This week, I am still staying in the Surrey Hills area, (my new favourite place to visit) but this time, there’s a watery theme. One of the most popular parts of the National Trust’s Stepping Stones walk in Box Hill is undoubtedly the walk across the River Mole by way of the 17 hexagonal stepping…
Category: Travel
The Hill Top Stroll – Box Hill
In this second post on the National Trust’s beautiful estate of Box Hill let’s take another look at Box Hill and look at what else there is to do, if you can bear to drag yourself away from those amazing views over rolling countryside. If you take the Hill Top Stroll from the summit you will come…
Mythago Morris – Morris Dancers with attitude
By happy co-incidence, a visit to the Weald & Downland Open Air Museum introduced me to Mythago Morris – Morris Dancers – but not as we know them! Musicians, story tellers and dancers, this troupe of wandering players are committed to illustrating some of the old English stories through dance, music, verse and an occasional song. The dances…
Venerable Ruins – Cowdray
On leaving Cowdray ruins this past May I asked my husband, what he thought and all he could say was “sad”. I asked why, and the response was “…this house should still be great” and I have to agree. Cowdray is one of England’s most important early Tudor houses and was visited by Queen Elizabeth I…
Singular Statues: The Lovers
For me, the interest in this statue is of the entwined couple, standing under the clock at St Pancras International, surrounded by the architectural beauty that is Barlow’s great train shed – the Victorian engineering marvel of its day. This 9 m tall (29.53 ft) statue – more accurately known as The Meeting Place –…
A London secret: The Stafford’s WW2 museum
You learn something new every day my mother used to say – and over the past few days, I have found this to be true. Who knew for example about The Stafford hotel’s very own underground museum with links to World War Two? When recently having a drink at London’s alternative American Bar at The Stafford,…
When a dream became a reality: Zaha Hadid at Vitra
One of the many highlights of the architectural tour of the Vitra Campus just outside Basel in Weil am Rhein, Germany, (a bus ride from Basel) is the chance to view the first building ever constructed by noted architectect, Zaha Hadid. Vitra, being the design centric company that it is, took the innovative decision to collaborate with key…
The beauty of architecture: The Grange at Northington
There is something very appealing about a partially derelict building – and something very sad about its abandonment too. My visit to The Grange at Northington evoked both of these emotions but principally, the great pity of an unloved but beautiful house. The track leading up to the mansion is basic, to say the least, but…
Pawprint series: Hatchlands Park Bluebell Walk
There is nothing so quintessentially English as a Bluebell Wood so it was with great anticipation that I visited the Surrey Hills and Hatchlands Park to view their Bluebell Walk accompanied by The Hound. A carpet of intense blue velvet met the eye, a blanket coverage of blues of every hue greeted us for this 20…
The Spinnaker Tower, Portsmouth
Portsmouth’s Spinnaker Tower is one of the city’s most noticeable landmarks. A Millennium project which finally opened in October 2005, The Spinnaker Tower has since attracted over two million visitors. With views stretching over 23 miles, there are three viewing decks – the first at altitude 100m (328 feet), the second at altitude 105m (344 feet)…
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