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).
The Royal Palace in Amsterdam is King Willem-Alexander’s official reception palace, used for important official events and is one of three palaces used by the Dutch Royal Family. It was originally Amsterdam’s town hall rather than a palace and was designed by Jan Van Campen in the 17th century.
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.
The Llandudno War Memorial commemorates those who died in both World Wars. It’s a large obelisk with a golden ball at the top that was first unveiled in 1922. It was designed by Sidney Colwyn Foulkes.
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].
Built in 1877 by R C Sutton in red brick this was originally a chemist’s shop, then a restaurant and then a shop again. It is quite a striking building, designed to have a continuous shopfront with plate glass windows though right now the windows are boarded up and there doesn’t appear to be any business based there.
Now the Conservation Centre for National Museums Liverpool this was originally a warehouse built for storing rail freight for the Midland Railway in 1872. Designed by Henry Sumners it’s made of red brick with arched openings on each of the four walls large enough for freight to pass through. It was designated a Grade II listed building in 1975.
