosed the religious Newarke precinct of the city. The wall has been mainly destroyed, so the remaining piece is the gatehouse. It was originally used as lodging, a prison, and a regimental museum. It was closed, but I had a look around it. 

One of the rooms of the museum was left to its original design with wood panels and fireplace. This room also contains a nice collection of very old and original stained glass on display.

The museum includes other collections. Daniel Lambert was an 18th century resident of the city who weighed over 50 stone and was famous for his weight, and there is a collection of his possessions. There was a collection of toys from the Tudor period and collections of industry related to Leicester (clothing) and another collection and information about those who moved to Leicester from all over the world.  

A large collection of items relating to both world wars are also included in the collections, including a replica trench. This reminded me of the one at the Imperial War Museum before it was changed during a recent upgrade.

There is also a 1950's street scene with a number of example shops that visitors could peek into.

I didn't explore the Royal Leicestershire Regiment museum in too much detail, but there was a lot there.

There were also a couple of videos and interactive elements on some of the collections and about Leicester life in general. 

The Abbey Pumping Station Museum in Leicester was constructed in the 1890s as a sewage pumping plant, but it has been a museum since the 1970s. The museum is best described as a science and technology museum, but it also contains a variety of living items. Four working steam-powered beam engines (as part of the pumping station) and information about public health, transport, and more can be seen in the museum.

While walking toward the entrance of the museum, I noticed a little house sculpture. There was an information board to describe this public art. It is Wingerton. Wingerton is a solar-powered spaceship with an alien inside that repeats sounds back. Someone had made a flatulence sound, so it was repeating that when visitors walked up to look at it. It made me laugh. The sculpture was commissioned in 2001 by Dave Young to coincide with the National Space Centre musuem opening. (The sculpture reminded me very much like Dinky Doors in Cambridge: Read more about Dinky Doors).

Outside the museum are several large steam engines or equipment.

A small section of the museum contained products made in Leicester.

Inside the museum, an area about public health focused on sewage and water usage. The exhibits display Victorian toilets, Roman water pipes, examples of a Victorian sewage pipe cross-section with a modern-day sewage cross-section, and more. Another area was on laundry and washing clothing, and another was on bathing. Bathrooms with showers are a relatively modern-day room. 

There was a small cinema inside the museum to reflect histocial cinema, cameras, and projectors.

The beam engines are restored to full working order, and they are switched on throughout the year for special events. The sewage pumping station was built to pump sewage to a treatment works at Beaumont Leys. They were replaced by electric pumps in the 1960s.

The museum is fairly small with ability to read about some of the most interesting exhibitions in about an hour.

Chastleton House, located in Oxfordshire, is a Jacobean manor built at the beginning of the 1600s from local Cotswold stone. The house has an interior courtyard known as Dairy Court. It played a famous part in the Civil War as the wife of the home drugged Roundhead soldiers to save her husband who had been fighting in the battle at Worcester but escaped and rode back to the house after the side he was fighting on lost. He escaped while the drugged soldiers were sleeping.

Visitors to the house can see it as it was left to the National Trust in 1991 with all of the items owned by the family also given to the National Trust and left on display. The family occupied the home for over 400 years with the last owner living in only a couple of the rooms, and the rooms were left untidy. The house remained largely uncared for with a lot of repairs needing to be made. The family generally did odd fixes themselves, but they largely left things as they were. They were more focused on the arts than keeping a clean and uncluttered home.

Another famous fact about Chastleton was that it is considered the birthplace of croquet in the mid-1800s.

The house is used as a filming location, and "Wolf Hall" was filmed at the property.

The house is accessed down a small hill where sheep were roaming. It is about a ten-minute walk to the house from the parking and visitor centre. 

The first room was the great hall, and we were given a quick introduction to the house and its later occupants here.

The White Parlour was a favourite of the rooms with a lot of natural light and garden views.

The Great Parlour was left primarily as it was without changing tastes as the family lost a lot of money in the Civil War. There is a tapestry on the opposite wall that was made in Lille in France. 

I enjoyed the nice touch of freshly cut flowers in many of the rooms, and there were also a lot of house plants on display in various rooms, particularly in the hallways.

The Great Chamber was one of the most impressive rooms and left largely untouched. Tourists would come to visit the house before the National Trust acquired it. The carved paneling has a row of imagery depicting religious figures from Christianity and from the Classics along all walls.

Sheldon Room was another room that was lived in by the last owner and her twenty cats and one parrot. The tapestries helped to keep the heat in. Saucers of milk were left near the fireplace for the cats, and you can see where the boards are stained.

You can see the stained floor near the leg chair below.

The library housed a collection of books that country houses often had - from legal books to setting up tenants and then general history books. We were told that some of the books contain cat claw marks. On the table at the back is an important bible that is said to be read to King Charles I before his execution. In the table in front are a collection of a series depicting the king's life from younger days to his execution.

Another of the rooms that the last owner would show to tourists is the Cavalier Room, pictured below. It has since been wallpapered, but the back doorway is where Arthur Jones hid when he was followed after the defeat at the battle of Worcester. The Roundheads followed him, thinking he was the king. He hid inside the room, and with the help of his wife, Sarah, he out-smarted them. She fed them alcohol that made them tired, and he escaped. 

Today, the little room contains a trunk. It is called a "trunk" because it was made from a hollowed-out log, fastened together with hinges.

The Long Gallery would have been used for exercise, balls, and to display portraits. At the back of the gallery is a cabinet filled with items discovered under the floorboards. these items were mainly toys because this is where the children would come to play. The Long Gallery is important because it is the longest one with a barrel vaulting of its time that survives today.

The kitchen was left largely untouched. It was never painted because the family believed it would bring bad luck.

Through the kitchen is a storeroom and stables with a long ladder that can reach the roof of the house.

From this door, visitors can access the gardens. There is a small kitchen garden and more formal gardens with some parkland. The iris flowers were in full bloom.

After visiting the house, I had a walk back up the hill with the sheep next to me.

That concludes my visit to Chastleton House.

The Royal Standard of England pub, located in the Beaconsfield area of Forty Green (Buckinghamshire), is considered to be England's oldest pub. The history of the site of the pub, which is detailed from Roman times to the modern day, is located on the backs of menus and on the pub's website. The pub was an inn where visitors travelling across the country would stay for the night, and dangers back then were the highwaymen who terrorised the roads to steal from travellers. I visited the pub on my birthday, but my camera had run out of battery, so I had to use my phone to take the photographs, and it doesn't do it any justice. 

This pub is comprised of many small rooms or areas with quirky shapes and features. 

We were sat at the back of the pub where we enjoyed a birthday drink. There's so much to see in the pub - all sorts of quirky ornaments and the original features of the building, including the fireplace that I was sat next to.

The bloke had whitebait to start, and I had cheesey garlic bread.

I had the chicken pie, and the bloke had sausages.

For dessert, I had the eton mess, and the bloke had ice cream. 

The food was ok, but the atmosphere and quirkiness of the pub was the real enjoyment here. The chicken pie was mainly pastry and a little too cooked. It was served with a lot of gravy to add flavour to the mash potatoes and pie. The eton mess was ok, but I make a better eton mess. It needed more fruit and coulis. (The 'coulis' used appeared to be strawberry syrup.) It seems that places do not make anything special anymore, since the pandemic, for birthdays. Gone seem to be the days when they'd give a candle or write "happy birthday" on the plate in syrup.

It's that time of year again to celebrate another year of getting older. This weekend, I celebrated my birthday weekend with a group of friends, and we headed over to Beaconsfield to enjoy bottomless brunch at Prime Steak and Grill. The bottomless brunch at this venue was something that I had been looking forward to visiting from late last year, though additional lockdowns or potential lockdowns but a stop to booking it at the start of the year. So, it was booked for my birthday weekend instead. Overall, it was an amazing day.

Visitors can enjoy unlimited prosecco or two types of spritz for ninty minutes. 

To start, we were presented with a group of sweet and savoury pastries to have one each of each type. This included miniature pain au chocolat, croissants, and cheese scones. Butter and strawberry jam was provided too.

I had the berry pancakes, and others had steak and chips, waygu burgers, halloumi burgers, or the breakfast option. The pancakes were good but not as good as previous brunch venues; they needed more berries and compote and cream as the pancakes were quite dry. There was not enough of the cream and berries in the ratio.

One of my friends told the venue that it was my birthday, and a creme brulee came out with a candle and a birthday message, which was really amazing!

After the brunch time was up, we headed next door to Revolution bar where we had some shots and cocktails. 

Then we headed back to my place for some drinks, and it ended up being a late night.

That's another birthday done now for another year, and this was a really nice one this year. It's the first one where I've actually gone out with friends and had an actual party.

Bottomless brunch seems to be the craze for the past three or four years, and it's a great excuse to get together with friends. Ten is one of Ruislip Manor's newest venues where visitors can get food and drink. The restaurant is modern inside with marble-effect walls and tables and slate-effect bar trimmed in brass. It's a modern version of art deco. This particular visit took place at the end of April.

Bottomless brunch takes place over an hour and a half when visitors can enjoy unlimited Prosecco or spritz, or you can pay a surcharge for a choice of two unlimited cocktails.

To start, each table receives a selection of sweet and savoury items with butter and strawberry jam. Cheese straws, croissants, and pain au chocolat were presented to us, and they were delicious.

I had the berry pancakes, which were equally delicious.

After the brunch unlimited drinks, we stayed a bit longer and had a cheese board and selection of cocktails.

More brunches are coming soon!

Over a warm and sunny Easter weekend, I visited Cardiff Castle along with many others who were out and making the most of the sunshine. This was my first visit to Cardiff Castle, and there are a few things to see here: the old medieval castle tower, the state rooms, the wall walk, and the air raid shelter. More information about each is included below with photographs of my visit.

Before we actually get into the castle, look at that amazing view of the castle from outside the old walls. The wall itself is a tourist attraction in its own right. It is known as the Animal Wall as a different species of animal sculpture is perched on top of the wall. The wall was constructed in the late 1800s by William Burges for the owner of the castle (and other homes in the area), Marquees of Bute. Burges did not live to see the sculptures, but all of the ones placed were approved by Bute. The wall itself was moved after World War I as the street outside had become very busy. 

The animals have inspired some artistic works too, so they are quite famous! Here are the list of animals: pelican, anteater, raccoons, leopard, beaver, vulture, hyena, wolf, baboons, sea lion, bear, lioness, lynx, and lions.

Before going through the castle gate, I had a quick wander into the park - Bute Park - next to the castle. 

Inside the park and close to the river is Blackfriar's priory - or rather, the remains of it. There are markings on the ground and small walls that mark out the blueprint of this medieval friary. It is thought to date from the mid-1200s and was of Dominican order.

Now, to the castle. A red dragon greeted me with views over the gatehouse and medieval castle keep perched on a hill in the middle of the courtyard. I headed to the castle's modern rooms first.

There was a little bit of a queue to enter as it was so busy, but I got to check out some of the rooms in the castle. However, I would suggest to do the castle as part of the guided tour because you seem to see more of the rooms than self-guided. There's only a handful of rooms open to visit if you're self-guided. The first little room was off to the side, and I'd describe it as a little nook.

The house was built in the mid-1400s by Richard Beauchamp, and it was altered in following years before being rebuilt by Marquess of Bute. Most of the interiors seen date from the mid-1800s. Bute wanted the interiors to be decorated in the medieval style.

One of the most lavish rooms is the room inspired by Morocco. It's a beautiful room with high ceilings, gilded in gold, and with a beautiful glow.

The Great Hall was also a lavishly-decorated room.

The dining room is a more intimate room used by the family. It has biblical scenes.

After entering the dining room, the next room is the Drawing Room. It mainly consisted of paintings and furnishings, but these were removed with the castle was given to Cardiff. Now, the room looks bare. So, I headed to the library room next. It was another beautiful room.

After completing the castle tour, I decided to go to the keep next. This is up a very street flight of stairs, and you have to wait for anyone coming the opposite way (down the stairs) first as it can only accommodate one direction at a time. It was a bit of a wait.

Look how steep that is...

Climbing up, I managed to get some photographs. The keep is surrounded by a moat.

Once at the top and inside the keep, there was a set of stairs to look over the keep. The keep is the oldest part of the castle and dates to the 1000s; the timber structure was replaced with the stone keep you see today in the 1130s. The building was actually never completed, but it housed other buildings inside.

On a clear day, you can see for miles. I could see Castle Coch in the distance, although it was a little hazey.

Looking into the castle, the modern rooms are on the right.

I had a wander around the walls where the clocktower is located. The guided tours get to visit the beautiful clock tower, but self-guided tours are not allowed to enter. It was built in the late-1800s.

After visiting the part of the walls near the clock tower, I headed toward the other side of the grounds where there are more walls and the air raid shelters, which are known as the Castle Wall Shelters. They were used as bomb shelters for civilians to go for safety.

The start of these tunnels included some World War II items, such as bed frames and posters and a little shop. There was some commentary about them, which was mainly just audio of planes, falling bombs, and sirens. The tunnels go on for awhile, and it does get a bit boring when turning the corner with the end of the commentary.

Once outside, we were at the gatehouse behind the keep.

I did backtrack a little bit on the walls above where the shelters were because I wanted to check out the walls. 

After walking the walls, that was the end of the tour!

Overall, it was a nice day out to see Cardiff Castle, though it would have been a nicer experience to visit when it was not as busy, and it would have been nice to see the other rooms of the castle that we missed. 

In early December last year, Clifford the Big Red Dog, joined the other much-loved character statues in Leicester Square for the "Scenes in the Square" trail. The sculpture trail was launched in early 2020 as a temporary exhibition, but it has been extended to July 2023. Clifford the Big Red Dog was made popular in children's books, but the star had a film out at the end of last year. The installation is supported by Battersea to raise awareness of rescue animals.

You can see Clifford and the other characters until July 2023 at Leicester Square. They are located inside the square and on top of buildings surrounding the square. Clifford the Big Red Dog joins the likes of Mr. Bean, Paddington Bear, Batman, Harry Potter, Mary Poppins, and many more. Previous posts about "Scenes in the Square" can be seen below:

• Harry Potter Statue Joins "Scenes in the Square"
• Leicester Square's Iconic Film Characters Sculpture Trail: "Scenes in the Square"

Today is the last day of a four-day weekend in honour of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee (along with the delayed end-of-May Bank Holiday) in the United Kingdom, and what an action-packed four days it has been. This is the busiest that I think I've ever been without really leaving the house! I actually feel like I need a proper break after all of this, but it's back to work tomorrow. The Queen celebrated her Platinum Jubilee today, marking her seventy years of holding the title of "Queen". As the Queen is 96, there is unlikely to be another Jubilee for the Queen; if there was, it would be in ten years, and the Queen would be 106 years of age. The next one would probably be in over twenty-five years as the first Jubilee is held for a king or queen after their first twenty-five years. We are more likely to have a coronation, and who knows if there would even be a Jubilee event after that since the successor is already in his 70s.

This has been a very busy time. On Thursday and Friday, I had to do a couple of food shops to get ingredients needed for the long weekend. I did some cleaning and baking. I made the winning Jubilee pudding, which was a lemon trifle. I also made four batches of chocolate and vanilla cupcakes and iced them red, white, and blue with Queen, Union Jack flag, and edible decorations.

Saturday was the day of a house party, so the morning was spent putting up the decorations and getting ready for it. I also had to get some drinks in and had a quick visit to Eastcote House Gardens to see their celebrations. The horse races, football, and Juilee concert were watched, and it was a great evening. 

Sunday was the day of the street party. We expected rain as the weather was forecast as rainy, but we managed to survive the day without getting wet. The day was just very cloudy and cold, and we didn't see the sun at all. Despite that, we all had fun, and it was a busy day. Below are some photographs that I have taken of the celebrations. 

A Platinum Jubilee yarn-bombed postbox

Krispy Kreme Platinum Jubilee doughnuts

A selection of Jubilee cupcakes by Fiona Cairns

The below photographs are from Eastcote House Gardens during their Platinum Jubilee party. They had various games and attractions, a dog show, and kiosks with items for sale. The dovecote was also open for the first time (that I have noticed) since the pandemic, so I had a step inside.

I bought balloons for the party on Saturday.

There were games and fun on the street today, and below are a couple of photographs of some of the desserts. I also put the trifle and the Jubilee cupcakes out for everyone.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Platinum Jubilee party weekend.

Toward the end of May, I visited InterContinental Hotels at Park Lane in London to indulge in afternoon tea with friends. At the moment, InterContinental Park Lane are celebrating the Queen's Platinum Jubilee with a themed afternoon tea. This could be enjoyed with a glass of champagne or a special cocktail for an additional price. Visitors could choose their tea and a vegetarian or non-vegetarian menu.

I opted for the champagne to start, and I also had the Darjeeling tea for most of the experience. I also tried the Traditional Karak tea from Sri Lanka. This tea is a blend of spices - peppercorn, ginger, cardamon, and cloves. I enjoyed it too. The other tea that I tried went the best with the desserts: No 1 Park Lane. This Sri Lankan black tea is flavoured with vanilla.

The standard menu listed the following sandwiches: trout pate with caviar, salmon eclair with asparagus and watercress, coronation chickn with apricot, slow-roasted vension with truffle and mushroom chutney, and cucumber with cream cheese. The vegetarian menu consisted of aubergine pate and balsamic pearls, roasted vegetable eclair, coronation eggs, roasted courgette with truffle chutney, and cucumber sandwiches.

After the sandwiches and a second helping of them, we had the scones. The scones included plain and fruit with clotted cream and a selection of strawberry jam or lemon curd.

The pastries came last, and they included a selection of Platinum Jubilee designs inspired by the queen and the special day. They feature rich chocolate biscuit cake, which is the queen's favourite. There was also a rhubarb and custard tart with gingersnap biscuit, a strawberry delice, and lemon drizzle cake.

We enjoyed the afternoon tea. The lemon drizzle was the least favourite of the pastries, which we all agreed on. The chocolate biscuit cake was extremely rich but delicious. My favourite was the rhubarb and custard tart.

The four day weekend has now started, and I'm off work for today and tomorrow. I have a busy schedule to get prepared for the street party on Sunday and a party on Saturday, so it's all "go" here. I just hope that the weather is nice, and it's not been great this week. A week or two ago, I visited London to see the decorations for the Platinum Jubilee. To see the Jubilee decorations, head over to the following London areas: Covent Garden, Regent Street, Carnaby Street, and the mall.

Covent Garden never disappoints when it comes to decorations, and the market is filled with bunting and their beautiful plant displays.

In nearby Seven Dials, bunting hangs from the buildings.

Regent Street always decorates with the flag bunting for special occassions, such as the Queen's birthday, Jubilee, royal weddings, Olympics, and more. 

The last stop I made to see the decorations was Carnaby Street, which has its own decorations and display celebrating the Jubilee with a special event. The street contains decorations in silver, rainbows, and crowns.

The shops along Carnaby Street are also decorated as the street are hosting their own party.

Happy Jubilee celebrations! Have a fantastic weekend.

Events and activities are well under way for the queen's Platinum Jubilee this weekend. Last week, I popped over to Peggy Porschen's on King's Road and had their Jubilee cupcake: Jubilee Gin English Rose. The cupcake is made from buttermilk sponge and English Rose Gin syrup, filled with raspberry compote, and topped with gin and raspberry frosting. A raspberry, sugar crown, gold leaf, and a pink flower has been placed on top. It's a perfect summer treat, and their cakes always photograph so well.

One of the downsides to being on my own is that I have to order before I can claim the table. I had spied two empty tables, but just after I paid my order and headed out of the cafe, a couple of people turned up and nabbed the perfect table; one of them went inside to order. Of course, one of them had to sit right in front (instead of with her back to the railing where there was plenty of room and out of the way from blocking the pavement). So, she's made it into my photograph. They ordered only two glasses of wine, and it took ages to arrive. In fact, I managed to take a lot of photographs and finish my cupcake and lemonade and get ready to leave when their order turned up. I guess Peggy's are used to people having cupcakes, tea, and coffee. Anyway, since the pandemic is less of a problem now, the streets are as busy as they were previously and possibly even busier in some parts of the city.

I absolutely loved the flowers on the tables, and this was a tasty cupcake and one of my favourites yet. Happy Platinum Jubilee!