Category Archives: Architecture

2018 Round Up. 2nd January

HOORAY!!! Proper signal again, sorry for the delay. Here at last is a round up of 2018 and our vital statistics, who they are vital to I don’t know!

We started off the year up on the Llangollen having spent Christmas up in the basin, if it hadn’t been for me getting some work I think we’d have headed back there this year as we enjoyed it so much. On our return journey we dropped down onto the Montgomery Canal for a few days. Then we gradually worked our way along the canal stoppage hopping, the last bridge holding us up by a few days whilst work over ran, but we were first through and soon back down on the Shroppie at the end of January.

A pootle up to Chester and then Ellesmere Port where we spent several days looking round the museum, mooring on site made this very easy.

Oleanna had a day in the dry dock at Chester to check out why our bowthruster had stopped working and gave me chance to do a quick touch up of the blacking.

We then made our way back to Nantwich where we sat out the Beast from the East and at last got chance to meet and spend a bit of time with Jaq from NB Valerie.

Then we climbed the Shroppie to Autherley Junction turned right onto the Staffordshire and Worcester Canal and made our way down to Stourport where the river rose on us over night and left us stranded for far too long. This did mean that Tilly had her annual jabs gaining shore leave for another year. A hire car gave us a few days away from the flashing lights of Stourport, a trip to Beverley and to catch up with the John Godber Company in Bromsgrove along with a recky trip to Droitwich.

In the end we got bored of waiting for the river to drop and decided on going the long way round to Droitwich. Of course about two or three days into ‘the long way round’ the levels dropped and we could have done a quick journey down the River Severn.

Oh well we enjoyed all the locks having good weather for the Tardebigge Flight.

Once in Worcester we turned onto the river and made our way down to the Gloucester Sharpness Canal where we pootled down to the end with all the swing bridges being worked for us, met up with Jaye and Duncan (I’d have got into big trouble if I didn’t mention them!), saw the hulks, all sorts of flamingos and got to watch tall ship Kaskelot pass us.

Back up the Severn for Micks 60th birthday weekend where all our siblings joined us to celebrate. We watched cricket at New Road in Worcester, ate in Droitwich, caught steam trains in Kidderminster and ate some more in Bridgenorth, a very good weekend.

By now the summer had already started with wall to wall sunshine and our Sunday roasts became Sunday barbeques. We made our way back to Worcester and turned back down stream to Tewkesbury (I do like a good Tewkesbury!) and the river Avon. The last rain storm for a while slowed our progress upstream, but we stayed safe.

The Avon was a picturesque cruise and we met up with friends from Australia and old work friends of mine in Stratford, taking advantage to see as much theatre as we could.

Whilst in Stratford I heard that I’d got the job designing Panto in Chipping Norton this year. This would now affect the remainder of the year slowing us down somewhat. We headed back into Birmingham up the Lapworth flight (meeting NB Chuffed) to rendez vous with NB Blackbird and crew.

Here we planned to explore all the back waters of the BCN, but the sun was now on permanently and the thought of spending weeks surrounded by brick work and concrete reflecting heat at us was not attractive. So we chose a route out of the city that we’d not done before (via Ryders Green and Perry Barr) and headed for the shade of trees.

Work and heat were the feature of the next few months. On days we wanted to cruise we tried to be up early to make the most of the cool hours before the sun got too high in the sky to avoid. We hopped from mooring to mooring hunting out good places with maximum tree cover, not so good for the solar panels but it meant we didn’t cook inside.

We gradually cruised the Coventry Canal, the Ashby Canal for the first and second times, all the way into Coventry, down the North Oxford onto the Grand Union and on up to the Leicester Section. All our favourite moorings on the summit pound were visited and the London Leckenbys visited us at Foxton. All this slow cruising was interspersed with Panto meetings in London and Chippy, necessitating being near to stations, but this worked out well with a bit of planning.

Leamington Spa was a handy station back on the Grand Union for my final model meeting in mid September, freeing us up until rehearsals started a month later.

We made use of the Heritage weekend visiting places in both Warwick and Leamington. Oleanna got to visit the Saltisford Arm where we worked our way through the dirty washing drawer before heading back towards the Oxford Canal crossing bows with NB Tentatrice on the way.

The South Oxford Canal then became our home for the next three months.

First we cruised all the way to Oxford taking our time to return to Banbury. I then spent four weeks working my socks off in Chippy enjoying being creative again on Panto, returning each weekend to wherever Oleanna was with my head full of song lyrics and dance moves.

Once Aladdin was open and hoards of kids were shouting ‘He’s behind you!’ I could return to my normal life at 3mph, the boat, Tilly’s friends and Mick’s breakfasts.

Due to winter stoppages leaving the south Oxford couldn’t happen until near Christmas so we slowly made our way northwards breaking off to have a pre-Christmas in London and then once Napton Lock 9 was open we headed into the middle of nowhere for Christmas. The year ended with us returning to Crick and sadly missing out on the festivities at The Red Lion with friends.

We’ve had a great year travelling, meeting up with old friends and new. We’re looking forward to where 2019 will take us and who we shall meet along the way.

So our final statistics for the year are.

Total distance is 944 miles, 1 ¼ furlongs and 614 locks. There were 170 moveable bridges of which 77 are usually left open (although three of those weren’t); 131 small aqueducts or underbridges; 39 tunnels and 2 major aqueducts.

This is made up of 669 miles, 1 ¼ furlongs of narrow canals; 118 miles of broad canals; 35 miles, 5 furlongs of commercial waterways; 42miles, 7¼ furlongs of small rivers; 78 miles, 3 ¾ furlongs of large rivers; 476 narrow locks; 129 broad locks 9 large locks.

1084.6 engine hours, 7 hire cars, 1,383.63 litres diesel, 10 gas bottles (we do have gas central heating), 54 bags of coal, 2 waterway museums, 3 big houses, 3 versions of tuperware, 60th birthday, 2nd solar panel fitted, 7 overnight guests, 6 packs of Dreamies, 26 friends, 1 snake, 9 Mrs Tilly stamp of approval moorings, 7 pairs socks, 6 pairs gloves, 11 supermarket deliveries, 56 boxes wine delivered!

HS2 View. 19th December

Fenny Compton to over looking Lower New House Farm

The sun came out today, what a difference. Tilly immediately started to try to find a way to sit in it, she will always find a sunny spot to sit in unless they are only on vertical surfaces, but she’ll still try to give it a good try.

Todays decision was which mooring to stop at. If there was space would it be at a gap in the hedge with a good view, or a few more wiggles to the mooring we found on our way up that we really quite liked by a bridge with sheep in the field. Neither of them that far away, we’d see what space there was.

This section of the summit pound has the biggest wiggles in it due to following the contours. We set off heading North East, then northwards, then west followed by east just to get around Wormleighton Hill. On the off side in a wood was a fenced off area with water butts and small shelters, we wondered what animal was kept here, hogs? The medieval village of Wormleighton more noticeable than before with the low sun picking out the highs and lows of the old settlement, the more modern village now sits high on the hill above.

Wormleighton Grange sits on the end of the biggest loop the canal does. What views they must have from up there, just a shame they planted tall trees so you only get the occasional glimpse, not enough for a photo. Sheep wandered from one field to the next in front of the house, separated by a stone haha. The trees were most probably planted to help cut down noise from the busy A423, if it had been us we’d have invested in double glazing and kept the view.

The radio mast came into sight, so we knew we were close to the first mooring. Not one single boat was moored here, we pulled in at the first big gaps in the hedge, could we get views from both the dinette and bedroom. We pulled back and it was almost possible. If we’d have carried on a touch further the gaps in the hedge are longer, but we were happy with where we were. What a view stretching on for miles.

The low sun was so strong that the galley blind had to be pulled down so that I could see anything to make us some soup for lunch. Then I could get on with making a wreath for the cratch.

Tilly busied herself finding friends (one a little bit too big!) and helping to prune the sideways trees. We were surprised when she didn’t venture off down into the huge field below, I was saving that for tomorrow.

With enough day light left and a cat indoors we decided to take a walk up to bridge 128. In a few years time the view we were enjoying will be very different. HS2 will cross the canal at Bridge 128 (link to maps) and cut across the valley we have a great view of. Mick found a map of the planned route so we could trace out where it will go. Some work will go on around here, a viaduct will replace the (Lucky Sods) bridge to cross the canal and it looks like embankments will take the tracks across the valley. Now the world up here is calm, faint noise from the A423 and today only one boat passed us, but that will change.

Looking things up later I came across a petition to Parliament from Lower New House Farm regarding HS2. Only having had a quick read through it looks like part of their farm will become a temporary works compound (Oxford Canal North Compound) whilst construction takes place. This works compound will operate for five years and accommodate between 90 to 170 workers with temporary living accommodation. The road leading to the farm will be upgraded and they have concerns about the safety of the radiofrequency beacon on their land and it’s protection whilst works are on going (another petition here about the beacon, part of the Marine Beacon Differential Global Positioning System network, covering 50 miles around the UK coast line). Storage of their own topsoil and noise levels of the works are also a concern to them. This was all written in 2013, another document showing homeowner protection zones was published in 2016 with the route remaining the same.

Our mooring today will change in the coming years, the view will be different and high speed trains will cross the valley at regular intervals. A massive amount of upheaval will happen as the construction takes place, but once everything has settled down and nature restored around the new line it will become like any other railway line crossing the canal and valley. How many of us marvel at the viaducts built in Victorian times, here’s hoping that HS2 has it’s own structures to marvel at. Here’s also hoping that all the upheaval will be worth it in the long run.

But the biggest question is, will this mooring still be worthy of a Mrs Tilly stamp of approval?

0 locks, 2.76 miles, 2 boats moving, 1 sunny winters day, 4 root veg soup, 1 GF homemade biscuit topped pie! 1 wreath, 1 large friend, 1 field yet to help dig up, HS2 to come, Ep 3 Luther, 0.5 sock, 1 Mrs Tilly stamp of approval.

https://goo.gl/maps/tUv4Z3UPXHv

Stuff And Stuff, Stuffed Everywhere! 20th November

Jericho Wharf to Aristotle Bridge

Time to move on.

We’ve not got our winter clothes out from under the bed yet, this morning we wished we had. Blimey it was chilly, lined trouser weather!

Squeezing our way past College Cruisers, with all the boats in it’s a tight fit. They seem to be doing weekend breaks, but come next week the distance you’ll be able to travel will be much shorter as Dukes Lock is closing for three weeks. This means that hirers will only be able to cruise up and down through Oxford, or go out onto the Thames for a couple of locks to do a ring. We’re planning on being through Dukes Lock in the next couple of days.

We only cruised on to Aristotle Bridge, passing a stack of bikes that had been pulled out from the cut at one of the bridges. Very glad we’d not got stuck on top of them! These moorings are not that popular. You are asked to keep the running of engines to a minimum and it is only 2 days mooring, All Year. This means you can’t pull up for two weeks in the winter, but it will serve us just fine, the moorings all to ourselves. Well apart from a Fountains team who were cutting back the hedges along the towpath. One chap had laid his long reach trimmer on the towpath, turned round to help clear what he’d just trimmed. As he did this his trimmer rolled into the cut, two of them had to fish it out with a long stick, suspect it’s petrol engine needed a dry out before it would start again.

Once we’d settled and warmed up we decided to head out to visit some museums. Our friend Bridget had suggested we should visit the Pitt Rivers Museum, so that is where we headed off to.

The Natural History Museum stands proud set back from the road and the Pitt Rivers Museum clings on behind. In 1884 General Pitt Rivers, an influential figure in the development of archaeology and evolutionary anthropology, gave his collection to the University of Oxford. The building was designed to hold the collection of some 26,000 objects from around the world. The museum opened it’s doors to the public in 1887 to show part of the collection. Since then more items have been added reaching over half a million in number.

Walking through the rather chilly Natural History Museum I rather wished we’d done a torch lit tour last week. Built between 1855-60 it is a fine (if chilly today) neo-gothic building. A glass roof supported on cast iron pillars covers a square court divided into three aisles.

Cloistered arcades run around the court, each column made from a different British stone. Each pillar and column are decorated with differing natural forms such as leaves and branches mixing Pre-Raphaelite styles with that of science. What a building, filled with skeletons of various animals including dinosaurs. We had a quick look round, but decided to return at a later date to give it more time as we’d been warned of the quantity of stuff in the Pitt Rivers Museum.

Through an archway we descended into the museum, much warmer, maybe to help keep the stuff at a better ambient temperature, bones not needing much warmth in comparison.

Display cabinets filled the floor surrounded by two balconies running round the full building. In most ethnographic and archaeological museums items are arranged according to their country but here they are grouped by type. Musical instruments, masks, boats, lamps, guns, spears, baskets, the list goes on and on and on.

We took our time walking round the display cabinets, the odd item jumping out from the masses. Egypt had followed me here too, a sarcophagus, oil lamps, amulets, a boat similar to that I’d based Aladdin’s canoe on. Models of houses and boats filled cabinets, shrunken heads and skulls others. The amount of stuff was quite overwhelming. Below the cabinets were drawers filled with stuff, perched high above cabinets were more filled with stuff, slotted in between roof joists was even more stuff. So much stuff! I’m surprised that they haven’t started to add galleries crossing from balcony to balcony, but maybe the foundations wouldn’t be able to cope with the extra weight.

Various masks caught my eye and the way spears were displayed was quite an art form in itself. Each item is labelled with its details. A fantastic place for research.

After a good walk round we had had our fill of stuff. So headed to the Natural History Museums cafe for a bite to eat and a rest. Sadly with only one GF choice (a nice looking cake) we decided to return to Oleanna for lunch instead. The afternoon was spent winding up my receipts for Chipping Norton and keeping warm whilst Tilly explored the surrounding park, until the noisy kids headed home from school!

0 locks, 0.63 miles, 1 chilly morning, 2 museums, 519,897 pieces of stuff, 1 museum stuffed to the brim, 1 cake, £20 forgotten about, 27 reciepts, 4 stars, 3 rows off finishing a sock.

https://goo.gl/maps/Emxei8H78Vu

Upton House. 27th September

Castle Quays, Banbury

Still tied up this morning we left Tilly to hold the fort whilst we headed off to catch a bus.

A study of the National Trust website and transport around the area identified two close properties that we could visit. Upton House and Gardens and Farnborough Hall. Farnborough Hall would have been closer at Clattercote, just about walkable, but it’s opening days didn’t coincide with our cruising. Public transport looked into, well we didn’t want to have to stay there for a week before the next bus back to Banbury so we chose to visit Upton instead.

Buses are more frequent, but then one a week isn’t that hard to expand on! We researched websites and ended up discounting the NT website suggestions of how to get there as the times and bus numbers didn’t tally with the bus website. A short walk to the bus station, just by the lock in Banbury, for the number 6 at 10:20. This took us around villages, winding up and down quite steep hills across the Cotswolds on a bright sunny morning. The bus driver stopped for us at a cross roads. To get the bus back we’d have to stand near the house gates and flag the driver down as there is no official stop. If we missed the bus we’d have to hitch or walk back.

With no path to walk along to get to the entrance we waded along the grass verges. Membership cards scanned we were given a map and told to book an entry slot if we wanted to look round the house. Then a grand drive way leads you to the front of the house.

In Medieval times the land here was used by a monastery from Coventry, one of their fish ponds is still in water on the site today. In 1483 Sir Walter Danvers bought the land plus more surrounding it and built a new house, Upton was then passed down through the generations for 150 years until in 1675 John Danvers died heavily in debt and it was sold on. The house and land then passed through many hands, Andrew Motion (the grand father of the poet of the same name) selling it to Walter Samuel, 2nd Viscount of Bearsted in March 1927.

he house was run down and in need of modernisation so Walter and his wife employed architect Percy Morley Horder to remodel the house into a country home for them. The house would also house their large art collection. Two towers that had been built by previous owners were knocked down and replaced with new rooms more in keeping with the house. Walls were removed, a squash court became an art gallery, one floor was removed to give a double height room with a balcony. All in keeping with the 20’s and 30’s style, good quality without ostentation.

On Lord Bearsted’s death in 1948 he left the house, gardens and art collection to the National Trust. Most of the house has been left how it was when he died, the entrance hall being the exception. This is where you are given an introductory talk about the house and it’s history. The hall has been dressed in Victorian style with stuffed deer and nicnaks everywhere. Where one of the walls had been removed a large curtain printed with a photograph was hung, showing you what the space looked like before it’s makeover. Our guide told us that the staircase behind had been remodelled and turned to face into the hall for those moments when a grand entrance was required. What a shame we couldn’t see the hall how it had been remodelled. A bigger shame that when we got to eventually see the staircase you descended it into another photograph of the hall. We could see what they were trying to do, but not being able to see the hall in one go, a mistake.

Once through into the long gallery (another room you couldn’t see from one end to the other due to a large photograph) we were left to walk around the house on our own and glean bits of info from the guides in the rooms. Many of the walls are painted with scumble, similar to the process used to scumble back cabins on narrowboats, except the glaze is patted out with a brush, sponge or rag, so no wood graining here. The rooms now have a simpler feel to them a smaller pallet of colours in each room which helps to show off the art works.

The barley twisted balcony looks down from the library into a room where huge portraits are displayed, one by Joshua Reynolds, a cosy sitting area with inglenook fireplace to one side and a billiards room to another. In the centre of the connecting room sits a large dolls house, a replica of Upton House. People have been invited to make items to be added to furnish the house to match the life size one. The scale of 1:12 is a little bit odd to me, although the pieces in the house so far are very well made I can’t help but get uptight about how some things if scaled up would be far far to big. Someone has cross stitched a wonderful rug for one of the rooms, a beautiful object, but scaled up it’s thickness would be getting on for over two inches thick, a trip hazard. But that’s the theatre designer in me.

Bedrooms upstairs are large, many rooms have been made into exhibition areas showing life on the French Riviera. These people had a lot of money, Lord Bearsted’s father having founded The Shell Company. 1930’s advertising posters cover many of the corridor walls and ladies dresses clothe mannequins for you to marvel at their bias cut elegance.

Lady Bearsted’s bathroom is something else. Chinese lacquer red and aluminium leaf with archways. Quite something in it’s day I suspect, now a touch over the top and amateurish.

The leafing of the walls and ceilings must have taken some time to do. The large bath tub with it’s temperature control, cold, tepid and hot.

The mirror and a wonderful electric fire stood out as the most deco items in the house.

The gardens upstage the house in our view. The south facing terrace in the sunshine made the house glow , then flower beds followed by a large lawn with swimming pool. The bees and butterflies were certainly enjoying the sunshine and the blooms. One very fat bodied butterfly/moth zoomed around from bloom to bloom, we wondered what it was.

Beyond the grass is the biggest Ha ha you’ve ever seen. The land drops away at an alarming rate. Terraces of shrubs, asters, the the kitchen garden lead you down the steep hill to the mirror pond below. Here dragon flies bobbed up and down, but no fish were visible, they were too busy enjoying someone’s sandwich in the stew pond half way back up the garden. There is a bog garden and cottage. A yew tree walk.

Large Cedar trees that have straps to try to keep them standing rather than toppling over onto the grass. Rose garden, An orchard full of apples. A wild garden. You could spend all day here just hiking up and down the hills in the garden.

Our walk back to find a suitable place to wait for the bus was accompanied with a tub of chilled medication, we’d worn off enough calories in the garden. We stood on the wide grass verge as cars and lorries sped past at 60 mph. We’d made sure we arrived early as there was only an approximate time for the bus and it could be early. Large conkers kept us amused for a while, but as time went on we both silently wondered if we’d got it wrong and we’d missed the last bus back. About ten minutes later than we’d expected the bus came into view, the driver smiled at us as we waved our arms in a manner that couldn’t be ignored. The bus only runs on school days and it was obvious why as it was full with kids returning to Banbury from Stratford schools.

Back at the boat all was well, Tilly had done a good job. We had new neighbours and before we settled down for the evening Mick added some cable ties around our ropes to make it impossible for a chancer to lift them off the bollards.

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 buses, 1 big house, 1 El Greco, 3 Canaletto’s, 1 Bruegel triptych, 1 Van Gogh, 1 large dolls house, 1 high haha, 1 vast mirror pool, 1 rather rude squash, 2 colours of spinach, 2456 bees, 2 jacket potatoes, 2 teas, 2 tubs chilled medication, 2 cable ties, 1 bored cat.

Trees, Medication, Waters, Trains, Gardens And Poles. 13th to 16th September

Leamington Spa to Radford Semele

The Heritage Open Weekend has been keeping us busy. This year it has actually stretched over two weekends and a few days in between. Sadly we only remembered it after the first weekend had passed, missing out on a few things that appealed to us. But there was still plenty to choose from.

On Thursday we joined a tour of The Pump Room Gardens and Jephson Gardens. Meeting by the Royal Pump Rooms our first guide, Archie Pitt (Chairman of the Friends), has been involved for many years in raising funds to restore the Gardens back to their heyday . The gardens were used for gentle exercise by Victorians who came to the town to take the waters.

Paths are being moved back to their originally intended positions, the Linden Arches have been restored with new lighting, these date back to 1875. The band stand has been removed for renovation leaving a low wall that has seen some work. New flower beds, the river bank tidying up and works done to York Bridge which spans the River Leam in the park. The Band Stand is due back in November when there will be a small celebration, but a bigger party will be held next year when all the flowers are in full bloom and the gardens look at their best.

Next we walked across the road to Jephson Park. A very posh park originally created in 1831 as an informal garden with walks along the river. In 1846 they were redeveloped into more formal gardens for the seriously rich and given their name to honour Dr Henry Jephson who had promoted the town as a Spa. Formal flower beds and a collection of trees were planted. Tennis courts laid (Lawn tennis was invented in Leamington), it was a place to be seen.

When it was being laid out there was a slight problem of a right of way which ran straight through the park. This had to remain, but be disguised and the poor kept out from the formal garden. So a hill was built over the top of the path and planting added so that it is almost invisible from above.

The fancy flower beds were eaten by Canada Geese, so a small fence was erected around them, which did the job. However this didn’t stop them from leaving their poo everywhere. It was then realised that Geese can only take off and land on water or very soft mud, so putting a fence around the pond would do a better job. Have to say there was very little if any goose droppings. Whilst we were there something startled the geese and a group of them took off, a few aborting at the last minute. One poor bird missed the pond, clipping it’s legs on the fence and landing on the wrong side. It then spent a long time trying to return to the water, the fence being just as effective in stopping birds from entering the water as exiting!

Our guide walked us through the gardens pointing out the interesting trees and telling tales. A very informative walk, I never knew there were so many oak trees, including evergreen ones without the typical leaves. At the far end the walk ended by a gate house now used as artist studios. The majority of people headed back with the guide to enjoy tea and biscuits , but we thanked her and went to look at the art on display. Better than your usual gallery, some work very good indeed including a photographer who specialises in close ups of natural textures and colours, these were stunning.

We’d passed the rather ornate building which once housed the Aviary and went back to have a better look. Outside was a menu for chilled medication, we had to oblige in partaking of some. White chocolate and Raspberry and Chocolate Brownie and Marshmallow. My gluten free trial may have to exclude chilled medication! Very tasty it was too.

Friday we joined the tour of The Royal Pump House. A small group was guided round the building expertly by Alan a very jolly chap who knows his stuff about Leamington and its inhabitants through the years.

The Royal Pump House was the only spa north of the river, numerous other establishments had grown up on the south side where the original town was sited. Waters flowed at the southern spas, but the geology to the north was different and the salty waters were hard to come by. Plans to build other pump rooms were stopped and soon afterwards the fashion for taking the waters at such places switched to visiting seaside resorts such as Scarborough, where you could also take of the waters.

Built for the seriously rich there was a large ballroom which was used to dispense the waters, a large well on one side and table and chairs to sit and sup your water. People would come and stay in Leamington for several weeks staying at the grand Regents Hotel nearby. They would come to the Pump Rooms and drink their water in the morning, partake of gentle exercise in the gardens, have plain food at lunchtime (fruit and veg were bad for you), swim a couple of times a week in the waters and return to their hotel to indulge for the remainder of the day. The amount of food in an average meal at the time would last most of us two whole days! They would then return home, boasting of their well being having lost maybe a few pounds and having bathed the grime off their bodies. Leamington waters have been found to have no medicinal benefit whatsoever!

The pump rooms housed boilers to heat the waters, two swimming pools (male and female) and rooms of slipper baths for the upper working class to have a dip at less expense. We were shown into a marble corridor (now tiled as the marble had deteriorated before the restoration) easy to wipe clean and resistant to fire should the boilers get out of hand.

The gents swimming pool now houses the library, the ladies the art gallery and where the slipper baths once were is now office space.

Before the renovation works were done to the building it was used as a location for Mick Jaggers video for Sweet Thing. The swimming pool is shown off along with the marble corridor. Woman meld into the tiled walls and Mick struts his stuff around the Turkish themed room. It’s worth a look at the video to see what lays behind the modern interior of much of the building.

On Sunday there was an opportunity to have a tour around Leamington Spa Railway Station and gardens. About twenty people turned up including a couple we’d seen yesterday in Warwick. Two ladies showed us around the Deco station which opened in 1939. Built from granite and Portland Stone it is a very fine building. As with many buildings in the 60’s a lot of the building was covered up to make it look modern, but luckily back then this meant that the good things that laid underneath were preserved.

The first station had been opened in 1852 by the GWR, it was added to through the years and the LNWR built their own station next door. In the late 20’s unemployment was very high and the Government introduced the ‘Development Act 1929’ which provided financial assistance to public utilities for capital expenditure in the form of low interest loans. Great Western set about with a scheme of improvement works, quadrupling the Birmingham Main Line approaches and the rebuilding of Leamington Spa Station being two of them. The building was made from a prefabricated steel framed structure, sheathed in brickwork and then clad with stone and granite. There is an interesting article about the station here if you want to know more, it includes a lot of very interesting photographs taken through the buildings history.

When plans to revamp the cafes were suggested, action was very quickly taken by the friends of Leamington Spa Station, the building becoming Grade 2 listed. In 2008 the booking hall was sympathetically refurbished original tiles being revealed and in 2011 the two waiting rooms were also restored.

The deco doors into the cafes are particularly fine. Two running boards have been placed on the platforms to help announce your arrival at the station.

At the end of platform 2 is a garden, which in 2009 gained the title of Best British Garden. Volunteers work hard to keep it and the terraced gardens leading down to the front of the station in good order. Sadly the grass has suffered this year with the drought and most of the planting is now past it’s best. The star attraction though is the topiary hedge. An engine and two carriages with a plume of Pampas grass as steam. This can be seen from most of the station and is a treat.

Free tea was on offer at platform 3, but we decided to head on to our next visit, The Polish Centre.

Originally the Town Hall the Polish Centre sits on High Street south of the river where the town centre originally was before the town spread northwards across the River Leam. The building housed meeting rooms, a ballroom, magistrates court, police station and cells.

A lot of the building was built with Queen Victoria in mind. A small balcony was constructed at the front of the building where her short stature was catered for with the view of a smart building opposite, a high window frame so she wouldn’t have to see the poor people who’d come to see her. However she never visited.

When the Town Hall was moved to the Parade north of the river the building was taken over by the police. Most of the interior was gutted to make better use of the space for offices, the ballroom was split in half height wise and only the main staircase remains as an original feature. Eventually in 1968 the building was sold to the Polish Catholic Mission, Monsignor Jozef Golab loaned his own money for the purchase, funds he received after successfully suing the German Government for the years he’d spent in concentration camps during WW2.

Much of the building is now rented out as a dance school, the top part of the old ballroom now being the chapel for the Polish community of Leamington.

We had a very warm welcome with tea and coffee and some very tasty looking cakes before we were given the full history of the building and the Polish community. I think we could have spent all weekend drinking tea and eating cake at various locations around town.

Back at Oleanna we decided to move to give our second mate some quality time ashore. She really hadn’t liked it here and watching the rats on the off side had become boring. So we pushed off as soon as we could and made our way back out of town mooring up by Radford Semele for the night. Once our grid reference was noted and the trip computer turned off the back doors were opened and Tilly disappeared straight through the sideways trees. A much happier cat now.

0 locks, 1.22 miles, 4 more Heritage day venues, 3 gardens, 1 pump room, 1 station, 1 evergreen engine, 2 terraced gardens, 1 ex town hall, 4 pairs pants returned, 2 chilled medications, 1 roast chicken, 1 curry, 1 happy cat in the undergrowth.

https://goo.gl/maps/yoFRfetFzCR2

One Tree In Chester. 7th February

Chester

A frost greeted us Wednesday morning. Down on the Dee Branch there was a layer of cat ice. Around us was still fluid but back towards the staircase lock there were patches of ice. This is why we’ve stayed put in Chester, waiting for the chilly spell to pass and for the canal to remain liquid so that we don’t get stuck up towards Ellesmere Port. Of course this morning was the morning that Tilly decided to be that little bit more adventurous and manage to cross the towpath, I hadn’t spotted the ice when she went out! I’ve been looking at the one and only tree in Chester for days, weeks, years now! It’s a bit spikey but at least I conquered it. This didn’t take long and anyhow it was cold!

As we had our breakfast a chap appeared with a windlass from down on the Dee Branch. He proceeded to empty the lock, crackling the covering of ice as the levels altered. We first thought that maybe the level gradually drops on the branch, so he was topping it up. Then another chap appeared and pushed open a gate as a boat was reversed, with difficulty, thorough the ice to the chamber. They brought the boat up backwards and reversed it from the lock where it has been sat all day, maybe waiting for some work to be done on it.

A tourist day for us. Grosvenor Museum seemed like a good place to head.

Opened in a purpose built building in 1886, the Grosvenor Museum houses artefacts from both Chester Society for Natural Science and Chester Archaeological Society. An extension was added in 1894, by 1938 the City of Chester took over full control of the museum, looking after the collections and displays. This and admission being free shows somewhat. The building is grand from the outside (peacocks decorating the gables) and the mosaics on the floors and under the dado rail must have taken some work.

The Romans are to Chester what the Vikings are to York, a large tourist attraction. A large collection of Roman gravestones fills one room, with information on those portrayed in the carvings. A video tells the story of one centurion and his wife, lots of interesting detail on what he wore and their life at Deva the Roman Garrison that became Chester. A large model shows you the layout of the garrison and how it compares to the city’s layout today. Hot water pipes and roofing tiles fill more display cabinets. There is plenty to read, just a shame nobody seems to have proof read it.

Behind the main building is a link into a period house, 20 Castle Street, which was saved from demolition and it’s first period room a Victorian Parlour was put on display in 1955. The house jumps around with it’s displays, Victorian, Stewart, 1920’s, Victorian again, Edwardian, 1970’s all very higgledy piggledy. As we climbed the stairs we felt like we were in a hall of mirrors as the walls and landings didn’t marry up, the floors changing angle every which way possible, it’s possibly the most seasick I’ve felt in a long time.

Back in the main building are collections of stuffed animals and a very large silver collection just down the corridor from the Honourable Incorporation of the King’s Arms Kitchen. This was a drinking, gentleman’s club dating from 1770 and took up residency at the King’s Arms Kitchen public house. This recreation of the room is now used for school parties to have their packed lunches and tours to await their guide.

This chap sat very patiently for me to take photos of today.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 tree! 5 minutes off the boat, 1st cat ice, 1 reversed lock, 1 museum not to add to John’s list, 1 loud speaking lady, 1 fish crumble for tea.

Eyes, Walls And Puddings 3rd 4th February

Chester

It’s that time of year again when we get our eyes tested. During the week Mick had booked us both appointments at Boots. Our thought was that should either of us need new glasses then we’d be able to pick them up in a couple of weeks on our way back from Ellesmere Port and we’d be able to keep ourselves amused in the meantime.

Going to the same brand of opticians (but in different towns) each year, we thought would give us some sort of continuity. But that will only happen later this year when all their customers records will be accessible from any branch. So when my optician pointed out the little wiggly veins in my eyes he only had my word for it that they are always there and my blood pressure is okay. And I am also assuming that the wiggles haven’t got any worse over the two years since my last test and since the last time my blood pressure was checked.

My prescription had changed, especially for reading (which I was aware of). So new glasses. Before we moved on board I tried out varifocals, but these just made me constantly feel like I was about to get a migraine, so they went back and I’ve been living with two pairs of glasses since. Now that I spend my evenings knitting in front of the TV, I end up choosing one pair and either peering over the top at the TV or under at what I’m making, not ideal. So I’ve decided to go for a pair of bifocals and a new pair of distance glasses for outdoor use.

The lady who looked after me did her best to get me to part with large amounts of money on new designer frames, walking straight to those that don’t have a price tag on them! I hate this process and would so much prefer to be left alone to make my selection having had a little bit of guidance as to what frames would be best for my prescription. If I could reuse my old frames I would. It took a while for her to get the message that I wanted simple, none twiddly glasses, most definitely not pink! The first pair that I let her price up for me came up at over £450 with everything added, most of which I don’t feel are necessary for my life style. I think my reaction, which wasn’t of surprise, got the message across and she started to look at the priced range. Mick did better than me and successfully managed to put off the need for new glasses for another year.

The sun met us on Sunday morning and after breakfast we decided to make the most of the day and go for a walk around the city walls.

Each day they open up the doors for me, but still no change! It is hardly even worth stepping off the boat here, other than to gain access through the side. Watching from inside the pram cover is different, but all really rather pointless. I’m beginning to realise why the Cheshire Cat grins, he’s grinning and bearing it!

We joined the circular walk just by where the new Inner Ring Road punched a hole through the walls in 1966. The footbridge over the road is certainly of it’s period and slightly strange adjoined to Roman Walls of pink sandstone at either end. Views over the basin gave us a glimpse back to Oleanna opposite the new student accommodation. These new buildings from this angle looked quite warehouse like but with a modern feel to them.

Walking anticlockwise we soon came to the racecourse. In Roman times this was the port of Chester, busy and thriving, second only to Bristol on the west coast. By the Middle Ages the river had gradually silted up and the area became known as the Roodee. The first horse race was held on 9th February 1539. Henry Gee was mayor of Chester at the time and because of his surname horseraces became known as ‘Gee-gees’.

Next came the Castle, it’s red sandstone standing out against it’s grassy bank. The first timber castle was built here in 1070 by William the Conqueror. In the 12 and 13th Centuries a stone castle took it’s place and was extended by successive Earls of Chester.

The views over the river come next, the walls dipping down to the bank, never really reaching the heights that the Bar Walls get to around York. Here there is a weir holding back the tidal waters below, although the tide was in, so the weir was submerged. At one time there was a gate added to the weir to allow boats access to the non- tidal river above. This sits just alongside the Old Dee Bridge and a precarious cat ladder leads down to it. The gate is now out of use, but there is talk of building a lock to replace it along with work on the Dee Branch of the Shroppie to enable boats access to the river.

Approaching Newgate the architectural styles of the city sit close to one another. The NCP Pepper Street car park a testament to the times it was built. Sitting on the very top of the stairwell was what looked like a stone lion. We shall have to return for a photo from below as it turns out that the car park was built on the site of the Lion Brewery. When demolished the Lion that had sat high on the building was removed, looked after and later positioned up on the top of the stairwell surveying all around it.

Eastgate Clock Tower is just as pretty close to as it is from below. The views along Eastgate with all it’s tall half timbered buildings is wonderful, although we seemed to be the only people stopping to have a look.

As the city wall popped out into the open again at the back of the Cathedral we were greeted by the overwhelming noise from the bells being rung. In 1975 a new bell tower was built to rehouse the bells from the cathedral. The building, another of it’s time, was the first free standing bell tower to be built by an English cathedral since the 15th Century and it is now Grade 2 listed.

From here we dropped down into the city for a bit of shopping. I headed to Abakhan for some wool for my next project before finishing off the walk around the walls and heading back to the boat.

We’d been made aware that today was Yorkshire Pudding Day. Oleanna was built with a double oven with Yorkshire Puddings in mind. So along with our roast chicken (no need to only have them with beef!) I had a go at gluten free puds. They came out much better than I’d expected, but definitely need eating straight away as they get a little bit tough as they cool. My Mum however wouldn’t have approved. Her Yorkshires were the very best, cooked in 1lb and 2lb bread tins and served before the meat with homemade gravy. They would rise right to the very top of the tins and curl over still having greasy bottoms (which was a test set by my Nana to see if she was a suitable girl for my Dad). Never would she have produced her Yorkshires in muffin tins let alone served with the meat! She would however have liked the rise I achieved, it’s all to do with the eggs and really really hot fat.

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 eye tests, £450! 2 pairs for less than half, 15 minutes to choose wool, £5 Tesco Indian, 1 wall walk, 1 racecourse, 1 castle, 1 river, 1 pants artist, 3 giant balls, 1 roast chicken, 6 Yorkshires, 1 new project started, 1 cat sliding into depression!

Into Chester And Everything Goes Wrong 1st 2nd February

Cheshire Cat to Tower Wharf

When the weather arrived on Thursday, with the ducks surfing the waves past Oleanna we knew we’d made the right decision to stay put. Only one boat went past us all day and Tilly became an inanimate cat, she really wasn’t enamoured with it here!

At 2.20pm our delivery from Sainsburys arrived with a very jolly driver, Gilly. He chatted away as we unloaded our shopping at the stern, no pressure from him ‘You take your time’. One substitute today which hadn’t been put in a substitute bag, so when I came across flaked almonds we handed them back, as I’d wanted ground. Gilly handed them back to us after scanning them, we’d get a refund and get to keep them, I suspect it takes a bit of time at the end of the day to return things to the store.

So now our stocks were replenished and we had choices of what to eat again. The wine cellar was full with cat food, cereal and some wine.

We pottered away the rest of the day. I had a go at knitting a toe up sock for the first time which was mostly successful once I’d got the gist of the pattern. I think on the second one I’ll do some slight alterations and hopefully improve the finished result.

The sun accompanied Friday morning and the wind had died down. We got ourselves ready for our finial approach into Chester. This is when we hoped that our timings would work out as I’d given our friend Sue a time we thought we’d be leaving the Cheshire Cat and when we thought we’d arrive at Northgate Staircase Locks. A message part way through the morning suggested that she’d try to meet us at the staircase as she was working her way through petty cash.

At Christleton Lock a boat was just entering the lock to come up. So I popped down to see if I could help. Having been this way only twice in our earlyish boating days we never really got the hang of how to come up these locks other than very slowly. Using a rope to hold your boat into the side and opening the same side ground paddle works a bit on some of the locks, but not all and your bow can move pretty quickly across the chamber to hit the other side. So when the chap asked for me to open the paddle slowly I did as I was asked and the boat stayed put at the side.

It soon became obvious to us that the couple must be fairly new to boating. Plenty of fenders hanging off their gunnels to get caught and drop off into locks. They thought they had got to the basin in Chester and hadn’t known about the staircase. The next locks were set in our favour, but we soon learnt to check all the paddles were fully down as Greenfield Lock was taking an age to empty. The paddle had been lowered but the last two inches, which is hard to see had been left up.

The buildings by the locks are lovely. The rather grand cottage by Tarvin Road Lock and the interesting buildings by Hoole Lane Lock. No donkeys though today, only duck houses on the off side.

The levels are rather high at the moment, most probably due to all the rain of late. So along one stretch instead of walking I hitched a ride, saving having to paddle. A couple who had recently moved to Chester stopped by the last lock to watch, they had recently moved up from living by the Solent and knew very little about canals and narrowboats, their knowledge being about sailing boats. We both chatted away to them and suggested that they should also walk down towards the basin and visit the museum at Ellesmere Port.

We were ahead of schedule, so we pulled into the new 2hr Stop and Shop mooring outside the new Waitrose. Here I picked up some ground almonds and stocked up on Verde Lasagne (my favourite which is hard to find anywhere else). Then we were back on our way. There was plenty of space along this stretch where we could moor, but the number of bars here would make for a noisy weekend.

The canal bends round and follows the line of the City Walls which sit high above whilst you travel through a deep sheer sided cutting through stone. Then up ahead the staircase.

The top and bottom chambers were full, the middle one empty. So I set about emptying the bottom one whilst Mick brought Oleanna into the top. We disposed of rubbish at the bins here which stalled our descent long enough for Sue to arrive. Sue is a keen sailor back in Scarborough, but also didn’t understand the mechanics of locks, never having to use them. Once the principle was explained it all made sense.

Slowly we worked our way down the three chambers. This time I made sure everything had been set correctly before we started and kept a close eye on proceedings, whilst chatting to Sue. The last time we were here a paddle had been left slightly up on the bottom chamber which hadn’t been spotted by us or our fellow locking partners, more water had to be let down, conversations were too interesting, too much water was let down and we had to wait a long time for levels to equalise! Basically we’d messed it up, got everything wrong! But today all was fine and Sue had just enough time to hop on the back of Oleanna to travel round into the basin with us before having to return to her paperwork.

We’d heard a week ago that down here was rather full, but as we rounded the bend there were only two boats, plenty of space. So we pulled up on the nearest mooring to the water point. Shame we’d not thought to put a load of washing on earlier in the day as it would have had a good go at drying on the whirligig this afternoon. It’s changed a lot since we were here in 2011, I’ll see if I can find some photos.

Please can we go back to Welsh Wales! It was good there. Everywhere in this Chester outside is boring. This one doesn’t even have any trees, just a stupid woman who fed the flying rats right by our boat. You would have thought having all those birds about Tilly would be engrossed, but around a hundred pairs of flapping wings were really quite scary.

This evening we went along to the Storyhouse. Opened last May in a converted Odeon (sounds familiar) this is a really interesting building. Here is the library, two theatre spaces, a cinema, restaurant and two bars all pretty much intermingled. The old cinema auditorium is now the foyer, library, restaurant and bar space with the original curved ceilings and new walkways added. The 800 seat theatre sits at the back of the 1930’s building in a new purpose built extension. It felt like a mix of the Lowry, HOME and Birmingham Rep and library. A very welcoming space for all, young and old, even the dressing up boxes had clothes for all sizes.

We’d come along to see The Play That Goes Wrong that Sue is working on. She’d managed to get us two tickets for the show which is playing to sell out audiences across the country. We knew that these were restricted view seats so before making ourselves comfortable we made sure we had a look at stage right of the set so we knew what there was. The show is not High Art, but with that title you’d not expect it to be. But if you want a couple of hours laughing at the sheer slapstick farce of it all then go and see it. Winning the Best New Comedy Olivier Award in 2015 and the set won a Tony it is slick, fast paced and a reminder to any theatre professionals of all their anxiety dreams rolled into one, anything that could go wrong does time and time again!

After the show Sue met us and showed us around back stage seeing all the workings of the set as stage management tidied up. A few drinks in the pub next door with her rounded off a very good day.

The temperatures are forecast to drop in the next few days to below freezing. So we think we’ll stay put for a while by the water point instead of heading off to Ellesmere Port.

8 locks (3 a staircase), 3.24 miles, 0 donkeys, 3 boxes green lasagne, 200grams ground almonds, 1 Sue, 1 pole position mooring, 3 days of pants outsides! 2 comp tickets, 1 new theatre, 1 blank spot, 2 pink pills, 1/3 stage not visible, 1 very physical show, 1 long interval, 2 glasses wine, 1 sunny lovely day.

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna