Churchill and the War Years – 27 February 2010

The winter in London has now officially been declared the coldest and wettest in 31 years. One good aspect of this is that we have been encouraged to spend time in the many excellent museums in London.

Today we visited the 'Cabinet War Rooms' and 'Churchill Museum'. This has a high entrance fee (although if you travel by rail, there is a 2 for 1 deal), but the museum is well worth it. The venue is the original underground bunker used by Churchill and his Cabinet during World War II. Many of the rooms are just as they were left at the end of the war, which was a fascinating insight into the war years.

The Churchill Museum was brilliantly done. They turned a review of one man's life into an interactive experience. As well as the many display cases, highlighting different phases of his life, the central portion of the room was occupied by a long interactive 'calendar' of almost every day of Churchill's life. It was possible to see what he did the day I was born, and when a notable day was selected, the whole display was redrawn with an appropriate symbol. For example, looking at 11 November 1918 had the entire display carpeted in poppies.

In light of recent reports of current Prime Minister Gordon Brown's temper and verbal abuse of staff, it was interesting to hear a secretary's account of working for Churchill. There seemed to be a remarkable number of similarities to this week's press!

Riots and Radicals Ramble – 28 November 2009

Today's title is from a London Timeout magazine's walking route, which seemed the ideal way to start the day. Although the magazine was 18 months old, nothing changes, and the walk took us past places of historical interest where various riotous events took place over the last 350 years.

The walk started in Kennington Park, where 50,000 chartists held a protest march in 1848 for workers rights, and ended in Trafalgar Square, where we were passed by an actual march, also workers and non-workers concerned about the rising unemployment in Britain, marching as always, down Whitehall.

There were many points of interest along the way, of particular interest to us as antipodeans, was the pier where prisoners were transported to Australia.

The Banqueting House on Whitehall is an absolute masterpiece with a real link to radical history. The building was commissioned by James I in 1622, and in 1629 Charles I paid Reubens £3,000 to paint the 9 canvasses which make up the ceiling. But only two decades later, Charles I was beheaded on the balcony here.

The day was completed with another Daily Mail afternoon tea deal, this time at the National Gallery. Apart from the usual sandwiches and small cakes, the tea had a huge delicious scone, straight from the oven. We would have to say this was the best cream tea we have had. Following afternoon tea, we spent a very pleasant time wandering the galleries. In particular we were impressed with the new Hoerengracht exhibition, which is a walk through the Amsderdam red light district. A film about the exhibit explains how the mannequeins were made from clay models of real women. This exhibit is free to visit and well worth the trip into town.

Coldstream, Chillingham and Cragside - 19 August 2008

Popping briefly back across the border we visited Coldstream, birthplace of the Coldstream Guards. Also on the Scottish side of the Tweed and further upstream is Floors Castle so we stopped in for a look around. The Castle is impressively large with Victorian embellishment turrets that make it quite fairy-tale-ish. They have recreated a French style parterre for the Millennium but there is nowhere suitable to view it from in order to get the full effect. The 'hot' border in adjacent walled garden was at its peak and because cottage garden borders have to be seen when the blooms are in their prime was one of the best we have experienced on our travels.

Back in England we stopped at Chillingham Castle for a complete contrast. There was very little information about the recent history but we gathered that the current owner had inherited the Castle in a completely run-down state. He has ripped out many of the Victorian 'improvements' and now the Castle appears to be much as one would have seen it in its baronial days, rough stone walls covered in all manner of hunting trophies, shields, swords and pikes; a far cry from the splendour of the State Rooms at Alnwick yesterday.

Stepping forward several centuries we arrived at Cragside, the Victorian home of Lord Armstrong whose Castle we visited yesterday at Bamburgh. This was the first house in the world to be lit by hydro-electricity and is also home to the biggest hand-made rockery in the world and one of the largest collections of Douglas firs. As with many of these splendid homes a lack of descendants and the punitive effects of death duties meant that the family simply walked away, handing the property, house, furniture and contents over to the state. Having been rescued by the National Trust it means that anyone can now enjoy the results of Armstrong's brilliance as his inventions and industry provided the financial resources he needed to build this as well as spend £1 million restoring Bamburgh Castle.

We stopped by a couple of cute Estate villages, Ford and Etal before enjoying a delightful meal at the Red Lion in Milfield.

Biscuit tins to Chippendale - 17 August 2008

Leaving Edinburgh we set off to explore the area between there and Berwick-upon-Tweed - the most fought over settlement in European history. (Currently in English hands). The A1 takes a more direct route so we set off around the costal route stopping at North Berwick and Dunbar before heading inland to visit Preston Mill.

Back to the coast to see St Abbs then inland once again to visit Manderston, the home of Lord Palmer of Huntly and Palmer biscuit fame. A feature display in the old servants' quarters was a collection of Huntly and Palmer commemorative biscuit tins. The house is also home to the only silver balustraded staircase in the world.

Paxton House was the next stop, and the family story behind this home, now in the care of a charitable trust, is one of lost love, murder (the butler did it - honest!), failed marriage and so forth, all quite depressing, unlike the interiors: Chippendale was the original interior design consultant and the Hall now houses the largest collection of Chippendale furniture in Scotland (63 of the original 100 pieces), and all the pieces are in the rooms that Chippendale originally made them for. Adams was also heavily involved and many rooms have stunning Adams ceilings. The Withdrawing Room is a stunning combination of the work of these two as the marquetry on the side tables reflects the Adams ceiling above.

Edinburgh Tattoo - 16 August 2008

Having watched the Edinburgh Tattoo from the other side of the globe we felt that we could not be in the UK without seeing it live at least once, so this was the year. We had travelled as far as Wakefield on Friday night to break the journey and leaving there this morning we left the A1 and took the A68 towards Edinburgh stopping and enjoying a walk around both Hexham and Jedburgh. The A68 delivered us very nicely to the Sheriffhall Park and Ride so we parked and rode into the throngs that fill the Edinburgh streets at Festival and Fringe time. The Royal Mile leading up to the Castle gates was simply crammed with people wandering or watching the various street entertainers.



After catching up with some Kiwi contacts in Edinburgh it was time to queue for the Tattoo. The weather forecast all week was for rain, then showers, then sprinkles but in spite of the brave and up-beat sentiments on the Tattoo website "[If it rains there] is a feeling of mutual sympathy which forms an even stronger bond [between audience and performers] than usual." we were fortunate to only have to contend with a slightly cool breeze as it stayed quite dry.



We thoroughly enjoyed the experience of being among the crowd at the Tattoo and seeing a touch of home with the performance by the Lochiel Marching Display team.

One last castle before home - 10 September 2006

The fabulous sunshine continued for our final day in Scotland. We spent the night in a beautiful Victorian townhouse in Dumfries and before leaving town had another look at the picturesque set of four bridges.


Having not quite filled our castle quota, we visited Caerlaverock Castle: a magnificent, triangular castle, still surrounded by a moat. It was never taken in battle, until a siege by King Edward I when the force of 60 finally surrendered to the besieging force of 87 knights, 3000 men and a collection of siege engines.

Saying farewell, at last, to Scottish castles we followed the tourist trail to Gretna Green. Judging by the numbers, this seemed to be the most popular tourist destination in Scotland, and also the best value.


What was fascinating here was to read about a conman who sweet-talked his way into a Gretna Green marriage with a wealthy heiress. The rogue was none other than Edward Gibbon Wakefield, a man we learnt about at school as founder of the New Zealand Company and who played a huge part in the settlement of New Zealand in the mid 1800s.

It was then farewell to Scotland, and we took the scenic route through the North Pennines along Teesdale, with one final stop for lunch at the cute village of Romaldkirk before taking the motorway back to London.

Abbeys - oh, and a castle - 9 September 2006

The perfect weather forecast for the weekend made today's trip down the coast road from Kilmarnock to Dumfries a real treat.

Along the south coast are a number of ruined abbeys, the first, Glenluce, had a fascinating display of interlocking clay water pipes: they looked 21st century not mediaeval. Each pipe was marked so that the system could be lifted for cleaning and replaced with every pipe back in the correct location.


Whithorn Priory, the next, was the birthplace of Christianity in Europe. However, the abbey we liked best was Sweetheart Abbey. It is so named because the founder, Lady Devorgilla, is buried holding her husband's embalmed heart.

Before Sweetheart Abbey, we made a stop at a castle in a most romantic setting. Threave Castle is the only Castle in Scotland on an island in a river. Visitors are ferried across to explore the ruins including the remains of the little castle harbour which still exists: a magical place to visit on such a lovely day.

Dumfries is a very attractive town, built in striking red stone. No doubt we saw it at its best, arriving in the late afternoon with the setting sun illuminating the perfect relections in the river spanned by four handsome bridges: the oldest of these was built in the 13th century by Lady Devorgilla, using the same red stone as Sweetheart Abbey. We enjoyed walking around the town on a surprisingly warm September evening.

Just for a change, we visit a castle - 8 September 2006

Our holiday was literally ending on a high. A big high was situated over the whole of the UK, and the forecast was for perfect weather for the whole country until Sunday.

We followed a coastal road to Culzean Castle. This was a fortress castle on the sea cliff edge and was converted, into an imposing “grand house” by Robert Adam in the 17th century. His beautiful interiors were then modified in the 19th century. The result is an imposing, graceful castle in a very dramatic location. We spent most of the day enjoying the gardens and walking along a cliff-top path.

We then drove inland to a small loch. Like many of the lochs in Scotland, Loch Doon is now part of a hydro-electricity scheme. When the damn was built in the 1930s, they relocated the castle on its shore to higher ground.

Around the area were relics of a WWI target practice range for aircraft. The Ministry of Defense spent a shed load of money on this project only to mothball it, unused, when they found that the weather prevented flying on most days of the year. Doh! Surely that would be question number one?

Starting at the dam outfall was a walk along a gorge, Ness Glen. This loop track was very picturesque, and reminded us of NZ, especially the return path alongside the river. The rapids through the gorge are either grade 3 or 4, depending on the weather and water flow conditions.

We then drove back to Kilmarnock, looking out for a picturesque pub to eat at. This is not as easy in this part of Scotland as it is in England, but we were fortunate and came across the Stair Inn: the perfect solution for our high expectations.