Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: UK

  • Aldershot – Alexandra Hotel

    Located opposite a Travelodge hotel this pub, also known as the Alex, doesn’t to my knowledge still offer accommodation. It’s a Craft Union pub, which I have to say usually isn’t always a great sign, although to be fair, some licencees have made that set-up work for them and their customers.

    The pub is named after the cinema and theatre which was once located next door to it and it is rumoured that the pub still has a ghost relating to that period. I’m unsure of how long the Alexandra has been a pub, but it dates to at least before 1870.

    The pub appeared to be very much a locals pub, but the welcome from the staff member was friendly and prompt. There were three real ales and although nothing was particularly interesting, the London Pride was well-kept and served at the appropriate temperature. And half a pint of London Pride cost £1, which seemed rather cheap, but certainly not a reason to complain.

    The pub was pretty full when I visited, which was late afternoon on a weekday, with several customers having bets on the various horse races which were being shown.

    I quite liked the pub, it was friendly and clean, with very affordable prices. I’m not sure there’s anything exceptional to tempt customers in from afar, but it’s a useful location for a drink for those staying in the hotels over the road.

  • Oxford – Chequers

    The entrance to this historic pub, via a rather atmospheric passageway.

    An informative history of the pub which gives an indication as to just how old this site is. It notes that from 1260 until 1434 the original building here was a private residence, but it was used for business purposes by a money lender, which is represented by a chequer board. It had become an inn by the first few year of the seventeenth century and there’s an interesting story on the above sign about how the inn nearly became used as a zoo. Certainly a chequered history, but pardon the pun….

    The real ale selection was adequate and the Half Mast session IPA with grapefruit and mango notes was very acceptable.

    The external courtyard, all nicely set out, although this is also the access point to the outside toilets.

    I found a 25% off food voucher on-line, so decided to go for the large fish and chips. Without being too critical, the fish was marginally over-cooked and the black carbon bits really should be removed (I did that for them before taking the photo). The tartare sauce was generic and not home-made and the mushy peas were bland, but the fish flaked apart and the batter had a pleasant taste. Given the price paid, it was perfectly reasonable given the portion size, although I do take into account the 25% off they gave in coming to that conclusion.

    It’s a Nicholson’s pub and so is part of a chain, but I’ve been in some of their pubs before and they do have some interesting historic buildings. This was no exception and there’s plenty of space, with two upstairs areas with additional seating. The staff members seemed helpful and were dealing with the number of customers efficiently, with the staff member who served the food being particularly engaging.

  • Oxford – Fir Tree

    The Fir Tree is a new addition to the Good Beer Guide, although I only noticed that from a sign which they had up outside of the pub. It’s a Greene King pub, but it doesn’t have a chain feel, but rather a quirky and independent atmosphere. It’s situated a little way out of the city centre, around a 20-minute walk, but it seemed popular with students, although the clientele was quite mixed.

    An illuminated Guinness sign with the cascading Guinness effect.

    The large collection of beer mats near to the entrance of the pub. There’s an area near to the bar for those who like to stand and drink, with a large room up a few steps and a snug like room behind that, so it is more spacious than it might at first appear.

    The selection of real ales wasn’t large, but I liked the darker beer of Intrigue from the Plain Ales brewery. It had a clean flavour and was refreshing, although it didn’t have an enormous depth of flavour or any layers of complexity about it. There was also a real cider, Old Rosie, available for those who wanted it. The pub also offers 10% off beers to members of CAMRA.

    Signs inside the pub.

    It’s rare to see Guinness crisps, and it was pleasing to note that the pub stocked these. They probably don’t need the chilli element to them, although the pub only had one pack, so it was perhaps fortunate that they weren’t too tempting.

    Service in the pub was efficient and friendly, and the range of bar snacks was quite extensive, much to my delight. The pub also accepted cards willingly and they are also seemingly known for the quality of their vegetarian Sunday roasts.

  • Newhaven – Tide Mills

    I’ve walked the Seven Sisters in East Sussex many times, although usually ending at Exceat or Eastbourne. I’d never gone into Seaford and Newhaven which are a little further along the coast, but between them is this lost village that I hadn’t previously been aware of.

    Without the information boards I wouldn’t have been any the wiser as to what the remains of the buildings were. There was a settlement which built up around the mill which was located here, and there was a relatively sizeable population by the mid-nineteenth century.

    The mill stopped operating in 1900 and this made most of the housing lived in by workers redundant. In 1936 the settlement was designated as being unfit for human habitation and in 1939 the remaining residents were told that they had to leave.

    This is part of the nurses’ home.

    The remains of the marine hospital.

    More information about the marine hospital.

    More of the marine hospital building. The buildings location by the sea isn’t helping its preservation, which is part of the reason that the settlement fell into such disrepair even when people were still living here.

    The old railway line which ran to the mill site, and there is a former railway station here which is currently being investigated as part of the archaeological dig.

    As mentioned above, there’s currently an archaeological dig taking place to try and understand more about the site, and I only had time to visit a small portion of it. However, it’s quite a large site and the remains are relatively extensive. I shall visit again and spend more time here.

     

  • Dereham – St Withburga’s Well

    This well was originally the burial place of St. Withburga, but it is said that in 974 monks from Ely took her body to be buried at Ely Cathedral. When the locals discovered that someone had pinched the saint they had happily buried in their graveyard they were rather displeased and decided to go and have a fight with the Ely monks. The fight didn’t go very well as the Dereham men got into boggy ground in Ely, so they came home. When they arrived home they found that the burial site was now full of water, and they liked this water and so it became a pilgrimage site, although it’s behind iron railings to stop people from falling into it. The water still flows today, and it remains a site that pilgrims come to visit.

    St. Withburga, or Wihtburh, died in 743 and she founded a religious house in Dereham. She was also part of the family who ran the local area and her body still remains in Ely Cathedral, although relics relating to her were mostly destroyed during the Reformation.

    The inscription on the stone reads “the ruins of a tomb which contained the remains of Wethburga, youngest daughter of Annas, King of the East Angles who died AD 654”.

    The EDP from 1896 mentions that the site of the well was once a baptistery where locals were baptised, but this was changed in 1752 when it was converted into a bath. Then in 1793, a brick bath house was built over the top and apparently one local decided to have a bath in the water every single week. He apparently lived “to a good old age”, so it didn’t do him any harm.

    The well is located just in front of St. Nicholas Church in Dereham.

  • Norfolk Broads – Ranworth Church (St. Helen’s)

    St. Helen’s is sometimes known as the ‘Cathedral of the Broads’, so it seemed apt to visit it whilst we were on the Hike Norfolk annual boating day trip on the water. The earliest part of the current building dates to the late thirteenth century, with substantial parts being added in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

    The pulpit is a little understated compared to other parts of the church. At the end of the nineteenth century, the entire church was in desperate need of repair and it also needed a new roof. It was closed for four years and finally re-opened in 1903 with a new nave roof and the addition of some new windows.

    The EDP noted at the time that “a difficulty often encountered in remote and sparsely populated parishes is the possession of a spacious and costly church of which Ranworth is such an instance. The most casual observer must at once perceive that the condition into which this beautiful church has fallen is more the result of neglect than wilful spoilation”. Incidentally, I rather like the word ‘spoilation’, it was a word commonly used in the Victorian period and is rarely used today.

    The church has a rather beautiful rood screen still in place, and although some is missing, it’s one of the best in Norfolk.

    The font is made of Purbeck marble and is relatively plain in its design.

    The churchyard is well kept and the church has constructed a rather delightful and unobtrusive cafe in the corner. Unfortunately, the cafe was unexpectedly shut during our visit, but the menu looked very reasonably priced.

    The Queen and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, visited the church on 25 November 1976. A date rather near to the day that I was born….

    The church organ, which dates from the late nineteenth century.

    The Ranworth Antiphoner, which is perhaps one of the most exceptional liturgical books on display in any English church. Indeed, it’s so amazing that it’s surprising that it remains in the church, although rather wonderful that it does. The case in which it is now displayed was constructed by the inmates of Norwich Prison, and it is apparently very secure.

    It dates from the fifteenth century and was commissioned for the church, although it went missing after the Reformation. Fortunately, it came up for auction in 1912 and was acquired once again for the church. The church opens the case on a regular basis to change the page which is displayed.

    I’m surprised that the church allows unsupervised visits to the top of the tower. But, it’s a great thing for a church to do, and it offers excellent views over the local area. There are around 90 steps and you just have to hope that not too many people are coming down as you go up (or the other way round) as there isn’t exactly much space. On the way up to the top, which involves two ladders right near the top (I was very brave) it’s possible to see the church bells.

    And the underside of the bells….

    Views from the church tower, definitely worth the climb.

    The weather-vane on top of the church.

  • Norfolk Broads – Facilities on the Water

    Helpful facilities for those working on the Norfolk Broads…..

  • Ely – Ely Cathedral

    I had a little time spare in Ely and so I decided I should spent all of that in the city’s beautiful Cathedral. Work started on the current building in the late eleventh century, although there was a church here before that date.

    The Cathedral fell into a state of disrepair in the sixteenth century and there was talk during the Commonwealth period of entirely demolishing it. The Cathedral was repaired in the late seventeenth century and there were substantial repairs which took place in the mid nineteenth century.

    It’s possible to just enter at the end of the nave and take a look at the interior for free, but it’s not possible to go any further without paying. I was aware though that visitors are able to pay and get free entry for the rest of the year, which is what I decided to do.

    I do rather feel though that the Cathedral has gone just a little beyond what is reasonable with its attempts to upsell to visitors. It was plainly visible during the short time I was at the counter that visitors were uncomfortable with it, and if Greggs tried that on me I’d be e-mailing them…

    So visitors currently ask for a ticket, and are then upsold to a tower tour, are then upsold to the stained glass museum and then upsold to a luxury package which includes a hot drink in the cafe. There’s then an upsell to a basic guidebook and then a more advanced guidebook, with visitors being given nothing for free such as a basic leaflet.

    When visitors leave the Cathedral they’re also forced to go through the shop and there are some rather unnecessary displays aimed at children. I wonder whether the management should be told they’re not running Alton Towers and I did half expect to find a Starbucks half way down the nave, but they have managed to draw the line there. Although I’d consider accepting a Greggs in the nave if they felt it would be financially advantageous…

    The Cathedral’s charging policy has ensured that the building was quiet inside, and the number of visitors on a warm summer’s day seemed rather low to me.

    A view back towards the entrance. I need to go back to using my proper camera either the Cathedral is leaning or my phone was tilted slightly…

    In 1322 some enthusiastic civil engineers were busying themselves constructing a new Lady Chapel and it’s thought that this work caused the central Cathedral tower to collapse. This was far from ideal and the engineers thought they’d better stop and deal with the minor problem that the building had a large hole in it and the choirs were badly damaged.

    So, some philosophers and architects got together to design a replacement structure and this is call the Octagon, or Lantern, Tower. It’s beautiful and is now one of the building’s architectural highlights. The decision not to replace the tower was partly for structural reasons, but it has also given it an individual character.

    The window of the Lady Chapel, which was sadly seriously damaged during the Reformation when a large number of sculptures were destroyed. Work on the Lady Chapel had started in 1321, was suspended when the civil engineers caused the collapse of the central tower, but the work was eventually finished in 1349.

    One of the hundreds of vandalised sculptures from the Reformation.

    The other end of the Lady Chapel, which was used as a parish church for some centuries following the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Its reconnection with the Cathedral is relatively recent, from 1938.

    The choir stalls.

    The transept has some considerable height to it.

    And the other side.

    The beautiful painted roof of the nave and although the paintwork dates from the nineteenth century Victorian restoration, the wood under it dates from the fourteenth century.

    A sculpture designed by David Wynne which aims to portray the moment that Mary Magdalene recognised Jesus.

    This is the tomb of Bishop Thomas Goodrich, the Bishop of Ely from 1534 until 1544. He was granted the role by Thomas Cranmer and had previously been a Royal Chaplain. He decided he liked the Reformation and in 1541 he ordered the destruction of the sculptures in the Lady Chapel, the smashing of much of the stained glass windows and the removal of shrines. He later became the Lord High Chancellor and when the Monarch once again went Catholic he decided that he would shift his most sincerely held religious views again…..

    An interesting little memorial.

    The Cathedral’s time capsule placed there to mark the Millennium.

    The rather grand entrance to Bishop Alcock’s Chantry Chapel, work on which was started in 1488. The Bishop founded Jesus College at Cambridge University and there were initially plans for the chapel to be larger.

    I liked this because of the animal (I have no idea what it is) that was looking at me…. It’s the tomb and canopy of the Tiptoft Family and probably dates to the fourteenth or fifteenth century.

    The Cathedral’s pulpit and when I was there someone came to offer prayers from it every hour. I thought that was a nice touch, nothing too excessive, but just a reminder that the building is a working and active religious institution.

    The tomb of Henry Caesar, who was the Dean of Ely between 1614 and 1636. Money which he left to fund scholarships to Jesus College at Cambridge University and to offer extra pay to Minor Canons and Lay Clerks was borrowed by King Charles I and never repaid.

    The rather colourful tomb of Robert Steward, a close relation of Oliver Cromwell, which dates to the late sixteenth century.

    I have read books by Charles Merivale, but I didn’t realise that he was also the Dean of the Cathedral. He was one of the people responsible for planning the first Oxford versus Cambridge boat race, which first took place in 1829 and Merivale rowed for the Cambridge University team.

    The bell from St. Nicholas Church in Feltwell which fell in 1898 and which was given to the Cathedral in 1976. The bell was originally cast in the fifteenth century.

    One of the Cathedral aisles.

    I thought that this was interesting, it’s the original floor tiling which led from the North Choir Aisle to the Lady Chapel. The tiling dates to the early fourteenth century and was intended to form the design of a mosaic.

    My visit wasn’t as long as I’d like, but since I go back for free for another twelve months, I shall be back, and will go on a tower tour when the weather is favourable.

  • Lounges – Heathrow T3 (British Airways)

    Since I was the first person into the BA lounge today, it gave me the opportunity to take photos without including other passengers in the shots. So, since I’ve had no sleep, I amused myself by walking around taking photos whilst drinking coffee to keep me awake. It worked beautifully.

    Usually when at Heathrow T3 I would lounge hop around the other Oneworld lounges, but 5am isn’t an ideal time to do that as some aren’t yet open. That can be the focus of another post though…

    The fruit selection, with the accompanying yoghurts located a little further down, is carefully separated out with the different fruits. None of that mixing it all together and having people pick the bits out they like thing happening here… The kiwi fruit was a bit hard, but the grapes were rather lovely. Although I of course didn’t go overboard with the fruit.

    This is the informal seating area near to the front of the lounge, usually occupied by diners.

    The self-service alcohol selection, which I decided not to sample since it was 5am. Incidentally, and often not known by passengers, it is possible to get champagne by asking one of the staff members in the lounge. It’s also possible to get Marmite, another request only product (it gets stolen otherwise).

    The chilled drinks selections in the fridges.

    There are lots of different seating types in the lounge, which helps make it feel more relaxing and less like some giant school-room.

    This is often the section I end up sitting in, as it’s right at the back of the lounge and hidden away. There are power points in this area, which is something that this lounge isn’t great at providing. When BA modernise a lounge they do add a lot more power points, so it’ll improve one day.

    A little snacks section, with BBQ corn balls, spicy corn snacks and berry surprise. The berry surprise, which seems a little enthusiastically named, is rather addictive.

    Another seating area.

    Cinnamon rolls.

    Bacon rolls and some sort of egg thing.

    Croissants, pastries and soups.

    The business area of the lounge, where there are printers and computers that passengers can use.

    The room for kids. There are endless discussions about how children should behave in lounges, but if they’re being loud, I like it when they’re shoved in here. I’m sure Dylan and Leon would like the room for a while, but then want to explore the rest of the lounge though….

    Beautiful. I mean the crisps in the background, but it’s all rather lovely.

    Very decorative.

    The lounge also has showers and Elemis travel spa facilities free for those who want them. The showers are useful, but the Elemis travel spa facilities are a complete mystery to me, but it’s something to do with pampering. I just go in and eat crisps, that’s my pampering.

    It’s all very functional, but the lounge can get quite busy. As mentioned earlier, I’m a fan of lounge hopping when at T3, which isn’t something possible at T5 as there are only BA lounges there. It’s possible to hop between BA lounges at T5, but that’s not quite the same as hopping between lounges operated by different airlines.

  • London – Briefly

    I’m sure many people would decide that if they had a day transiting (I’m not sure I can call it transit when it’s my home country, but that word works here for me) in London, they might actually get a hotel and have a peaceful night’s sleep before their flight the next morning.

    I decided though that this was another ideal opportunity to walk around Heathrow T3 for the night, uncovering more areas that I’ve never discovered. Well, this doesn’t really work, I think I’ve discovered all of Gatwick, Heathrow T3 and Heathrow T5 over the years. But, I can people watch. Or the people that are around to watch that is….

    Anyway, I get ahead of myself. My day was full of things that I can’t talk about (not that they’re important, more just drivel really that isn’t worth talking about), but it involved firstly getting from Gatwick South Terminal to London. By miracle given the recent railway fiasco, my train was on time and I got into London much earlier than I had anticipated. I got off at London Bridge, hence the photo of the Shard at the top.

    I also got chance to go to Wimbledon. When I say Wimbledon, I mean I went to the place, I didn’t actually see any tennis. But I can say that I was there. Well, down the road.

    Travelling to Heathrow at night isn’t really that common a pursuit. It meant that I had the entire carriage, and indeed nearly the entire underground train, to myself. But there were about five of us on there, and I’m guessing there was a driver as well. I also opened the windows at the end of the carriage so that there was a hurricane blowing through, which made the temperature just right for me.

    And when at Heathrow, it’s possible to see all the hundreds of people there….

    For anyone interested, the best places to entertain yourself for a night at Heathrow T3 are the arrivals area for getting devices charged and the bus station for the best people watching. There are very few opportunities to charge devices in the bus station area though, so don’t get there if you’re short on power.

    Whilst at the bus station, I watched two kids playing ‘paper, rock, scissors’ and they were keeping score. They were at 110-89 when I was watching, and the parents looked entirely exasperated. I can only begin to imagine how long that game had gone on before I got there.

    Oh, and I also watched someone fall off the bench they were sleeping on. This kind of entertainment is unmissable to me, I had waited for nearly fifteen minutes for them to move far enough to fall. And I couldn’t stop them, I can’t awaken sleeping people, they might be furious.

    Airport security opens at 04:45, which is later than Gatwick, and there are numerous benches for those who want to sleep. I didn’t, I wanted to stay away and read Facebook. See, who needs a hotel?