A Round-up of our Travels in Scotland, Wales
and
England (Counties B to L)
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| Scotland |
We had twice visited Scotland together in pre-blog times. A four week camping trip with very basic equipment was easy in 1976. We were young and that was the 'Summer of the Century' when even the Isle of Skye felt like a tropical island. The midgies liked that weather, too, and we soon learned that packing up a tent during morning midge time was not a good plan. Another camping trip, with better equipment, followed in 1988 at a time when we could not afford anywhere more exotic. It rained every day for three weeks, so we waited 23 years before trying again. Our camping days are over, our accommodation was much more comfortable and the weather was as good as could reasonably be expected for our three visits to Moray, in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
Scotland 2023
|
13/07/2023 |
Falkirk, the town centre. Dollar park, Callendar House, History, Museum, Barbara Rae in the Art Gallery. The Antonine Wall, The Dunmore Pineapple. Helix Park and The Kelpies by Andy Scott. The Falkirk Wheel | |
|
16/07/2023 |
What happened to Banffshire? Banff, harbour and town centre. Duff House. William Duff, & Shakespeare's Macduff. Paintings from Scottish National Gallery (Reynolds, El Greco), 1940 German Bombing. Bridge to Macduff. Macduff aquarium. | |
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Pitmedden and Haddo House |
18/07/2023 |
Coming soon |
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Lossiemouth to Elgin |
19/07/2023 |
Coming Soon |
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22/07/2023 |
Dumfries centre, fountain, steeple. Burns statue. Devorgilla and her bridge. The Old Bridge House. the River Nith. The Burns centre. Childhood home of John Laurie. Burns Mausoleum. Statue of Jean Armour. Burns House, | |
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A Rainy Day in Dumfries (2) Caerlaverock Castle |
22/07/2023 |
Coming Soon |
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| The Falkirk Wheel turns |
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| Duff House, Banff |
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| Burns' writing room |
Scotland 2022
|
12/07/2022 |
Getting to Glasgow. Irn Bru. The Clyde and the Squiggly bridge. Riverside walk. The Armadillo and the SEC. La Lanterna, focaccia pasta, zabaglione, real vanilla
ice-cream. | |
|
13/07/2022 |
Citizen Firefighter. Museum of Modern Art., Wellington’s traffic cone. George Square. Cathedral & Necropolis, the author of Wee Willie Winkie. St Mingo and other
murals. The Merchant city. Kelvingrove Gallery | |
|
16/07/2022 |
The Culloden battlefield. A brief history of the Stuarts and of the 1745 invasion. The Battle. Lunch at
the Cawdor Tavern. Shakespeare and the Thane of Cawdor in Macbeth. Cawdor
Castle, interior and gardens. Dusk in Findochty. | |
|
18/07/2022 |
Findochty, Banffshire, Fraserburgh, Lighthouse Museum, Kinnaird Head Lighthouse, The Stevenson Dynasty, Record Temperatures, Portsoy, Salmon bothy, Whisky Galore! Kids jumping from the harbour wall, Findochty | |
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20/07/2022 |
South to Huntly formerly Strathbogie. The castle and its changes under Clan Gordon. The Grand Tower. Huntly Town, Statue of 1st Duke of Gordon Deans Shortbread & Bistro. Buckie Fishing Heritage Centre. Cullen viaduct. Fyvie Castle, its history towers and gardens. Alexander Forbes-Leith. | |
|
21/07/2022 |
Findochty, its harbour and our cottage. Lunch in Cullen with Norma and Wilson, Cullen Skink. Cullen history, viaduct and Market Cross, Findochty strop wal (spout well). A Walk to Portknockie, Hillside Cemetery and Bow Fiddle Rock. | |
|
22/07/2022 |
Across the Cairngorms. Braemar and Highland Games. Stirling. The Old Bridge. The Battle of Stirling Bridge. Wallace Memorial. Robert the Bruce and the Battle of, Bannockburn. Stirling Castle, |
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| The Armadillo, Glasgow |
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| St Mungo and a Robin, Glasgow |
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| Cawdor Castle |
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| Kinnaird Head Castle and Lighthouse |
%20Stewarts%20Hall,%20Huntly.JPG) |
| Stewarts Hall, Huntly |
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| Bow Fiddle Rock, Portknockie |
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| Stirling |
Scotland 2021
|
06/07/2021 |
Dinner in Piccolinos. Edinburgh Castle, Crown Sq & Crown Jewels. Grassmarket. Greyfriars kirkyard, Voldemort, Professor Minerva McGonagall, William McGonagall, Greyfriars Bobby. National museum, Lewis chessmen, Claymore. Elephant House café, J K Rowling. | |
|
07/07/2021 |
To Leith, Royal Yacht Britannia. The Royal Mile, The Hub, Deacon Brodie, St Giles, That Funny Dan, Cannongate, Holyrood Palace, Parliament building. Grassmarket and ‘Half-hangit Maggie’. South Queensferry and the Firth of Forth Crossings | |
|
08/07/2021 |
Across Dava Moor Macbeth’s ‘blasted heath’. Forres. Califer Hill Viewpoint. Findhorn Bay and community. RAF Kinloss. Findhorn Ice House. Grant Park and Forres in Bloom. Sueno's Stone | |
|
09/07/2021 |
Elgin: City status, Cathedral, Baxters Foods. Mouth of the Spey, Dolphin,, Osprey, Buckie, Craigellachie Cooperage and Distilleries. Knockando, Dallas | |
|
10/07/2021 |
Fort George, military architecture. The history of the Stuarts and Hanoverians. The Highlander’s museum, dolphins, oystercatchers and the chapel. The barracks. The ‘17 and the ’45 Jacobite Rebellions. Brodie Castle | |
|
12/07/2021 |
The racecourse and ‘tote box’. New Lanark: David Dale, Richard Arkwright and the construction of New Lanark. A walk to the Falls of Clyde. Robert Owen. The end of the New Lanark project. Old Lanark, the Memorial Hall, the Tolbooth, the Provost’s lamp, St Nicholas Church and its statue of William Wallace. William Wallace, disentangling the history from the myth. Lanark Castle and the ruins of St Kentigern’s Church. |
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| West Bow, Edinburgh |
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| Grog barrel, HMY Britannia |
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| Findhorn Bay and the Moray Firth |
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| Elgin Cathedral |
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| Moat and drawbridge, Fort George |
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| Lanark High Street |
Scotland and Edinburgh are also labelled in
14/02/2023 |
A collection of largely plinth-free statues from three continents. In this less deferential
age it is good not to be looking up to people all the time. Scotland’s
contribution is the statue of Greyfriars Bobby in Edinburgh. |
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| Wales |
Despite having lived in England for many years, we are both originally Welsh. Lynne was born in Llanelli, moved to England aged 15 and returned to Wales to attend Cardiff University. Since then she has lived mostly in the English Midlands. I was born in Iran (click here for that story) but my parents were Welsh and it was to Wales we returned before my first birthday. We only stayed a couple of years and I have lived most of the rest of my life in England. My parents always told me I was Welsh, and as dutiful child, I believed them - and still do - though I am the most deracinated of Welshmen. We visit Wales much more regularly than the number of Welsh blog posts might suggest.
South Wales
|
07/09/2019 |
The Kymin is a roundhouse built by the gentlemen of Monmouth as a place to picnic in inclement weather. It belongs to the National Trust. The buidling is currently closed but the park and 'Naval Temple' are open. (For Puzzlewood, see Gloucestershire, below) | |
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Up a Mountain down Memory Lane: Taff's Well, Pentyrch and Tongwynlais |
23/08/2015 |
A rummage through the childhood of Lynne and her sister in Tongwynlais. Dr Monger and Taffs Well. A family walk to climb the
Garth. The Englishman who Went up a Hill and Came down a Mountain,
starring Hugh Grant. Castell Coch. |
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Commemorating Comedians in Caerphilly, Morecambe and Ulverston |
05/01/2013 |
Three towns celebrate their favourite sons. Tommy Cooper was born in Caerphilly in 1921. His statue, sculpted by James Done, stands in front of the forbidding medieval. (see also Cumbria and Lancashire, below) castle |
|
23/09/2012 |
The Welsh contribution is my mother’s family plot in Penderyn churchyard. It is an elaborate Edwardian sculpture with an angel pointing to the skies. (see also Armenia (former USSR) and China | |
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15/08/2010 |
In search of my father’s family in the Caldicot Levels. Goldcliff. Redwick, St Thomas' Church, a Tsunami & a cider press. Magor, St Mary's Church, and the Attewell family (my maternal grandmother’s) memorial. | |
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06/08/2010 |
Killing time before our Chinese visa appointment in Manchester Art Gallery, we saw Julies Caesar Ibbetson’s Distant View of Llantrisant Castle. In Llantrisant the next day we visited the castle and rediscovered the story of William Price, one of Wales’ great eccentrics and the man who carried out the first cremations in Britain since the Romans were here. | |
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26/07/2010 |
In Abergavenny we walked beside the Usk, visited the castle and the Tythe Barn. The main part of the post is a review of the Michelin starred Walnut Tree in the nearby village of Llanddewi Skirrid. |
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| Monmouth from the Kymin |
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| The Garth above Taff's Well |
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| St Thomas', Redwick |
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| William Price, Bull Ring, Llantrisant |
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| The Walnut Tree, Llanddewi Skirrid |
Mid Wales
|
06/10/2022 |
Why Newtown? Dolforwyn Castle. Robert Owen, Birthplace, Memorial Museum, Grave. River Severn.
Long Bridge. Welsh signs. Textile Museum. Sir Pryce Pryce-Jones, Laura Ashley.
Fish King and a Souvlaki. | |
|
26/07/2017 |
The Cottage and Monty's Brewery. Montgomery History and Castle. War memorial hill. Old Bell Museum, Historic Buildings. St Nicholas Church and the Robber’s Grave. Mitchell's Fold. | |
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25/05/2008 |
(See UK Walking Page) |
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| Robert Owen's grave, Newtown |
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| Arthur Street, Montgomery |
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| Brecon Beacons |
North Wales
|
27/07/2018 |
A review of the Friday night 6-course tasting menu at the then Michelin starred restaurant. | |
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Both Sides of the Menai Strait: (2) Anglesey, Beaumaris and Plas Newydd |
27/07/2018 |
Across the Menai Strait to Beaumaris. The architecture of Joseph Hansom. Bulkeley Hotel and Anglesey Mussels. Beaumaris Castle, Court House and Gaol. LlanfairPG, Plas Newydd and Rex
Whistler. The Britannia Bridge |
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Both Sides of the Menai Strait: (1) The Mainland, Penrhyn Castle and Bangor |
26/07/2018 |
Penrhyn Castle, 19th century castle designed by Thomas Hopper, built over much older fortification for George Hay Dawkins-Pennant. Money inherited from Richard Pennant whose
wealth came slavery in Caribbean material from own slate quarry. Harrison's
Garden, and installation by Luke Jeram, Bangor and its Cathedral. The Menai
Bridge. |
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| Dressed Langoustine, Tyddyn Llan |
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| Beaumaris |
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| Courtyard, Penryhn Castle |
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| England |
English Counties Alphabetically from B to L (No English County begins with an 'A')
Despite both of us being originally from Wales we live in England and our travels have been many and various.
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| Bedfordshire |
|
09/07/2012 |
Why we were we in Dunstable when we live in Staffordshire. Dunstable: a large number of ill-matched
architectural styles. Too many police and too many too visible sponsors, The
Torch arrives. Despite my misgiving I was impressed by the relay and eventually by the Olympics themselves |
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| Clashing banks, Dunstable |
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| Bristol |
|
03/04/2016 |
A Wedding at Clifton Cathedral. The
Cabot Tower and views of the SS Great Britain. The docks, John Cabot &
the Matthew and the M Shed Museum. Bristol Cathedral, Georgian House Museum.
Red Lodge Tudor House, Wills Tower, Clifton Suspension Bridge. A Regrettable
Indian dinner. |
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| The SS Great Britain from the Cabot Tower |
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| John Cabot on Bristol quay |
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| Buckinghamshire |
|
30/04/2016 01 & 14/05/2016 |
Dockey Woods and Ashridge Estate. The most
magnificent Bluebells. Pitstone & Ivinghoe. Pitstone windmill, a restored
Post Mill. Windmill Day 2016 and the inside the Windmill | |
|
29/06/2015 |
Sir Francis Dashwood and the Hellfire
Club. The Hellfire Caves. West Wycombe Hill, the Dashwood Mausoleum and St Lawrence's
Church. Lunch in West Wycombe. West Wycombe Park, the house and gardens. | |
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30/07/2014 |
Approach to Stowe, the Corinthian arch
and New Inn. View across Octagon Lake. The Temple Family: the construction of
Stowe house and gardens and the destruction of the family. Stowe School inside
the House. Back outside to the Temples of Ancient Virtue & British Worthies,
the Palladian bridge and other follies. Buckingham, a little history, the
town square. The Gaol Museum and connections with Flora Thompson. The Chantry
Chapel | |
|
19/08/2020 |
Stowe’s Corinthian Arch is the
Buckinghamshire contribution to a collection of 6 arches from 5 countries on
3 continents. |
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| West Wycombe |
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| Lynne, the Octagon Lake and Stowe House |
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| The Corinthian Arch, Stowe |
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| Cambridgeshire |
|
19/07/2016 |
Hemingford Grey, a ‘typical’ English
village. The River Great Ouse, and St James' stump. The Manor House, one of
the oldest continually inhabited houses in the country, the home of Lucy M
Boston and the template for Green Knowe. Lucy Boston’s patchwork,
Green Knowe connections including the ‘hair picture, Tolly’s room, the carved
mouse and the original artwork for the book covers. Plus a huge working phonograph. | |
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29/04/2022 |
Birthplaces of Octavia Hill and Thomas Clarkson. North Brink, the Old White Hart. Peckover House and Garden, the Peckovers, the Wisbech & Lincolnshire Bank and the formation of Barclays Bank. Wisbech, Docks. The town with a general air of depression |
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| Thatched house, Hemingford Grey |
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| The Manor, Hemingford Grey |
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| Peckover House, Wisbech |
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| Cumbria |
|
A Brief
Encounter with Carnforth and a Train Trip to Grange-over-Sands |
29/05/2013 |
Carnforth Railway Station & Brief
Encounter Heritage Centre. The clock, the Refreshment Room and Percy the
Green Engine. By train across the Kent estuary to Grange-over-Sands, an
archly retro little town. |
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Commemorating
Comedians in Caerphilly, Morecambe and Ulverston |
05/01/2013 |
The small, pleasant town of Ulverston in
the South Lakeland District was the birth place of Stan Laurel |
|
20/08/2011 |
See UK Walking Page Miscellaneous
Walks |
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| Refreshment room, Carnforth Station |
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| Derbyshire |
|
02/09/2022 |
Why visit Eyam, The Peak District and
village of Eyam. Plague and the London outbreak of 1665. The plague arrives
in Eyam, the Plague Cottages. Medicine in 1665 and Covid treatment. Stella’s Kitchen
and a meat platter. Eyam isolation led by Mompesson & Stanley. Aftermath
and Plague today. | |
| 26/07/2019 |
A review of our anniversary dinner at
this then Michelin starred restaurant. The history of Baslow Hall. The story
of Max Fischer. Aperitif & Canapes. Amuse-bouche & Starters,
Main course, rabbit, beef. Pre-dessert, dessert & cheese, Coffee &
petit-fours | |
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26/07/2019 |
Bakewell pudding in the Old Original
Bakewell Pudding Shop. All Saints Church, the Foljambe memorial, the tombs of
the Manners & Vernon families. The Old House Museum and Ashford Black
Marble. To medieval Haddon Hall, the Chapel, the Kitchen and Great Hall, the Tudor
make-over, the Garden and a (possible) elopement. The story brought up to
date. Return to Bakewell and the farmer’s market next morning. | |
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06/09/2018 |
Derbyshire is labelled on this post as
we broke our journey to Yorkshire at Hardwick Hall. The story of Bess of
Hardwick and quick look at Stainsby Mill | |
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25/06/2015 |
See UK Walking page, Miscellaneous Walks | |
|
20/03/2013 |
I left my cap in the pub during the
Crowdecote Walk (below) and returned to The Packhorse Inn to fetch it. We had
lunch there, they make real pies and serve craft ale, what could be better. I
instantly developed My Food Classification System. | |
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06/03/2013 |
See UK Walking page, Cowpat Walks |
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| Headstone of Alice (W)rag(g), Eyam |
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| Baslow Hall, Baslow |
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| A Bakewell pudding for two |
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| Haddon Hall and the lower garden |
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| The Pack Horse Inn, Crowdecote |
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| Devon |
|
South West Odyssey Walk Days 25 to 36 and ‘Last Post’ |
12/04/2016 To 04/06/2019 |
See UK-Walking
Page, South West
Odyssey Walk for details of these 13 posts |
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Torquay
and Around (1): Greenway, Coleton Fishacre and
Brixham |
11/04/2016 |
A 3-day stay with friends in Torquay. A
walk round Meadfoot, Greenway, once the home of Agatha Christie, The Dart
Estuary. Brixham, William of Orange, the Golden Hind, Turnstones. Coleton
Fishacre home of the D'Oyly Carte family. A weather spoiled trip to Exmouth.
A walk into Torquay centre via the interestingly named Daddyhole Plain. |
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Torquay and Around (2): Buckfast Abbey, Newton Abbot and Compton Castle |
25/05/2022 |
Buckfast Abbey, Coleton Fishacre and a picnic.
Newton Abbot Museum, local history, GWR and signals, Feoffee chest, Diving
machine. Compton Castle. Sir Humphrey Gilbert, HMS Squirrel |
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| Our Friends' sea view, Torquay |
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| The Dart from the Greenway boathouse |
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| Buckfast Abbey |
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| Durham |
|
24/04/2015 |
Durham Market and Square and its statues.
Down Silver Street to the Framwellgate Bridge, along the river and up to
Palace Palace Green. Durham Cathedral, Galilee Chapel, Cloister, Nave and the
shrine of St Cuthbert. Wearside walk back to Framwellgate and a view of the
Castle. Dinner at the Bistro Italiano. The Angel of the North, |
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| Durham Market Square |
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| The Angel of the North |
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| East Sussex |
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| Gloucestershire |
|
07/09/2019 |
Silkies and other chickens, Exploring Puzzlewood,
scowles and other geological oddities. Puzzlewood in TV programmes and films.
The Kymin (in Monmouthshire), Venue for A Georgian gentleman’s Picnic Club. Admiral Lord Nelson as a tourist, the Naval
Temple | |
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06/09/2019 |
The Clearwell Caves, Coleford History
Walk, Market Square, Battle of Coleford, The Mushets, Forest Sculpture Trail,
Dinner at Speech House ‘fine dining’ restaurant. |
|
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Into the Dean,
Goodrich and The Speech House: Forest of Dean Part 1 |
05/09/2019 |
Goodrich Castle (Herefordshire, see below), Nicola
Hopwood stained glass, Castle History: Norman Keep, Roaring Meg, The birth of
tourism. Geographical centre of the Forest of Dean, Speech House Hotel
history, Verderers, dinner in the ‘pub restaurant’. Wye Vale gin |
|
08/07/2019 |
Parabola Rd, Montpellier, Hotel du Vin, Dinner:
A variety of olives, escargots, pork
& rabbit paté, Winterdale Cheese, Rump of Lamb, sole meunière>Next day,
the grave of Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones. |
|
|
07/07/2019 |
Croome Court (in Worcestershire), Capability
Brown, Church of St Mary Magdalene, Rotunda, Exhibition of paintings by Anthony
Bridge and tapestries by Grayson Perry, The story of Maria Gunning (see Hemingford
Grey, Cambs) & Kitty Fisher. RAF Defford. To Deerhurst (Gloucs). Odda’s
Chapel and St Mary's Priory |
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|
26/07/2015 |
Part of my ‘Fine Dining’ thread, and
largely a restaurant review. The Villages of Upper and Lower Slaughter. ‘Thankful
Villages’. Lords of the Manor, Cornish
crab starters, Oscietra Caviar, Pork & Guinea Fowl, Weaver Brie,
Doddington Admiral Collingwood. Breakfast |
|
|
26/07/2015 |
Moreton-in-Marsh, ‘Mellow Cotswold
Stone, Redesdale Arms, The Mitfords, Chastleton House, a little altered
Jacobian house with connections with Thomas Catesby and the filming of Wolf
Hall, Adlestrop the village and the poem by Edmund Thomas. (partly of post in Oxfordshire) |
|
|
02/05/2013 |
Cotswold stone buildings, ancient and
not so. Church of St John the Baptist, buttresses and wine-glass pulpit.
Roman Cirencester – the Corinium Museum and the Roman Amphitheatre |
|
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Churches that
Tell Stories in Russia, India, Vietnam, Portugal and the UK |
05/05/2012 |
Half a dozen churches from around the
world, each with a different story. The beautiful little Norman Church of St
Margaret in Bagendon in Gloucestershire sits on what has been a sacred site
since well before the Romans arrived |
|
Days 7 to 15 of
the South West Odyssey Walk |
05/05/2010 To 09/06/2012 |
7 posts. See UK Walking Page |
|
04/06/2019 |
A round up of the whole 36 day walk |
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| Market Square, Coleford |
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| The Speech House, Forest of Dean |
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| Escargots, Hotel du Vin, Cheltenham |
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| Saxon font, St Mary's, Deerhurst |
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| Fettiplace Room, Chastleton House |
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| Cirencester |
Greater London
Uniquely among England's 48 Ceremonial Counties, Greater London has no flag or coat of arms
|
15/11/2023 |
Trafalgar Square, Nelsons Column. National Portrait Gallery, Tudors. Kitty Fisher, Erasmus Darwin, George Chinnery, Marcus Rashford. 7 Dials, Pick and Cheese, The cheeses, |
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| Pick & Cheese |
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| Greater Manchester |
|
19/08/2017 |
Chinatown, Ceremonial Gate (Paifang),
Lunch at the Red Chilli, Shirley Baker’s Photography at the City Art Gallery.
Jonathan Schofield’s
Peterloo Tour. The Peterloo Massare, what happened and where it happened;. | |
|
05/08/2010 & 06/08/2010 |
Chinese Visa Office, Manchester. Manchester
Art Gallery, Julius Caesar Ibbetson. Llantrisant, the wonderfully eccentric William
Price, Llantrisant Castle, Richard de Clare. |
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| Paifang, Manchester Chinatown |
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| Peterloo victims remembered |
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| Lancashire |
|
A
Brief Encounter with Carnforth and a Train Trip to Grange-over-Sands |
29/05/2013 |
Carnforth (Lancs, see below) Railway
Station & Brief Encounter Heritage Centre. The clock, the Refreshment
Room and Percy the Green Engine. By train across the Kent estuary to
Grange-over-Sands (Cumbria), an archly retro little town. |
|
Commemorating
Comedians in Caerphilly, Morecambe and Ulverston |
05/01/2013 |
The inimitable Eric Morecambe commemorated
on the promenade of the town from which he took his name. |
|
19/08/2011 |
Morecambe Bay and the 2004 cockle
pickers disaster. Sunderland Point, the Causeway, the River Lune and Glasson
Dock. ‘Sambo's’ Grave, Slavery and ‘modern slavery’. The Praying Shell, |
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| Carnforth Railway Station |
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| Fishing boats beside the River Lune |
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| Leicestershire |
|
Melton
Mowbray and the Vale of Belvoir, Stilton Cheese and Pork Pies: Part 2 The
Tasting |
25/06/2016 |
Dickinson & Morris Melton Mowbray
Pork Pie assessed. The making of Stilton. A comparative tasting of four Stilton
cheeses. (also Nottinghamshire, see below) |
|
Melton
Mowbray and the Vale of Belvoir, Stilton Cheese and Pork Pies: Part 1 The
Journey |
22/06/2016 |
To Melton Mowbray, Anne of Cleeves’
House. Butter Cross and market place,
Ye Olde Pork Pie Shoppe, Carnegie Museum, Tuxford & Tebbutt, Cropwell
Bishop Creamery, Colston Bassett Martins Arms and creamery, Long Clawson
Creamery. Failure to find Websters in Saxelby. Hartington. (also Nottinghamshire, see below) |
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| Dickinson & Morris Melton Mowbray Pork Pie |
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| Colston Bassett Creamery and shop |
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| Clawson Blue Stilton |
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