Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: UK

  • London – Westminster – Tate Britain (Distant View of York by Alexander Keirincx)

    London – Westminster – Tate Britain (Distant View of York by Alexander Keirincx)

    This isn’t a great photo of this artwork, which is a distant view of the city of York.

    Fortunately, the gallery has released copies of its artworks on-line, so here’s a better one. This painting was one of ten that were commissioned by King Charles I to show some northern and Scottish scenes. It was then housed at Whitehall Palace, before being sold at a sale of Commonwealth assets on 3 May 1650, the second of such disposals (and more were to come) of the Monarch’s property. This painting was purchased at the sale by Remigius van Leemput for his collections and it came to Tate Britain in 1986, so it has been on a long and circuitous journey to end up nearby to Whitehall once again.

    The artwork was painted by Alexander Keirincx (1600-1652), a Flemish landscape painter who specialised in wooded scenes and imagery of English castles and landscapes. He painted this series of artworks in 1639, before moving to Amsterdam in 1641 where he lived until his death.

    Work by the Tate suggests that the painting isn’t entirely historically accurate, so it’s unclear whether or not the artist did visit York or he just shoved something together from existing drawings. Interestingly, six of the paintings from the same series came up in the late twentieth century, two of which ended up at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh and the other at the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, Connecticut (which has the largest collection of British paintings in the world outside of the UK). Some of the other paintings that came up for sale didn’t sell, so they could be anywhere at the moment.

  • Cambridge – Cambridge Blue

    Cambridge – Cambridge Blue

    This is a Good Beer Guide listed pub, located a relatively short walk from the railway station. Originally opened in the 1860s and formerly known as the Dew Drop Inn (which a few people have suggested is a Victorian play on the words of ‘do drop in’), the pub has a solid reputation within CAMRA given all that I’ve heard.

    I’ve been to the pub before, but I haven’t realised in the past just how big a beer garden they have.

    And a quirky interior. The staff members were friendly and there was one of the best attempts to manage social distancing in a pub that I’ve seen. Everything was clean and organised, with a really laid-back calm and relaxed atmosphere.

    I wasn’t sold on the beer options, there were no dark beers at all (there’s one on tomorrow), which is a disappointing imbalance of beer styles. The Hop Kitty from Animal Brewing was fine though, a hoppy beer with clean tastes. I liked the atmosphere and comfortable nature of the pub, as well as the friendly staff, but the beer range was a bit pointed at Belgian beers and light beers for my liking, marvellous though that it is. But perhaps there are supply issues at the moment, this is a challenging time for pubs in very many different ways.

  • Cambridge – Tram Depot

    Cambridge – Tram Depot

    I didn’t have enormously high expectations for this pub, but I liked its heritage as it’s the former depot for the horse-drawn trams. However, the welcome from the staff member was immediate and authentic, and I started to think that I could rather like it here. The pub was clean throughout as well and they were operating the track and trace effectively.

    I was seated on a low down sofa, but I looked enviously at those high tables with power and ability to tap piffle on my keyboard. I was willingly allowed to move.

    And here we are in my new location, overlooking the bar in what is quite a spacious place. There was table service offered throughout and the staff member was suitably engaging and welcoming. I liked this place sufficiently now to get food as well.

    Quirky buildings often make for great venues, although it’s a shame that the pub makes nothing of this on their web-site. In short though, this was the depot of Cambridge Street Tramways which operated horse-drawn trams between 1880 and 1914. This was required as the railway station had been built around a mile out of the centre of town, which wasn’t exactly ideal.

    The reviews of the pub are pretty high, no real issues there, although one customer complained they were barred and I liked the manager’s direct reply of:

    “Hi Colette. You know full well why you and your partner are barred, due to you[r] abysmal behavior on previous occasions.”

    I like direct.

    And then reviews like this, to which the manager didn’t reply, which seems to forget that licensing often dictates these things, not “evil” and “disgusting” pubs.

    “What kind of an evil place advertises pizza outside to then let you come in, sit down and be denied service because you have a teenager and an 11 y/o? I understand a no children behind the bar rule, but if you serve food, you should not discriminate. Never seen a pizza place for over 18s only, disgusting.”

    Excuse the poor quality of my phone’s zoom, but there was a reasonable range of beers on. Actually, the selection was well measured with a variety of different beer types.

    Titanic is one of my favourite breweries, so I was pleased that the pub had their stout available.

    The Big Tram pizza, with toppings of pulled pork, pepperoni, Prosciutto and chorizo. The quality was very high, particularly with reference to the toppings, and chorizo on top of a pizza is one of those gifts from the Gods. Perhaps it could have been just a little tiny bit bigger, but this was better tasting than I had expected. Indeed, the pub hadn’t disappointed me on anything, a reminder not to judge a book by its covers.

    The other bonus here was that the Government’s ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ kicked in to reduce the pizza price from £11.95 to £5.97, with the beer taking it to £10.10. The next excitement was that Amex Shop Small then kicked in, so this expedition cost me a grand total of £5.10. I’d say that’s a pretty good deal.

    This was one of the better pubs that I’ve been to in Cambridge and, if it was anything to do with me, I’d want to see it in the next issue of the Good Beer Guide.

  • Cambridge – Free Press

    Cambridge – Free Press

    I’ve been here before, although I’ve come to Cambridge with so many people (well, nearly five) that I can’t remember who I went with. Anyway, I doubt anyone much cares about that, but the reason I came back is that it’s in the Good Beer Guide. The pub is named after a temperance movement newspaper, which managed to get to just one issue. The story goes that Sarah Horne established the pub in 1834 and she named the pub after the newspaper because she thought that this was ironic, and it is indeed quite humorous, although I doubt the editor approved.

    It’s a Greene King operated venue, so the beer choice wasn’t overly exciting, but the Timothy Taylor’s Landlord was well-kept and tasted as it was meant to. The staff member did recommend a bottled beer as I wanted something darker, so there was an effort made and the service was polite and helpful.

    The pub wasn’t very busy, this is the left-hand side front room. There’s lots of heritage here and it’s clearly been popular with locals and university students (and indeed university students who are locals) for many decades.

    In a nod to their printing related name, local customers have given the pub random photos and, to be honest, some junk, which is placed in type cases that were once used by printers. The Good Pub Guide, which is a book I don’t much like (unlike the Good Beer Guide, which is truly excellent), says that the pub “was a print shop for a local paper” which doesn’t appear to be true.

    The pub still has outdoor toilets, which is exciting insomuch that it doesn’t happen much any more, and there’s an external seating area. It was also raining, so this didn’t seem quite as appealing as it might do in the warm summers that the UK is not entirely renowned for.

    I suspect, and indeed know since the staff member told another customer, that the number of table bookings wasn’t very high at all, which is surprising given the eat out to help out scheme which is running. Although, I didn’t even realise they were serving food until someone ordered at the bar, there were no menus visible (or I didn’t notice any, but I might not have noticed them as I get distracted easily). The Scotch eggs looked good in photos though, a reliable bar snack option if they’re done right.

    So, it was all entirely acceptable and the staff members were friendly, so the environment was comfortable. The pub seemed clean, although it had the problem of having a toilet check-list that wasn’t being routinely filled in, so customers then can see that staff aren’t checking the toilets. But, I don’t let such things worry me (although I seem to have the need to comment on them) and there’s a quirkiness to this pub that I rather liked.

  • Paston – St. Margaret’s Church (Chest)

    Paston – St. Margaret’s Church (Chest)

    Most churches would have had a chest, or hutch, such as this in order to store their parish documents and any valuables. Not many survive in situ, so this is quite marvellous, with this one dating back at least 600 years. Fortunately, the documents, which date back to 1538, have now been moved to the wonderful Norfolk Record Office, so they’re safe and sound.

    Unfortunately, the current health issue means that it has red and white tape attached to it to try and keep visitors in limited areas, but this is all now part of the long history of this chest. That this chest has survived for 600 years, with no-one pinching it or damaging it, is remarkable, as is that it has never been caught up in a fire or other disaster. A rather lovely item to see.

  • Paston – St. Margaret’s Church (It’s All the Wrong Way Round)

    Paston – St. Margaret’s Church (It’s All the Wrong Way Round)

    It’s fair to say that Richard and I are not church experts, although we’re getting ever more competent at this church history thing now on our meanders. But, it was evident to me that we were approaching the church from the wrong side and it was evident to Richard that the lychgate was in the wrong place.

    This lychgate should be where the road is, not in a random corner.

    The church itself addresses this issue on their web-site:

    “You approach the church from the north, the “wrong” side, because the first Sir William Paston in the early 15th century diverted the road away from Paston Hall to reduce disturbance to himself and his family This angered the villagers who demolished the wall he had built across the old road, which he then re-built and the family had insults hurled at them (all of which is described in the letters).”

    Which all leads me to want to look at maps, although of course, the changes in the fifteenth century mean there won’t be much evident here.

    So, this is the starting point (clicking on the image makes it bigger), which is the church in 1900 on the left and the church now on the right.

    This is the tithe map, which gives a faint clue. We know that the road went to the south of the church and that the wooded area is the boundary of the church, so the road must have cut straight across the area in front of Paston Hall (just to the top of the blue circle and there’s a route of a former footpath evident through there) which is what inconvenienced Sir William.

    I can see why the locals were annoyed…..

  • London – Westminster – Tate Britain (An Unknown Lady by Marcus Gheeraerts II)

    London – Westminster – Tate Britain (An Unknown Lady by Marcus Gheeraerts II)

    Nothing is known of this lady, other than she’s pregnant and wealthy, that’s about the limit to what can be worked out. This is a shame, here she is presented in one of the world’s finest art galleries and no-one knows who she is. They’re not even entirely sure who painted the artwork, but it’s probably Marcus Gheeraerts II (1561-1636), who worked at the court of Queen Elizabeth I.

    The artwork was painted in around 1595 and the gallery has done a huge amount of work on it, including analysing most of the paintwork and putting it through an x-ray machine. For a while, the artist was thought to be William Segar and it was only after cleaning of the painting that it was re-attributed. Most of this work was done just after 2001, which is when the painting came to the Tate in lieu of tax. There’s a bit of a gap in the provenance of the painting, although the gallery knows that it was owned by Walter Waring in the eighteenth-century, namely because he wrote this on the back of the artwork. Handy.

    But, to whoever the lady in the painting is, her image is now seen by hundreds of people every day, so I’m guessing that she’d probably be quite pleased.

  • Knapton – St. Peter and St. Paul’s Church (War Memorial)

    Knapton – St. Peter and St. Paul’s Church (War Memorial)

    This war memorial is located in front of the village’s church and was installed here in 1919. There was a grant of £273 provided for by the War Memorials Trust in 2010, which was used to clean up the lead lettering which had become hard to read.

    There are seven names on the war memorial from the First World War:

    Tom Colin Barcham

    Percy William Swann

    George Turner

    Douglas Lambert

    Albert John Mace

    George Wild

    Robert Christmas Yaxley

    Another three names were added to the side of the memorial following the end of the Second World War:

    Frederick Watts

    Thomas BB Wood

    Sydney E Woollsey

  • Cambridge – Brewdog

    Cambridge – Brewdog

    I’m slowly and steadily (which keeps reminding me of strong and stable) working through the Brewdogs in the world and this is one of their newer ones, opening in Cambridge in 2019.

    The beer board, with palpably enthusiastic staff serving customers. A nicely balanced selection of beers, although that’s no surprise in a Brewdog.

    The bar is laid out over two floors.

    I had a nice little table reserved upstairs near to the front of the pub. The staff members upstairs were helpful and friendly, this is a very laidback pub, but it still seemed efficiently run to me.

    This is the Cranachan Killer, a fruit beer which isn’t normally what I gravitate to. But, I liked the description which mentioned the raspberries, honey, toasted oats and cream. So, it’s an oatmeal pale ale, with a rich taste of raspberries running through it and a slightly sweet flavour. Served at the beautiful moderately chilled temperature, this was well measured and not too sweet with a pleasant and smooth aftertaste. Nice.

    Both of these burgers are mine, they were buy one get one free as part of Brewdog’s Vegan Monday offer, then the Government’s eat out to help out kicked in. So the burgers, also reduced by the Government’s VAT cut, cost just over £2.30 each and the beer was about £4, so a total meal cost of £8.60 or so. Marvellous value.

    I didn’t order fries or any sides, since I thought two burgers would be enough. They’re both vegan burgers and I thought now would be a good time to try them, although I had low expectations.

    The one at the front is the Temple of Seitan, which was rather creative. The seitan has a texture and coating sort of similar to chicken, although it’s not quite there. But the kale added texture, the tomato chutney added some sweetness and flavour and I liked the hummus. A perfectly acceptable burger. Both of the burgers came with a vegan beetroot brioche bun, which retained its texture and tasted fine.

    But, that’s not the burger I want to write excitedly about, it’s the one at the back, the Beyond Meat Burger. It came with vegan Gouda cheese, chipotle slaw, roasted red peppers and pickles. Pickles are a delight with nearly any meal (particularly chicken bakes), and the peppers added some sweetness and the slaw some crunch, but they weren’t the main part of the excitement here. That vegan burger was a joy to behold (OK, I’m going a bit far now, I wasn’t at Greggs) as it had the texture of meat, a similar flavour and, actually, I think I preferred it to meat. I’d quite happily sub out meat burgers if this is the quality of the vegan alternative. It’s like the Greggs vegan sausage roll all over again, tremendously exciting.

    Gloriously creative from Brewdog and they’re rolling out more vegan and vegetarian options next month which keeps them on-trend and intriguing. But, anyway, this pub was clean, the staff were engaging, the food was marvellous and I couldn’t find any fault here worth noting. I’m not sure Brewdog get much better than this, everything running to a high standard. How very lovely.

  • Cambridge – The Eagle

    Cambridge – The Eagle

    I like to start on a positive, but unfortunately, this pub is operated by Greene King, who have provided a pretty dreary selection of beers. I can ignore that though, because otherwise the pub is a magnificent piece of history. It’s where Francis Crick announced to the assembled company that he and James Watson had figured out the building blocks of DNA.

    The pub’s long history, closely linked in with Corpus Christi College.

    To be fair to the pub, it was busier than this, but I’ve managed to ensure no people are in these photos. These are the front two rooms of the pub, I’m sure they must be packed with atmosphere during the winter months when the fires are on. I liked them though and I can imagine tourists to Cambridge from shores far away must like it too.

    The back room. The staff member on the front door was full of enthusiasm and was happy to keep explaining the pub’s health procedures in a friendly and personable manner to every new customer. I got the impression that she was very proud of the pub and that came across, so this was a welcoming place from the outset. The pub was also impressively clean and tidy, with plenty of staff around all seeming to be busy. To be fair, Greene King has got this sorted out nicely.

    The outside seating area, which is where I went until I got annoyed by people smoking (they’re allowed to there, I just get irritated easily). Uninspired with the pub’s beer selection, I opted for that traditional drink of lemonade…. It was helped that it was half-price as part of the Government’s eat out to help out, and it was a poor lemonade that primarily tasted primarily of soda water.

    The RAF bar, right at the back of the pub past the courtyard. The writing on the ceiling is that of RAF and USAF airmen during the Second World War, which probably annoyed the staff at the time, but it now a snapshot of a time gone by and their bravery. It was lost under a veneer of nicotine in the years after the war, but it was uncovered during a major restoration of the pub.

    I had a little look at TripAdvisor and I’m not sure I want to comment in too much detail about the disabled man who had to wee in a plant pot as there was no disabled toilet. I was humoured though by the review which complained about the fish finger sandwiches, noting:

    “3 fish fingers in nasty thin “plastic” brown bread, not crusty, not artisan, not Ciabatta, but thin processed slices of brown bread!!”

    That wasn’t the bit I liked though, it was the pub replying:

    “I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy your fish finger brioche”.

    I quite liked the photo, in the review entitled ‘Appalling Portion’ where someone had paid £3 for 3 medium-sized chips and a handful of very small ones. For anyone with a few minutes spare, it’s worth finding that review  🙂

    Anyway, I digress. This was an absolutely wonderful pub (other than the drink element) and it’s an omission that I’ve never been here in all my previous visits to Cambridge. So, recommended, just try and forget it’s a Greene King operated pub. I wish Greggs ran it.