Radio City Tower, or St John’s Beacon to give it its proper name, is a radio and observation tower that was built in 1969. You can, in normal times, head here to get what I imagine are brilliant views of the city and also as the tower is still a working radio tower you can see the studios, though of course you can’t go in them.
The Titus: T.Rex is King Exhibition at Wollaton Hall is the first time that a real T.Rex skeleton has been on display in England for at least 100 years and the first time that this particular skeleton, which was excavated from Montana by Craig Pfister in 2018 has ever been put on public display.
No longer a branch of Barclays Bank, this building dates from 1902 and was designed by local architect Lawrence Bright.
I recently visited Attenborough Nature Reserve for the first time in years as I was in need of a change of scene. Run by the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust it covers 205 hectares of lakes, wetland, grassland and scrub. There are several walks around the reserve – on this occasion we did the Tufted Duck Nature Trail which took us past some of the lakes as well as through areas of grassland.
Dating from 1853 this building used to house the Royal Midland Institute for the Blind. This charity was founded in 1843 by Mary Chambers, a visually impaired Quaker. When the charity moved to the Clarendon Chambers site 40 boarders were taught crafts like basket making to sell in the charity’s shops and later were taught braille.
A bronze sculpture by Rudy Weller it was installed in 1992 near Piccadilly Circus. The four horses are depicted leaping out of a fountain. They are the four horses of Helios, the Greek god of the sun.
Carsington Water, located between Wirksworth and Kniveton in Derbyshire, is a reservoir operated by Severn Trent Water. It’s definitely somewhere you could spend the whole day though we only went on a short walk around part of the grounds on this trip; there is a parking charge which you pay on the way out otherwise the site is free to visit. There were lots of trails towards the water we explored though do be mindful of important safety notices and don’t enter the water unless at a designated spot (the site has an Activity Centre with a watersports facility for sailing, canoeing etc. as well as for the hiring of bikes).
Last week I went to visit Nottingham Castle for the first time not only since the pandemic began but also since they reopened after a £30 million refurbishment. Timed tickets are available online with an adult ticket priced at £13 though city residents like myself receive a 10% discount.
Canning Terrace in Nottingham was erected in 1837-1840. Built as almshouses with an entrance into the cemetery behind the building it was named after George Canning, Prime Minister in 1827. Canning has the dubious reputation of having the shortest tenure of any British Prime Minister, dying in office after just 119 days in charge. The Terrace is now modern flats.
Last week I paid a visit to Wollaton Hall and Deer Park which I haven’t been to since the pandemic started since it takes me two short bus journeys to get there. I’ve mainly been walking around my local area during all the lockdowns which can get a bit boring so it was nice to have a bit of a change of scene now that I’m fully vaccinated but still taking sensible precautions. I didn’t manage to see any deer on this trip which is unusual but plenty of swans and their cygnets on the lake and I paid a visit to the gardens and saw some sculptures that I’d not seen before around the grounds. [There’s a special exhibition on inside the hall of a T.Rex skeleton for which I have tickets but not till next month so expect a post about that in the future].
