A quick post of an unexpectedly great London day…
We strolled around lesser-known but lovely parts of Islington, spotting some beautiful squares.
A very friendly neighbourhood cat:
Chichester Cathedral
With J still away in Durham this weekend, I’m afraid you’re stuck with me again as I share some pictures from another weekend away singing, this time in the beautiful Chichester.
Chichester Cathedral is adorned with some stunning artwork, including this vibrant reredos.
Exploring Clerkenwell
J is away in Durham, so I thought I’d share some photos with you from a quick lunchtime stroll around Clerkenwell.
I’ve worked around this area near Farringdon on and off for a few years, but as ever when you go somewhere every day, it’s easy to forget some of the details you see all the time.
There’s more than one alma mater, you know: way up North to Durham
I suppose Cambridge is easier to get to from London. And it is quite pretty, I guess. And a *fairly* good university… [I’m not going to rise to any of this. Some people are just jealous.] Nonetheless, I was very excited to give the tour of my own university, way up at the other end of the country in the tiny city of Durham.
Even more special to me, though, was a visit to my old college, University College, or Castle as it’s known. It is, indeed, a castle, built in the 11th century [although the keep was rebuilt in Victorian times] to defend against marauding Scots, and was lived in by the Prince Bishops before the students took over.
I lived in the keep, with a very lovely roommate:
Sang (often hungover) in the tiny Tunstall Chapel, built in 1540:
Exploring London: Hackney City Farm and Columbia Road
Maybe this particular weekend we were missing the countryside, or maybe we just wanted to see the more natural parts of London, but we decided to fill our weekend with flowers [urgh] and animals [better]!
We started at Hackney City Farm, which neither of us had been to before. It’s free, so definitely ticks the frugal box, but there isn’t too much there to see so not worth a long trip. With the help of the camera zoom, though, we did find some bunnies… (Common theme, we know)
We also spotted some very peaceful-looking donkeys, who were proving to be pretty popular!
Visiting the birds at Lotherton Hall
I had a “fun” weekend of flat hunting, so unfortunately we didn’t have time to go anywhere this week. Instead, here are some pictures from a trip I made to Lotherton Hall while I was at home visiting my parents over Christmas.
The hall is an Edwardian house and country estate, which is also home to a bird garden with an impressive selection of over 130 different species.
The land of Shakespeare
So I was taken away on a special weekend trip… A lucky girl indeed. Although English Lit courses at uni are a distant memory, I was excited to be taken to Stratford-upon-Avon, the home of Mr William Shakespeare himself.
We bought the Five House Pass [2-for-1 if you’re a Direct Line customer! or 10% if you book online], a combined ticket that gets you access to all the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust sites, which we think is good value if you visit two or more. We started with the cottage he was born in. It is a lot bigger now, though…
Below is one of the two downstairs rooms original to the time of Shakespeare’s birth. There is a real sense of history as you experience the house, although it is pretty packed with tourists like us!
An impromptu Saturday
This was an unexpectedly fun day. With no real plans, we checked a few of our favourite sources for inspiration (we’ll do a post on these soon).
We found a series of sessions called Daylight Music at the gorgeous Union Chapel in Islington. From 12 noon, they have an eclectic mix of up-and-coming artists. This was our first visit, but we imagine it encompasses quite a range of genres, and also features a pretty amazing café at the back, with proceeds going towards a homeless charity. They serve endless cups of tea, home-baked cakes and bacon sandwiches [!!!], with an informal atmosphere. We saw the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment‘s Experience ensemble perform Haydn, a slightly too intense guitarist/singer/songwriter, and The Swingles (previously the Swingle Singers), in an amazing line-up (which, to be fair, isn’t a typical weekly occurrence!).
The OAE performed brilliantly, but the Swingles were the real highlight. They sang some of their well-known material and some new, but they interestingly described their technique of live looping, where they sing something once and their sound engineer instantly records it and replays it. This enables them to layer their vocals even further and develop their rich sound.
A quiet day in
Today was just a quiet day in; it was Holocaust Memorial Day so we watched a fascinating documentary called “Holocaust: Night Will Fall”, which is about a film detailing the Holocaust that was made during the War but never broadcast.
We then ventured to the cinema; the one of our choice is generally one of the Everyman cinemas. It’s a fantastic chain with comfy seats, a great bar and the option of having food brought to your seats. Word of warning, though – not all Everymans (Everymen?) were created equal [the best ones have sofas, but it depends on which venue and screen you go to!], so check before you book.
We went to see The Theory of Everything, which we’re sure you’ve seen by now, but if you haven’t… Go. I, for one, cried throughout – it was emotional as predicted, and beautifully acted by Eddie Redmayne [it was an incredible performance]. It reminded us of this photo we took of the chapel at St John’s College in Cambridge, where the movie was filmed (although not actually set [he studied at Trinity Hall during his time in Cambridge]).
Modern day royalty at Kensington Palace
As the second part of our Historic Royal Palaces half-price January, we headed to Kensington Palace, both of us for the first time. In the beautiful setting of Kensington Gardens, the Palace is an interesting mix of historical state apartments and high-security home of William, Catherine and baby George, amongst other royal family members.
The first highlight was not a sighting of Harry popping out to get milk, but an extremely chubby squirrel in a nearby tree.
