Travelling Slowly

Turville, Buckinghamshire

Together with my husband (the Womble/Wombat fan) I have been commissioned to write a Slow Guide to the Chilterns and Thames Valley for Bradt and am busy with researching that.

As we live more or less in the middle of the Chilterns, nowhere in the guide is more than an hour or so away from home, but it's surprising how much we are discovering.  Buckingham is my new favourite place.

We have a separate blog for this project - take a look at it here.

Brush Up Your Shakespeare!

My current hobby (other than travel) is to see each of Shakespeare's plays performed, as the RSC is currently in a cycle of presenting them all. We live about an hour and a half drive away, so it makes a pleasant weekend outing to drive up on Saturday afternoon, book into a hotel, have something to eat and see the show.  

Royal Shakespeare Theatre

As an attractive and historic town I suppose that Stratford-upon-Avon would attract visitors even if it weren't for its literary connections, but the Shakespeare connection is certainly well to the fore. Even a local secondhand bookshop boasts a shelf of Shakespeare's works under the label 'local author'.

As it is a popular spot for tourists, Stratford, like Bath, York and Windsor, to name but three, has many tea rooms and gift shops aimed at the tourist market. Street entertainers are in evidence even in January. Despite that, it's definitely well worth visiting, but if you are from overseas, please don't be fooled into thinking it is typical of an English market town.

Obvious things to see whilst in Stratford include the various Shakespeare houses, but If all the Shakespearean culture gets too much, you can sit by the river and talk to the ducks, or take a boat ride. If you want to feed the ducks, you can buy duck food at the Tourist Information Centre for £1 - it's much better for the ducks than stale bread. 

If you are there on a Sunday during the summer, you may also have the opportunity to meet some owls at the Waterside Market.

For something completely different, try the MAD Museum. No, despite the name, this is not a museum about insanity. 'MAD' stands for 'Mechanical Art and Design.' The Museum was launched in 2012. Its website describes it as a showcase for 'the world’s finest pieces of Kinetic Art and Automata belonging to pioneering artists from all four corners of the globe.' That sounds rather highbrow, but the museum is actually a place full of strange gadgets and gizmos that move, light up, emit strange noises and are generally great fun to interact with. If Wallace from Wallace and Gromit were to design a museum, this would be it. One of the exhibits even uses kitchen utensils to transport small balls around. 'Garden Bear', a piece by Theo Kaccoufa, is made from steel rods and wire, brass, recycled tin cans, recycled card, nuts and bolts, MDF and an electric motor.

Visitors are able to interact with the exhibits by pressing buttons, turning handles (or even clapping), and although some of the pieces are serious works of art, it's a great place to take children who may be less enthralled with Stratford's literary connections.

Be aware though, that one or two of the exhibits are a bit creepy: there's a magician automaton doing a 'cup and ball' trick, which can be a little unnerving, and the 'Dartmoor Pony of the Apocalypse' is nightmarish.

But don't forget to go to the theatre! The experience of seeing an RSC production should not be missed. Tickets need not be all that expensive, particularly if you don't mind 'restricted view' (which means that you may not have a good view of part of the stage, but will quite possibly have a very good view of some of the action), or preview tickets. RSC tickets are much better value than London's West End.

For our weekend jaunts I’m a big fan of the Premier Inn. No frills, but the rooms are spacious and well-designed. The central one is closest the RSC. It has no on-site parking, but there is a large public multi-story a short walk away.  The Waterways branch is a longer walk through the town to the theatre, but has a pleasant setting by the canal, and on site (paid) parking, if you are lucky.  Slightly farther out, the Travelodge has reliable free parking and is close to an out of town  shopping complex, but is still within a 20-25 minute walk of the RSC. Sometimes I try other hotels.  Out of town, the New Inn at Clifford Chambers is good value.  For something slightly more upmarket, the MacDonald Swan’s Nest is just a short walk across the bridge from the RSC.

For pre-theatre dining, we like the Rooftop Restaurant at the RSC itself, or one of the numerous restaurants in nearby Sheep Street.  You really need to book for pre-theatre on a Saturday night, but if you have forgotten, Thespians (an Indian Restaurant) may be able to fit you in.  

Isn't that a little mainstream for you?

It's happening again.

Torquay

Last year I received incredulous looks when I told friends and colleagues where I was going for my summer holiday. There's nothing wrong with Devon, of course, and lots of people spend a week in Torquay, but I have a reputation to maintain.

I managed to redeem myself with Christmas in Beijing and New Year in Pyongyang, but my summer choice of Bologna is seen as not particularly adventurous.

Well, too bad.  I travel to see the world and have new experiences, but sometimes I just like to go on holiday, and Italy is the perfect place for that.

A Perfect Day in Northumberland

This was my entry for a 'Perfect Day in...' competition. The rules allowed either an actual experience or a fictional one.  This is a genuine account of a visit in 2004, save that I actually visited the church on the following day.

My ingredients for a perfect day out, in no particular order, are historic buildings and gardens, bookshops and tea-shops.  The town of Alnwick in Northumberland offers all these and more.  This particular day starts at Barter Books: a huge second-hand bookshop in the former railway station.  As well as books there were comfy chairs, coffee and biscuits, and model trains running around above the bookshelves.  Did I mention that I also like miniature trains?

Alnwick Castle

It is a wrench to tear myself away, but I must see the castle. Alnwick Castle has been in the hands of the Percy family since the fourteenth century, when they acquired it from the Bishop of Durham. I’m interested in medieval history, and have always been intrigued by the story of how the last Vesci lord of Alnwick, who had no legitimate son,  gave the castle to the Bishop of Durham, either in payment for services rendered, or in trust for his illegitimate son, which he later betrayed, according to which version you choose to believe.  I’m inclined to take the bishop’s side.

Although Alnwick Castle is imposing medieval building, it’s still a family home, which is obvious from the table football and beanbags in the library.  It has found more recent fame as a location in the Harry Potter films, as the souvenirs in the gift shop will testify. Resisting the temptation to buy myself a broomstick, I elect to explore the gardens, which the Duchess of Northumberland is developing into a showpiece, complete with an enormous treehouse.

Vesci tomb, Alnwick Church

After a late lunch, it is time to visit the local church.  Probably built on the site of an earlier Saxon church, the Norman church was added to over successive centuries and was substantially rebuilt in the 1460s.  It is fascinating to discover two medieval tomb effigies which have survived the rebuilding.  One is believed to be Lady Isabella, widow of William de Vesci, that same lord of Alnwick who handed the castle over to the bishop.

Emerging from the church, I spend some time exploring the town, deciding that I have earned a cup of tea. In Grannies Tea Shop I can enjoy a slice of caramel and hazelnut cake with my tea whilst admiring the décor – a drying rack complete with ladies’ bloomers. 

Historic buildings and gardens, bookshops and tea-shops? Alnwick has them all.

A Day in the Lakes

I have never been to the Lake District, so when my husband was spending a few days there for work, I took the opportunity to join him at the weekend.  My work schedule meant that I got to Penrith late on Friday night and had to leave again on Sunday morning, so the idea was to have a leisurely day.

Castlerigg Stone Circle

And so I did. But I still managed to see two historic houses, a pencil museum and a prehistoric stone circle, and browse a couple of secondhand bookshops.

We started with breakfast in a café in Penrith which had a display of knitted tea cosies in the window. We pushed open the door and walked in to find it full of elderly customers who all fell silent and looked at us.  We held our nerve and went in search of the additional seating upstairs, which turned out to be entirely unoccupied until we arrived. The menu here was very traditional: for breakfast the choice was full English, ‘small’ cooked breakfast or toasted teacake.  None of your fancy croissants or hipster-pleasing porridge here. The ‘small’cooked breakfast included a fried egg, two sausages, two rashers of bacon and two hash browns, so I dread to think what the full version was like. But their filter coffee was delicious, and at £1.20 a mug, half the price it would be in London (or the trendier place we later found for lunch).

We explored the town a little. St Andrew’s church is surrounded by attractive Georgian houses, but the church itself, which was rebuilt in 1720-22, incorporating a medieval tower, has something faintly reminiscent of a Victorian factory about it. We found an excellent secondhand bookshop nearby. Luckily, I had no room in my suitcase for excessive book purchases.

Kitchen, The Wordsworth House

We drove along the A66 to Cockermouth in order to visit the Wordsworth House and Garden, the birthplace and childhood home of William and Dorothy Wordsworth, presented by the National Trust as it would have been in the 1770s when they lived here with their parents.  The dining table was set with typical dishes, and in the kitchen a costumed maid was bustling about and offering samples of Cumberland Rum Butter to try.  Upstairs, in one room there was an outbreak of the painting of quotations on walls that has broken out in the heritage industry recently. This took the form of poetry on the subject of ‘home’, with excerpts from the poems of Wordsworth, Neil Simon and McFly among others!  Outside was a very impressive kitchen garden – with free samples of apples to take away. 

Cumberland Pencil Museum

Exploring Cockermouth afterwards we found another excellent second hand bookshop, before deciding to drive back to Keswick for lunch. We parked in a car park by the former Cumberland Pencil Factory, where the world’s only pencil museum is located.  After a lunch of a meat platter (smoked duck, scotch egg, beef, sausage and pickles) at Treeby’s Café and Gallery we decided to investigate. Pencil production began in the Keswick area in 1832 because of local source of graphite in the Borrowdale Valley. We paid our £4.50 and were handed our ‘tickets’, which doubled as complimentary pencils.  It’s a small museum explaining about discovery of graphite and the invention of the pencil (by the French), modern production methods and the history of the Cumberland factory and products. During World War II some of the managers did extra secret shifts at night in order  to produce special pencils with a secret compartment just large enough to contain a tightly-rolled map and tiny compass.

St Bega's churchyard

Having come to the Lake District, we felt that we really needed to see a lake (or mere or water), so drove around Bassenthwaite Lake and came across Mirehouse, a historic house which happened to be open, so we decided to visit. The house was built in 1666 by the 8^th Earl of Derby. He sold it to his agent Robert Gregg in 1688  - the only time it has been sold.  It has been passed on through inheritance ever since, and has been in the hands of the Spedding family since 1802.  James Spedding (1808-81) was a scholar who devoted most of his life to the study of Bacon and whose friends included Tennyson, Thackeray, Carlyle and other literary figures of the period. It’s a beautiful house. We didn’t much time to explore the grounds, but did manage to dash down to the 10^th century St Bega’s church by the lake. There was just time for tea in the Old Sawmill Tea Room, where I can thoroughly recommend the carrot cake.

On our way back to Penrith we stopped at Castlerigg stone circle, which was very atmospheric as the sun was setting.

Trailing Around Hull

Fish, Ale, Old Town and Poetry: Finding the connection between these subjects seems like it might be a round on the BBC quiz programme Only Connect. In fact they are all the subjects of ‘trails’ which can be followed round the city of Hull.

Hull's Fish Trail

The poetry trail of course relates to Hull’s most famous modern poet, Philip Larkin. Andrew Marvell, who was born near Hull and attended the local grammar school only merits a mention in the leaflet for the Old Town Trail. Larkin, who moved to Hull in his early thirties, gets no less than twenty-five plaques on places associated with his life and poetry, all in and around Hull.

On a recent weekend, I followed three of these  trails around the Old Town.  Whilst they cover something of the same ground, it is surprising how many things you can miss first time round. 

The Seven Seas Fish Trail is perhaps the most unusual of the Hull trails.  It was originally commissioned from the artist Gordon Young by the City Council for the Hull 1992 Festival. It comprises forty-one separate representations of different fish species (from Anchovy to Zander) in the pavements of the old town. The free Hull Old Town and City Guide includes a handy guide to the trail, with a paragraph about each fish, and a location map. The map also shows the Ale Trail locations, so you can make your choice as appropriate. Back on the Fish Trail, each artwork is in a very different style.  The Eel sculpture comprises 14 steel eels (try saying that after you have been on the Ale Trail!) set into the decking of the boardwalk alongside the Hull river.  Whitebait are stamped into the paving bricks around the corner of George Yard. Garfish is carved into a slab of slate near the Victoria Pier. 

Well, would you call this a 'window'?

The Fish Trail takes in many places of interest around the Old Town, but in order really to understand the history and landmarks, you need The Old Town Trail leaflet produced by the Hull Civic Society, which can be purchased for £2 from the Tourist Information Centre in City Hall, at the start of the trail. Without the aid of this leaflet I might never have found England’s smallest window at the George Hotel. I had ventured into the remarkably-named ‘Land of Green Ginger’ earlier in the day, but completely failed to spot the ‘window’.  In my defence, I think it is less a window and more of a slot with delusions of grandeur.

Larkin Trail

The Larkin Trail is the longest of the Hull trails.  It comes in three sections which cover the city centre, the wider city, and the surrounding area.  I only followed the city centre part, but even so it covered rather more ground, from the Paragon Station and the Royal Station Hotel to the Hull History Centre.  At each location there is a plaque explaining its significance, and a relevant line  from one of his works.  One plaque is inside Marks and Spencer in Whitefriargate, the ‘Large, Cool Store’ of Larkin’s poem, where

“Bri-Nylon Baby-Dolls and Shorties
Flounce in clusters”

If you follow this trail online at thelarkintrail.co.uk with a smartphone, you can click on each location for text of a related poem and more general information, including sound clips, such as an excerpt from Alan Plater’s play about Larkin, or some of Larkin’s beloved jazz.

Whichever you choose, following a trail is a great way to explore.