Stuffed and mounted - 22 February 2009

The weather was not as brilliant as yesterday but good walking weather nevertheless. A shorter walk just outside the M25 took us along a number of ‘lanes’ which may once have seen regular traffic but were no longer used in any way other than recreational.

We have, many times, driven past the sign to the Museum of Natural History in Tring, largely the collection of Walther Rothschild. It is a truly amazing collection of stuffed birds, fish, reptiles, marsupials and mammals all in amazingly good condition and beautifully posed, mounted and displayed. With a free entry it is hard to beat for an intriguing day out.

We were disappointed not to see a kiwi in the huge bird collection but on an upper floor, in pride of place among “Walter’s favourites”, was the kiwi.

Walter had a flock of kiwi and could not bear to leave them behind when he went to Cambridge University so he took them with him. How the other residents of Magdalene College responded to said kiwi invasion is unknown.

Farthing Downs - 21 February 2009

During a recent visit to areas south of London we drove along the top of Farthing Downs and so liked what we saw that we were keen to revisit the area. A book we were given before we left NZ has 28 walks in and around London, and we had done 26 of them. One of the two remaining took in Farthing Downs and Happy Valley so with a beautiful late-winter day at hand we set off to tick off the penultimate walk in the book.

We went via Caterham, once the home of the iconic British two-seater sports car, the Caterham 7. Production has moved to Dartford but a showroom remains.

From there it was off to Farthing Downs to begin our 7-mile walk that took in the North Downs, woodlands, meadows and the village of Chaldon. The pretty little 12thC flint church is home to one of the oldest church wall paintings in England and the churchyard provided a great display of snowdrops.

Hot Water Beach - February 2009

A family wedding called us home to NZ so we boarded an Air NZ 747 and settled in for a 25-hour journey via Hong Kong. With the help of a pill we got some sleep and arrived in Auckland feeling remarkably good. After a family meal we set off for Hot Water Beach on the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsular where we had rented a holiday cottage for the week.

Hot Water Beach is possibly unique in the world as geothermally heated water bubbles up through the sand

and is accessible for two hours either side of low-tide. During that period a small army of tourists gather with their spades to scoop out pools in the sand and create their own geothermally heated spa pools.

As the water seeping up through the sand is 64º C the best technique is to dig in such a way as to allow a mixture of hot and cold water into your pool and, as there are only 2 locations on the beach where the hot water surfaces, the demand for such prime spots is high and the early-birds have first pick.

It is fun to watch the unwary walking barefoot along the beach suddenly break into a hopping quick-step as they, inadvertently, find the location of the springs. It is a wonderful gathering of people from around the globe and as one of the tourists we shared our pool with observed, "Everybody here is smiling."


Nearby is Cathedral Cove, brought to the big-screen in the Chronicles of Narina:Prince Caspian as the place where the children first re-enter Narnia. The shoreline here forms one edge of NZ's first marine reserve and the water is crystal clear. We made two visits to the Cove which is only accessible on foot (30 min walk from the car park) or by sea.

All too soon a week of perfect NZ summer beach weather was over and it was back to Auckland to get the last minute wedding preparations done. On the way we made a brief stop to look at the Square Kauri. Possibly 1200 years old, it is the 15th largest Kauri tree on the Coromandel Peninsular and, although very close to the road, was spared by the loggers in a "gentleman's agreement" because of the unusual square shape of the trunk.

And then, with the wedding over, it was back on the plane for 24 hours via Los Angeles to London, and winter. In contrast to the complete lack of jet-lag effects on the outbound trip, we felt pretty ragged after the return journey.

Left instead of right - 24 January 2009

Dr Samuel Johnson once said, “He who is tired of London is tired of life” and so we never tire of walking the streets and alleys of London because no matter how well you think you know an area you can always find that if you turn right instead of left you will find a whole different world that you never realised was there.

Such was our experience on Saturday when we left Goodge St Station. It is on Tottenham Court Rd, just up from Oxford St, what else is there to know?

Well, the Pollock’s Toy Museum for starters. Tucked around the back, in a couple of old buildings (one with it’s original 1760s’ interiors) is an amazing collection of old toys, dolls, bears, games and so on. Benjamin Pollock was one of the last producers of theatre scenes for two theatres – all hand painted. A toyshop remains to this day and the museum is a rabbit warren of stairs and rooms that spans the two buildings.


Across the bustle of Oxford St one is quickly in Soho Square, a hundred years older than the building we had just left but no longer home to the aristocrats who first built there and soon you are in the middle of the sleaze area of London. As well as being home to some in the oldest profession it is home to Lina Stores, a grocery store that looks unchanged, inside an out, from the early 20th C.


Around the corner is a complete change as you enter Chinatown, bedecked with lanterns for the imminent Chinese New Year celebrations. A couple more corners and it is Leicester Square, home of the movie premieres but, sadly, no longer home to the mechanical clock on the Swiss Centre. The building that housed it has been demolished. Will the glockenspiel clock that had been there for over 20 years, return?

By now the National Gallery and Trafalgar Square are just around the corner and something that we have walked past dozens of times takes on a new significance. The little round construction close to the Tube entrance was once Britain’s smallest Police Station. There may have been room for the Bobby to turn around inside once he had entered but it would be a close run thing.

Ancient Lights - 24 January 2008

On our Saturday walk we came across two buildings with signs simply stating “Ancient Lights”. The fact that one of them was right beside a light fitting that appeared to have come from the 19th century had nothing to do with it.

“Ancient Lights” is a legal phrase that confers special protection to a window. If the window bas been enjoying natural light for over 20 years then it is illegal to obstruct the natural light that the building receives.

We also passed a few other ancient lights as well; a couple of them were gas-lamps.

Kensington Palace - 18 January 2009

Amazingly, we had never visited Kensington Palace even though it is only about 5 minute’s walk from where I work. So we decided this was another omission to correct and set off to visit. Although we have visited hundreds of castles, palaces, stately homes, mansions and manor houses since we arrived in the UK, the displays and rooms at Kensington Palace still impressed us. The “tailor’s shop” and the “dressmaker’s room” were most fascinating.

The temporary display featured the Last Debutantes. This 200-year-old tradition of presenting the daughters of the gentry to the Monarch finished in 1958; probably much to the relief of the fathers who had to put their hand in their pocket for (in today’s money) anywhere between £11,500 and £130,000 depending on whether he was paying for a low-end or top-end “season” for his daughter: gowns, parties, accessories, a ball and so on; it all mounted up. Then, when the season had been successful and daughter had snagged the scion of another landed family, poor old dad had to fork out for a wedding!

Kensington Palace was the home of Diana and some of her dresses are on display so it seemed only proper to cross the Gardens and visit the Diana Memorial Fountain in the corner of Hyde Park. It looked a little forlorn, only a few rain water puddles and lots of leaves clogging under the bridges.

A week ago, the Round Pond in Kensington Gardens was covered in ice and the risk averse Health and Safety bods had directed the park staff to break the ice around the edge to discourage anyone from venturing on to the ice. Today the ice was well gone and the pond was, once again, the preserve of the swans and geese.

One good Turner deserves another - 17 January 2009

Being the last possible weekend to see the 2008 Turner Prize finalists at the Tate Britain, we thought we had better finally subject ourselves to the culture provided by this great British institution. It is amazing the feelings that are whipped up (usually by the media) every year as the Turner Prize finalists are announced and then, ultimately, the winner.

After being exposed, by the aforementioned media in the past, and in-the-flesh this year we have to lay bare our bourgeois taste and admit that we find the art of the original Turner, after whom the prize is named, much more satisfying and so, while at the Tate, we revisited the familiar Constables and Turners and also a new interactive presentation which graphically displayed the different colour palettes Turner used as he travelled around Europe; it was very well done, quite fascinating and educational.


Back on the South Bank of the Thames we called in at the recently refurbished Garden Museum where they have made some major additions to the inside of the old church that houses the museum. The additions are most tastefully done and beautifully blend in with the colour of the interior stonework of the church. The museum café offers some of the best value meals in London, very generous mains for £6: we had a cake and a cuppa.

Making our way downstream, past the Houses of Parliament and the London Eye (broken) we arrived at the South Bank Arts complex. Always thronged with tourists and strollers it is a prime area for the outdoor entertainers and buskers as well as a magnet for skateboarders and BMX bikers. An area under the theatres has become a graffiti canvas for the skateboard and bike fraternity.

Over the river again the ice-skating was still in full swing at Somerset House and just around the corner, tucked away down an alley, is a National Trust property, an original Roman Bath House. Unless a private viewing is organised, it is only available to view from the outside through the window.