National Trust, English Heritage, museums etc.
Friday: it’s a better day – bright and sunny, great for photography. It’s also very cold – we won’t hang around. Apart from one or two groups of schoolchildren, it’s quiet at Blists Hill. I think all the visitors are in the several houses – the doctor’s house, the squatters’ cottage, the toll house – in front of their warm fires.
…and various other autumn fruits. Once again, we’re dodging the showers in Attingham Park. It seems busy – others have had the same idea, though once we’re half-a-mile or so from the entrance, it’s much quieter. Some sad soul has kicked what were probably fine fungi into many fragments – but there are still one or two splendid specimens for the camera.
They call it the un-stately home. Only a very tiny part of the interior is restored – mostly it’s as found, preserved as left, unbelievably cluttered and in places semi-derelict. Spooky? The best bit is the last – how do we escape? Through dark cellars and tunnels – is there light at the end?
Sounds like “cork”… Wednesday – a fine a sunny day. It’ll be too wet underfoot for a walk – there’s been a good deal of heavy rain. How about a visit to Calke Abbey?
There’s a lot to see here – too much for a single visit. There are some splendid outbuildings and a wonderful walled garden – let’s take a look at those first…
…in the greenhouse and the walled garden at Attingham. We’re taking a short leg-stretch, staying close to civilisation as there’s a chance of a heavy shower (inevitably, as we’ve taken a brolly, it stays dry). It’s very busy here today – car parks overflowing, with visitors to a classic car rally, but we’ll keep away from that, walking around the perimeter of the estate where there are relatively few others. As we near the end of our wander, we pass through the walled garden, where there’s plenty of summer colour.
Wednesday 7 August: beside the Severn on a warm afternoon. We walk as far as the redundant power station bridge, then back to the red iron bridge. The bus at the bus stop is red too – we don’t see many like that around here…
Wednesday 24 July: We’re visiting the Isle of Man to coincide with its “Heritage Transport Festival” – the upshot of which is that the Groudle Glen Railway will be operating during the daytime today (it mostly operates on Sundays and Wednesday evenings). As we’ll be home again on Sunday, we’d better pay the line a visit.
We arrive at Groudle Glen tram stop an hour or so before services are due to begin – so we walk down the glen beyond the station, then up onto the headland to the terminus high above the sea and the site of the former zoo, where sea lions and polar bears were kept as a visitor attraction.
It’s possible that not everyone has heard of the GGR, but the Laxey wheel is probably the one thing everyone has heard of. So we’re back on the “Electric Railway” to Laxey, for lunch in the outside seating area of the Mines Tavern (whose bar is decorated to resemble a tram). What a great place to sit and enjoy the passing scene! Then we’re off past “Ham and Eggs Row” to the great red water wheel – “Lady Isabella”. It’s quite a sight to see this 22m wheel slowly turning (at 3rpm), alternately pushing and pulling the rod which once operated the pumps at the mine further up the glen. It’s a pretty good view from the top of its water feed tower too.
Groudle Glen Railway
The Great Laxey Wheel (Manx Heritage)
Tuesday 23 July: a ride on the steam railway to the south-western tip of the island. Leaving the train at Port Erin, we walked up the steep and narrow minor road to the museum at Cregneash, where there are numerous thatched buildings and exhibits from crofting life. We’ve missed – by yards – the stone circle on Meayll Hill (blame the mist!) – we’d better walk back and take a look.
We’d thought of walking to take a look across the Calf Sound, to the Calf of Man, but the mist was reluctant to clear. Instead, we’ll follow the coastal path “Raad ny Foillan” to Port St Mary and the train back to Douglas. There are “chasms” close by the path – we’d better take a look at those. Wow!
Walking back to our hotel, after dining well (we’ve earned it – walked nearly 12 miles today) by Douglas harbour, there’s an interesting and unusual building beside the road. It’s Tynwald.
Isle of Man Steam Railway
Cregneash (Manx Heritage)
View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=219735&Y=467737&A=Y&Z=120
Buildwas and Wroxeter: taking it easy on a grey day. There’s tranquility in the ruins of the abbey, the stones of the great pillars warm on this dull afternoon. Wroxeter feels altogether more bleak, though the colour in the replica villa brightens the scene wonderfully.
Buildwas Abbey EH; Wroxeter Roman City EH
A quick lunch, followed by a wander with the camera, around the estate and in some of the lesser buildings.
