Post Christmas Treat at Waddesdon Manor

J has to go for a pre-op appointment so I am hauled in as first reserve.  I leave the car in Oxford having driven along the A34 in fog.   Not much traffic about, thank goodness.  I am then driven to Waddesdon by my chum.  We stop in the ancient town of Thame and have lunch in a traditional cafe.  I remember spending a wedding anniversary in this small market town.  

I have visited Waddesdon Manor a few times.  I remember especially a visit on a hot summer's day to celebrate the joint Birthday of myself and a friend.  On another occasion in the spring, I visited with the same friend as today, her husband and my lovely mum, who was a little challenged by steep hills and mud.  J was kind to her.  Today we are accompanied by the fiancé of my chum's son.  What a pleasure to meet this lovely lady from S Carolina.  

It is really foggy all day.  The mansion arises mystically out of the mist as we approach it. It is not ideal viewing for a first time visitor. 

Waddesdon Manor was built by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild between 1874 and 1885 to display his outstanding collection of arts and to entertain the fashionable world. Built in the style of a French chalet,  Waddesdon’s collection of French 18th-century decorative arts and 17th- and 18th-century paintings is world famous. Its wine cellars and aviary of beautiful exotic birds pull the visitors in to this property.  Opened to the public in 1959, Waddesdon Manor is managed by the Rothschild Foundation, a family charitable trust, on behalf of the National Trust, who took over ownership in 1957.  

A two-metre long model of Waddesdon Manor made entirely of gingerbread is on display in the Coach House gallery. The celebrated hand-iced biscuit company Biscuiteers, have created detailed replicas of Waddesdon’s famous rooms including paintings, furniture, porcelain and textiles.  Using more than 30kg of butter and sugar, 240 eggs and 216 kg of icing, it took 500 hours to make!

Who is going to eat it?   Not sure I fancy it, with crowds having trailed past for days on end! 

A limited number of rooms in the house are decorated for Christmas, while others are closed for conservation and cleaning.  There are plenty of Christmas trees to delight our American visitor.  

Note the gingerbread theme on the trees

And there is a tree made of paper 

There is a magical Christmas grotto which brings back memories of my childhood and that of my daughter.  The daughter in law to be is very excited and wants to take a photo.  

I say this is OK if I can take one of her and the mother in law.  

Field of Light has returned in a new form and location, to celebrate 25 years since its conception. Bruce Munro and his team have ‘planted’ 9,000 slender stems crowned with radiant frosted-glass spheres to populate the Aviary Glade. The spheres, connected via illuminated optical fibre, ‘bloom’ as darkness falls taking visitors on a sensory journey through the gardens.

We drive home in the dark and fog and cold but it is well worth the effort.

Coastal Christmas

At last we are off to do Christmas with the family on the South Coast.  It's a clear winter's day, cooler than of late but nice and sunny and the roads are much better than usual. 

The AH wants to visit the Pallant House Gallery so we pay a flying visit to Chichester.  

The cathedral looks nice today 

So does the Market Cross.  

I love to visit Pallant House when in Chichester. 

http://www.pallant.org.uk/

The wonderful Pablo Bronstein is here till February 

http://www.pallant.org.uk/exhibitions/current-exhibitions/main-galleries/pablo-bronstein-wall-pomp

This Christopher Wood painting, China Dogs in a St Ives window is part of the permanent collection. 

It was painted in 1926, four years before his tragic death at the age of 29. 

After lunch we all head for the beach. 

The sun is setting

Here is my family, including the lovely Joseph, the dog

After presents, tea and Christmas cake we head home.  Dark but otherwise easy driving for me while the others snore. 

A Festive Weekend

More festive fun with a tapas lunch at S's.  Feliz Navidad. 

Below the Christmas Market in Broad Street after a service at Harris Manchester Chapel.

Here the spot where TT's ancestor Nicholas Ridley was burnt at the stake in 1555
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Ridley_(martyr)

Window Display Western Library

East and South London in a day.

On a winter Sunday we take a nice big train to Paddington and TT gets me over to Tower Hamlets via tubes and buses.  Left to my own devices, I would walk.  But i would not pack as much in, I must admit.  First stop is the very busy and colourful Columbia Road Flower Market. Read about the market's interesting history here.  

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_Road_Flower_Market

The next stop after a short walk across London Fields ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Fields)  is the Brewery of the same name.  This is one of the loveliest microbreweries and bars I have ever seen.  It makes me want to live in East London!  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Fields

I think the team is from Berlin.  I hope this Brexit nonesense does not drive them away.  

More tubes and buses and we are in Brixton, to meet the younger generation.  We have a wonderful time in the AH's favourite pub, The Crown and Anchor, then into her favourite Indian restaurant, Booma, which is right next door!  Craft beer and all.  We are honoured to meet the lovely B.

Watson's Walk on Christmas Common

Today there will be one of a series of walks people are undertaking to commemorate the life of my wonderful friend Watson who, I am very sad to report, died early this year, at too young an age.  When I say wonderful, I mean it. Watson was like a puppy when I first met him in 1972.  Full of boundless energy. He remained fun to be with his whole life. He never moaned or bitched about anyone and loved his family and friends to bits.  He was completing the Thames path with his childhood friend Keith from Geordieland, when his cancer returned.   He carried on for a while but never made it to the end of the path.  So, as I say, people have been completing the Path, along with Keith, in his honour. This is the first walk I have managed. It is not on the Thames Path.  It's a one off Christmas event as Keith and Watson loved to meet at Christmas Common, which is half way bewteen their homes.  Read about Christmas Common here.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_Common

There are over 30 of us and we are blissed with a cold but bright winter's day. We all set off after an induction from Keith and Emily.

We encounter a steep hill. 

What hill?  

But the view across Oxfordshire is worth the effort.  Here is Shirley, Watson's wife and rock, who paid tribute to him at the beginning of our walk.  She's holding his hat.

Here is Steve, another great mate from 72 onwards with Emily's boyfriend, Bob.  Emily is Watson's daughter who made the whole series of walk possible with her amazing organisational skills 

At the end of our lovely walk we all enjoy a very good Christmas lunch at the Fox and Hounds. 

Link to Emily's photo album: https://1drv.ms/a/s!AjwANynM2bIFiSMM5xF7iPjqC-w-

The start of the festive season

The lovely Jonathon Jones, town crier for Farnham, @FarnhamCrier, popped in to @NTsandham today to read WW1 poetry.   There was a steady flow of people which was great.  Always lovely to volunteer at Sandham and share the beauty of Stanley Spencer's art.

Later we are at our first Christmas bash. The annual sausage festival.  Thanks to @BGCollector (He's the strange one in the lederhosen. But we love him really.

As you can see, we begin Christmas by putting the men outside

Winter in London

It's a bright clear December day and Phyllis II and I cruise done the hill just like Phyllis I and I did three years ago to the day.  The day when my lovely mum was jaundiced for the first time.  I feel sad and tweet to Pancreatic Cancer UK that I will make a donation as my Mum's Christmas present.

This is my last session on the Introduction to Buddhism course and I feel I am on the path.  Quite something.  The train is peaceful today once I escape the man on the phone who has a cold! 

I get the chance to speak Spanish in the Italian Gardens Cafe. 

I walk to the wonderful Zedel in Piccadilly to meet the AH for lunch. So happy to see her loving life.  

https://www.brasseriezedel.com/

Then I walk via St James park to Pimlico. 

I have a look round Tate Britain.  Here is Anthony Gormley beng yogic.

I visit the Paul Nash exhibition.  It is on till 5 March.  I am interested in him as a contemporary of Stanley Spencer.  His work is really varied. I enjoy myself. 

Equivalents for the Megaliths 1935

Wood on the Downs 1929

The Rye Marshes 1932

http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/spencer-the-woolshop-t12548

http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/spencer-swan-upping-at-cookham-t00525

Above are links to two further art works I view and love

After the wonderful class, I am happy to arrive at the quiz, where Kieran has gone a bit bonkers with his pre Christmas Quiz.

The best of all news is that we win in Greenham and Richmond Park! Above our successful local candidates.