The new and the old - 23 July 2006

Broughton Grange garden is a private garden of some 25 acres that is only open to the public on a few occasions per year. Having seen features about the garden, it took us quite a while to locate opening time information and, having finally prevailed in that quest, we were not going to pass up the opportunity to visit when we could.

It is hard to believe that this inspiring garden was bare land in 2000.

The next stop is also one with limited access, Stowe House. It is the centrepiece of the Stowe Landscape Gardens (National Trust) but is now a school – the one Christopher Robin, A A Milne’s son attended.

It is a place with a salutary tale of the rise from sheep farmers to aristocracy and then from the peak of opulence and wealth, two generations bankrupted the family resulting in a grand sale as the place was stripped. Fortunately, unlike some other grand estates, the house was spared, rescued by a benefactor, so once again; we took advantage of one of the few open days.

Farnborough Air Show - 22 July 2006

After a stiflingly hot morning, the rain and thunder clouds arrived on cue with the Red Arrows.

There was time to see the new Airbus A340 and then the giant of the piece, the A380,

the VTOL Osprey and the Apache helicopter doing acrobatics normally only associated with fixed wing aircraft before the rain set in properly and the temperature dropped dramatically. We had gone completely unprepared for such weather so, regretfully, beat a very soggy retreat home.

Thames Trips - 15 & 16 July 2006

Summer is always pleasant beside the Thames. We spent Saturday walking from Putney Bridge to Chelsea Harbour. Then moved away to explore the shops and markets of Fulham.




Sunday was another lovely day, so we did a hop-on hop-off boat trip from Westminster to the St Katherine docks. The dock area is so pleasant, almost another world within London.

Ironstone Villages - 8 & 9 July 2006

Great Tew is a wonderful little collection of ironstone and thatch cottages spilling down a valley below “the big house” belonging to the Great Tew Estate.

We walked around the village, checked out the Falkland Arms, the church with some rather lovely brasses and a beautiful marble monument, and the remains of an old engine house.

Next unusual spot was Aynho. Unusual in that many houses have espalier apricot trees on their street frontage walls as rent to the Lord of the Manor used to be paid in apricots.

The church is very different, looking more like a grand house than a church. Unfortunately it was locked but given the size of the windows must be quite stunning inside.






The National Trust property for the weekend was Farnborough Hall, reasonably unremarkable from the outside but with the most fantastic plasterwork ceilings and wall panels in some of the rooms. It also boasts a great terrace walk with wonderful views over the valley.

Sunday saw us at Broughton Castle, the set for quite a number of movies and deservedly so. A full moat surrounds the site and some “castle” bits remain around the site of the old drawbridge but the house is from the 1300’s onwards.


We were captivated by an amazing bed in the Kings Chamber, you can see a little of it on the web page. It is a fabulous piece of the modern wood-worker’s art.

Entertaining Family- 1 & 2 July 2006

The visiting family requested Stonehenge, a Cotswold village and Cambridge so that was the weekend plan. After being delayed an hour taking delivery of the people-carrier from the car renter we got off to a late start and headed for Stonehenge.

Once they had done the audio tour we left Stonehenge to the tourist throngs and headed north to Devizes. One of the visitors had done a Uni project on canals and locks so we stopped at the Caen Hill Locks, an amazing flight of 16 locks in a row (apparently the largest climb in Europe) and part of an overall set of 29 locks moving barge traffic up and down 73m.

From there we stopped briefly at Sandy Lane, before heading to Lacock. This “film set” village is truly delightful, not even a TV aerial to be seen, presumably the custodians, the National Trust, have banned them.


The last stop of the day was to provide a taste of the Cotswolds with a stop at Castle Combe. It was deserted as all the locals we clustered around TV screens in homes or pubs watching England drop out of the (soccer) World Cup: a great chance to get some shots uncluttered by people.

Sunday was the chance for our visitors to re-visit old haunts in and around Cambridge, ending the day with a punt on the Cam.

Regent’s Ramble – 25 June 2006

Regent’s Park Underground station is closing for extended refurbishment so while we still had the opportunity we exited at this station, walked across the park, past the Zoo, to the Regents Canal and followed it down to Camden Market.

Browsing Camden Market is a great way to make one feel old: all the alternative dressers, Goths, Punks etc with their outlandish clothes and hairstyles; and every second shop seems to be selling something that they would wear but which would look decidedly odd on someone who left their student days behind three decades ago.

After contributing to the local economy in the form of lunch we set off back to the royal precincts to check on the action outside the palace in preparation for the Queen’s Children’s Birthday Party. The centrepiece was a play based on many characters from English children’s literature. We watched it later on TV and it was quite fantastic, mixing over-the-top pantomime into a fairly simple plot line. It was a superb way to conclude the 80th celebrations.

Docklands Dalliances with Pole Dancers - 24 June 2006

Saturday saw us enjoying fabulous weather in the London Docklands area. It is just such a contrast to ‘old’ London with its heritage buildings. Here in the Docklands they have boldly redeveloped the land around the docks that had been left behind when containerisation moved the port area further down the Thames. What has been achieved since the 80’s is simply fantastic. And yet, the reminders of the past are there with old dock cranes etc scattered around.

We started close to one of my favourite sculptures, the traffic light tree, and walked along the Thames path to the southern most point of the Isle of Dogs , with views to Greenwich, then back up the middle alongside the old docks, over to the western side, with views of the Dome, then back across the top to our

starting point.

On the mooring rope for a floating restaurant we came across a great example of urban rubbish recycling. A pair of coots was tenderly raising their offspring on a collection of rubbish. Not quite on the scale of the kids raised on the rubbish tips in the Philippines.

The reason for picking this particular weekend was a festival that was being held in and around the Docklands area. Saturday




was ‘dance in the streets’ day and we enjoyed a number of performances before heading home.