Staunton Country Park came as a very pleasant surprise to me as I had no clue it even existed – well, technically, I guess, it actually didn’t until 1987. It is a listed landscaped parkland and forest, encompassing approximately 1,000 acres of land near Portsmouth, Hampshire. The land it covers was actually a grand…
Category: UK
Venerable Ruins: Wolvesey Castle, Winchester
If you have the time when you are in Winchester, pop around the back of the cathedral along College Street and take the trail to see the regal remains of what was once the domicile of the most powerful Bishops in the land: The Bishops of Winchester. The Bishop of Winchester once lived as part…
Pic of the Month: Doctor Who’s Tardis
I took this picture a couple of years back but truthfully, only really looked at it closely this week. I was visiting Portsmouth Dockyard and had sat down for a quick cup of coffee between ship-spotting. Imagine my surprise when I spied a Tardis in my orbit! As a Doctor Who fan, it certainly drew my…
Singular Statues: #3 Joan of Arc
For the third in this venerable series to promote the forgotten statues of yesteryear, here we have one of my favourites – Joan of Arc of course, situated outside the Lady Chapel in Winchester Cathedral. Created by Sir Ninian Comper in 1923, the statue’s base is said to contain a piece of stone from Rouen…
Singular Statues: #2 Sherlock Holmes
I loved this statue of Sherlock Holmes from the moment I set eyes on it. It was Laura Porter of About London (the Queen of all things London) who took me on a Sherlock Holmes hunt with the statue as our first stopping place. Research shows that John Doubleday is the artist behind this three…
Singular Statues: #1 King Alfred
When wandering around on my travels, I come across all kinds of statuary – some in good repair – others a little worse for wear – all completely forgotten. It seemed to me rather sad to see these works of art which would have been celebrated when unveiled, lying in the shadows, covered in soot…
Winchester Cathedral: simply the best …
Let’s go to Winchester to see the cathedral said Bob one summer’s day so off we went to see possibly the most beautiful ecclesiastical building I have even seen. Walking towards the cathedral from the town through an avenue of shady limes, you are suddenly presented with a building of such overwhelming size, it tends…
Where Mr Darcy was born …
I am a little embarrassed to say that I didn’t realise that the little village of Chawton in Hampshire was once the home of one of our literary giants … in the rather demure figure of Jane Austen. Seeing the sign to Chawton when returning from Goodwood one day, I stopped a while to visit…
Going uptown to Uppark
It’s an odd name for a stately home – Uppark, don’t you think? It is, however, more simple than you might expect. It’s so-named due to the fact that you literally go Up to the Park for the house stands atop rolling parkland with far reaching views over the surrounding countryside and the Solent beyond….
Paint it Black! Hasting’s Net Huts
I have been fascinated by the tall, black net huts of Hastings, East Sussex, since spotting them in an episode of Foyle’s War, Hastings is home to the largest beach-launched fishing fleet in Europe and these unique black net huts are located in the Stade (Saxon word for landing place) area in the middle of…
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