|
Post by tod2 on Jul 12, 2012 14:52:57 GMT
Sunday 20th May 2012. We are on the last leg of our 6 weeks in Europe. Today we have taken the train from Manchester Piccadilly station to Euston. Since Friday when we left the Isle Of Wight, we have been visiting with friends in Rossendale, Lancashire. It's an easy walk to our London apartment from Euston station. Located in Leigh street above a small hardware shop called Povey & Sons which sells electrical goods, kitchen ware and outside the entrance, an array of plants. On eitherside of this shop is a Dry Cleaners, then a Tandoori restaurant and the famous North Sea Fish restaurant. Across the road on a corner is a pub, the Norfolk Arms. In the other direction, the lovely half moon semi-circle of hotels in Cartwright Gardens. It was around 7pm and the keys to the apartment were left at Valencia, corner cafe`. www.london-hideaways.com/bloomsbury-lollipop-studio.htmlLeigh Street Those are our two windows directly above the hardware store- the red door on the right is the entrance to the hallway and stairs. Cartwright Gardens After we had dumped our cases we went looking for dinner. A small busy Chinese in Marchmont street caught our eye. The food arrived quickly and was delicious. Taking milk and a few other groceries back for the morning, we moved in for the next 11 days. Day 2, 21st May. We caught the tube to Greenwich thinking it would be nice to have a look at the newly renovated Cutty Sark. Unfortunately the entrance to the hull section was closed, but we could walk around the outside. We found plenty tables available at The Gypsey Moth Pub and had lunch. At the next table were a family of South Africans so we were in familiar company. I don't mind bumping into fellow countrymen and finding out what they have seen so far. The wind was bitingly cold and after sitting watching the Thames for sometime we decided some grocery shopping at Sainsbury's would be good. We went to the branch in the newly upgraded Brunswick shopping complex near the apartment. DAY 3, 22nd May. After breakfast we set off for our rendevous at the Chelsea Flower Show. This was our third visit but had not been since 2001. There were dozens of rickshaw/bike cabs waiting to take you down to the show. This is the chap that brought us. The avenue of plain trees and the crowds already there. Lets go inside the big white marque. I was very taken with this "painting" - totally done in leaves and flowers. A very Monet bridge. Next up was the South African exhibit - and another Gold medal! TV crew around the South African stand. More Chelsea to come...including a few videos.
|
|
|
Post by mich64 on Jul 12, 2012 15:45:10 GMT
Goodness, I really like the concept they used at the Chelsea Flower show, incorporating the artwork with the flowers, all the exhibits are so cleverly done.
|
|
|
Post by bjd on Jul 12, 2012 16:52:50 GMT
You say the houses around Cartwright Gardens are hotels -- all of them? It looks like a really nice place to live. But of course, no shops just downstairs.
I just had a look for Leigh Street on Google maps -- you certainly were well located.
|
|
|
Post by tod2 on Jul 12, 2012 17:00:32 GMT
|
|
|
Post by mossie on Jul 12, 2012 19:05:58 GMT
A super report on Chelsea Flower Show, thanks.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Jul 12, 2012 20:34:32 GMT
Oh, Tod ~~ I greedily await more!
This is wonderful. So exciting to have this eye-witness report. I can't wait to see what you discovered in your rambles.
All of the displays are impressive, but ~~ and I'm not just saying this ~~ I LOVE the S.African one!
|
|
|
Post by tod2 on Jul 13, 2012 9:33:17 GMT
|
|
|
Post by tod2 on Jul 13, 2012 9:43:35 GMT
bjd - As far as I know, the semi=circle of attached building are all hotels. I walked past there several times this trip and noticed a few had a bit of a upgrade. New paint, change of flower baskets to no flower baskets etc., The Harlingford Hotel seems to be the top choice. Some of the rooms are below ground level and others up several flights of stairs. I don't believe there is a lift in any of them.
|
|
|
Post by tod2 on Jul 13, 2012 12:30:21 GMT
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 13, 2012 15:11:21 GMT
Naturally, I have been gobbling up all of this report, but the flower show nearly did me in. I know that gardening fanatics are absolute fanatics and this certainly proves it. But it is wonderful to see without having to actually go there. As usual, all of the scenes of daily life, the shops, the buildings, the people, etc., fascinate me the most, and I can't wait to see more.
|
|
|
Post by lola on Jul 13, 2012 15:48:21 GMT
DITTO what Kerouac said! So cool, tod. Thank you for bringing us all that.
The riverfront has changed even since we were there 3 years ago.
|
|
|
Post by patricklondon on Jul 13, 2012 21:58:58 GMT
For the sake of completeness - that was the first bit of a huge blow-up of the palace balcony group at the Queen's Silver Jubilee, put up for the Diamond Jubilee river pageant. It's still there.
|
|
|
Post by Breeze on Jul 13, 2012 22:03:42 GMT
Tod, now that I've seen your photos of Chelsea, I think I should take the mower to our garden.
I have to remind myself that I'm not a professional and besides, I'm lazy, so this place will never reach the level of the average English home garden.
My mother and I took a garden trip to England during Chelsea. We considered going to the show but in the end didn't. Luckily for me, every night Chelsea was covered on one TV program or another. It's that big in England. The Philadelphia Flower Show is considered the big one in the USA but it wouldn't be on the news or talk shows night after night. Gardening just isn't deep in the soul of Americans the way it is in the English.
I was interested to see that the English TV presenters were much more frank than Americans would have been.
|
|
|
Post by fumobici on Jul 13, 2012 22:40:05 GMT
As a once avid- and still interested- gardener I've really enjoyed this. We have our local flower shows but the English take it to another level entirely. Thank you for sharing this.
|
|
|
Post by tod2 on Jul 14, 2012 6:26:05 GMT
Thanks so much all. Patrick, I am always interested in more information on the subject! Looking at the blow-up again, is that Charles or Andrew?
Breeze - thank you for your comments. Just to let others know: You have to buy Chelsea Flower Show tickets in advance (on line). The only other way to get hold of them is to go early and stand and wait for 'late returns' (I think they're called). I met some Americans who did just that.
I will be posting more maybe tomorrow - maybe Monday, as I am babysitting two lively grandsons!
|
|
|
Post by bjd on Jul 14, 2012 7:28:57 GMT
I was surprised to see how commercial the Chelsea Flower Show is -- I hadn't realized they would be selling anything, like those giant metal animals that I can't really imagine in anybody's garden. A bit surprised by the harvest festival aspect of it too. And how do they get plants that normally bloom at different times to all be perfect together? When I see those clematises compared to my scraggly ones... I agree with Tod that the Queen's Jubilee plantation is rather boring. It looks like the plantings every small French town used to have, either at the entrance with the name of the place, or somewhere near the city hall. And I must mention the picture of the bridges resting on the red pillars. I took a picture of those pillars in 2006 -- they were just sticking up out of the water and I wondered whether there had been a bridge on them before.
|
|
|
Post by lugg on Jul 14, 2012 16:59:38 GMT
Fabulous Tod
It looks like the weather was kind - you must have been in England on one/several of our limited number of sunny days this year
I am now determined to go to the Chelsea Flower Show
|
|
|
Post by tod2 on Jul 14, 2012 17:44:26 GMT
Bjd -Thanks for putting up that photo of the piers just standing with nothing surrounding them! It really shows up to what extent they are building on top of them.
Kind words Lugg, Thanks! You will love it. Yes, it is swamped with people but somehow you never get to the stage where you are looking over other shoulders to view the beautiful exhibits. There is a run on tables at lunch time but you can always eat early or maybe later?! The day you are viewing is MEMBERS ONLY day. That is the first day the show opens directly after the Queen has been the day before. We are members of the RHS, and have only been on that day in the three times we have been.
The 12 days we were in London were so hot I thought I was back in South Africa! 29C most days and I was constantly looking for shade on our garden excursions.
|
|
|
Post by lugg on Jul 14, 2012 18:09:26 GMT
I am so pleased that the weather was good Tod , and looking forward to the rest of your photos of London.
( Plus some of Rossendale ? )
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 15, 2012 5:08:51 GMT
Looks like those pillars had to wait for a revised plan or something. Very enigmatic photo before they finally started building.
|
|
|
Post by patricklondon on Jul 15, 2012 17:58:16 GMT
|
|
|
Post by nycgirl on Jul 17, 2012 12:48:51 GMT
Beautiful photos, Tod! The creativity that goes into these flower shows always amaze me. My favorite is the South African display.
Love your shots of the Thames as well.
|
|
|
Post by tod2 on Jul 17, 2012 16:56:21 GMT
Many thanks! Here we go for some more.... DAY 4, 23rd May. Today we are headed out for our first small garden in London. It's the Culpepper Community Garden in Cloudesley road, Islington. www.culpepper.org.ukTo get there one can take the tube to Angel or a bus 153/274. This beautiful garden has 50 plots for people to grow vegetables, as well as ponds, rose pergolas and ornamental flower beds. There's even an organic lawn with a wildlife area. Volunteers weed and tend this flourishing garden. Getting off the tube we walk up Liverpool Road and stumble across the Chapel Market. Leaving the gardens we went in search of something cool to drink. While waiting in the queue, my husband couldn't help taking a shot of somebody about to loose their trousers... Well the guy behind him must be thinking the same thing! The next rendevous was at Bunhill Fields. City Road, Shoreditch www.islington.gov.ukThis former cemetery may not be the quietest open space in London, lying alongside one of the main arterial routes into the city. With it's mature trees this is one of the few areas however, where the city workers can discover a green place to sit in the open air. Wandering down the flagged paths you will find the tombs of Daniel Defoe, John Bunyan and William Blake, quite easily. This cemetaery has an interesting history - hundreds of plague victims were interred here in 1666 so it is no wonder that the whole area was formerly known as "Bone Hill". Nowadays the area has an abudance of plants from Lime Trees to foxgloves. And a little group of bluebells...( not pushing up daisies!) More to follow...
|
|
|
Post by tod2 on Jul 17, 2012 18:43:12 GMT
To proceed.... It is now on lunch-time and we have decided to try the famous Pie & Mash that Londoner's have eaten for ever. Leaving Bunhill Fields we pass this old castle-looking building but know nothing about it. We hop on a bus and eventually end up in Hoxton. Walking down the main street we come across a film being shot in one of the buildings. Sailing past us is a girl in period costume going over for her scene. This is what you get......Once was enough thank you very much This mosque is one of the most modern I have ever seen. Next up - A visit to Richmond
|
|
|
Post by patricklondon on Jul 17, 2012 19:12:20 GMT
You missed one of the most bizarre tombs in Bunhill Fields: The inscription reads: In 67 months she was tap'd 66 times, had taken away 240 gallons of water, without ever repining for her case, or fearing the operation.The "castle", by the way, is the HQ building for the Honourable Artillery Company (an old-established reserve regiment); the building is available for hire as well: www.hac.org.uk/html/about-the-hac/
|
|
|
Post by bjd on Jul 18, 2012 7:27:34 GMT
I like the name of that store Mags and Fags. Would it be politically incorrect in the States? ;D
|
|
|
Post by tod2 on Jul 18, 2012 7:39:18 GMT
Patrick , many thanks once again for your invaluable knowledge! It all adds to the interesting facts and figures and is much appreciated Unfortunately the whole area of tomb stones is fenced off but can be viewed with a guide by appointment only. That is certainly an unusual ( maybe even cryptic) inscription! bjd - I think it would attract curious glances if it were a sign in the USA. But even here in S.A. we refer to cigarettes as fags, and in boarding school your junior assigned to polishing your shoes, making your bed, and generally doing your bidding, was called 'your Fag'. Makes me wonder how the term came to refer to homosexuals.?
|
|
|
Post by patricklondon on Jul 18, 2012 11:44:00 GMT
Abbreviation from "faggot", which - by contrast - in British usage has, instead, been applied in the past to grumpy/bossy old ladies.
Which leaves the question, how did it come to be applied both to cigarettes and to menial/manual labour?
|
|
|
Post by lugg on Jul 18, 2012 18:20:46 GMT
Fabulous Tod2 Your link to Culpepper is broken ( at least for me ) www.culpeper.org.uk/ willtake you to the web site. Fascinating to see the before pics and then look at your photos of it now. Sorry but the pie/ mash looks yuk - what are the green bits floating in the gravy ? ? mint sauce ? Did you enjoy it ?
|
|
|
Post by patricklondon on Jul 18, 2012 22:29:39 GMT
It's a rather thin parsley sauce, usually, traditionally known as "liquor", for some reason. Pie'n'mash tends to be a bit disappointing, if only because the pies aren't that well-filled and the meat's not the best quality. It's either over-bland, or over-compensated with pepper.
|
|