Kempton Great Engines - 16 May 2010

It seems as though it would be impossible to run out of new places to visit in London. This weekend we made two new discoveries, of an annual event on Saturday, and a pumping station, nearly 100 years old, on Sunday when we discovered the Kempton Great Engines. Built in the art deco era, this handsome building, totally lined with glazed bricks inside, has had one of the great steam engines restored to working condition, and Sunday was of the 14 steaming days in the year. The two great engines were built to pump drinking water to London, and the guided tour, was a fascinating look at the technology developed to cope with this task. Each engine is 62ft, or 4 storeys, tall and not only are the engines on a large scale, some of the spanners used in their construction and maintenance take three men to lift them.

The engines were designed and built in the north, tested and then disassembled into numbered parts each of which weighed a maximum of 16 tons and could fit into a standard railway wagon of the time. The work and expertise that went into the engines is quite remarkable considering that, possibly, only 4 were made. They served over 50 years until the 1980s and were more efficient than the turbine driven centrifugal pumps that were installed to replace them.

Ultimately progress passed them by and instead of 140 men the site now employes 14 men, electric pumps and electronic controls, all incredibly boring compared to the grandeur of these great behemoths of the steam age.

The Rickmansworth Canal Festival – 15 May 2010

Only £1.30 took us by tube to Rickmansworth, and a whole different world, at their annual canal festival. Over a hundred narrow boats moored up to four deep, lined the tow-path and had obviously put a lot more effort into getting there than we had.

The canal-boat community had turned on an old-fashioned village fair, with food, stalls selling crafts, music a narrow boat tug-of-war and even Morris dancers.

It was a very pleasant laid-back type of day out, with many narrow boats to admire, and even briefly toy with the idea of buying one!

London to Brighton – 9 May 2010

The 27th annual MG Regency Run from Brooklands to Brighton was scheduled for today. We thought, if the real old-timers can do their annual London to Brighton run, then surely our 1950 Y Type, can make it too. It's only 70 miles, which doesn't sound much, but considering she couldn't make it 2 miles from home a fortnight ago, this was a challenge. But we were delighted when she made it to Brighton and back, unaided, eleven hours after we left home.

There was light drizzle at Brooklands, but considering the weather forecast had promised a grey day, it wasn't too bad, as that was the only rain we saw all day.

The MG organisers provide directions for a route away from motorways, and we enjoyed lovely country lanes, with many bluebell woods, and lovely village cottages covered in wisteria.

A large area on the Brighton beachfront near the Pier, was reserved for the 309 MG cars who participated in the day out. The cars ranged in age from the oldest surviving MG (1925) through to the latest 2010 models.

A rest stop was necessary for our 60 year old, so we took advantage of a beautiful bluebell wood we learnt about while chatting to other MG owners at Brooklands. The area is called White Down, and after struggling up a very steep hill, Clara was more than ready for a rest, while we enjoyed the largest bluebell woods we have walked through.

British Library & British Museum – 8 May 2010

Temperatures plummeted in the UK this week, so it seemed like a good day to check out the new Magnificent Maps exhibition at the British Library. This free exhibition is well worth visiting.

The maps on display came from many different countries, and included the World's largest Atlas, presented to Charles II in 1660. It has 41 maps, many unique and the others very rare.

We were fascinated to read the notes accompanying the display on how maps were used in the past, that “Rulers received their guests in their audience chamber, where maps conveyed their power and dominance.” As we have a tapestry map in our living room (purchased on holiday in Florence and supposedly a copy of Christopher Columbus's map of the world), we decided that this put us up with the 'ruler' mentality.

The Library also has a permanent exhibition which features among other interesting items, the original hand written lyrics for some of the Beatles' famous hits and two of the four extant copies of the Magna Carta.
A real treat when visiting the Library, is to have lunch right beside King George III's library collection. This was donated to the British Museum by his son George IV, and since relocated to a specially designed four story tower, appropriately called the King's Library Tower.

The British Museum is only a short walk away, and we enjoyed our first visit in years, to have a dip into the various galleries by way of their new 'History of the World in 100 Objects' programme. This is in conjunction with the BBC, and so far only the first 30 objects are identified, with a map to find them. It was a great way to follow a theme and cover most of the Museum in the process.

From Liverpool to the potteries – 3 May 2010

After another look around the docklands, and a visit to the Docklands Museum, we did not take the “Ferry 'cross the Mersey” we took, instead, the tunnel under the Mersey River to have a look at Port Sunlight, a model village built by Mr Lever manufacturer of Sunlight soap products, for his workforce. This village is definitely worth a detour; beautiful homes built in a village filled with flowers and manicured lawns. I imagine there must have been a waiting list to get a job in the factory, to have the right to live in one of these lovely houses.

From here we took a route straight across Cheshire, through the towns involved in salt production since Roman times. The town we liked best was Sandbach, with two carved pedestals over 1,000 years old. Previously, they would have supported stone crosses.

Our final stop of the day, was for a tour booked at the Moorcroft Potteries. Their tours do not run on weekends, but happily for us, they did run on Bank Holiday Monday. We found the process very interesting, and now understand why their products are expensive.

Manchester & Liverpool – 2 May 2010

After spending the night in a suburb of North Manchester, we were perfectly placed to start the day with a look around the city. The outskirts of Manchester looked very depressed, with closed shops and boarded up buildings everywhere. The city centre seemed to have survived the recession, and we enjoyed walking around the buildings reflecting the grander styles of past eras, and modern look of glass and copper at The Lowry re-development of the docklands area.

The highlight of Manchester was a visit to the John Ryland Library. The wife of this Victorian industrialist built the library, which opened in 1900, to commemorate his life. She chose a Gothic style to compete with the great libraries at Cambridge and Oxford, and the building is stunning. There is a large Reading Room, and smaller rooms filled with interesting exhibitions.

From Manchester we travelled the short distance south back to Liverpool. Once again, the outer areas looked very sad, with many closed premises, and the city centre itself is a mixture of grand, but tired buildings and livelier but equally shabby areas. A good proportion of the city centre is now a UNESCO heritage site, and we were frankly not sure why. But the heritage area of the Albert Docks, is also UNESCO, and this is a total delight to spend time in. The old dock buildings have been given a new lease of life as shops, restaurants, cafes and museums.

A 30 minute walk uphill, leads to the Metropolitan Cathedral. This Catholic church, opened in 1967, is dramatic in design both inside and out. The lantern is the largest lead light window in the world and combined with the blue leadlight windows around the circular building, fills the whole auditorium with a blue glow.

A short walk along Hope Street took us to the Philharmonic Dining Room. This equally dramatic building, originally for pre or post-show gatherings, is definitely worth a visit. The look downstairs is of an opulent Gentlemen's club, complete with the only Grade 1 listed Gents in the UK, which ladies are able to inspect if the coast is clear.

When we visited, although reasonably early in the evening, the place was already bustling with people clutching their glasses while standing in the only places available – the corridors. Upstairs is much more peaceful (and also less grand, as it was the room the carriage drivers used to wait in) and we were one of only two tables enjoying a very nice and quiet meal.

May Day - 1 May 2010

Heading towards Liverpool, we left the motorway system at Stafford, and entered a world of timbered Tudor buildings and cherry blossom. Some towns, like Market Drayton, showed the effects of the recession, much more strongly than London.

The National Trust runs a Beatles Tour from Speke Hall near Liverpool. Of all the masses of Beatles themed tours in Liverpool, this is the only tour with access inside the childhood homes of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. We found the tour very interesting. Though growing up in the Beatles era, we knew very little about their years before the band. Mendip was John Lennon's childhood home until age 23. He was raised by his Aunt & Uncle, and Aunty was a formidable character, who considered his interest in music a passing fad.

Paul's home was lower class than John's, but his father encouraged their music. It was fascinating to find that Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields were close by and Mother Mary was Paul's mother. And, we have been in the room where John and Paul first played guitar together and the rooms they wrote many of the great Lennon-McCartney songs. The Beatles Liverpool connection is obviously big business. While we visited the two homes, we saw several tours gather outside.

Speke Hall, the starting place of the tour, is worth a visit, even without the Beatles tour. It is huge dramatic Tudor house, furnished with heavy wooden period furniture.