September 2023 Archives

In the middle of August, I visited the outdoor performance of Kynren. It is located in County Durham. This performance, which takes its name from "kin" or "family", shows the history of England through the ages spanning 2000 years and is told in ninety minutes through the eyes of a central boy character who time-travels to the different ages. The performance takes place on Saturday nights over the summer months only, and it ends with an epic fireworks finale. Visitors sit in an outdoor auditorium, which is open to the elements; the show will continue rain or shine, so visitors are at mercy of the weather. I recommend the show.

Upon arrival before the performance, I had a quick look around. The auditorium seats appears like a huge fortress from the back. 

There was an area that looked like a Viking village, which I expected to be open but was not. Before the show, I had a curry pasty.

I purchased VIP seats, which are the expensive ones in the middle. The seats have a little more room than the standard seating and are padded. I tried to get as near to the top as possible in order to see everything going on.

The story started out with a young boy in the mid-1900s playing a game and coming across a portal in the lake. The portal allows the boy to time travel to the different eras, and the story was told from his view as narrator.

The history of England started with the Romans invading and taking over the land, despite battles with native Britons.

The Vikings also featurd with similar raids.

The spread of Christianity also featured as England had some places of pilgrimage.

Also featured were wars between the English and Scottish.

There were also games and jousting from the medieval times.

Henry VIII made an appearance.

Live animals also featured. Sheep, goats, donkeys, ducks, cattle, and horses. It was all done very well.

Of course, English history had to also have a tribute to the bard Shakespeare. This featured Elizabeth I on a boat and a lit-up lake.

Next, we had Queen Victoria's jubilee.

We had the lgend of King Arthur, and we had a steam train too to symbolise the Industrial Revolution.

There was also a dedication to miners in the area and a mining accident.

The show then concluded with epic fireworks and music.

I recommnd a visit to the performance and really enjoyed it.

Fifteas Vintage Tea Room is located in Bishops Auckland in County Durham, and I visited in early August with the hopes of having the afternoon tea. With a tea room, I would expect that tea could be ordered. However, anyone wanting to purchase the afternoon tea has to book it in advance. Instead, I ordered a tea, scone, and a cheese toastie. The menus are provided designed as ration books from the World War II days, and the cafe included a lot of vintage items such as an old radio, an old television, a typewriter, and some vintage toys.

I received a fruit scone with clotted cream and jam. The tea came with a custard cream biscuit.

The plates used I recognised as I bought the set when I first lived in England in 2000, and I bought them from a nice shop in Salisbury that has since closed. The set includes each season, and the autumn one (pictured below) was my favourite of the designs.

The food was decent enough, but I would have liked to have tried the afternoon tea. 

In early August, I visited the ruins of Shap Abbey, which is managed by English Heritage. The abbey ruins are located in a valley in Cumbria, northern England. It was built in in 1199 and was built to replace the community founded twenty miles away near Kendal in the Lak District. The only remaining structure that still stands is part of the tower; a lot of stonework was taken away to built Shap Market Hall and Lowther Castle. The site is free to visit, and a parking area is located at the bottom of the hill where the ruins are situated next to a small creek.

To get to the abbey ruins, I crossed a little bridge.

There was a chicken wandering around the entrance to the abbey.

I wandred around the ruins. 

I found a painted rock with a message on it amongst the ruins.

After exploring the ruins, I headed back to the car. I had kept hearing some planes, and these military planes zoomed past. 

I enjoyed my visit to Shap Abbey.

Last week, I visited The Arth with a couple of friends. The restaurant changed ownership and branding from Masala and Coal, which we all really enjoyed. The new restaurant has less of a cocktail menu and is more focused on healthy food and ingredients. All of the dishes are from India, and the cockails are also inspired by places in India.

I had a spicy cocktail, which was good. 

We ordered some starters. I enjoyed the gunpowder halloumi. After this, we ordered the mains.

Overall, the food was enjoyable with fresh ingredients.

Mayburgh Henge is a Neolithic henge located in Cumbria near Penrith. The henge probably served as a meeting point for the community, and it had at least four standing stones when it was discovered, although only one exists today. The henge is located a short walking distance from Arthur's Round Table. 

King Arthur's Round Table is a Neolithic henge located in Cumbria near Penrith. The henge had two entrances and did have two standing stones, but they disappeared in the 1700s. The henge measures 90 metres in diameter, and there was a smaller henge nearby. Part of the structure was destroyed when building the road nearby.

The site is maintained by English Heritage but free to visit.

Last month, I visited Penrith Castle in Cumbria. The castle is situated a short walk from the centre of the town of Penrith. The site contains the ruins of a castle on a hill, and it is maanged by English Heritage but free to visit. It was popular with many people exploring the ruins on my visit one afternoon in mid-August. The castle was built in the early 1400s, but a Roman fortress stood here prior to the castle. The castle was built to keep away the Scottish. The castle became under the ownership of Richard III, who later became king, and h lived in it for over a decade.

The castle became into ruin after the Civil War. The grounds became a park in 1920.

After exploring the castle, I visited Cranstons Cumbrian foodhall and restaurant, which is located a short walk away. I had a hot chocolate and cookie with buttercream frosting and purchased some items in the food hall.

Have you ever visited Penrith Castle?

I spent an afternoon at Lowther Castle in early August. The castle contains over 200 rooms. The Lowther family became bankrupt due to the extravegance of "The Yellow Earl" in the early 1900s. It ceased to be a home in 1936 and was used during World War II for a secret weapon, leaving some of the grounds covered in concrete. In 1947, one of the largest ever estate sales in the country took place when the contents of the castle were sold. The castle was inherited by a family member in 1953, and it was in great debt. The castle and grounds had started to become a ruin with livestock barns put on the grounds and the roof removed. The castle was in danger of demolition but was saved due to community support and the efforts of the family member who inherited the castle.

Lowther's grounds were once settled by the Vikings as some tombs were discovered there. 

The castle has some rooms that function as a museum or information about the history of the castle and its owners. One of the rooms in the castle was set up as a dining set for when Kaiser Wilhelm came to visit the castle. A bracelet of the Kaiser's image was given to the Kaiser's countess when the Kaiser visited in 1902.

The colour yellow was favoured, and it was used as a colour at the castle.

After exploring the museum part, the route continued outside to the castle ruins. This is now landscapd as a garden.

After exploring the couple of rooms of the ruins, I went on a tour of the grounds and saw the orchard, rock garden, and rose garden. There was also a scented garden and Japanese garden, but these were under redevelopment.

I had a walk up the hill to see the amazing viewpoint at the top.

At the bottom of the hillside is a pond.

Next, I went to "The Lost Castle", which is an amazing children's playground. It is probably the best playground I have ever seen, and I wished to be a kid again so that I could explore and climb it. There was nothing like this when I was growing up.

The castle playground had slides and different climbing frames.

Afterwards, I enjoyed a mint chocolate chip ice cream.

At the beginning of August, I went to Centre Parcs Whinfell Forest for a week. Centre Parcs Whinfell Forest is 400 acres of forest and activity centres, restaurants, a water park, lake, and a swimming area located in Cubria on the edge of the Lake District. There are many different activities for all ages and all fitness levels, and I got to try some different activities and restaurants during my stay.

I did not go swimming on my visit, but I enjoyed other activities. The swimming complex was huge with much of it indoors. It is included in the cost of the stay.

The cabin was nice and included a kitchen and living area as well as an outdoor area with a barbeque. 

A couple of times, a red squirrel came to visit the cabin.

On the first night, I visited the American restaurant Hucks. I had cheesey bread to start.

They also make freakshakes.

I had a chili cocktail too.

Below is a view of the cabin.

The following day, a couple of us went to the pancake restaurant.

I had the traditional pancakes but substituted the bacon with strawberries.

I did a lot of walking while I was at Centre Parcs. I wanted to get my daily exercise. One of the activities I did was the geocache competition task. I also did the field archery, which I really enjoyed. Unfortunately, the weather was not great except for one day, which you can probably tell by looking at my photographs. 

On one of my walks, I saw a family of moor hens with some chicks.

One night, we went to Bella Italia for a meal, and I had the passionfruit cocktail. The restaurant was unique in that the dishes were served by robot waiters. Another night I went to Cafe Rogue, which was the least favourite meal of the visit. On the final day, I went to the Indian restaurant.

Centre Parcs Whinfell Forest also has mini golf, bird of prey exhibits, walks, and several other activities for children. I saw several activities where children could drive cars on an outdoor dirt track or other types on another track. There were also more adventurous activities, such as zip-lining. I do not have a head for heights, so I did not do this.

Another activity was boating, and there were different types of boat.

The zip-lining was high off the ground and an obstacle course for those brave enough to do. I watched as one young girl got frightened to go any further, and they had to absail her down.

I only saw a red squirrel once on my walks, besides the one that came up to the cabin. The weather was not great most of the time, so maybe they were keeping dry.

There were also various areas where birds were fed, and I enjoyed seeing the birds.

On Sunday, a group of us went to have Sunday lunch at the carvery restaurant.

The zip-lining finale was to slide down across the lake. 

Overall, I had a relaxing trip and enjoyed some reading and time out as my life has been quite busy this year.

On my last visit to east London to look at street art, I discovered several clay or concrete electric plug sockets pasted up across east London's walls and street furniture. I did not post below all of the ones that I discovered as they were on many walls, but I kept the best ones. In addition to the ones pasted along various walls, I discovered a huge display of them pasted up in the middle of Brick Lane in rows. Someone had (possibly the artist as part of the installation) smashed many off the walls. 

I am not sure who the artist is, so please let me know in the comments if you are aware.

The City of London put on a reimaginging of the historic Bartholomew Fair this year, and it is taking place over a couple of weeks in early September for the first time since 1855. The fair dates back to the 12th century, although it was very different then than this new reimagining. The fair had a history of over 700 years and was a major event in London's calendar in the past. The 2023 Bartholomew Fair features art installations, performances, dancing, light projections, and cultural events.

I did not get to visit most of the events due to other committments, but I did visit the light projections this evening. The light projections were installed around six different buildings in the City of London from Chancery Lane to Aldgate. I walked between them, and each clip was up to six minutes long. The schedule mentioned that visitors would not need to see them in order, but I thought that they should because the videos are sequenced and follow a story. Each were a short few-minute video featuring a young girl who gets transported back into time to meet some of London's famous residents.

The story started off with a street magician who chants a spell and sends the little girl back into time. This was located in a room with the mannequin taking on facial features from a projection. The little girl is sent back into time and then returns a few seconds later with some items that she gathered from the residents she met. Magicians would have been commonplace at the original Bartholomew's Fair.

One of the projections mentioned Francis Barber, who was a Jamaican servant in the later 1700s, and he inherited a small fortune and books after his employer died. Barber went on to edit the dictionary. The projection shows different letters that fly around and create words.

The second projection was about the Suffragettes movement to give women the right to vote in the early 1900s. The young girl meets some of the women in the movement.

The third projection featured playright William Shakespeare and some of his prose.

The fourth was Mary Frith, a notorious pickpocket and part of the underworld in crime in London in the later 1500s and early 1600s.

The final projection featured Isaac Newton and celebrated other scientists.

Overall, the projections were entertaining and educational. 

From early August to early September, the public could view the contents of Freddie Mercury's former home before the auction at Sotherby's. For those who do not know, Freddie Mercury was lead singer in the band Queen and is one of the most popular singers/group of classic rock music today and spanned several number ones that are still popular. In 2019, his life was made into a motion picture that won international acclaim. The contents of his home (known as Garden Lodge) in Kennsington have been removed to be auctioned off. The exhibition was held for the public to view the items until the 4th of September. Over 140,000 visitors saw the exhibition. 

I visited with a neighbour friend on a lovely warm Sunday at the end of August, and she is a huge fan of Freddie. She is also a cat lover, like I am, and Freddie loved his cats. Although I like Queen's music, I am not a huge fan. We visited at the perfect time because there was no queue to get in, and other people had to wait in queue to enter the exhibition, but we timed it just right.

After his death, Freddie Mercury's possessions came into ownership of Mary Austin. Austin was his lifelong friend and partner, and they had been romantically attached until he came to terms with understanding that he preferred men. She decided to empty the house of the possessions and sell them off now. Freddie Mercury did not want his house to be kept as a residence or shrine to him and wanted her to auction it.

The collection shows Freddie's love of art and culture, and a lot of his work inspired a love for places such as Japan and his love of cats. Amongst the collection were hand-written notes and lyrics from his songs, stage outfits, and much more.

One room showed his love for Japanese culture.

Another room had his dining set and table and also invitations to a party.

Of course, there were several cat-themed items.

And various information about the "Live Aid" concert.

Below is one recognisable bracelet.

He also had a small collection of artwork by Salvador Dali.

Another item was the green door to his home in Kennsington, which became a tourist magnet after his death. People would leave their signatures here, including one of my good friends.

A pop-up cat cafe was also located during the exhibition. The cafe is inspired by Freddie Mercury's cats and his love of cats. There are several photographs around the cafe of Freddie's cats.

After the exhibition, my friend and I went to "All Bar One" just south of Carnaby Street and had a couple of drinks.

The exhibition was interesting, and there were also films on display of Freddie's house and the items inside it to be auctioned.

In early August, I visited Brougham Castle, which is located near Penrith in Cumbria. The castle itself dates from the 13th century, but a castle stood on this site for 2000 years. Behind the castle is the location of a Roman fort known as Brocavum, and it was initially used by infantry but was then replaced by calvary with many of the men from modern day Turkey. The word "Brougham" means "village by the fort". The castle was an important structure during the wars between England and Scotland and was in good shape with the Clifford family as the owners. Kind Edward I even visited th castle. In the 1600s, a new owner had the furnishings sold, and the castle started to fall to ruin. Today, it is managed by English Heritage.

Brougham Castle became a romantic ruin to visit for those who had money and could go to the Lake District. The castle was featured in a poem by William Wordsworth and in a painting by Turner.

There are picturesque views over the castle by the river, and I had a wonderful sunny morning to explore it.

The keep.

Visitors could climb up the keep and walk along the perimeter to see the views.

It was a clear day, so I could see for miles.

On top of the keep, one of the stones used to build the castle was a tombstone. It would have been from the fort below.

After viewing inside the castle, I had a walk around the walls.

This was a lovely castle to view with so much history, and I enjoyed my visit.

When I was in Swindon at the end of August to see the balloon dog sculpture trail, I visited the Designer Outlet. Inside the Designer Outlet Swindon is "The Best Ever Brownie Company" cafe. This cafe started in 2015, but the brownies were the star. The cafe sells brownies, ice cream, and other sweet treats. I bought a chocolate brownie and a Lotus Biscoff filled cookie to take away.

The brownie was gooey and sweet but not too rich. 

I love brownies, but I have a better love of cookies, and this one was sandwiched with delicious buttercream. 

I recommend The Best Ever Brownie Company and enjoyed the brownie and the cookie.

Last month, I headed over to Covent Garden to locate the fifteen gorilla sculptures that have been placed by Tusk, a charity seeking donations to help African conservation. The sculptures were placed in mid-July and will remain until mid-October. Each of the fifteen sculptures has its own unique design, created by an artist or celebrity. Among them include musician Ronnie Wood and comedian John Cleese.

MR JAGO

GORDON CHEUNG

BARNABY BARFORD, JEMMA POWELL

MAURO PERUCCHETTI

CHILA BURMAN, ADAM DANT

SALLY WOOD

SALLY WOOD

HAYDEN KAYS X PETERSHAM NURSERIES, RANKIN

PURE EVIL 

RONNIE WOOD, NICK GENTRY, JON AND JENNIFER CLEESE

HANNAH SHERGOLD

HANNAH SHERGOLD