Category: Architecture

Dorich

  Given the choice I suppose most of us would choose Do-rich over Do-poor and I did so on a sunny morning last week. The Dorich in question is the Dorich House Museum in Kingston.

St Wulfstan and his Priory

Edward Elgar’s grave lies in the cemetery at St Wulstan’s church. It is curious that this saint is not better known. Incidentally his name has various versions of which Wulfstan is prevalent.

Wrest in Peace

Wrest Park belonged to the de Grey family until it was sold in 1917. They were made Earls of Kent in the reign of Edward IV and then the 12th Earl was created Duke of Kent in 1710. Confusingly he was also Lord Lucas. However, there was no heir to the Dukedom and Wrest was… Continue reading Wrest in Peace

Wrest is History

Wednesday 15th August, The Feast of the Assumption. Nikolaus Pevsner has a reputation for being dry to the point of dullness, so the dedication in his 1968 guide in The Buildings of England series,  Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough surprised me. 

Arabesque

Stanley Donen is probably a household name in America but he’s only just come on the radar in Margravine Gardens.

Strawberry Hill

Last week I visited Strawberry Hill House in Twickenham. It has been extensively restored and only fully re-opened in 2013. It is open from Sunday to Wednesday so more of a destination for Retired Folk.

Flypast

I went to Buckingham Palace yesterday to watch the centennial RAF flypast and thought I’d do something I’ve never done – watch the Royal Family making a balcony appearance.

A Fly in the Ointment

This is St Mary’s, a quintessentially English church just twelve miles from my front door. What makes it so English?

Thames Talk

Yesterday I walked a short stretch (4 miles) of the Thames Path for the first time. I took the tube to Canary Wharf and felt as if I’d landed in a N American city.

My Shout

The Metro ran this advertorial on Tuesday about one of the studios in Barons Court that features here. A feature that goes unmentioned in the Metro is the outstanding views of a building site that it may enjoy until the middle of the next decade, when its light will be blocked by a new development.