Posts Tagged United Kingdom
B&B review | Salt House, St Ives, Cornwall
Posted by The Sheet in Architecture News on August 6, 2010
If you want olde worlde style, this probably isn't for you. But everyone else will fall in love with this stylish St Ives outpost
The usual suspects (sun, sea, surfing) are all present and correct on this Cornish B&B's website. There the stereotypes end. While the sky is predictably azure, the house is a big white concrete rectangle, and the rooms wouldn't look out of place in a Design Hotels handbook.
Someone has clearly decided to do things their way – and since such a website rarely comes my way, I'm itching to get past the westbound caravans and in to St Ives. I turn off the main thoroughfare into a street of predominantly inter-war houses in plum positions looking across to Carbis Bay. There it is – the cube – looking slightly out of place but intriguing. It faces the sea, on an elevated road; only a beachfront location could beat it.
Alan Spencer opens the door and, from a narrow lobby, takes me up one floor to a landing. Unobtrusive etched glass panels riveted to the wall tell me that one room is called North, and the one beside it, South.
We go North. At this point I should advise anyone who prefers ye olde worlde bedde and breakfaste to go and mow the lawn. Everyone else, come with me.
North is an open-plan expanse of whiteness and glass. Through sliding glass doors is my own private balcony and a seascape beyond.
As with all minimal but well conceived interiors (rather than the places which stick one dodgy print of a gerbera on the wall and furnish from flatpacks), it is all about the detail. The floor is solid oak. A walnut (Conran) sideboard bears a selection of ground coffees, Orla Kiely mugs, and Jing teas (new B&B fad) in a Perspex box.
Grey wool BoConcept easy chairs swivel so I can watch sky or screen – Samsung's latest LED HD.
At the opposite end to the glass windows is a solid sliding door which rolls back to reveal what can only be described as a destination bathroom, of the kind more often found at five-star resorts in the Maldives. The Kurv bath is shaped like an ostrich egg.
So what's the story, I ask Alan and his wife Sharon, later. Now, here's a niggle – there is no guest sitting room, which means conversations must take place in hallways or in my room.
The house started life as a "quite ugly, boring 70s detached", Sharon says. Luckily planners took their modern eco-development (solar panels and a living green roof are next on the cards) seriously.
It is a spectacular place to stay. I'd prefer to make tea in a pot than a cup, and perhaps, when a lone female is staying, breakfast (from a stylish menu, with options such as Greek yoghurt with honey, and boiled eggs with soldiers) could be brought in by Sharon, rather than Alan. But waking enfolded in cotton from one of the White Company's most expensive ranges to watch the mist lift over the Monterey pine, chestnut and mimosa trees, is heavenly. Cornish cubism is about to take off in St Ives.
• Try the Blas Burgerworks on The Warren in St Ives (01736 797272, blasburgerworks.co.uk, booking advised) for unexpected brilliance at dinner
The seven wonders of Wales
Posted by The Sheet in Architecture News on March 1, 2010
An old rhyme gives Dixe Wills the excuse to celebrate an overlooked corner of Wales on St David's Day
"Pistyll Rhaeadr and Wrexham steeple,
Snowdon's mountain without its people,
Overton yew trees, St Winefride's wells,
Llangollen bridge and Gresford bells"
Penned by an anonymous 18th-century English traveller, this piece of doggerel, called the Seven Wonders of Wales, probably owes its survival to the fact that, unlike the Eight Wonders of the World, all the Welsh marvels cited are still with us. Furthermore, since six of them are in a small pocket in the north-east of the country, you can collect the set in a long weekend.
So it was that I found myself cycling high into the Berwyn Mountains in search of Pistyll Rhaeadr, a waterfall, which at 240 feet, is a true Welsh wonder. There can't be many outdoor attractions that are best seen in the rain, but a waterfall is one of them. High above my head, the rain-swollen river Rhaeadr tumbled over the precipice in thick silver threads. A further six hours of solid downpour rather took the edge off my exultation.
The cosiness of Cornerstones – an extraordinary B&B that has fused together three of Llangollen's 16th-century houses – was thus a welcome sight, and I was soon looking down at a heron stalking the River Dee, just a couple of wing flaps from the medieval Llangollen bridge.
Of course, not everyone can get excited about the art of spanning rivers. However, even the least ardent fan would have to admit to the graciousness of these particular arches, each one a slightly different size to fit neatly on to the rocks below. But it's the setting that really makes it – Llangollen's jumble of black-and-white houses swiftly giving way to wooded hills beyond – and in the glorious morning sunshine the pinky fawn stones positively shone in the morning sunlight.
The rest of my day was to be spent with yews, a steeple, a set of bells and some curative waters – not always the first things that spring to mind when considering wonders. However, I will confess that there is something about the way that yews rage against the dying of the light: some managing it for thousand of years. The 23 standing guard around Overton's St Mary's church are relative youngsters but some still go back to the Middle Ages.
At St Giles' church in nearby Wrexham, a stone bears the faded legend, "This steeple was completed in 1506." The difficulty is that the "steeple" is clearly a tower. A very fine 147-foot sandstone tower, it has to be said and, when I went up on to its roof, I was able to testify that it also commanded extraordinary views of mountains to the west and the Dee valley to the east. However, a steeple it is not.
Once upon a time, before we all became so noisy, you would have been able to hear Gresford bells in Wrexham, even though Gresford is three miles away. Gresford's Tower Captain, Hilton Roberts, took me up a stone spiral staircase and introduced me to the monsters. Bell ringing, he told me, is a perfect fusion of music and science. Peals may have fanciful names like Stedman Triples and Yorkshire Surprise Major, but they are strictly governed by mathematical formulae. Logical thinkers they may be, but bell ringers are evidently also touched by a streak of eccentricity. We were up above the bells when Hilton, no spring chicken, suddenly jumped down on to one and started swinging on it, Tarzan-like, just so that I could hear what it sounded like. I was three yards away. It was loud.
It was another sort of madness that brought about St Winefride's well. A rejected suitor called Caradog sliced off young Winefride's head and where it fell a miraculous spring gushed forth. "People from all over the world come here now," a warden told me, kindly handing me a bottle of freshly drawn water. The well itself is a rather wonderful star-shape that feeds water to a pool in which the sick and ailing lower themselves to be healed.
I mentioned my visit to Paulene at Celyn Villa, my home from home for the night, asking her if she knew anyone who'd been miraculously cured.
"Ah well, strange you should say that," she replied. "I had a verruca for years that wouldn't respond to any treatment whatsoever. I dipped it in the pool and it went away completely."
I'm hanging on to that bottle.
Bright and early next morning the happy chatter of fellow train passengers accompanied me round the north coast to Bangor and the final wonder, Snowdon. The donkey ride from Llanberis to the top, which our poet may well have enjoyed, was replaced in 1896 by the mountain railway. I confess to having felt slightly guilty as the tiny steam engine strained to push our single carriage upwards, but this was partially assuaged by the fact that I was only going as far as Clogwyn, three-quarters of the way, where I joined a long thin line of people marching to the top.
It was quite a party at the summit: 70 or 80 of us – families, groups of friends, a school field trip, a number of very sprightly pensioners – all excited about having conquered Wales' tallest mountain. And why not? Given a clear day it's possible to see Ireland's Wicklow Mountains from here. Having arrived just before the brand new £8m summit visitor centre was officially opened, I whipped out a flask of tea for my celebratory toast: I had succeeded in visiting all seven wonders of Wales.
Or had I? The poem clearly stipulated "Snowdon's mountain without its people". Well now, I mused, as I sauntered back down to Llanberis, that would be a wonder.
Way to go
Virgin Trains Single from London to Chester from £8 return; 08457 222333; virgintrains.com. Arriva Trains Wales, single from Chester to Gobowen £6.50 return, and Bangor to Chester £22.20 return; 0870 9000773, arrivatrainswales.co.uk.
Snowdon Mountain Railway Llanberis to summit return, adult £23, child £16; 0871 7200033; snowdonrailway.co.uk.
Cornerstones B&B, Llangollen. Doubles from £70; +44 (0)1978 861569, cornerstones-guesthouse.co.uk.
Celyn Villa, Carmel Near Holywell. Doubles from £56; +44 (0)1352 710853, celynvilla.co.uk.
St Winefride's Well, Holywell. Adult 80p, child 20p; +44 (0)1352 713054, saintwinefrideswell.com.
TwiTrip to Leeds – the verdict
Posted by The Sheet in Architecture News on February 25, 2010
Benji Lanyado's Twitter-led trip in search of the soul of Leeds took him from baroque music in a Grade II-listed building to a punk gig in an old working men's club - via the oldest pub in the city, naturally
This TwiTrip had a tough act to follow. The finale of my last Twitter-fuelled adventure - to Blackpool - involved a transvestite cabaret act. Hopefully, Leeds was up to the challenge.
As with all of our previous adventures, nothing was planned. I was to turn up at Leeds station, sling questions into the Twittersphere, and wait for tips to be fired at my profile. Then I would do exactly as I was told. You can see how it played out here ... and below you'll find what the good people of Twitter helped me find.
The Twitter tips
It has become TwiTrip tradition to precede the day's events with a little train-time trivia. As I set off from King's Cross, whizzed through snow-covered Peterborough and headed for Leeds, I requested some intriguing facts to keep me entertained. The Twitterers delivered. I was informed by kateigray that the tripe stall in Kirkgate market was the first on the internet; by Seven_Arts that Jimmy Saville lived in Roundhay Park; and by MatMurray that he once saw a woman fall over in the Leeds City Markets, after which a nearby dog tried to mount her. Not all trivia is created equal.
Then I was there, posing like a hopeless tourist in front of the station. And I was hungry. The mob roared loudly, and there seemed a near-unanimous recommendation. According to BigLittleThings, LeedsGrub, and tenderbranston, the best sarnie in town was to be found at Pickles & Potter. It seemed dangerous to ignore the sandwich advice of anyone who traded as 'tenderbranston', so I duly plodded into the town centre and joined a queue stretching out of the door and into the Queens Arcade - this was clearly a popular choice. Inside, they made me a thing of beauty: slices of red-centred beef joined in gastronomic matrimony with a hunk of smoked cheese, a wholegrain bap, and some kind of marmalade. A very good start indeed.
Next up, I requested some cultural tips ... a wide remit that was answered by scores of tips. I was most intrigued by Marc_Leeds' suggestion of a "forty-part motet" at Opera North in the Grand Theatre. The installation is housed in an assembly room on the upper levels of the Grade II-listed Grand Theatre on New Briggate, and comprises 40 audio speakers arranged around the room, each playing an individual part of Thomas Tallis' Spem in Alium. The effect was extraordinary. In pale midday light filtered by stained-glass windows on all sides, people were drifting in and out, settling on benches equidistant from all 40 speakers, and closing their eyes to listen. I joined them, and - quite literally - became surrounded by music. Have a listen for yourself below.
I needed to refuel, and took the advice of amandeep86 and loveleedsmore by nipping to the Opposite Cafe stand in the Victoria Arcade, where a nifty barista made me a coffee topped with a beautiful swirling foam motif. It powered me onwards, to the marvellous tiled hall of the Leeds Art Gallery, as recommended by djdavedanger and leedslibraries, who had tweeted at me from their offices inside the building.
Having tasted the cultural offerings of a couple of Leeds blockbusters, I wanted something a little off-grid. Luluartist came up with the goods, directing me to Project Space Leeds, a fascinating venue on the ground floor of a newly-built block on the banks of the canals south of the train station. Inside the industrial, high-ceilinged space, the work of local artists was displayed on sparse walls - Matthew Shelton's piece was a collage of drawings on pieces of paper found scattered across the city, including certificates of achievement, shopping lists, and ASBOs. Inventive.
It was Friday, and it was 5pm. I had little choice but to go to the pub. Tonypreece directed me to Whitelocks, the oldest pub in Leeds, first licenced in 1715. It took me half an hour to find it. The pub is hidden down a tiny alley leading off Briggate, accessed by a blink-and-you'll-miss-it gap in between a Carphone Warehouse and a branch of Northern Rock. Once located, under a illuminated lantern and a fug of cigarette smoke wafting from the smokers congregated outside, it was superb; a nostalgic ye olde pub of polished brass pumps, stained glass and a cacophony of post-work chatter.
Onwards. More pubs. Jccgardner, lindseyhampton and steererscott aided my crawl, pointing me towards The North Bar, home to a creative crowd and more beers than you could shake a drunkard at. I opted for a delicious pint of Roosters, brewed just north of the city in Knaresborough, before moving on to my next stop. Mostly due to its name, and Talullah and guyatkinson's recommendation, I headed to trendy bar A Nation of Shopkeepers, where the stringent door policy refused entry to those wearing sportswear, pirates, fancy dress, large groups, jefforys (anyone?), and grumpy faces. A largely student crowd were largely drunk, crammed on to leather sofas under arty projections as electro music beeped around the room.
My stomach needed lining, and foodiesarah and ecalpemosgreen recommended Nash's as the finest fish and chips in the city ... perfect. A giant lump of cod coated in thick batter and pillowed by chunky chips basted in salt and vinegar. Yes and more yes.
Fuelled by delicious carbs and salty fat, I headed for Headingley for my final stop of the day. Tips had been flying in about the Brudenell Social Club since the TwiTrip was announced - one tipster, djthedutchess, described it as a "gorgeous, shabby, ubercool ex working men's club in Hyde Park". The band playing that night, The Eureka Machines, had noticed the Twitter noise, and invited me along, too, bless their little punk rock socks. The venue was superb; on a suburban backstreet in the Hyde Park area, where a community pub hosts live music in a musty low-ceilinged side room. I also managed to snap my favourite photo of the day just outside, as an immaculately-Mohawked local loitered near the entrance.
And the Eureka Machines did the business, blasting out punk to an adoring local crowd as front man Chris Catalyst cracked jokes in between songs. Their final number even came with a wonderfully soppy intro that you can treat your ears to here:
From baroque polyphony in a Grade II-listed building to a punk gig in an old working men's club ... another end to another excellent TwiTrip. Thanks for all your help.
• Benji stayed at the Quebecs Hotel (doubles £89 per night including breakfast and VAT; +44 (0)113 244 8989; theetoncollection.com/quebecs), as recommended by LoveLeedsMore and tonypreece, which has double rooms from £89 B&B. East Coast's trains operate direct up to every half hour between London and Leeds. Advance returns, booked online, start from £26 Standard Class or £94 First Class. Times and fares also on 08457 225225 or by visiting any staffed station
• All photographs by Benji Lanyado
The knowledge: London’s hidden architecture
Posted by The Sheet in Architecture News on January 20, 2010
Guardian architecture critic Jonathan Glancey discovers three exquisite places of worship sitting in the shadows of the Square Mile's financial giants
The knowledge: London’s secret buildings
Posted by The Sheet in Architecture News on January 14, 2010
Guardian architecture critic Jonathan Glancey discovers three exquisite places of worship sitting in the shadows of the Square Mile's financial giants
Ouseburn: the beating art of Newcastle
Posted by The Sheet in Architecture News on January 4, 2010
Ouseburn's once derelict factories and warehouses are buzzing again with artists' studios, music venues and cinemas. Stephen Emms guides us around
Ouseburn was, until 10 years ago, a monument to an industrial past, its derelict factories, red-brick warehouses and mills lurking in the shadow of Victorian bridges and viaducts less than a mile from Newcastle city centre. Now, this picturesque valley, either side of the river Ouse (once used to carry coal by boat from Spital Tongues down to waiting barges on the Tyne), is the creative heart of Newcastle.
Following years of post-industrial decline, its regeneration, kick-started by community-driven enterprise rather than corporate business (the Ouseburn Trust in partnership with the local authority), has given the area's unique architecture and riverside setting a new lease of life – in the form of artists' studios, live music venues, an independent cinema and galleries. Here's a quick tour to get you started.
1. Cumberland Arms
Not just the best pub in Ouseburn, but arguably the finest in Newcastle itself. Built in 1836 (owner Jo will show you the hatch where women, refused entrance to the main bar, used to be served), it's boozer heaven: wood-panelled, roaring fire, simple furniture, leaded windows, a smattering of salvaged art, and shelves heaving with paperbacks. Session ale is the "Rapper", named after the Northumberland sword dance, and there are six guests, as well as 12 types of cider. An upstairs room plays host to music, theatre and comedy. Its isolated position overlooking the valley means stunning views not only from its terrace, but also the windows of its four spacious, very comfortable bedrooms.
• James Place St, +44 (0)191 265 6151, thecumberlandarms.co.uk.Doubles from £70 a night including breakfast.
2. Star & Shadow Cinema
A converted former prop department for Tyne Tees Television, this tiny cinema is run by volunteers, from film programming and projecting, to gigs and promotion. Every year there is a charmingly named "Building Festival" where volunteers come and help build, improve and restore. One Sunday a month there is a "Make & Mend" arts, crafts and flea market. Meetings every Monday at 6pm, films every Thursday and Sunday, and gigs, films, club nights and art events programmed on Weds, Fri and Sat.
• Stepney Bank, +44 (0)191 261 0066, starandshadow.org.uk. Open daily.
3. Biscuit Factory
Britain's biggest commercial art gallery is a whopping 35,000 square feet over two floors of exhibition spaces and artists' studios. Paintings, drawings prints, ceramics, and jewellery including artists such as Emma Tooth (whose Concilium Plebis are Caravaggio-style portraits of those dismissed as "chavs and hoodies"), and Maria Rivan's stunning 3D collages. My tip is to refresh yourself at the café, which groans with inviting home-made sandwiches and cakes, while contemplating the industrial views over the Byker Wall (see below), rather than at the blandly-furnished, expensive restaurant.
• Stoddart St, +44 (0)191 261 1103, thebiscuitfactory.com. Open daily
4. The Cluny
A former whisky bottling plant a stottie's throw from Byker Bridge, The Cluny is owned by iconic party boozer the Head Of Steam (worth a visit, opposite Newcastle Central Station). As well as a live venue, which showcases both young Geordie bands and international artists, the simple main bar and lounge (runner-up in the Observer Food Monthly's awards 2006 for best quick eat in north-east) offers local ales and informal yet hearty snacks, such as good quality house salads (£6), home-made burgers (£6) and Sunday roasts (£7).
• 36 Lime Street, +44 (0)191 2304474, theheadofsteam.co.uk.
5. Seven Stories
The first museum in the UK dedicated to the art of British children's books protects the heritage of British classics for families and curious adults alike. Temporary exhibitions at the former flour mill (such as the current retrospective for Tiger Who Came To Tea author Judith Kerr, which runs until May 2010) complement the permanent collection, whose earliest acquisition was Puffin Books editor (and Puffin Club founder) Kaye Webb's archive. Philip Pullman is a great supporter and has given work from the His Dark Materials trilogy and the Sally Lockhart quartet. The huge bookshop is free to enter, as is one of the best cafes in Ouseburn, which offers sleepy views over the Ouse – and great mugs of coffee.
• 30 Lime Street, + 44 (0)845 271 0777, sevenstories.org.ukpen Mon-Sat 10-5pm, £5.50 adults £4.50 children
6. Mushroom Works
The scream of gulls and clink and hammer of the docks fill the air outside this hard-to-find gallery, originally a Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, in an area once known as the "Mushroom". Opened in 2004 by furniture-maker Nick James, there are 12 studios, including painters, illustrators, jewellery makers, animators, architects, and glass artists. They host eight exhibitions a year, and the shop, with its emphasis on affordability, currently stocks work by 32 artists. The Stairwell Gallery has just opened upstairs, given over to exhibitions by other artists. A 50% off "studio sale" runs from Jan 9-Feb 6.
• St Lawrence Road, +(0)191 224 4011, mushroomworks.com. Open 12pm-5pm Weds-Sat.
7. Northern Print
Northern Print began life in 1994 on Fish Quay, North Shields, and moved in 2006 to a former pottery in Ouseburn. Now a gallery and contemporary print-making studio offering affordable prints as well as classes, it's worth also spending a penny in ceramic artist Paul Scott's impressive tiled toilet. Also, don't miss the large screen-prints decorating the sides of the offices opposite.
• Stepney Bank, +44 (0)191 261 7000,northernprint.org.uk. Open Weds to Sat 12pm to 4pm.
8. Byker Wall
Set between the roar of the flyover and silence of the river, the Grade II-listed Byker Wall, a 1970s primary-coloured brick, wood and plastic-built unbroken block of 620 maisonettes, was placed on UNESCO's list of outstanding 20th-century buildings. Designed by Ralph Erskine in Functionalist Romantic style, the low-rise construction represented a break with the high-rise architectural orthodoxy of the time. Its iconic, triangular Tom Collins House is visible from miles around.
9. Victoria Tunnel
Testament to the achievement of Victorian labour, this two-mile tunnel was built in 1838 for transporting coal from Spital Tongues colliery on the Town Moor to the river Tyne, and in the second world war converted to an air-raid shelter. A short section, with its last remaining accessible entrance on Ouse Street (behind the Hotel Du Vin, see below) re-opened in 2008 to give visitors and locals an experience deep below the city.
• newcastlecommunityheritage.org.
10. Hotel Du Vin
The first hotel in Ouseburn opened in 2008 in the former headquarters of the Tyne Tees Steam Shipping Company, which once served as the company's maintenance depot and storeroom. As such, a nautical theme pervades the 42 rooms, many of which have outstanding views over the Tyne Bridge. Its glass and brick bistro is the most glamorous evening eating option in Ouseburn, even if you're not a resident (great value too with two-course menus boasting locally-sourced ingredients from £15.50).
• Allan House, City Road, +44 (0)191 229 2200, hotelduvin.com/newcastle. Standard rooms from £160. On Sunday nights, spend £75 in the bistro and room is only £25 if you book online.
• Newcastle is served by East Coast Trains: for the best deal on advance fares, book online via nationalexpresseastcoast.com, or call 08457 225225.
My Cambridgeshire: an insider’s guide
Posted by The Sheet in Architecture News on October 31, 2009
Kevin Jackson, author of Bite: A Vampire Handbook, lists his top tips for the county
Leper chapel, Cambridge
If it's eeriness you're after at this time of year, Leper chapel fits the bill nicely. You'll find it just outside Cambridge, on the road to Newmarket, and as its name suggests, it was once the place of worship for a hospital devoted to sufferers of leprosy. Its doors are locked much of the time, but a sign tells you how and where to pick up a key. In recent years it has made a highly atmospheric setting for a variety of dramatic productions, and there are rumours that a local vampire group has applied to stage an event there in 2010.
cambridgeppf.org/leper-chapel.htm
Wandlebury hill fort and the Gog Magog Hills
Just a few miles south of Cambridge, with a fine view over the city from certain points, this area in and around a prehistoric hill fort is a splendid place to walk by anybody's standards, but has been a particular magnet for occultists ever since the 60s, when the maverick archaeologist and advocate of pendulum power, TC Lethbridge, declared that he had discovered the forms of three solar gods hidden just beneath the turf. The fact that conventional archaeologists have declared these figures entirely imaginary has never daunted psychogeographers and other modern antiquarians. While there, be sure to visit the grave of the Godolphin Arabian, great-grandsire of a noble strain of racehorses.
St Wendreda's church, March
Churches with angel roofs are something of an East Anglian speciality, and all are well worth the visit, but the one at St Wendreda's is of mind-expanding intensity. If you can manage it, count the roof figures – there are 120 in all – carrying emblems of the Passion, musical instruments or shields. The church dates mainly from the 14th and 15th centuries. Uplifting, moving, unforgettable.
stwendreda.co.ukBite: A Vampire Handbook by Kevin Jackson, is published by Portobello Books (£9.99)
Bedford Old and New rivers
So-called because the Earl of Bedford was the head of the group of speculators who set about their creation. Running roughly from Earith north-east towards Wisbech and King's Lynn, these are the largest of the many artificial rivers that were built in the 17th century by English and Dutch engineers to help drain the Great Fen (pictured above), from which much of modern north-eastern Cambridgeshire – including Downham Market and March – has been recovered. Before then, the Fen was a swampy area of sedge and eels – a grey and chilly version of the Florida Everglades. The drainage was a huge act of public engineering, a heroic enterprise – though the locals who were forced out might have had a quarrel with that view. It makes a bracingly bleak walk; or if you're feeling lazy, you can drive alongside it via the B1098 from Chatteris or the B1411 from Ely. A good place to start might be . . .
The Prickwillow Engine Trust and Museum of Fenland Drainage, near Ely
This is the sort of museum that would no doubt make James May feel as if he'd died and gone to heaven. The heart of the collection is a set of six large diesel-pumping engines, five of them rescued from pumping stations around the Fens, and one – the Mirrlees engine – that was used in Prickwillow itself (installed in 1924). As well as a collection of smaller engines, the museum also boasts a series of historical maps, photographs and displays outlining the history of the great drainage, and there are plenty of additional exhibits, including local agricultural tools. An ideal afternoon out for anyone with the faintest feeling for industrial archaeology.
01353 688360, prickwillow-engine-museum.co.uk
The Queen's Head pub, Newton
A superb example of the entirely unreconstructed village pub: stone floors, blazing open fires and walls festooned with antlers and other animal trophies. The food is excellent, particularly the thick and tasty soups which bubble away perpetually, subtly changing consistency and flavour as new ingredients are added. Take friends from abroad – they will swoon. Or go alone, and fantasise that time has stood still for centuries.
Fowlmere Road (01223 870436)
Kielder visitors take shelter in art
Posted by The Sheet in Architecture News on October 28, 2009
Vast wooden head, jumbo chairs and UK's highest bike hut installed on trail around Kielder reservoir
Audio slideshow: Kielder art trail
Europe's biggest art gallery has taken delivery of more than 50 tonnes of sculptures for a trail that opened this week in the forests of northern England.
A vast wooden head and jumbo chairs that rotate in sequence like the blades of Chinook helicopter are among the new sights around Kielder reservoir, between the Scottish border and Hadrian's Wall.
Including the country's highest mountain bike hut, designed by the London architect David Adjaye, the artworks double as shelters for thousands of visitors from all over the world.
"The commissions specified the need for practical protection from the sort of weather we sometimes get here," said Peter Sharpe, curator of the Kielder forest art and architecture programme. Adjaye's subtle siting of his shelter, wrapped in mist next to an RAF low-flying beacon on the 580-metre (1,900ft) summit of Deadwater Fell, bears out the twin roles of each piece.
"It's a striking piece of architecture, but it gives bikers and walkers real protection. You'd get cold very quickly up here if you stopped for a rest, without Adjaye's design to protect you," Sharpe said.
Adjaye, who also has offices in Berlin and New York, has louvred one side of the neat, stained-wood building to resemble Kielder's ranks of tall, straight pines, and made a funnel inside to keep out winds from all directions. The same principles guide the spruce creation Silvas Capitalis (Forest Head), by the US architects Simparch. It melds with a stand of Sitka spruce close to one of the landings for the lake's ferry, hire boats and private yachts.
"You can watch from here without being seen," said Sharpe, clambering up the back of the head to peer from its carved-out eyes. "Over the winter, the ears will be cut open and wooden trumpets installed, so that visitors can sit in here and listen to the amplified sounds of the forest."
The camouflage of some of the art is turned on its head by the shiny metal rotating chairs and 55/02, a vivid orange art shelter by sixteen*(makers), a consortium from London's Bartlett school of architecture. Like a cluster of steel mushrooms, the piece – which is named after the map co-ordinates for its lakeside site – has sections that visitors can move to keep out draughts when the wind changes.
The project continues a tradition at Kielder, run and funded by the Forestry Commission, Northumbria Water and One North East, the regional development agency. Artists and architects combined last year to create the Kielder observatory, whose two telescopes enjoy England's least light-polluted skies, and a series of light-hearted belvederes.
Gallerygoers need energy: the lake trail winds for 27 miles and the entire park covers 62,000 hectares (239 square miles). But they appreciate it. "We get visitors from all over the world," said Yvonne Riley, serving up flapjacks to a party from Kuwait in the Kielder Castle cafe. "They trek out to look at the artworks and they all come back with something to say."
My Hertfordshire: an insider’s guide
Posted by The Sheet in Architecture News on October 16, 2009
Kerry Ixer, of Screen East Locations, lists her favourite local spots
Natural History Museum at Tring
This remarkable collection of animals collected by Lionel Walter, the second Baron Rothschild, features creatures great and small, from the massive polar bear that greets you to domestic dogs. There are some hands-on interactive displays for children in the Victorian building and a meadow where you can picnic lunch in summer, as well as the Zebra cafe if it rains. While I'd rather see living animals, my six-year-old god-daughter loved it here.
• Free entry, nhm.ac.uk/tring
Bricklayers Arms, Flaunden
This 18th-century pub is a real treat hidden in the depths of the countryside. It is an ideal venue to drop in after a morning's walk on one of the many footpaths in the area. But if you want lunch you'd be advised to book. Most of the food is locally sourced, and there is a selection of fine ales.
• Bricklayersarms.com
Ashridge Estate
The National Trust-owned estate on the Herts/Bucks border lies at the north end of the Chilterns. There's a wide network of footpaths and bridleways to explore, including easy access trails. I love it best in the spring when there are bluebells, but autumn doesn't disappoint with the rich colours. There's also a large variety of fauna such as red kite and fallow deer.
• Free entry, nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-ashridge
The Rex, Berkhamsted
The Rex has been described as one of the UK's most beautiful cinemas. There is one huge screen set in a fantastic 1938 art-deco theatre. The seating is comfortable, but the best place to be is the tabled area where drinks are available throughout the performance – just like being at home, but better! The Rex screens new releases and little-known films, as well as the odd classic. It's popular, so you have to book well in advance.
• Therexberkhamsted.com