Enjoying retirement
In The Red Rose County
We combined a trip to see our lovely Afghan tailor in Altrincham with a meal at the Church Inn Mobberley and a visit to Tatton Park. After sorting out some material to repair my leather jacket, and turning down the offer to pay £5 towards my petrol (!) we arrived at Church Inn which is in a lovely setting. And we had our lunch by candlelight (very atmospheric). The lunch was terrific and cost £57 all in - which for a place recommended this year by Michelin is amazing. We attempted all four doors on the interesting looking church to no avail, but noted this unusual marker(?) on one of the buttresses. We had visited Tatton several times before, walking round the lakes from the Knutsford entrance but we hadn't yet been inside the house or gardens. The estate was acquired by Sir Thomas Egerton Lord Chancellor to Elizabeth I and there is an old hall from that time but the present mansion was built by by John Egerton, Sir Thomas' grandson and completed in 1716. Between the 1770s and 1816 most of it was replaced by the present neoclassical mansion, designed by Samuel Wyatt and his nephew Lewis William Wyatt. There are 150 pieces of Gillow furniture in the house, and a nationally important collection of pictures and, unlike many houses, the house was conveyed to the National Trust with virtually all contents intact. The entrance hall prepares you for the rest of the house, and here we talked to a guide who has been here over 25 years and who was very knowledgeable and helpful. She pointed out to us the rams heads on the battering rams on this vase........ and this rather nice glass dish from nearby Warrington made in about 1805. I couldn't mistake who this was........... A comfortable drawing room contained two Canalettos..... And because you could get really close up you could see the amazing details In this room is also the painting that featured recently on BBC's 'Lost Masterpieces'. The 'before' and 'after' pictures are incredible. Up until last year, the portrait was considered only as ‘A Physician’ by an unattributed artist. After fully investigating the mysterious portrait, with the help of art conservator Simon Gillespie, the painting was officially attributed to Francesco Salviati, one of the leading Mannerist fresco painters of the Florentine-Roman school. The BBC team also identified the man depicted in the portrait as Realdo Matteo Colombo (1515-1559), a pioneering anatomist of the Italian Renaissance. He studied at Padua University, was surgeon to Pope Julian III and a friend of Michaelangelo. The Library is a lovely room and contains beautiful protective covers to the bookcases which I have never seen before. This is a contemporary portrait of Elizabeth I, copied from the famous Armada Portrait. My favourite room was the Dining Room which contained wall spaces perfect for displaying your ancestry. I particularly liked this portrait of Alice Anne Graham-Montgomery, Duchess of Buckingham and Chandos and Countess Egerton of Tatton (1847-1931) by Sir Frank Dicksee in her coronation robes. We had recently visited Coalbrrokdale and here was a Coalport and Coalbrookdale dessert service. Having just visited the deer park before we hadn't realised how superb the gardens were. The first section we visited was the orchard which had a magnificent display of apples and pears (some very old varieties), and outstanding espaliers. I do love a doorway in a garden. Where will it lead? There was some fine topiary......a Victorian lady offering - what? There was also a lovely and extensive Japanese garden. All in all I am sure we will be back several times. Having said that our own back alley isn't so bad!
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ManCity 4 Arsenal 1. Most important match of the season, amazing atmosphere, great game, terrific result. And I met two wonderful new supporters from Japan attending their first match.
We were going to a concert at Bridgewater Hall so we decided to do one of the Schofield walks in his new book. Appropriately it started at the front doors of the Bridgewater where we examined the rubber seal which shows the 'separation' of the Hall from its surroundings. Its 22,500 tons sits on 280 springs. The weather was gloriously typical of manchester - blue skies etc. Barbirolli Square somehow typifies Manchester with its location on the Rochdale Canal, its mix of old and new, and its impressive architecture. We followed the boardwalk round to the towpath of the canal. to seT he start of graffiti which are everywhere On the opposite side of the canal we noted the Rain Bar for later. Loved these cycles. On Tony Wilson Place (named after the Manchester impresario) there is a statue of Engels (collaborator of Marx, and Manchester businessman at the same time). It was recovered from the Ukraine in 2017 (statues of Marx and Engels were outlawed). It was interesting to see the huge Mackintosh Mills (1826), famous for producing the raincoat, now apartments. We also passed the Anthony Burgess Foundation........ On Whitworth Street West is the Ritz (1928) one of Manchester's oldest music halls and where Manchester band the Smiths first performed. Next the Refuge Assurance building. .....and the Palace Theatre... But the Refuge Assurance, now the Klimpton Clocktower Hotel proved too good an opportunity to pass. The inside is magnificent. After a suitable refreshment we admired the palazzo of St James (in actual fact built in 1913 for the Calico Printers' Association). Now offices. We peered over the bridge opposite to get a surprise view of the Rochdale Canal and........ Down Chepstow Street was the wonderful textile warehouse of Canada House (the whole rear is glazed for light)...... ......with its lovely art deco gate. and a little further along a pub - Peveril of The Peak - I had always wanted to visit with its art nouveau tiling. Unfortunately it was so busy we couldn't get in the door. Which meant we could see at last the Rain Bar, and very good it was too. ......as was our concert with the Halle which was a majestic performance........
Falla - La Vida Breve: Interlude and Dance Bartók - Violin Concerto No.2 Dobrinka Tabakova - ARTIST IN RESIDENCE Earth Suite: Pacific Stravinsky - The Rite of Spring (Model Music Curriculum Y5) Conductor Christian Reif Featuring: Antje Weithaas, violin A trip across the moors to see if the bluebell woods were in full bloom. They weren't but a lovely spectacle nevertheless. We extended our normal walk this time, crossing four woods and a field of friendly enough Highland cattle. Not something you expect to find in this quintessentially English countryside. Just outside Mydlleton Lodge above Ilkley. As per a recent estate agent "An outstanding Grade I listed 16th century house with a superb south facing position enjoying views of Ilkley Moor."! We descended to Ilkley through a very large housing estate, but not a normal one........ .....before relaxing over a late lunch in Betty's.
We were staying with friends Julia and Allan and our first visit was to Prudhoe Castle. Our first house was in Prudhoe, and we remembered chatting to the keeper of the time. The castle is hidden away and fronts the huge Kimberley-Clarke factory on the river Tyne, mostly well hidden by trees. It is much more impressive than imagined. That is why it was the only castle in the North never taken by the Scots. There were two chapels ( a lot of praying to do). The one above the gateway which Allan and I climbed up to contains the earliest Oriel Window known in the country. This is the outer bailey. The Great Hall would have been on the left. And the inner bailey...on the left is the Georgian house which was built over medieval remains. The mill seen here was important but outside the bailey walls......surely a problem? When besieged by the King of Scots in 1173 he said "My lords what shall we do? As long as Prudhoe stands we shall never have peace." The next day we visited Paxton House in the Borders. We had never been before. It is an exceptional Georgian house with many surprises. "The opulent Picture Gallery is filled with a superb collection of paintings on loan from the National Galleries of Scotland. Works by celebrated 18th and 19th century Scottish artists Sir Henry Raeburn, William McTaggart and Sir William Allan can be enjoyed alongside 20th century paintings by the renowned Scottish colourists Samuel John Peploe and George Leslie Hunter, and artists with local connections to the Borders, Anne Redpath and Sir William Gillies. Contemporary local artists are invited to show in a series of changing exhibitions in the Hayloft Gallery and in the Regency Gallery by the gift shop. The Scottish artist, Allan Ramsay’s earliest oil painting, several works by Sir Henry Raeburn and works by British and European artists, including Rosalba Carriera, David Martin, William Shiels, Alexander Nasmyth, Francesco Fidanza, and Antonia del Massaro da Viterbo are displayed throughout Paxton House." "Paxton House is home to two pre-eminent nationally important collections of furniture. The first commissioned from England’s most celebrated cabinetmaker, Thomas Chippendale and his son, by Ninian Home from 1774-91, and the second, commissioned from Scotland’s premier cabinetmaker, William Trotter, by George Home and Nancy Stephens in the Regency period. Today you can see the original furniture in the rooms for which it was designed. Ninian Home commissioned Chippendale, Haig and Co. to decorate and furnish his home ‘in a neat but not expensive manner’ between 1774- 1791. Thomas Chippendale and his prestigious firm of cabinet makers, Chippendale, Haig and Co, furnished the house with a wide variety of exquisitely made chairs, cabinets, desks, beds, clothes presses, tables as well as soft furnishings at a time when he and his son were at the height of their success. The Chippendale firm undertook a complete interior design scheme for the Dining Room and Drawing Room, supplying hand-painted wallpaper and enormous pier glass mirrors from Paris." "William Trotter is Scotland’s most outstanding cabinetmaker of all time. A crucial figure in the Edinburgh New Town, he had showrooms on Princes Street. His furniture was typically made to be hired out to clients renting houses in the New Town of Edinburgh.Paxton was Trotter’s largest country house commission with 40 fully documented pieces made for the new wing added by George Home in 1812-15, of which 30 remain in situ. His furniture at Paxton, mostly in rosewood, is the world’s largest publicly accessible collection of his work." What was really extraordinary in our tour was to see the Eighteenth Century costumes which had been preserved in a trunk. They were magnificent. A carousel held in Berlin, 1750, was one of last great European Royal performances designed to demonstrate the power, wealth, and importance of the King and his cavalry to his subjects and other kingdoms.King Frederick II of Prussia, named Frederick the Great, held a month of festivities to celebrate the visit of his elder sister, Wilhelmine, in August 1750. Balls, concerts, opera, plays, feasts, and firework displays culminated in knightly equestrian performances where four teams competed. The events took months of preparation and rehearsals. Thousands of people watched the spectacle. Four teams based on ancient empires (the Greeks, Romans, Persians, and Carthaginians) were each led by a Prince or military figurehead with six knights, plus pages and squires. Patrick Home, then aged 22, who later built Paxton House, was a knight in the Carthaginians team. Each team displayed their horsemanship through arranged performances to music; tilting, jousting, and various types of target practice also took place. The spectacular displays took place in an illuminated performance on the evening of 25th August and during the day of 27th August 1750. Patrick’s matching horse regalia is also in Paxton’s collection. This is the only costume surviving from the Carousel event. Masons' marks are always interesting to see (necessary for them to get paid). Here a couple at Norham. Next, to Ford and Etal, usually classed together and they are very near each other. Etal is another Romantic ruin.... Etal village is exceptionally nice....... Whereas Ford Castle (now an adventure centre) is much restored. The castle dates from about 1278. The view out from the castle...... Another day, we drove to Amble which we hadn't really explored before. We parked by the beach and walked in past the golf course. A place full of character and lovely buildings. From there to lunch at Boulmer, and a brief walk to the Bathing House. On our last day we paid a visit to Belsay Hall, and its quarry garden...... You also get to see the impressive 13th century castle, owned almost continuously by the family since Sir Richard de Middleton was Lord Chancellor to King Henry III.
Aiisha is tackling the Three Peaks of Snowdon, Scafell Pike and Ben Nevis and for the first of these we based ourselves in Shropshire to enjoy some time there and drive to Snowdon. We stayed in Much Wenlock a historic and atmospheric town. The house we picked Fox Corner had everything we wanted. It was refurbished only last year which is good. On our first day we went to Blists Hill Victorian Village.......I was here in the sixties with school to look at the origins of the Industrial Revolution. The Victorian Village didn't exist. We got in free with our National Art Pass. From there it was a short drive to Coalbrookdale where we admired the world's first cast iron bridge and enjoyed the town itself which had a lot going for it. Next day a rehearsal for Snowdon. We went on a waterfall walk leading up to Long Mynd from Carding Mill Valley. The walk was harder than it loked at first sight as there was a lot of scrambling up the side of the waterfall..... A picnic lunch half way up was welcome...... Nearing the top........ Once past the top of the waterfall we entered a heath and moorland plateau that sits on the Western flank of Church Stretton in this Shropshire Hills area of outstanding beauty. Wild horses proved not so wild....... The way down was via a long hanging valley.... ......which was quite precipitous in part. There was time for an odd tree climb...... .......and crossing of water. Rectory Woods was at the bottom of the valley. Very pleasant. At last the longish drive to Snowdon. Brilliant scenery as we neared. Having dropped off the mountaineering party (including the fund-raising Aiisha) Frances and I went to lunch at the Castell Deudraeth, very nice too, and it enabled us to avoid the heavy entry charge to Port Meirion. I'd always wanted to visit Port Meirion, and what a fantastical place it is. And how totally unspoilt thsi area seems..... After exploring the village we went on a woodland walk to the beach. This is as far as we got as the tides were making it difficult to get round to the village's other hotel. It compares very favourably indeed with Cornwall. We must return. Next stop the castle again for a cup of tea on the terrace where we could admire the scenery and the gardens. On the way up the mountains to pick up Aiisha, Katherine and David the scenery was truly lovely. The following day we went to the Enginuity Museum at Coalbrookdale. of its type, very good indeed. I was particularly keen to see the blast furnaces which were truly the origin of the industrial Revolution, last seen by me in the Sixties! Just after lunch, to the Edge Outdoor Centre for shooting. Very good fun. On the way back to Clitheroe we dropped in to Tatton Park for a bit of deer stalking.......... A low key birthday tea for Katherine and David, the cake was much better than it looks. Another mountain to conquer. We stayed overnight at Burnthwaite Farm, near the Wasdale Head Inn. The views from the farm were outstanding. Whilst the others mountaineered I went on a really pleasant walk at the other end of Wasdale. Coming upon this National Trust Youth Hostel, based in Wasdale Hall, I stopped for refreshments. The views of the screes were outstanding. At the end of my walk I diverted to Nether Wasdale for a drink in the pub there. Since they charge a supplement for transactions under £10, I declined their hospitality...... and made the lengthy drive back to Wasdale Head........ On the way back over extensive moorland the mountains were all lit up by the evening sun. We had dinner in the Boot Inn which has transfomed since Malcolm and i stayed there in the Seventies. Very good too.
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August 2023
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