Abbey Wood - London Part 2

One of the places Sue wanted to see was the Fashion and Textile Museum in Bermondsey. We went by bus which took about an hour with one change, but you do get to see the area. We always head for the OAP seats – top deck at the front. I should say at this point that Transport for London are very helpful and will send you bus maps 5 in all for London and their website is one of the best.

The Fashion and Textile Museum is a centre for contemporary fashion, textiles and jewellery in London. Founded by British designer Zandra Rhodes, the centre showcases a programme of changing exhibitions exploring elements of fashion, textile and jewellery.

The main display hall

 

‘Ice Cream’ print

‘Paddington Station’ border print by Saul Steinberg

 

‘Tin Horn Holiday’ border print by Saul Steinberg circa 1952

On leaving the Museum we were heading for the Thames, but just up the road we came to – London glass blowing. In the showroom was some stunning glassware and at the back of the building glass blowing was taking place.
Below some of the showroom pieces designed by Peter Layton.

  

Work in action – there were plenty of chairs to sit on and watch.

En route to the Thames we had a good view of the Shard

Further on was this glass faced building – spot the join between actual and reflection.

Can’t remember where I was for this photo!

City Hall is the headquarters of the Greater London Authority, which comprises the Mayor of London (Boris) and the London Assembly.

End of part 2 more to come.

Abbey Wood – London Part 1

Our first caravan outing of the year was to Abbey Wood Caravan Club Site, a few miles east of Greenwich, and about 11 miles east of central London.

We spent much of our time in Greenwich because there are so many things to do. The bus was every 12 minutes, from Abbey Wood, to Greenwich. Below you can see the Cutty Sark, a British clipper ship. Built on the Clyde in 1869 for the Jock Willis Shipping Line, she was one of the last tea clippers to be built and one of the fastest.

 

Above the Cutty Sark as she is now - below on fire in 2007**

An excellent job has been done on her restoration, see below.

Stuart at the Wheel

Master’s cabin

   

In the rigging

 

 

The Red House is the only house commissioned, created and lived in by William Morris, founder of the Arts & Crafts movement. It was acquired by the National Trust only 10 years ago, the rooms give a unique view of William Morris’ earliest designs and decorative schemes. Its secrets are slowly being revealed, conservation work in 2013 uncovered an unknown Pre-Raphaelite wall painting and a very early Morris repeating floral pattern.

These original features and furniture by Morris and Philip Webb, stained glass and paintings by Burne-Jones, the bold architecture and a garden designed to 'clothe the house', add up to a fascinating and rewarding place to visit.

The Garden

Dining Room

     

Sue in the garden

  

William Morris printers’ blocks

 

William Morris textile design

Another day another visit. We needed a clear day for the circular tour via the Emirates Air Line experience, London’s only cable car. It links the O2 and the Royal Victoria Dock.

    

     

The Crystal on Royal Victoria Dock contains a permanent exhibition about sustainable development. The site is 18,000 square metres in size at the west end of the dock, using solar power and ground source heat pumps to generates its own energy.

Development at the Royal Victoria Dock

Aircraft taking off from London City Airport.

We were standing in the middle of the Royal Victoria Dock Pedestrian Bridge to take the photo. See below.

The return trip across the Thames was by the Woolwich Ferry
– a free trip for all - cars and lorries included.

The waiting time can be longer than the trip across, about 10 minutes, especially if you are with a vehicle.

From the title you can see this is Part 1. During the 2 weeks we had superb weather and only 5 minutes rain. I took rather a lot of photos so I don’t know how many parts, at the moment,  there will be for this ‘London’ blog. Watch this space!

** Not my photo

February – Days Out

We were going away in the caravan for a week just as a starter for the new year, but the poor weather forecast put paid to that. Instead we decided to have days out on the decent days. Our first visit was to Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. I know we went in October, but there was much that we didn’t do. this time we went around HMS Warrior.

HMS Warrior transformed concepts of naval warfare when she first joined the fleet in 1861.  Warrior was revolutionary - at a stroke all existing ships were rendered obsolete. Warrior housed all her main guns, engines and boilers within an armoured iron hull, and could be driven by both steam and sail. The combination of iron hull, armour plate, breech loading guns and powerful steam screw propulsion meant that she could outrun and outgun any ship afloat.

On HMS Warriors deck

Sue standing near to the 2 telescopic funnels – these funnels could be lowered to allow the sails to capture the wind

Stuart next to the forward deck gun

   

HMS Warrior was very heavily armed with fixed cannon, but it also had a complement of 122 Marines who had their own muskets and revolvers.

  

The laundry – hand operated

We moved onto HMS Victory which is still undergoing repairs. These could take a very long time – someone mentioned 30 years?

 

Detail of HMS Victory's stern – very decorative

   

We moved on to the figurehead and panorama museum.

Sue standing next to figureheads from the Royal Yachts

    

Stuart next to -  HMS Black Eagle’s figurehead

Outside – HMS Trafalgar’s figurehead

    

Spinnaker Tower from the dockyard

Maggie and Andy visited us for a weekend and with the terrible weather forecasts we had to  find some visits that had some cover. Saturday we went to Romsey Abbey and avoided the rain – just. Here Andy is trying out the doorway for size – I don’t think he fits – what do you think?

 

The interior of Romsey Abbey

   

Christchurch Quay -  we finished off at the Captains Club for a coffee – we had to because we had free parking there.

Sue and I visited the Russell-Cotes in Bournemouth, not exactly a day out more a trip out. It is situated, in a commanding position, overlooking Bournemouth Pier. It was originally known as East Cliff Hall and was completed in 1901. It was the home of Merton and Annie Russell-Cotes.

Sue outside

A couple of interior shots

 

In the art gallery there was an exhibition of work including some by Paul Kidby who illustrates some of Terry Pratchetts Discworld books. Paul Kidby lives locally in Fordingbridge.

    

In between the showers on Thursday 27th we managed a walk into Moors Valley, nearby. In the cafe they have a selection of ‘Wildlife Photographer of the Year’ photos, at this time of year. Here are 3 of the photos

            

Moors Valley lake before the rain.

Another day another visit. This time we took the bus from Ringwood to Southampton. The bus has a very limited service, 3 return trips a day, so we had to get it right or we would have to find another way home. In April they are taking the service off altogether so maybe that is the first and last time we use it. We visited the Titanic exhibition at the Seacity museum. There were not many artifacts which is not surprising, but the story was well told.

RMS Titanic

Story boards detailing personal information

First Class cabin
This is a very small model – about 6 inches across (150mm)

Same again – full size

Also since the middle of January we have been having the cloakroom and bathroom remodelled, by a man that does. This took 3 weeks Sue was chief caterer and I was the gopher ‘go for this and go for that’.

Oldie Photo

1986 -  Sue in Seefeld, Austria