Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Blog

  • Peterborough – Peterborough Cathedral (Lady Chapel)

    The ghostly traces of the Lady Chapel, which was once attached to Peterborough Cathedral, can still be seen in the stonework where the former roof-line was. It was built in the late thirteenth century and was dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Abbot William Parys oversaw the construction of the chapel which would later contain numerous tombs.

    Unfortunately the chapel was demolished in 1650 and the money raised was used to pay for repairs to the cathedral following the destruction caused by the Parliamentary troops during the Civil War.

  • Peterborough – Peterborough Museum

    I tried to go to the city’s museum earlier in the year but there was a special event and it all looked a bit busy so I decided to come back. Today, on my return, I was the only visitor in the museum, which doesn’t bode entirely well for their finances.

    I hadn’t realised that the building was for a long period used as a hospital and there were useful signs throughout the museum showing what used to take place in many of the rooms. This was the entrance hall where patients would come in and wait to be seen.

    A little piece of history on the stairs, these are the original wooden steps which are designed to be anti-slip.

    This is a Roman milestone which was located on Ermine Street, dating to around 271AD.

    A heavy oak door which come from the abbot’s prison, with the power of imprisonment given to the abbey in the thirteenth century.

    The Upton lead coffin which dates to around the third century and was used to bury a nine-year old boy. It isn’t known who the boy is, but it’s clear that the family had some significant wealth.

    When Peterborough’s guildhall opened in 1671 there was a large meal provided for the dignitaries, which shows how little has changed over the centuries. They killed a turtle to make soup and in honour of the now dead animal, they served the soup in its shell and then painted it with the coat of arms of the MP, Sir Humphrey Orme. Orme died soon after, so I hope it wasn’t the turtle.

    A fox for visitors to stroke should they so wish.

    In the early twentieth century an “evil disposed person” stole some flowers from the cemetery. This certainly seemed to cause a lot of anger and the reward of £2 would have been a very tempting sum of money for anyone who could identify the culprit.

    I appear to have reached the stage in life where toys I remember as a child are now in a museum.

    This is the only remaining late-Victorian operating theatre which is still in place in the UK. It was laid out in 1897 and at the time was cutting edge (excuse the pun) and even now it looks rather terrifying.

    This was a much bigger museum than I had expected and there was also a special exhibition on the ground floor entitled “Treasures”. This sadly runs only until 9 January 2019 and one of the highlights of the display is the Becket Casket dating to 1180. However, my highlight was the Peterborough Chronicle, a document written on vellum between 1120 and 1154, which also contains the first recorded mention of the word ‘she’. No photos could be taken in this exhibition and it was a little unfortunate that this had three staff, I assume for security reasons, and no visitors.

    Overall, this is definitely a museum which is worth visiting and I spent around an hour here. The museum is laid out in an interesting manner, although there’s quite a wide coverage of different subjects and not much depth, but space is inevitably limited. I do appreciate how the museum has marked out how the building was used as a hospital, such as the former nurses’ rooms, the main ward and the surgeon’s room.

  • Peterborough – Draper’s Arms

     

    I’ve visited this Wetherspoons before as it’s near the railway station and I’ve sometimes had enough time to visit. One thing that I hadn’t previously realised is that it wasn’t Wetherspoons who transformed the interior from a draper’s shop into a pub, it had been the “Old Monk” for a few years before they took it over. It was though a drapery for over 100 years and it today has the honour of having made it into the Good Beer Guide.

    Another thing I hadn’t really noticed is that the exterior doesn’t have any Wetherspoons branding. And there’s a reason for this, which Wetherspoons said in a statement over a decade ago, saying:

    “We have decided not to not put the Wetherspoon logo on this pub and just stick with its name, which is a first for the company. We want the new pub to be a little bit different from other Wetherspoons, to cater for a slightly different, perhaps slightly more up market or professional crowd. For example, there will be 14 world beers to choose from and there will be no smoking or music”.

    It seems that it was the first pub in the city to go entirely smoke free, although I’m not sure it can any longer claim to have a more upmarket clientele as it just seems like any Wetherspoons outlet.

    The interior of the pub, which is long and relatively spacious. The pub is in need of a renovation though, there are some maintenance issues and it has some of the worst toilets I’ve seen in a Wetherspoons. They’re clean, but they’re not well maintained and they’re rather small for the outlet.

    A random photo of some of the interior glass dividers between the booths. I only had a coffee (well, five) in the pub as another customer was busy complaining their breakfast was cold, and that was sufficient reason for me not to bother ordering food.

    The staff didn’t really engage, but they were also perfectly polite. There were around eight real ales available, but I was visiting too early in the day to start on those.

  • Peterborough – Ostrich Inn

    Nearly knocked down a few years ago, this pub was saved only by city councillors who ignore the council planners. They were right to do so in my opinion, this pub was once frequented by Charlie Chaplin when he was performing nearby and Peterborough should be respectful of its heritage.

    For a while the pub lost its historic name of the Ostrich, but fortunately it has been restored. It was a little ridiculous to have changed the name since it had been known as the Ostrich since at least the 1840s, and during the Victorian period it also appears to have been used as a hotel.

    This is a brave piece of lighting to be located in the middle of a pub, but it does strangely fit in, I like it.

    I hadn’t seen the blackboard with the beers on when I went to order, but seeing this pump-clip was enough to know that I wanted it. The beer was sweeter than I expected, but there was a flavour of rum and chocolate, an intriguing combination. Reading some reviews on-line this beer isn’t quite as popular as I think it should be though….

    And the beer list which I noticed after having ordered… The clear division between craft beer and cask beer is helpful, it’s often not obvious in pubs. Although I’m becoming more and more interested in craft beer, so I’m more than happy with both.

    The service was efficient and although there were no staff members visible when I entered, a customer helpfully went off to find her for me. All friendly and helpful, the atmosphere was clean and comfortable as well.

  • Peterborough – Peterborough Cathedral (Haydn Keeton)

    This memorial tablet is a little different with its musical score, marking the burial of Haydn Keeton, the cathedral’s former organist. He was born on 26 October 1847 in Sheffield and served as the cathedral’s organist from 1870 until 1921. He died at the age of 73 and during his time in Peterborough he lived at 4 Park Road and on Thorpe Road, doing well enough to have three servants during his time at the latter address.

  • Peterborough – Charters

    Featured in the Good Beer Guide, Charters is located on the lower deck of this boat moored on the River Nene and it has been trading since 1991. Upstairs is the Thai restaurant of East and it all looks well maintained. So I thought I’d better have a little boating adventure on this barge, which was built in 1907.

    The beer selection is chalked up on the board, it’s a wider choice than I had expected. I also liked how it was clear where to go on the boat when boarding, I feared it might all be a little bit complex.

    I went for this as it looked like the best dark option and I was pleased to see that there was a CAMRA discount of 20p off. Every little helps…. The beer is from Oakham Brewery, which isn’t a brewery I’ve really ever taken to, and this stout was quite bland in flavour. There were some notes of malt, but it wasn’t exciting or rich in taste.

    Other than the slight lean to the whole proceedings, it was easy to forget that I was on a boat. The surroundings were pleasant although it wasn’t as busy as I had expected.

    I didn’t eat during my visit, but if I came again I think that I might go for the burger and a pint offer for £10. The service was polite and helpful, with the only slight negative about my visit being just how warm it was on the boat. I decided to go and sit by the door in the hope that people would keep coming in and out, thus also bringing in the cold air. Unfortunately, it wasn’t really busy enough for that plan to work out.

  • Peterborough – Stoneworks

    This bar, which Nathan suggested, claims to be a “product of passion” which strives to get the best drinks, both alcoholic and soft.

    What a beautiful back bar, both in terms of its look and also the contents contained therein…. The staff member seemed pretty excited to explain the options, with the darker beers located on the right hand side. That’s one of the best selections of stouts I’ve seen and if it were a bit later in the day then I’d have been tempted by one of the imperial stouts. But early afternoon seemed a bit early to start on something that strong.

    There was a bit of a brewery tap take-over, with all the beers this week from Thornbridge Brewery. Look at some of those flavours! I like a dark beer which has flavour flowing through it.

    I opted for half a pint of the coconut chocolate porter, not the cheapest at £2.85, but it seemed very tempting indeed. And it was an absolute delight with the flavour of coconut being subtle so that the beer didn’t become like some form of Malibu, but instead it just had a pleasant aftertone. It was at the appropriate temperature and was beautifully rich, a gorgeous taste of coconut and chocolate.

    The interior of the pub is quirky and it was apparently used as a bookmakers before the current occupiers took over. The design is quite quirky with some exposed walls and a variety of different seating, with perhaps too much low seating though. They also have a shuffleboard table and claim they’re the only pub in Peterborough to have this, which I can well believe to be true.

    The service was attentive and engaging, but it was primarily really enthusiastic. This is good, I’ve been to too many pubs which claim they are really exciting, but who have bar staff who look like they’ve just woken up from a little nap. So this pub offered a combination of great service and great beer, which is rather lovely indeed.

  • Peterborough – Peterborough Cathedral (Civil War Damage)

    Peterborough Cathedral was badly damaged by marauding Civil War Parliamentary troops in 1643. They wanted to remove all traces of the catholic faith and they destroyed much of what they could get their hands on, including the library, vestments and the cathedral’s records. They also destroyed tablets and memorials, with this being one of the memorials which was attacked.

    I’m slightly surprised that this memorial was never removed after it was so badly damaged, but it’s a real piece of history to see what’s left still in place. The memorial belonged to the wealthy Orme family, who had been given land in the city by King Henry VIII in the early sixteenth century. The family decided not to restore the memorial when the Monarchy was restored, although there is a drawing in existence of what the memorial used to look like.

  • Peterborough – Turtle Bay

    I had a heap of Turtles, which is the loyalty scheme of the Caribbean restaurant Turtle Bay, so I thought that I’d visit their Peterborough outlet for the first time. It’s one of my favourite chains as I like the food and service and it’s centrally located in the city.

    A nice bright interior, although it was quieter at lunch-time that I had expected. I had rather thought they might have some Christmas lunch parties going on, but that didn’t seem to be the case. The service was though friendly and prompt, and the team member did make an effort to make conversation.

    This is the mango, lemon juice and grapefruit crush, which had the irritating attribute of a straw which didn’t reach to the bottom of the drink. The drink was quite refreshing, but it lacked any depth of flavour until I got to the bottom and I hit an almost syrup of mango. Now that did taste good, but it was quite hard to extract it with the straw not being long enough and with the risk of all the ice falling out if I tipped the bottle back too far. The choice of drinking vessel really is stupid in that regard, a glass would have made this much better.

    The Trini curry chicken at the front is part of the chain’s one pot options. The chicken looked excellent in terms of the presentation, but the meat was entirely tasteless and seemed to have been cooked from frozen as it was too watery. The chicken hadn’t taken in any of the sauce and so it appeared to have just been dumped in rather than having been allowed to at least have some pretence of a marinade. The dish was lacking in any spice, which was an attribute that was listed on the menu, although the rice had a pleasant flavour. There wasn’t enough sauce and what there was simply didn’t have any depth of taste. The roti bread served with it was adequate, but nothing beyond that.

    At the back of the above photo are the dirty curry fries, with this dish also being adequate at best. The chips were limp, there wasn’t much curry sauce on top of them, the chips at the base were mushy and it lacked flavour or texture.

    Service in the restaurant was though efficient and polite, and technically it was perfect in terms of the check back, prompt delivery and engagement. Although the meal being served after just a few minutes of ordering had worried me, I’m not sure that Turtle Bay need to try and replicate JD Wetherspoon in that regard.

    Overall, this was a pretty unimpressive meal and I do wonder whether chains can risk this sort of blandness given how competitive the market is. On the bright side, this was effectively an entirely free meal so I didn’t lose out, but it doesn’t encourage me to return.

  • Peterborough – Bumble Inn

    This pub reminds me of the Drayman’s Son in Ely as both are micro-pubs which have opened in former shops over the last couple of years. It’s easy to miss and I only went to find it because it is listed in the Good Beer Guide.

    And here’s evidence of their entry in the Good Beer Guide 2019.

    I opted for a seat near to the window watching the people of Peterborough meandering by, and I noticed three separate people thinking it was fine to throw rubbish on the floor. I also opted for this seat as it was near to a plug socket and my phone needed a little boost. Like me really with the beer.

    The pub is only small and so it was inevitable that the list of beers is also small, but there’s a decent variety. I opted for half a pint of the Saltaire New Ground, costing £1.95, which was well kept and at the appropriate temperature. I’m not sure that I’ve had many beers with a stronger flavour of coffee, but I very much liked the taste. Although I’d order it again, I probably wouldn’t opt for a pint as it is just a bit too strong, but the flavour is still sufficiently rounded.

    I didn’t get any photos of the pub interior as it isn’t that large and I’d have looked a bit obvious given that every table was full. However, there are around six tables in the pub, plus some seats at the window, and the welcome was immediate and warm. The customers mostly seemed to be locals and there was a friendly feel to the pub so that I didn’t feel like some dubious intruder into the pub’s proceedings. Or at least, no more than usual.