Cherie's Place

The Churches of Shropshire & their treasures by John Leonard

As mentioned in my previous post I have been reading a local guide book which inspired me to visit Shropshire Lavender. The author of the book, (Slow Travel – Shropshire) mentions many Shropshire Churches and points out that she doesn’t need to write about the churches in detail because John Leonard has already done this so well in his book ‘The Churches of Shropshire & their treasures’.

As a lover of churches this prompted me to search for the book online. This led to me to find that the publisher of the book had closed down and that ‘Shropshire Historic Churches Trust’ had purchased a supply of the book and could offer it at a discount rate. When I enquired, I learned that their supply had been depleted prompting me to search for another source of supply, making sure it was a second edition book with colour photographs.

The book was delivered today and I spent some time enjoying browsing through it. The author has starred the best churches with * to *** in the style of the Michelin Green Guide ratings.

From my initial perusal of the book I know that it will be an enjoyable read, a good reference book and a good inspiration for churches to visit in my local area.

Tags: Book Review, Church, John Leonard, Shropshire, The Churches of Shropshire & their treasures

8 Comments CherryPie on Jul 18th 2018

Filed under Anecdotes, Out & About

Shropshire Lavender

Recently I have been reading a local guidebook to give me new inspiration for places to visit in Shropshire. One of the places sounded perfect for the beautiful summer weather that we have been experiencing, so the weekend before last I decided it would be nice to take Mr C out to a mystery location for lunch.

He was a little bit reluctant to go out for lunch, but I persuaded him. I programmed the SatNav and it took us on a delightful magical mystery tour. That SatNav route took us in quite a different direction than I would have instinctively chosen. We arrived at our countryside destination in a timely manner avoiding the nearby town.

Our destination was Shropshire Lavender, a small family run lavender farm with a tea room serving freshly baked cakes and scones. The lavender farm is set in the rolling Shropshire countryside about 3 miles from the market town of Newport on the North Shropshire-Staffordshire border.

Choosing lunch was difficult… should I opt for a lavender scone or lavender and lemon cake. I chose the latter and did not regret my choice

When we had finished our visit to the lavender farm we weren’t quite ready to go home, so we perused the mapbook for a nearby place of interest. We settled on Boscobel House famous as hiding places of King Charles II after defeat at the Battle of Worcester in 1651.

Later in the day we enjoyed fine dining on the patio

Tags: Boscobel House, Cherie's Place, Fine Dining, Fun, Life, Love, Lunch, Mystery Tour, Patio, Shropshire Lavender, There's Always One

10 Comments CherryPie on Jul 17th 2018

Filed under Gardens, Out & About

Cherie’s Place – Belated Thought for the Week

And so, while others miserably pledge themselves to the pursuit of ambition and brief power, I will be stretched out in the shade, singing.

Fray Luis de Leon

Tags: Cherie's Place Thought, Hodnet Hall, Hodnet Hall Gardens, Shropshire

10 Comments CherryPie on Jul 16th 2018

Filed under Anecdotes, Holidays, Kent & Chichester 2018

Kent & Chichester – Day Nine

Because we had packed up the night before, we arrived for breakfast a little earlier than we had on previous days. There was only one other lady in the breakfast room and we wondered if most of the rooms were empty. We learned that this was due to breakfast being served a little bit later on a Saturday and that guests tended to come down to breakfast at the last minute.

After we had settled our bill, I took a few last photographs of the Cathedral before we set off for Stonehenge, stopping off at a garden centre along the way for a cup of tea. Before we left the garden centre Mr C phoned West Dean Gardens on the off chance that his missing spectacles had turned up. He was surprised and pleased to hear that they had. On learning that we were on our way home they agreed to post them to him.

At Stonehenge we decided to have lunch before walking to the stones. The walk and views were as lovely as usual especially in the sunshine. After enjoying the stones and capturing a few photographs we took a different walking route back to the visitor centre.

We arrived home just in time to freshen up before going out to dinner. Family had invited us so that we didn’t have to bother with shopping. The food was delicious and a good time was had by all.

Tags: Amesbury, Chichester, Chichester Cathedral, Salisbury, Stonehenge, Vacation

14 Comments CherryPie on Jul 15th 2018

Filed under Anecdotes, Holidays, Kent & Chichester 2018

Kent & Chichester – Day Eight

After breakfast we went to the Cathedral to see if we could purchase a guide book because the shop did not open until later in the morning. When we got there the information desk was in the process of being set up ready for the day. Mr C didn’t want to linger so we took the short walk to the Guildhall in order to take some photographs.

By the time we had finished the Cathedral shop was open. We couldn’t see any guide books on display so we asked the assistant if there was one. He said there wasn’t a specific guidebook but we could purchase several books on different aspects of the Cathedral or we could have some collated, photocopied fact sheets on various Cathedral features; I opted for the latter.

Next we visited the Roman Remains of Fishbourne Palace which were simply excellent. There was a small museum, a large collection of floor mosaics as well as formal and plant gardens.

Before we left, we thought it would be fun to lunch on the Roman Platter which included chunky olive bread, hummus, olives, feta cheese and salad. Amply sufficed we made our way to West Dean Gardens, which were especially delightful in the sunny weather.

After wandering round the gardens we stopped for a drink and I had a piece of cake. As we were about to leave Mr C realised that he had lost his spectacles. He checked with both places we had visited but unfortunately they had not been handed in at either place.

We dined in Brasserie Blanc for the second time and found that the restaurant had a particularly lively and enjoyable atmosphere that evening. Earlier in the day Mr C bought a magnifying glass as a temporary measure to do the job of his lost spectacles. Whilst we were in the restaurant it fell out of his pocket onto to the hard flooring, causing the glass to crack but, luckily not to break.

We returned to the Park pub which was even more lively than it had been the night before. We wished we had found this pub earlier in the week.

Tags: Chichester Cathedral, Fishbourne Palace, Food, Formal Gardens, Roman Mosaics, Roman Platter, The Guildhall Chichester, West Dean Gardens

8 Comments CherryPie on Jul 14th 2018

Filed under Anecdotes, Holidays, Kent & Chichester 2018

Kent & Chichester – Day Seven

After breakfast we called into Waterstones so that Mr C could pick up the latest book in a series that he is reading. After that he had to join a work teleconference for an hour or so. Whilst he was doing this I walked around Chichester photographing things I had seen whilst we were sussing out restaurants.

We met at Cloisters Cafe before heading to the Cathedral, only to find that a university graduation ceremony was about to start. We decided to visit the Cathedral later in the day and headed, instead to the Novium, which is a museum that houses the remains of Roman Baths and artefacts as well as a display on smuggling. There was also a temporary exhibition (on tour from the V&A) about the history of board games. As a board gaming lady I found the display interesting and nostalgic with games old and new.

Lunch was in the Chichester Cafe which is one of a few run by the Real Eating Company. The food they serve is nice and fresh and a little different. I opted for a hummus, beetroot and mozzarella toastie with salad leaves, beetroot and carrot; it was delicious.

After lunch we headed to the Pallant House Gallery where two birds looking like dodos sit atop pillars to the main entrance. They are in fact ostriches, which are from the crest of the Peckhams for whom the house was originally built. Pallant House is home to a collection of modern British art. The gallery also has a programme of temporary exhibitions, the current one being ‘Virginia Woolf: an exhibition inspired by her writings’. It would be fair to say that I enjoyed the gallery more that Mr C did.

Following our visit to the gallery we sat outside a small cafe, soaking up the rays with a glass of wine before returning to the Cathedral. We enjoyed the Cathedral and it had some interesting art. As we arrived one of the stewards mentioned to us a piece of modern art that was currently being displayed in the Cathedral. When I picked up the leaflet to find out what it was supposed to be I noticed that there were other pieces of art both inside and outside the Cathedral. I had seen the artwork that was outside earlier in the day and had mistaken one for a billboard frame and the other as being something to do with the roof renovations.

We relaxed in our room before dining in the Jetty in the Harbour Hotel. I chose Haddock and Chips which was delicious. Before returning to the B&B we went to a nearby pub called The Park, which was bustling with people, although most of them were outside due to the glorious weather.

Tags: Art, Chichester, Chichester Cafe, Chichester Cathedral, Jetty in the Harbour Hotel, Museum, Novium, Pallant House Gallery, The Park, Vacation

8 Comments CherryPie on Jul 13th 2018

Filed under Anecdotes, Holidays, Kent & Chichester 2018

Kent & Chichester – Day Six

After breakfast we returned to Arundel to visit the Anglican Parish Church and the Catholic Cathedral which we did not have sufficient time to do justice to after our visit to the castle the previous day.

The Parish Church of St. Nicholas (which adjoins the Fitzalan Chapel on the Arundel Estate) is full of history and life. The stewards and other members of the church were welcoming and forthcoming in sharing their knowledge of the history of the building. The stewards also talked about the strong links between the Anglicans and Catholics within Arundel.

The Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady and Saint Philip Howard dominates the landscape due to the scale of the building. It is situated next to the Parish Church and is a more modern, Victorian building, rich in artwork and design but on entering we felt it was lacking in soul.

After visiting the two churches we browsed a couple of bookshops before having lunch in a delightful tea shop where I opted for a scone and butter. Whilst dining I was quite taken with one of the tea cosies for sale. Unfortunately the teapot inside it was not for sale leaving us only with the option of sourcing a teapot elsewhere.

Next we visited the Tangmere Aviation museum. The display was good although, sadly, we had chosen a day when most of the planes were not available for viewing. This was because of one of the planes being dismantled in order to ship it to London where it was due to be displayed as part of the RAF 100 celebrations.

We joined a guided tour of the museum which was interesting but we would have liked a bit more information on some of the planes. As we were leaving the museum I was hoping to take a photograph of the flags that were flying near the entrance but they had been taken down for the day.

After we returned to the B&B I decided to take another walk around the Bishop’s Palace Gardens so that I could attain my 10,000 steps for the day. Unlike my first visit the gardens were almost empty making for a peaceful walk in the sunshine.

We dined in a Greek restaurant which we found to be rather mediocre compared to the other places we had dined. After the meal we stopped in a nearby pub where they served a rather nice rose wine. Like all the other pubs we had visited in Chichester (apart from Wetherspoons) the pub was almost empty.

Tags: Arundel, Chichester, Tangmere Aviation Museum, The Bishop's Palace Gardens, The Cathedral of Our Lady and Saint Philip Howard, The Parish Church of St. Nicholas, Vacation

8 Comments CherryPie on Jul 12th 2018

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