Tag Archives: nottingham

Chatsworth in the rain

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A rainbow near Chatsworth
A rainbow near Chatsworth

Last week was the first this year when we didn’t go to the cinema – time pressed a bit, but also there was nothing we really wanted to see. Hope to resume this week, though it’s looking a bit busy already. Dot is at Barbara’s today and will progress from there to Peterhouse School at Gorleston for some Ofsted feedback (representing the diocese). I am catching up after a weekend away.

On Friday we left around 10.30 for Nottingham, calling in at Coventry on the way. It was a very slow journey, particularly the section through Elveden and the M1 from the M69 northwards. I had called Coventry the night before to make sure they knew we were coming; nevertheless we arrived around 1.30pm to find that Andrew had gone out for a walk. Helen gave us a hot drink and we waited for nearly an hour, but he didn’t return; so we went to Green’s garden centre near the Binley roundabout for a very pleasant snack. A spot worth remembering, though it’s not really a garden centre: more a garden furniture and sculpture outlet.

We got to Nottingham around 5pm after calling in at Donington services to buy some flowers for Julia.  In the evening we went by taxi to an excellent Indian restaurant. Next day we visited Chatsworth. It was very cold, and there was quite a bit of a rain, but we enjoyed it very much. We started at the farm shop and restaurant, where we had a meal (recommended), then after a “quick” tour of the excellent shop proceeded by car to the house, where we parked and after a brief discussion about the weather paid £9 each to enter the gardens.

These far exceeded my expectations and were certainly worth the bitter wind and frequent showers. A rock garden with massive rocks stood out, but there were plenty of other features (fountain, maze, waterfall) which I’d like to go back to in more clement weather. There were also a number of sculptures of gardening equipment which were eye-catching.

In the evening we went by taxi to a community church near Pride Park in Derby (£20 each way) for a celebration of Rosemary’s 70th birthday. (Alan and Rosemary have been joining us in Blakeney for many years now.) We had a good time and met some interesting people, including A & R’s two sons, Howard and Nigel, plus Howard’s wife Esther and a steam engine enthusiast, a secondary school headmaster who came from Gorleston and a maths professor from Newcastle. The buffet was excellent, and there was a 70-year quiz at which the four of us managed a measly 20 out of 39.

Sheltering from a sharp shower on the tramway walk
Sheltering from a sharp shower on the tramway walk

On the Sunday there was no rest: a 5-to-6-mile walk taking in parts of the new tramway preceded a late lunch, and we left for home at about 4.30pm. A good journey this time, and we were in Norwich by 7.20pm.  And in the middle of all that, Norwich City had won 2-0 🙂

Earlier in the week (last Wednesday) I had attended a Paston members’ meeting, which featured rather less impressive refreshments but a good talk from Rob on Edward and the minor branch of the Pastons. Meanwhile Dot was at orchestra rehearsal.

Titian, Ovid and the Shrew

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Dot and Tim on Stapleford HIll, just above the Hemlock Stone

Our Nottingham visit concluded (as it were) with a visit to the Theatre Royal to see an RSC version of The Taming of the Shrew which turned out to be both unnecessarily coarse and strangely compelling. This is a play that could never be written today, and despite my natural political incorrectness, I found myself recoiling at the treatment of women in it, much more than at the coarseness. Beautifully acted, though, and a good evening.

The next day found us on the road home, with the mist gradually lifting to reveal the promised blue sky. We stopped at Cambridge Services for a quick lunch at Costa Coffee, then again at Elveden to buy some food for the following day, when Audrey and Bent came for lunch. Astonishingly, it was four years since we’d seen them, and so there was much catching up to do. At table all afternoon, and when they left I travelled with them to Martineau Lane for guidance, then walked home. (I didn’t get any guidance.)

On Saturday Dot and I were at Framingham Earl High School for an informal evening concert in aid of a Malawi schools link, organised by Sue Eagle, who did some singing. A variety of differing acts of varying quality – some of them surprisingly good. On Sunday we spent far too much time watching Battleship Galactica, but Norwich had lost 1-0 to Newcastle, so we had to do something to distract ourselves. On the plus side, Jensen Button won the first F1 grand prix of the season.

Yesterday Dot did some DSSO stuff and ended up at North Walsham with some belated mother’s day flowers for the cemetery. I was in Norwich paying in some church money when it occurred to me that I could get a bus out to North Walsham for free, so I did – meeting Dot at Jessie’s for a cup of tea. Quite a quick journey in lovely bright weather.

Today we went up to the Castle Museum to see Diana in action – sorry, that should read Diana & Acteon (ho, ho), a painting by Titian which is being lent to the museum for a couple of weeks. Also an hour-long talk by an expert on Ovid’s influence on medieval painters: impressive. The picture itself was pretty good, though I have to say I think Diana’s head is too small. Perhaps she was famous for having a small head, though you would expect a goddess to sort that kind of thing out. Otherwise, a magnificent piece of work. No doubt Titian, were he alive, would be gratified to hear me say so.

28 December 2008

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Grandson Oliver takes a break on the way round the Attenborough walk on Boxing Day, which was brilliantly sunny but with a fair ol’ chillin’ breeze, as they might say in Norfolk if they spoke Norfolk as badly as I do. It had got gradually colder as Christmas week went by, and this morning it barely crept above freezing, though there was only a light frost on the windscreen.

Andrew is here for a couple of days. We picked him up on the way back from Nottingham, where we’d spent a very calm and peaceful Christmas with our family at Julia and Dave’s home. Spot the deliberate error in that sentence: yes, it wasn’t calm and peaceful, because Oliver and Amy were there. But it was a lot of fun, and there were far too many presents for everybody. The journey up to Nottingham was very good, but there was a lot of traffic on the way back yesterday, and we eventually diverted off the A14 just after Huntingdon, and Dot navigated a new route through the southern Fens via places like Earith and ending at Mildenhall. We’d stopped earlier at the Thrapston Little Chef, which is usually good, but the service was appalling and the food only passable.

This morning I led morning worship at St Augustine’s. There were nine of us and two children, which is rather more than I expected. Mark Heybourne did a really good talk on Mary, and on bringing light into a dark world. Called at Phil and Joy’s afterward to pick up Andrew, and after a light lunch I took Andrew for a walk via the Rosary (put some winter plants on mum’s grave) and on to St James’ Hill, then back by the river.

4 January 2008

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It’s a new year, and here is Oliver putting on a show, despite his broken arm, on New Year’s Eve. Shark meets squid, with the inevitable result. Convivial evening which left me entering 2008 with the usual otherworldly feeling. Oliver was most put out that we had had a party without him: the poppers all over the floor were a bit of a giveaway, together with people crawling into the kitchen about 10am. Or later, in some cases.

In the afternoon we visited Wollaton Hall, a 16th century Tudor building set in a deer park. The weather was misty but not too cold. It would be more accurate to say we visited the park, but the building made a lot of itself, and we did circumnavigate it. Lots of people wandering around, and quite a few deer too. Oliver got a close-up when a small group crossed the path in front of him (he was way ahead of the bunch with Daddy).

On the way back D & J took us past the Hemlock Stone, an impressive outcrop on Stapleford Hill seemingly unrelated to its surroundings. Many myths and legends about its name, but I like the Danish one: apparently many Danes settled in the Nottinghamshire area in the 9th century, and the old Danish word hemmelig means a cover or overhanging.

David and Vicky and family left late on New Year’s Day , and the rest of us were planning to go for a walk on January 2, as well as drop in at Ambience Art and then get some food from M & S. But before we started out Julia got a call to say her eye operation could be scheduled that day, and we persuaded her to go for it. So we missed out on the walk and Dave dropped us at Ambience Art while he took Julia to the hospital. Amazing place (AA, not the hospital). Some wonderful art work, clothes, jewellery and other things, plus a pleasant cafe, which we patronised when Dave returned. Dot and I bought a necklace and ear-rings (she’ll probably wear them more than I will) and a tall wooden vase, with some artificial flowers. Impressive stuff. M & S was quite good too.

We had a good journey home, and Julia’s operation went well, although she was last in and had a painful injection at the end. Snow came to Nottinghamshire the following day, but omitted Norfolk. The M & S food was intended to feed a visitor from South Africa – my cousin once removed, Beverley (Howard’s daughter), who was scheduled to arrive the next day – or so I thought. However, I contacted her halfway through yesterday after a couple of visits to the station and discovered she was at her brother-in-law’s at Bexleyheath. She is now due to come here on Saturday, with her daughter and brother-in-law, and I have added to the food in the fridge.

Tonight we are going to Heather and Sam’s for a meal, and we are being picked up at 6.30pm. This is so that we can both have a drink and get a taxi back. I have a feeling there was something else…

Oh, yes. My eleven years and three months as an EDP columnist have come to an end. I had a phone call from the deputy editor this morning when I was in the bath, and he said they were “making some changes”. This did not come as a big surprise, since I had suggested to the editor that I should be paid a little more than the derisory amount I have been paid the last five years. I have written a “farewell” page, but it may not go in. Either way, it will go on my website (back2sq1.co.uk). I have tried to include all the characters I made up over the years, but probably forgot some.

I now feel a strange mixture of disappointment and relief, as Quentin Tarantino might say. It will be odd not having an outlet for my outrageous opinions and esoteric humour, but maybe I will get down to writing something more substantial. Dot has taken it badly…

29 January 2007

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This is the promised picture of David’s new car – an Astra. Actually the first car he’s ever bought.

Dot is still not very well. She spent all day in bed yesterday with her sinus infection, and I would have liked her to stay there today, but she insisted on coming with me to North Walsham to put flowers on her mother’s grave. It’s her mother’s birthday today. Now she’s gone to have herself weighed, but that shouldn’t take long. Not that I think it’s a good idea.

I’m playing chess later and could do with a win, as I’m having a very mediocre season. But I’m not tremendously optimistic.

Yesterday I was doing most things at church. I was the only musician (using the word loosely); I also did the sermon and the prayers. In the evening I went to Ambient Wonder, which consisted of a labyrinth (there will be a write-up on it eventually on www.ambientwonder.org).

I have discovered that the name Lenton is very old, going back at least to the Domesday Book in 1086. It probably meant originally two or three pallisaded houses in a forest clearing – from two old English words which gave us “lea” and “town”.

There are two English places called Lenton – one in Lincolnshire, probably Leofa’s tun, but spelt Lenton since 1202. It is south-east of Grantham, near Ingoldsby. The other is a suburb of Nottingham, on the river Leen, which is a corruption of a Celtic word for a river or other waterway. My wild guess is that the Lincolnshire village was founded by someone who came from Lenton in Nottinghamshire. It’s not far away. Just follow the A52.