The buildings of Newark-on-Trent

May 18, 2016

As we cycled into Newark from our base at Ivy Farm I knew I was going to like the town. The first things we saw were this traditional cycle shop and the Palace Theatre, surely they were good omens?

And while I knew I wanted to come here, I hadn't really planned much of what we should see, or where we should go. Clare had said the best place to leave our bikes was in the Market Square, so we were pleased to spot this sign.

The Market Place was a traditional market square with the town hall at one end of the square. I can't tell you how many times we walked through here sometimes checking on our bikes and other times because we just found ourselves back here.

And inevitably we often got a view of the Parish Church, a beautiful building inside and out. I've some photos from inside the church which I'll share another day. But it's an elegant church isn't it?

On one of our walks around the church I spied these brightly coloured front doors over the wall, and I was off to get a closer look. And the second photo below was taken standing in the middle of the road with MOH on watch for oncoming cars.

There were plenty of great looking buildings in the town - and as I had my camera in my hand, I snapped quite a few of them. The details of the stonework and the fancy bits on the roof stood out on this one.

The vintage signs and the plant which was climbing up this building caught my eye at the time, and now when I look at this photo I think it has a timeless quality to it. And that's how I felt about Newark - a place that still has traditional values at its heart.

There's not many letterboxes you'll see at this height, and it's a traditional green colour too isn't it?

I was curious about, what turned out to be a boot scraper to the left of the red door below. And I loved how it was built in to the building's fabric, I think because I'm after a classic freestanding boot scraper myself. I'm quite fussy and have an idea of what I want, but haven't seen the one I want yet.

Heading back towards town we headed into The Arcade and the roof caught my eye.

At the end of the Arcade we spent some time looking in the window of a vintage shop, and two things from my childhood caught my eye. The first was this dress, which I'm sure my mum had something similar, it was either peach or blue but had the same fine pleats.

The other thing that caught my eye was the mustard coloured cups and saucers - the very same set that we had at home in the 1970s. I was very tempted to buy these two trios (plate, saucer and cup) but they don't really match my usual, more prettier style of tea sets. I think that dinner set is long gone, but maybe they have an odd piece or two hanging about. I'll have to find out.

I've still more to share from Newark-on-Trent - some from inside the Parish Church and of course some from the Castle - so look out for those.

Inside the London Design Centre

March 29, 2016

On a blue-skied day in March we headed off to the London Design Centre as part of the Spring London Design Week. I've some more to share from our visit but before that I wanted to share some shots of the building, because it was fab and it's not somewhere I'd been before.

The main building is formed of three domes, and on the day we visited the sun was catching the decorations and they were glistening away.

Take a look:

The central dome was decorated with these blue pipes and hydrangea-type flowers, which gave it an almost-wedding-like feel.

And the central staircase was just the sort to glide down, but from a distance looked quite like a helter skelter!

With the sun's first showing of the year, it was quite warm under the glass but we weren't complaining. We did though take some time out at the Nespresso bar and while taking some refreshments admired our surroundings.

The decorations in the outer domes were different and glistened beautifully in the sun, and yes they are fish hanging below the metallic spheres.

There were further places to rest, these ones a little more luxurious than before. I daren't rest here though as there was still much more to see and these looked oh so comfortable.

Heading outside we saw a green enclosed with a white picket fence, and were able to look back at the glass domes.

Back inside we headed to the temporary tented structure for what was billed as Gin O'Clock - well you would, wouldn't you? While we sipped our G&T I was snapping away at the interiors here too, quite something for a temporary structure connecting the buildings.

And yes, the gin was most welcome. Well, it always is...

More soon on what else I saw, I just need to finish that G&T. Hic.

Looking around the Bogenhausen district in Munich

February 9, 2016

Apart from sightseeing and people-watching, one of my favourite past times is to wander around the non-tourist trail parts of a city. And when we were in Munich last year, it was no different. We spent one morning at BMW World, which is way more interesting than it sounds (and I'll share more from there in a future post) and wanted to spend the afternoon outside, so we took the train from the Olympiapark towards Bogenhausen which our guidebook told us was "a charming place full of lovely mansions of the wealthy."

Well if you're going to look around part of the city that's off the beaten track, it might as well be one of the fancier parts. As we emerged from the station, it was already looking promising...

As much as I would have liked to stop, I was also keen to see more of Bogenhausen. As i looked up, I knew it was the right decision, just look:

How could you not want to explore an area with statues like this on the roof. I love how they look to be surveying the area, and watching what's going on below them.

We peeked through iron railings at the large houses behind them, marvelling at the arches, the lamps and the ironwork at the windows and the balconies.

There were gates and wide leafy avenues.

There were smaller details too, the iron rose among the lusciously coloured rosebush, and mosaic pillars.

And everywhere, there were bikes.

There really was something for everyone.

As we wandered some more, aimlessly it must be said and soon found ourselves in this square. Using it to get our bearings we turned right and headed back towards the river and our hotel.

So quite a wander, with lots to see. Do you head off to other parts of cities when you visit them, or is it just me?