Rainy Day Gardens

When I visited the deer park at Knole last summer, I noted with some sense of regret that the walled gardens at the property are open on Tuesdays only over the late spring and summer. I love an historic garden, but when does one ever have a free Tuesday when one works full time in an office? If you have a Tuesday off, it's generally because you also happen to be abroad as part of a longer break.

However, I was delighted to discover that my new place of work has a few extra bonus days off each year in additional to the usual ones, one of which is the Tuesday following the late May Bank Holiday. So I knew immediately what I was going to do with my day, come rain or shine. And boy, did it rain! But that's okay, because I had my brand new wellies.

My new wellies were just one part of my incredibly generous parting gift from my former workmates. One of my friends took note of my comment that I was in need of a pair of fit, respectable, good wellies. My new job is likely to require walking around a fair few churchyards, which can be very wet underfoot, so it was thought that furnishing me with wellies would be a good idea for seeing me off on my way.

So when I knew what the weather was to be for my Knole visit, I dressed from the wellies up. I went with a fitted green jacket (part of a 1940s suit) and shirt for a respectable country look, but coupled with a denim skirt to keep it from being too dressy for a muddy, puddly garden romp.

And I had a delightful time in the garden in the rain. Yes, I couldn't sit down and enjoy a book or anything like that but I marched through with my wellies and umbrellas, unhindered. What a wonderful, extensive gardens, full of many hidden treats within the 'Wilderness' and all around.

Because my wander around the gardens was naturally slightly inhibited by the weather, I also had plenty of time to explore the house, which I missed on my last visit as I was too busy enjoying the fine summery day. No photography was allowed inside, but sometimes that's kind of preferable, because you can just look without feeling as though you have to capture...

The house was itself wonderful, and I would definitely recommend a visit. The spaces were amazing, the stories fascinating and the collection full of fabulous and exquisite objects, furniture and paintings. I enjoyed hearing about the Spangle Bedroom, which takes its name from a bed with curtains which, in their Elizabethan heyday, would have shimmered and sparkled with the firelight reflecting off the thousands of spangles or sequins that formed part of the decorative embroidery.

The Spangle Bed (Image source: Knole Conservation Team Blog)

So, all up, a rather satisfying day of rainy day walking, historic interiors... and a perfectly warm and delicious toasted cheese and bacon bagel bought at a bargain price from a local bagel shop on the way back to the station... Bliss!

Love Letter from... Chicago!

Brrr. Autumn seems to have arrived here in London. How strange to think that, less than two weeks ago, I was here:

Oak Street Beach in Chicago, on the shores of Lake Michigan, drying in the sun after a morning dip. Check out the hair - they don't call this The Windy City for nothing.

I absolutely fell in love with Chicago in the few short days I was there. I ended up going as I was in the States for a friend's wedding in Boston and I've wanted to go to Chicago for some time now. I was a bit nervous that it wouldn't live up to my hopes but it surpassed them. It had a perfect city feel with a fascinating mix of architecture, a great buzz, a beautiful location on the lake, green spaces, wide streets, and such friendly people. It did really feel like 'my kind of town', in the words of Frank Sinatra. Like all my favourite cities, it didn't feel frozen in some past period, nor completely new. You could feel and see the history but it felt like it is still alive and changing, still exciting and full of energy. As an architecture geek, I particularly loved all the new buildings butting up against the old. (And I highly recommend the architectural boat tour, run by the Chicago Architectural Foundation, for a great run down of it all.)

Here's just a few shots from my wanderings... There's quite a few here, and yet it's still only a small selection from the many taken...

Bam! Architectural amazingness overload!

The Wrigley Building! (Frank Sinatra sings about this...)

Down at the beach in the evening, I was amused watching the cops, watching the waves 

I spent most of my time in the centre, which is where I was staying, but also managed to get out to Wicker Park, which is one of the inner suburbs of the city. I browsed some of the various vintage/thrift stores there, but wasn't really in the buying mood. I did snap some more pictures along the main street though.

'Don't fret': You're in Chicago, life's good here!

So that's my glimpse of Chicago. I did absolutely love it and didn't have nearly as much time as I would have liked there (only two full days, three nights). However, now I know that it's there and how amazing it is, I can always plan to go back one day, to see all the many places and things I missed this time around. Hopefully next time I will be able to take The Cat as well, as he wasn't able to make it this time (despite wanting to) and had to endure my excited telephone calls and messages as I explored and fell head over heels...

God bless you, Chicago, you beautiful city!

Waterloo Sunset's Fine

It never fails to give me a small thrill whenever I happen to find myself at Waterloo when the sun is going down. The classic Kinks song always inevitably pops into my head and, if I'm in appropriate company, I sing out the chug-chugga-chugga of the opening bars.

It especially lifts my spirits when I find myself there at sunset upon arriving back into Waterloo Station after a trip away from London. That was the situation last night when I snapped these shots, on my return from a night away and a site visit in Dorset.

As an architectural historian, I also always find myself working out which of the buildings in the views from Waterloo Bridge would have existed when the lyrics were penned. And indeed, what bridges, as Hungerford footbridge, visible in the view below, wouldn't have been there then... One day, I'd like to sit down and work it all out. Perhaps draw up my own little 1960s view, if I can't find a photograph of one. There's a mission!

Last night, I was also particularly thrilled by the sliver of a moon resting above Shell Mex House, one of my favourite Thames-side buildings. How can you not love London at moments like this?

Choo, choo!

In a couple of hours, I'll be at Euston Station, preparing to depart on the sleeper train up to one of the UK's best cities...

No, I'm not starting my Christmas holidays early. I'm actually heading up to Scotland on a work assignment, to hopefully uncover lots of archival treasures and solve architectural mysteries...

Me and my dad in Glasgow late last year

Best stop mucking about and go pack then!

Love Letter from ... Old Gippstown

As usual, life ploughs on much faster than my blog can keep up. I have scores of photos and tales from Australia that I was intending to share but I keep getting distracted by events and thoughts in the present moment. But I'm going to be strict with myself now and present a few bumper Aussie posts before doing anything else...

And so I bring you Old Gippstown Heritage Park! This requires a post all of its own because I had such a great time there. My mum and I spent several happy hours exploring and being ridiculous, but there was just so much to see that we were kicked out at the end of the day, still not having seen anywhere near everything.

Old Gippstown High Street

Old Gippstown is located in the town of Moe in Gippsland, the beautiful southeastern corner of Australia. It brings together historic buildings from all around Gippsland to create a mid-Victorian township, including the high street with all its shops, a church, a school, theatre, town hall... I don't know how many buildings in total but, as I said, we didn't come even close to seeing everything.

Old Gipptown Church - lots of the churches in Gippsland are timber buildings that could just be picked up and
moved if the early settlements didn't flourish

One of the wonderful things about it is that you can go into every building and there's lots of things to poke and prod and play with. Really, you could spend a couple of days there, if you wanted to properly take it all in... and take multitudes of photos, like we did.

I don't recall there having been a lot in the way of interpretation at the park. And what there was, I haven't really held in my head so I don't have much information about the buildings to repeat here. As such, I think the best approach is to just inundate you with photographs, interspersed with only a few words of explanation...

The ingenious church windows, which could be opened in such a way as to allow some
ventilation whilst preserving the look of the stained glass windows

And the ingenious, reversible pews! In which the back could be pushed forwards to that sitters could face the other way
without the massive effort of actually shifting them around  

Note the dressed-up country look of my outfit (as opposed to my horse-riding country outfit). It was the first outing of the skirt, which my mother gave me, purchased from American Graffiti, a vintage shop on Melbourne's South Bank. The earrings were also a gift from my mother, cardigan from Benetton, jacket from Rokit and scarf from Beyond Retro. Mum thought we should wear heels but we quickly swapped them for more sensible shoes when we stepped out of the car into mud... Mine are EOS, purchased from a factory outlet in Melbourne.

Presumably people weren't exhumed to be re-buried at the heritage park...

Trying my hand at the water pump...

... and the wringer. Mum whipped off her slip so that we could have a proper go at it

All-Australian dunnies

I may have squealed when I saw the classic old ute - unfortunately, I couldn't get in behind the wheel

Look at the colour and details! It could do with a clean though...

Behind the counter at the cobbler's shop. I loved that you could not only go into all the buildings, but even get in
behind the counter and play shop...

Wonderfully rustic, colonial log house, complete with tree bark shutter on the window

It was the end of the day and the dressmaker's shop was all locked up by the time we
found our way to it, sadly... We could peer in the windows though and admire the signage

Enacting the audience of a thriller in the cinema....

... and a weepy

So, we had an awesome time, as you can hopefully see from these pictures. If you ever happen to be really randomly passing through Moe in rural Australia, I highly recommend checking it out.