The Dorking Cockerel, Deepdene Roundabout, courtesy of Visit Dorking There’s a large silver rooster sitting in a roundabout, just outside of Dorking town centre. Why, you might ask? Well, I’ll do my best to answer. The Dorking Cockerel, Deepdene Roundabout, courtesy of Visit Dorking It is better known locally as The Dorking Cockerel and the inhabitants of…
Category: Surrey
Quintessentially English – it’s Bluebell time!
Nothing shouts Englishness as much as a bluebell does – a sentiment outlined in today’s Daily Telegraph. They are early, they are bright as a button and it is said that half of the world’s population of bluebells are based right here on our soil. So where can we spot them? Probably in your nearest…
On the trail of Jane Austen …
With the 200th anniversary of the first publication of the novel Emma this year, I thought it might be fun to share some of the “Austen Trail” I have done on my travels around Hampshire and Surrey. I’m sure there’s a lot more you can do but these are the few things that have crossed…
Surrey’s Secret Beach: Frensham Great Pond
The Hound can hardly believe it – we are at Frensham Great Pond and there’s sand and water – a sight he’d only previously associated with West Wittering Beach. Yes, he was in his element for in the summer months I am told, Frensham Great Pond offers a beach environment for the people of landlocked…
Pawprint Series: Little Frensham Pond
I came across Frensham Little Pond when I was visiting Watts Gallery recently in Surrey. I mentioned it in passing to The Hound and of course, he immediately wanted to visit – well water, trees, undergrowth, other dogs – what’s not to love for a friendly doggie? Both Frensham Little Pond and its sister, Frensham Great…
Watts Gallery – a little Surrey Gem
I keep seeing signs for Watts Gallery fly past me as I drive along the A3 motorway up to London – so this Sunday, I took the turning and went to see what’s what (sorry – just couldn’t help myself!). Joking aside, I am so glad I did as this is in fact an Artists’ Village although…
Taking inspiration from the world around you …
Although I reference my clients occasionally, I don’t normally talk about my “day job” within this, my personal travel blog. For this week however, with no apologies, I am focussing on my newest client – the newly reopened Mercure Box Hill Burford Bridge Hotel. The reason? I admire what the owners, Mercure and Trevillion Interiors…
The last days of Nelson …
As a proud Portsmuthian, you can’t live in this naval city without knowing a little bit about Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson – it would be unthinkable. We have his flagship HMS Victory at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, his memorial atop Portsdown Hill and even Fort Nelson, one of Palmeston’s Follies – a brilliant museum to visit….
On the trail of John Keats
Has this ever happened to you? Sometimes when you work on a new project, a name pops up again and again and you start seeing references to it everywhere you go. What do they call it – Six degrees of separation? So it was for me with the poet John Keats who is thought to…
The ultimate dovecote
This surely has to be the most magnificent dovecote I have ever seen – I call it the Westcott Wonder. Pristinely thatched and maintained in the picturesque village of Westcott, one mile west of Dorking in the Surrey Hills, the dovecote resides close to the central village green. It has a weather vane above it…
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