Chattering Chough

Lego Architecture

2012-02-12T21:35:00.000Z

Today A set about making his extra Christmas present - a Lego representation of Mies van der Rohe's Farnsworth House. It took quite a while, but the result is spectacular and well, it was fun to do.

Thank you Lego for these lovely and unusual models.

Lego Architecture
Lego modernist architecture

Christmas in New Orleans

2011-12-27T23:00:00.000Z

We flew down to New Orleans to stay with D&S forChristmas. M&N were joining us on Christmas Eve, so we had some timebeforehand to collect stuff for our Christmas Day festivities. D&S had towork up to Christmas Eve, so we walked all around the area, taking the StCharles tram, too, some days. We explored all of Magazine Street, seeing allthe quirky signs, the Mardi Gras bead decorations, sampling coffee and cakes atlots of establishments and enjoying the warmer weather than we had left behindin Guildford. We even went carol singing in Jackson Square.

S planned to cook a special French Christmas Eve dinner for us all when M&N arrived, which we alllooked forward to, but Delta let them down and bumped them from theirconnecting flight. This meant they arrived late on Christmas Eve, utterlyshattered. S’s dinner was not wasted, though and we had beautiful boeuf en croute albeit without the othertwo. Christmas Day brought presents to open round the tree, then, as the turkeyquietly roasted, we had a short walk. We found the house with all the beardecorations and decided we must come back to see it in the dark. D’s bigsurprise for us all was tickets for the Game on Boxing Day evening. This wasbetween the Saints (Who Dat?) and the Atlanta Falcons. We rounded the day off,having eaten lots of turkey and Christmas pudding by walking around the amazingChristmas decorated houses on St Charles and the area in general, including theBear house, too.

On Boxing Day we went downtown and collected a ‘small bus’that we would all fit into and met up with M&N who had taken the tram downto the French Quarter for some sightseeing. It was so wet, that we dived intoone of the little jazz bars, the Spotted Cat Music Club and listened to somejazz while sipping margaritas and beers. But we had to brave the elements toget to the stadium. Once inside, it is all inside – the Superdome is completelycovered and the pitch is made of special artificial grass. It was all sofriendly and people were pleased to help us understand the rules. Fans fromboth sides sat together, and some gently teasing went on, but nothing tooserious – a real family atmosphere. We had a selection of traditional snacks tokeep us going during the match along with local beers and generally had a greatnight out – especially as the Saints won.

The next day we went off to walk in the Barataria bayouarea. Here there are boardwalks through the swamp with plenty of wildlife tospot on the way. It was a beautiful day and we saw lots of creatures frombutterflies and lizards to birds of prey and egrets. The Spanish moss wafted inthe breeze and turtles sunned themselves on the trunks of trees. As soon as itwas dark, we drove over to the Botanical Gardens where they had a light show.It was very busy, but once inside the crowd spread out and we could see all theamazing illuminations that covered most of the area.

New Orleans

The New Orleans Saints

Superdome

Barataria Preserve

Botanical Gardens

Visiting Biltmore at Christmas

2011-12-17T06:00:00.000Z

Biltmore is the house that George Vanderbilt created – a housein the country for his family and friends. It was opened to them on Christmas Eve1895, so Christmas is a very special time at the estate. George, Edith andtheir daughter Cornelia lived at Biltmore and the family have continued to livethere to this day. The present head of the family is Bill Cecil who runs theestate as a family business. The design of the house was inspired by thechateaux of the Loire valley, though it is generally thought that most wastaken from the chateau at Blois.

We arrived for our four day stay to warm, crisp weather andour rooms at Biltmore Inn were beautiful, with views across the countryside tothe house and beyond. Almost as far as the eye can see, belongs to the estate –about 8,000acres. We enjoyed every minute of our stay, as we were busy all thetime. Within walking distance of the Inn there is Antler Village, where we wereable to take in the Winery tour. They deliver wine to almost every state in theUS, but Louisiana was not on the list, what a shame. The wines were veryinteresting and we had fun tasting them. The extensive gift shop is verytempting as was filled with Christmas related items as well as gifts inspiredby the Tiffany exhibition being held in the museum. This was another date in our diary and we loved walkingaround the beautiful display of stunning lamps. We would love to have bought some postcards as there was a ban onphotographs, but none were forthcoming.

The first evening we took the visitor bus across to theHouse where we were treated to a candlelit tour of the interior complete with57 Christmas trees – all lit and decorated to match their surroundings. Somerooms had several trees, colour matched to the décor of the room. And in thewinter garden there was a choir singing with a harp and violin playing, too.What a magical experience; all warmth and light and nostalgia. The largest treewas in the vaulted dining room - almost reaching the ceiling that stretched upseveral floors. This had already been changed out once due to the tree droppingits needles, and they expected that it would be changed again before Christmas.All that effort of dressing, dismantling and dressing again takes place atnight when the house is closed to visitors, from 9pm. It must take the bestpart of the twelve hours or so to have everything ready for the next day’sopening.

We also took the architecture tour during the day so wecould climb high up onto the roof and take in the view across to the foothillsof the Appalachian Mountains. Apparently, the guests could take a two dayjourney to stay at the hunting lodge in these mountains, camping in the foreston the way, never leaving the Vanderbilt estate. It was a trek of some 15 milestaken on horseback and with waggons. Servants went ahead to prepare the camp aswell as the Lodge for visitors. We also had a close-up view of masonry details,gargoyles and the gold leaf decorated copper roof that bears the Vanderbiltcrest.

From the roof we could see the reflecting ponds and thebeautiful conservatory. This meant a walk through the fine but slumberinggardens to the Glasshouse that was superbly decked out for Christmas with many poinsettias,decoratively leaved plants and subtle decorations. Underneath is the garden centre with gardeners’gifts for sale. We didn’t indulge as we were flying off again and those sortsof things would not fit in the luggage – oh for Terry Pratchett’s luggage withthe many feet!

No trip to the Asheville area around Christmas would becomplete without a visit to the Gingerbread completion and exhibition at theGrove Park Inn. This amazing place reminiscent of some Austrian hunting lodgeonly many times bigger is host to an enormous display of gingerbread creationsfor some six weeks over the holiday period. Anything goes as far as thegingerbread creators are concerned and we saw some mind blowing designs. Theoverall winner this year had created Old Mother Hubbard’s Shoehouse completewith laces, windows, doors, a roof and characters busying themselves inside therooms. A real feat of ingenuity. Otherswe liked were the mice and their sewing machine, a merry-go-round horse, a boxof chocolates and a box of Christmas decorations not to mention some wonderfulhouses, too.

So time flew by andafter an evening of celebrating birthdays, wedding anniversaries and just beingwith friends in the Dining Room, we said our farewells and flew off to ourvarious families to celebrate Christmas.

Biltmore Estate
Grove Park Inn
Asheville
North Carolina

The Greenhouse, Mayfair

2011-12-11T10:00:00.000Z

The Greenhouse is one of London's leading restaurants, situated in Mayfair. Antonin Bonnet is the Executive Chef and he draws on his French upbringing and training to produce beautiful food - both from the taste and the presentation point of view. This would be the perfect place for our celebration, so a table was reserved and we dressed for the occasion.

From the moment we arrived, the staff were attentive to every need. Moments after being seated we were offered a glass of champagne - with several to choose from. We decided on a English Nyetimber Première Cuvée, Blanc de Blancs 2001 that didn't disappoint and we were served a little paper container of root crisps to tip into a bowl containing a tiny cauli floret, a blob of mustard cream and some parsley oil. This we ate with a small spoon - amazing and delicious. The restaurant is not large - maybe twenty tables of various sizes. The decor is muted creams and beiges with sparkling white table linen and a twiggy mural on one wall where there is a banquette in lime green leather. Each table has a small object d'art artistically displayed - a classic torso, a discus or as in our case an artfully shaped piece of interesting, polished rock in a stand.
Menus came and specials explained, and we chose our meal. Then came the amuse bouche - an egg shell filled with a warm egg yolk topped with a mango and roasted hazelnut cream.

We sipped our champagne and the sommelier advised us on some glasses of wine to match our dinner. First, a Meursault, Henri Boillot 2009 and then Domaine de Trévallon, Vin de Pays des Bouches du Rhône 2005. Fresh rolls of several varieties were served and two little half moons of salted and unsalted butter came on slate blocks - the salted with a tiny sprinkle of crystal salt to distinguish it.

Amazingly we both chose the same meal, so our starters came - the special of the day, scallops with black truffle wafer wrapped in green leaves on a bed of leeks and a champagne sauce.

To follow we chose grouse breast with black trumpets (a type of fungi) served with a creamy mash. Everything was really beautifully presented and tasted that way too. We sipped and savoured and enjoyed.

After a suiutable interval it was time to choose our desserts, this time we managed to pick different dishes - a pear millefeuille and a chocolate and hazelnut tart. And while we waited for these to appear, we refreshed our tastebuds with a little pineapple sorbet served with tiny cubes of pineapple and a coconut cream. We fancied a little dessert wine and found a suitable one from the Loire, but unfortunately this wasn't available but a substitute Vouvray was suggested, a Domaine de la Fontainerie Vouvray "Coteau Les Brules" Sec 2003, which proved to be an excellent choice.

With our tisanes, petits fours were served and then it was time to order the taxi and eventually home. Our dining experience at The Greenhouse was superb - a very suitable way to celebrate.

The Greenhouse

Cambio at the Castle

2011-11-26T23:30:00.000Z

Cambio has been the leading restaurant in Guildford for some years now, and it was with sadness we had watched its doors close. Then for Christmas last year the new Cambio at the Castle opened, dressed like a Christmas parcel with a large red ribbon tied around the old 19th century building. We have been into this new incarnation before, but thie weekend, M&N were staying with us and there were two birthdays to celebrate, so we decided it was time to revisit it.

We were not disappointed, and soon had our orders in to the chef, after choosing from the menu while sipping glasses of prosecco and an Archer's for our none fizzy drinker. Soon our starters were arriving - there were tiger prawns, pate with toast, salmon with a quails egg and gnocchi with mushrooms and truffle oil.

These very tasty dishes were followed by fillet of sea bass with roasted potatoes, asparagus and caper dressing; monkfish with potatoes; confit of wild duck; and pork with sage on tomatoes, none of which disappointed.

Then three of us went for the chocolate fondant that took an extra twenty minutes, but well worth waiting for its unctuous oozings! And our fourth member took the decidedly delicious looking pannacotta. We dicided that we would wlak home and take tea/ coffee when we got there!
It was a memorable evening.

Interestingly, Cambio has its own deli and fishmongers that are open from 10am - 6pm from Tuesday to Saturday.

Cambio at the Castle

The Lion in Winter

2011-11-24T23:30:00.000Z

A day in London, first to see Degas and the Ballet: Picturing Movement at the Royal Academy followed by dinner and the theatre. The Degas exhibition is very interesting, involving contemporary photography showing, for the first time, the mechanics of movement. This fascinated Degas and helped him when he was portraying his dancers moving. It was quite crowded in the gallery, but nevertheless, we saw everything and really enjoyed the exhibition.

Borrowed from the Royal Academy website

Following this we walked down to the Haymarket and went in for dinner to Assagetti. This is an Italian tapas bar! Well, the concept is to order lots of little dishes which come 'as they are ready'. The significance of this is that some of the hot dishes arrive before the cold ones, and you feel obliged to eat them while they are hot, even though the ham and pate are conventionally starters. We felt that maybe, we should have ordered two or three starters and when they were done, order one, two or even three warm dishes to follow. We'd certainly return to test this theory as the food was very good and the atmosphere quite vibrant. Wine by the glass is available as are desserts, coffee and tea.

Courgette chips and warm pate with toast

Prosciutto, mushroom risotto, duck ragu

and

rawn ravioli

Cheesecake with berries, sorbets

Now it was time to cross the road to the Theatre Royal Haymarket to take our seats for the evening's performance of The Lion in Winter. I remember this as an intense interaction between Henry II (Peter O'Toole) and Eleanor of Aquitaine (Katheryn Hepburn) in a film from the late 60s; lots of intrigue and irony. In fact, the film won three Oscars, 2 Baftas as well as nine other awards. It had premiered as a stage play (written by James Goldman) on Broadway.
How different this production is; but none the less for that. Trevor Nunn is playing this one for laughs, and the audience certainly was with him all the way. Robert Lindsay and Joanna Lumley are very clever in their parts, sparking off each other. going for outright laughs, which is fine, but I missed the irony. It's just how the director sees the play, and this way also works. I think that as the whole episode is a figment of the author's imagination - no Christmas at Chinon apparently took place - it can be taken with large pinches of salt and so why not bring out the humour. We certainly enjoyed ourselves as did the rest of the more or less full house.

The Royal Academy
Degas
Assaggetti
Theatre Royal Haymarket
The Lion in Winter
Robert Lindsay
Joanna Lumley

Brubecks play Brubeck

2011-11-14T23:30:00.000Z

Wonderful concert given by the sons of jazz legend Dave Brubeck and sax player Dave O'Higgins at G Live, Guildford. Lots of wonderful classics composed by father Brubeck as well as pieces composed by Dan, Chris and Darius. They came out to the foyer afterwards to sign CDs and programmes. Fantastic stuff!

Brubeck Music
G Live

Chinthurst Hill

2011-11-13T21:30:00.000Z

A beautiful sunny day, so boots on and off for a tramp. We headed up the hill to Pewley Down and from there turned towards St Martha's, but took Halfpenny Lane before the big climb up to the church. This footpath plunges downhill towards Chilworth.

The Tiilingbourne and the Gunpowder Mill pond

We crossed the little bridge over the weir for the gunpowder mill ponds on Blacksmith Lane and soon turned right onto the footpath again. Chilworth, a small village on the Tillingbourne River, dates back to the Doomsday book, but has the reputation of being the gunpowder village as gunpowder was made here for 300 years until the 1920s. When the Wey Navigation was completed the gunpowder was taken to the wharves at Shalford and then onwards by water to its destinations. There are remains of the gunpowder works and some of the old buildings have been made into houses, but we didn't stop to look at the remains.
The path now took us around the back of the village, across the railway and eventually across some sports fields. The next obstacle was to cross the A248 and follow the path around Lower Chinthurst Farm. We turned towards the hill and eventually found the path up to the top and Lord Inchcape's Folly. He built this tower in 1930 and it has become a listed building. The sun shone and the sky was deep blue and the pine trees looked very picturesque.

Chinthurst Tower, the pines and the birches

Looking across to St Martha's Church.

So, we began our descent and took the footpath towards the Wey and Arun Canal. Our route took us along the right hand side and we were soon at the old gunpowder store on its raised legs.

Along the Wey and Arun Canal to the Gunpowder Store

Time for a sandwich at the Parrot - much better service this time, before we took a familiar route passing Shalford Mill to The Chantries and back up to Pewley Down and home. The sun was setting as we arrived back.

Shalford Mill pond

Evening smoke

Sunset at Pewley Down

Henry V, Propeller at YAT

2011-11-11T10:04:00.001Z

It was amazing to walk into Yvonne Arnaud Theatre last evening to find it packed with people. Such is the draw of Propeller Theatre who are performing Henry V this week at YAT and will continue on with their tour well into 2012. Propeller is an all-male Shakespeare company that presents a very modern approach to the plays, mixing in modern music, imaginative sets and a very physical presence. Their artistic director, Edward Hall, denies any dumbing down, rather he makes the plays relevant to today with all their complexity, challenging the audience with each performance.

The stage is set

As we made our way to our seats, we noticed a couple of 'squaddies' at the edge of the theatre crowd dressed in camo trousers and vests - not the usual attire for YAT audiences. We squeezed into our seats and looked at the programme, noticing that there were 29 parts to be played, including three parts for women, by a cast of 14 men. The stage was set with various pieces of scaffolding, some wooden crates and a flagpole flying the English flag. The auditorium was packed and the doors were closed, but no lights went down. Suddenly the doors were flung open and a troop of soldiers marched in down the stairs to the stage singing as they marched. It certainly grabbed everyone's attention and we remained spellbound to the interval. - with just a dig in the ribs when Henry appeals to his troops to dive

'Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our English dead. - - -
- - - The game's afoot:
Follow your spirit, and upon this charge
Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!'

Spoken from atop the scaffold and very rousing.

A capacity audience listen to the cast singing

We went out into the foyer at the interval and discussed the action so far over an ice-cream, when suddenly the actors marched through from the auditorium, singing. They sang several songs, then explained they were raising money for charity, so please give generously while they sang some more, then marched back into the auditorium as the bell went for us to return to our seats for part 2. The charity they are supporting this year is Lifeworks; it is concerned with children with learning difficulties, giving them new opportunities as well as giving families support with respite care.

Part 2 was just as good as the first half and we were treated to ferocious battle scenes, a princess in the bath, as well as the emotional speech of Henry on the eve of the Battle of Agincourt, 25 October 1415 (St Crispin's Day):

The 'soldiers' march back to the auditorium

' - - - And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
- - -'
At last the final couplet was uttered, the lights went down and a great cheer and applause broke out all over the theatre. What a wonderful response to this stirring production.

Propeller
Yvonne Arnaud Theatre
Lifeworks
About the feast of Crispin Crispian

Fireworks in Guildford

2011-11-05T22:00:00.000Z

A Gothic Mansion and the Opera.

2011-11-04T00:00:00.000Z

Yesterday we trained up to London and took the tube to Temple Tube station. It was just a short walk to 2 Temple Place. This striking building on the embankment has a crenelated roof and gargoyles, tall chimneys and wrought iron, and is topped off with a shining bronze weather vane in the shape of Columbus's Caravel. It is built from Portland stone that has been beautifully carved with intricate designs.No photography is allowed inside, but there are a couple of websites with some photographs showing the attention of detail the creators of the building demanded.
The house was commissioned by William Astor, later the first viscount, in 1895 as his office and London residence. We overheard some visitors gossiping, suggesting that Lord Astor put his mistresses up here. Whatever, the house has been built to the highest standards with lots of oak panelling, stonework, stained glass windows and magnificent ceilings. The house has been beautifully restored, having suffered severe damage during a bombing raid in WWII. That came through the roof, causing lots of damage to the library, with the loss of several books. Now the house is owned by the Bulldog Trust and they have opened it to the public, offering gallery space to specifically showcase publicly-owned art from UK regional collections.

Taken from a postcard bought from The Bulldog Trust

A hurried view of 2 Temple Place before we were inundated by a walking tour

The front door with details below

A little wrought iron

This first exhibition is called William Morris: Story, Memory, Myth and runs from 28th October 2011 until 29th January 2012. It looks at how William Morris told stories using his poetry anddesign patterns. Most important to him were the works of Geoffrey Chaucer, Norse saga, Arthurian legend and Greek myth. One of the main features we saw were the five panels Morris designed retelling the French Medieval tale, Romance of the Rose, which Chaucer had translated. There were also books on display that William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones illustrated, and were printed by Morris' private press.Stained glass and wallpaper designs were also on display, all in partnership with the William Morris Gallery that should be opening in William Morris's house in Walthamstow in July 2012. It was a beautifully presented exhibition which we enjoyed enormously.

Then we were off to dinner with friends at the National Portrait Gallery. They do beautiful meals pre- theatre from 17.30, and we were very prompt as the opera began at 19.00. With lots to catch up on, we chattered over our excellent two courses and made it round the corner to ENO at the Coliseum in time for the first bell!

A view from Portrait Restaurant

Inside the lovely Coliseum

It was The Marriage of Figaro, directed by Fiona Shaw and designed by Peter Mckintosh with Paul Daniel conducting and playing pianoforte. Iain Paterson took the lead with Devon Guthrie as Susanna supported by a stellar cast. This production was full of humour and the audience were immediately bound up in the bizarre and complicated tale. At the end of the four hours, there was huge and prolonged applause for all the cast and orchestra in recognition of this superb performance. Peter McKintosh's set was very clever and based on a series of mazes according to the programme interview of Fiona Shaw. It seemed to be built from white corrugated plastic sheets, with corridors glimpsed through doorways and staircases coming into and out of view as the stage revolved and the characters moved through the set. We loved it.

A glimpse of the amazing set

Two Temple Place and the Wiki entry

William Morris: Story, Memory, Myth

The Bulldog Trust

National Portrait Gallery Portrait Restaurant

ENO at the Coliseum

Halloween and Chrissie

2011-10-31T18:57:00.000Z

Today Guildford wasn't sure what time of year it is - on the one hand wonderful Halloween cupcakes and on the other all dressed up for Christmas. You would think House of Fraser could have waited a day or so!!

Autumn festival at RHS Garden Wisley

2011-10-23T19:00:00.000+01:00

This week it is A Taste of Autumn at RHS Garden Wisley. It is a very popular annual event that attracts crowds of people to sample all sorts of apple and autumn related produce from the great Wisley gardeners as well as the wonderful stall holders that have a presence there.

It all began from the apple tastings that were held every October on the terrace at the front of the Garden. Here lots of people would come and taste slices of apple from the many varieties that are grown in the Wisley orchards. Hopefully the tasters would then buy apple trees for their own gardens, based on the tastings. Over the years this has grown, firstly with a few apple related producers in a marquee on the Seven Acres lawn to the country market style event it is in 2011.

All along the path from the Conservatory Cafe, round the Grass Borders and along the Seven Acres path to the Glasshouse there are tents containing stalls. These are full of local producers from cider and beer makers to jams and spicy sauce makers. In between are the bread people, the sausage producers who have giggly pigs, the nut roaster, the herb and spice nursery, the cheese makers, olive oil and garlic sellers, not to mention the veg growing societies and seed producers.

You can even order a Christmas turkey from the family farmer who is fattening some of his Kelly Bronze turkeys up on the meadows of RHS Garden Hyde Hall. Apparently Delia and other star chefs recommend these.A Taste of Autumn has its own star chef in the person of Peter Osborne who held demonstrations of autumn style food throughout the day and the aromas wafting out of the cookery demonstration marquee were mouthwatering. They have put the recipes up on the Wisley website.

Beyond the producers stalls and the cookery tent is the RHS area where there is a fabulous wagon displaying autumn veg including a lot of colourful pumpkins. Here is where the apple tasting takes place and is always crowded with visitors. After tasting you can move to the tractor and trailer where they are selling bags of apples - hopefully being able to buy your favourite. This year people could vote for their favourite flavour. With the fabulous autumn sunshine, this festival of food is looking to break all sorts of records. We certainly had a wonderful time there.

Here are just some of the stallholders:

'Big Chef' Peter Osborne

Anila's Authentic Sauces

Casa de l'Oli

Cookoo Box Chillies Nursery

The Giggly Pigs Company

Linden Lady Chocolates

McCarthy's Country Store

The Victorian Kitchen

St. Valentine's Liquorice Co
Bookham Fine Foods

3 Days in May

2011-10-14T06:30:00.000+01:00

The three days of the title are in May 1940 when Mr Churchill, the new prime minister of UK, is balancing on a knife edge with some of the war cabinet wanting to negotiate a surrender via Mussolini and others claiming it would be better to fight to the death rather than succumb to the horrors of becoming a vassal state to Fascist Germany. With France on the brink of capitulating, what is left of the allied armies are holed up at Dunkirk, with Belgium on the brink of being overrun; and a garrison of British led soldiers is fighting off the Germans at Calais. It seems a hopeless situation, but Churchill will never surrender, and persuades the ailing Chamberlain to vote against the proposal to surrender thus triggering the Dunkirk evacuation that saved thousands of fighting men to face another day. A pivotal point of WWII, we see how the wily Churchill wins the day that leads to the allies winning the war.
Warren Clarke makes a wonderful Winston Churchill and is well supported by Jeremy Clyde as Lord Halifax, Robert Demeger as Neville Chamberlain and with James Alper as Jock Colville, Churchill's Private Secretary and our narrator. Other members of the cast are Timothy Knightley as Paul Reynaud, the French premier, Michael Sheldon as Clement Attlee, Dicken Ashworth as Arthur Greenwood and Paul Ridley as General Dill.

Ben Brown's 3 Days on May moves to the Trafalgar Studios for a run in the West End from Monday 31st October – Saturday 3rd March 2012. Directed by Alan Strachan, it is a Bill Kenwright Production.

2011-10-12T17:30:00.000+01:00

This was the scene at 4.30pm this afternoon at Pyrford Lock. A pair of swans started crossing the road from right to left - all traffic was halted, but that's OK. As they had just about reached the other side, the car from the right decided to cross the bridge, and one of the swans changed its mind and crossed back again, giving this driver a bit of a turn! As we crossed the bridge, it was still pondering the road and I bet it made another crossing quite soon after.

National Chocolate Week

2011-10-10T18:17:00.000+01:00

I made deliciously chocolaty cupcakes to share with friends and neighbours for National Chocolate week!

Dinner at Cau

2011-10-08T00:00:00.000+01:00

On Saturday evening we had dinner at Cau in Guildford, which serves delicious steaks. We had several different varieties again, including some thinly sliced tapa de cuadril. This is described as "Cut from the top of the rump, with a belt of delicious crackling running through it, this steak is served the Brazilian way – thinly sliced and flash grilled so it melts in your mouth" in their menu and A declared first class! We also tried one of their clericots, a wine based fruity drink with lots of ice and fruit. Ours was called Patagonia and was Merlot with plums, limes and berries. We all had blackberries in the glass, lots of ice and ruby red liquid. Very refreshing and light.
As you can see we still had room for desserts in which dulce de leche figured prominently. There were four of us, but we duplicated some of the dishes!

Cau Restaurant

The Playboy of the Western World

2011-10-06T23:30:00.000+01:00

This evening was spent at the Old Vic after a delicious tea at Le Pain de Quotidian. The play was The Playboy of the Western World, a very Irish play from J M Synge. The actors were all magnificent, once we had 'tuned in' to some of the stronger Irish accents, and the set was amazing as one expects from the Old Vic. An Irish pub that rotated and moved forwards and backwards on the stage as the scene changed. Altogether a wonderful evening out and about in London.

Madrid

2011-09-29T23:30:00.000+01:00

Afterbeing so tired last night, we took it rather easily this morning and potteredoff to breakfast about 9.00. We had the usual, which was very pleasant, thenreturned upstairs to finish the packing. We checked out leaving the bags withthe concierge and set off for the Royal Palace on a beautiful sunny morning. Onthe way down we picked up another PC at the Thyssen, and walked down Carrerasde San Jeronimo where we came across a little shop selling every kind of violetsweetmeat, La Violeta. We decided that we would call in on our way back to thehotel. When we arrived at the Royal Palce there was a bit of a queue, but soonwe were inside, and again, no photos of the interior, but I could take in theplaza de armas, with its arched west side with views across the countrysideoutside the city. We had taken audio guides here, and proceeded into the palaceon the north side of the plaza. We mounted the grand staircase up to theofficial apartments, and followed the natural route through the sumptuous roomswith the guide as a running commentary. Everything is quite magnificent, andalthough several groups whisked through with or without a guide, we never feltcompletely overtaken. Only in the last room, where there is a display ofceremonial china, did one guide appear almost shouting her head off, but oneamong so many wasn't so bad!

Theroute now took us to the royal pharmacy where we walked through several roomsof ancient flasks and bottles made fromglass and pot with gilded labels. In the far recesses there were travellingtrunks for medicines, distillation retorts, balance scales and other apparatuson display. Some of the bottles had strange labels such as asparagus extractand hoof of the beast, but there was also quinine bark from Peru. Apparently,Spain had the monopoly on quinine bark - a good little earner for the royals.Leaving the pharmacy we crossed the plaza de armas to look at the view out tothe west through the archways, and then entered the armoury. To start with itwas very interesting, but as we descended to the lower floor, the standard ofcommentary also descended. Instead of having extra numbers to press if onewanted to hear more about certain objects, the whole story just went on and on,and we just gave up in the end. It was definitely time for a little lunch, andwe found our way to the palace cafe for a small roll with salami and cheese anda cup of coffee.

Itwas now about 2pm, so we planned a slow route back to the hotel via the oldestpart of the city along and to the south of Calle Major. The oldest buildingsare around Plaza de la Villa, and just down one of the side streets we cameacross a beautiful little shop selling produce from convents and monasteriesacross Spain, El Jardín del Convento. We had to go in and have a look, and we were not disappointed,finding jams, biscuits and cakes on sale but also, incongruously, Yankeecandles! We bought some jams and biscuits as gifts before continuing. Our nextspot was 'stronginthearm' street (for TP fans), up which we found the bikeSpainshop, closed.

Thenext plaza along Calle Major was Plaza de San Miguel and just behind it is theMercado de San Miguel and we had to go and have a look. It is full of delisselling all sorts of delicacies that people were buying and eating standing atthe counters. There were also wine places and juice counters. after a strollaround, we stopped for some juice, it would have been a great place for oursnack, if only we had known! So on we went, crossing Puerto del Sol and goingback up Carreras de San J, looking for the violet shop, which sadly was shutuntil four thirty, too late for us.

Wedecided to head for the Retiro park and maybe tea or an ice cream. when we gotthere, after some photo taking of buildings, we voted for ice creams and sat ata shady table enjoying them. Back at the hotel we collected the bags and putour treasures inside, then walked up the street to the metro, which would takeus to the airport. We arrived in good time and sat in the lounge for a while.Then we discovered the flight was delayed for half an hour, so we sat a littlelonger, then took our time walking to the gate. The passengers from London werejust disembarking so we thought we would soon be boarding, only to discoverthat they would delay our flight (8.50), to 10.20 with no announcement, apologyor explanation. Thanks very much BA and Iberia.

Eventually back at Heathrow, A called the valet parking and the man said the car would be waiting for us when we got through customs. He handed over the keys and we drove home down a fairly busy motorway. What a great break Madrid has been!

Palacio Real

Mercado San Miguel

El Jardín del Convento

La Violeta

Madrid

2011-09-28T23:30:00.000+01:00

Lovelybreakfast again, with violet preserve in the bottom of the yoghurt and also ontoast, black coffee to waken me up. Then A found an FT so had a quiet readwhile I perused the Design Hotelsl book in which I found all the beautifulHospes hotels as well as some stunning places elsewhere. The Thyssen-BornemiszaMuseum would be open at ten, so we soon were out on the move down Paseo delPrado. I get in free, but A had to pay six euros! We did get their audio guidesas well, which are excellent, apart from one description of Marc Chagall's TheGrey House that mentioned the synagogue in the background, which is in fact theRussian orthodox monastery. There are so many wonderful works of art in thecollections that it is difficult to choose a favourite, whether you likeHolbein, Henry VIII; El Greco or Velazquez; Rembrandt, Rubens or Raphael;Impressionists, cubists, Russians, French, Dutch, British or Americans;whatever - it's all here!

Atlast we needed to stop, and with a last look around, we made our way out to theTerrace Cafe and a small roll filled with cheese and roast veggies with a greatcup of coffee. We wanted to buy some more PCs, and were told off by anattendant for looking in a drawer for the Degas, Swaying Dancers, as it had runout on the shelves! So now it was time to walk down the road to Centro de Arte Reina Sofia ournext stop.

Thisturned out to be less exciting in some respects as it seemed a bit chaotic withseveral parts being closed, certain items not where they had been when theguide book was written, and having to wade through loads of stuff to get to thereal treasures. Nevertheless, we did see Guernica, Picasso's masterpiece.Obviously it is a very important piece, especially for the Spanish nation, but there wasso much about the war, it was a bit overwhelming. Wedid find Joan Miro, other Picasso's, Gris, Solana, several other famous Spanishartists and to our surprise some Salvador Dali early works, which you would never guess were his. A lovely painting of a girl looking out through a window at a harbour wall really caught our eye, such a natural flowing style. We needed a cup of tea, so found our way to the new wing where there is a cafe. Crossing the plaza, we saw Brushstroke, a Roy Lichtenstein sculpture on display, and then sat at the bar for tea and cake.
We decided it was time to get out into the fresh air, so we left the museum and walked to Plaza de Espagna where Madrid's first skyscraper was built. It looks a bit like Stalin's 'wedding cakes' in Moscow with its broad base and central tower. In front of it is the plaza with its ornamental lake and memorial to Cervantes with Don Quixote and Sancho Panza at its base. This is a popular place to get one's photo taken as the two are easily reachable and there was a constant stream of people climbing up to stand by Rocinante, with DQ towering over them.
We now walked back in the direction of Plaza de la Independencia, taking a quick look at the Royal Palace and finding some of the tiled shop fronts we saw in the dark on our tapas tour. We needed some energy to get all the way back, and we found the Chocolateria San Gines where everyone goes to finish off a night out to eat churros dipped in thick warm chocolate. It is amazing stuff, and reminded us of our trip to Andalucia where we had eaten the same on the banks of the river in Seville, just before we went off to catch the plane home. Today's were absolutely delicious and we used the time to get a few PCs written.
We were so tired when we got back to the hotel, we just managed a couple of tapas plates with some summer wine and beer. The summer wine, that we also tried on the tapas tour is called Tinto de Verano and is a refreshing mix of red wine, some slices of citrus fruit and ice topped up with lemonade. Only in the hotel they add some vermouth. It is very refreshing and very popular. In fact it is better to order this than Sangria, which no Spanish person drinks in a bar! Sangria is a party drink and in Spain they make it a day or too in advance so the fruit absorbs the wine and wine dissolves the fruit! We didn't even manage dessert before it was time to retire to bed.

Hospes Hotels

The Design Hotel Book

Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza

Centro de Arte Reina Sofia

Madrid

2011-09-27T23:30:00.000+01:00

Alarmat eight and breakfast at nine. They have the classic Hospes service withcereals in little jars, wonderful fruit, an amazing selection of pastriesincluding macaroons and their preserves that include violet preserve. Myyoghurt had a garnish of passion fruit, but surprised me by having a littleviolet preserve right at the bottom. So delicious!

Thenit was time to walk down to the Prado, to collect our tickets, audio guides andmuseum plans. We had the most fantastic time discovering all sorts of treasuresfrom a special exhibition of Picasso's Acrobat on a Ball on loan from the Pushkin Museum,Moscow, toAlbrecht Deurer; Dutch masters to Italians; British artists and Flemishpainters. It is just full of major works of art as one would expect. We had tohave a couple of breaks during our five hours, and although we reached prettymuch every corner, we had to skim passed some of the many, just taking in majorpieces suggested by several paper guides and the audio guides we had hired. Agreat discovery were some of the Spanish painters of the late nineteenth/ earlytwentieth century. They are not widely known outside Spain, on the whole, for exampleFortuny and Rico.

Whenwe had finished our visit, we made our way to the exit and crossed the streetto the Real Jardin Botanico, where we strolled in the shade of the trees,breathing in the scented air and looking at the lovely flowers and plants ondisplay. The rose garden and dahlias were in full bloom; the veggie/herb gardenwas getting to the end; but we did find the tribute to Carl Linneaus as heoverlooked the tranquil lake.

We took the high walk through the steamyglasshouse, which proved to be much cooler at ground level, and found an areadedicated to carnivorous plants, where snails seem to be the regular food. Atthe end we did find the 'pantaloon' tree, an elm that has a divided trunkresembling a pair of inverted trousers!

Wecame back to our room for a short rest before taking our postcards to therestaurant/ cafe where we started with tapas, and progressed to main courses ofsteak and hake before calling it a day and collapsing into bed at nearlymidnight. Another big day tomorrow with, hopefully the Thyssen and the Reina Sofa Museums to see.

Museo del Prado

Real Jardin Botanico

Madrid - arrival

2011-09-26T23:30:00.000+01:00

Weflew in from London just a little late. We had dropped the car off with valetparking, narrowly avoiding arrest for following the signs to the wrong side ofthe drop off area! Breakfast was in the no1 Lounge, where we had cereal, yoghurt,pastries, a bacon roll (Alan) and coffee.

Themetro into town was very good, two changes, but only a couple of minutesbetween trains. At our stop, Retiro, it was a two minute walk to the HospesMadrid Hotel. We were soon booked in and unpacked before talking a walk in thepark.

WithRetiro Park just across the road, we decided to stroll down it's shady avenues,perhaps even getting as far as Sol. But the park was so interesting, we justmanaged to walk through by the Estanque, the boating lake with its impressiveMonument to Alphonso XII and the numerous rowing boats hired by intrepidrowers; passed the Palacios de Velazquez with it's tiled friezes; around thelake with turtles and a great view of the Palacio de Crystal; into the Rosaledaand down to the statue, El Angel Caida, by Ricardo Bellver, believed to be theonly public monument to the 'fallen angel', Lucifer, in the world.

Wecame out of the park onto Calle de Alphonso XII and crossed over to see the Real Jardin Botanical, but the entrance wasdiagonally opposite, so we walked down Calle de Claudio Morano where we found arow of antiquarian book kiosks, some open and stuffed with all sorts of oldbooks. At the bottom of the street is the Estacion de Atocha, the station whichhouses a tropical garden. It is an amazing place filled with palm trees and apond just full of turtles. We stopped for light refreshment at a station cafe,before exiting again and heading up Paseo del Prado, sussing out where we willbe coming tomorrow. We made it back to the hotel in time for a quick freshen upbefore we were due out to meet the people from Adventurous Appetites who weregoing to take us on a tapas tour.

Wewalked down to Puerto del Sol, taking in the architectural gems along Calle deAlcala as we went. As we came into the circle that is Puerto del Sol, wediscovered the bear and the arbutus tree statue that is the symbol of the city.As we had some time to spare, we walked around the area and found the pointwhere all distances in Spain are measured from.

Soonit was time to meet our guide who turned out to be a Dubliner called Paul. Hedefinitely had the gift of the gab, and lead us on a merry tapas tour, with arunning commentary of historic facts of the places we walked through,punctuating the walk with stop offs at various tapas bars from differentregions of the country. We began with Asturias, sampling cider we had to pourfrom a height into a glass held down low, to give the cider the correctflavour! With this we had potato salad and Iberico ham. Paul suggested we thenorder some typical dishes - bread and cheese, tuna empanadas and some spicychorizo, all very delicious, but we had to move on. It was decided that weshould run a kitty with Paul, starting with twenty euros per person.

Sooff we set and we arrived at the plaza Major with its long buildings, touristicrestaurants and horse mounted figure in the centre. Lots of chatter from Paul,including pointing out the oldest restaurant in works le Botin, from17something. But we made tracks to a tapas bar that s famous for itsdelicatessen. The Walls and ceiling were lined with four kinds of am wrapped inblue, green, red and white coverings. They look like decoration, but apparentlyget used up in two months in a constant rota! Here we were introduced to SummerWine. Not Sangria, which should be prepared a day or two in advance, but redwine with lemonade poured over ice and a slice of lemon. It was wonderfullyrefreshing. This came with sliced chorizo and whacking big green olives thatwere extremely tasty. We then ordered some of the ham - a sort of iberico, andmanchega cheese. We placed a slice of ham on a slice of cheese and ate down tothe rind of the cheese that then gets thrown on the floor with the olive stonesand the tissues - all part of the experience, apparently. On we went, downinteresting pedestrian streets passed several shops with tiled edifices. Wecame to one bar that Paul decided would be our next stop and here we chose somebeer and wine to our taste. A bottle of Ribera del duero served us all comingwith a dish of fresh salty prawns, and here Paul ordered (with our agreement)some green peppers, meat balls and for all the world Dutch croquet ten. Whatfun, especially as here we sat down for a while. It was already getting Kate,but once again we were off to see more interesting sights and bars, and downthe street of letters to another bar where we waited to be seated. Already we were reduced to six from eight,having lost one of the Canadian couples. Now we were choosing individual drinksas well as ordering a second round of tap water! More white wine for me and Ato go with squid ( not for A), and mushrooms with lardons. But it was reallygetting late and we decided to call it a day, as did the Swedish couple,leaving Paul and the young Canadians to go on to find mojitos and maybechocolate and churros to finish. Back tothe hotel to crash before our visit to the Prado tomorrow - or actually today!

Madrid

Hospes Hotels

Adventurous Appetites

G Live opens

2011-09-25T10:40:00.000+01:00

We approached the entrance to G Live with some excitement last evening as we were to attend the opening concert of this amazing new venue in Guildford. The famous orchestra, the LSO were playing an evening of Tchaikovsky under their conductor, the illustrious Valéry Gergiev.

The foyer was abuzz with concertgoers. Some were finishing meals in the Café-Bar and some had attended a champagne and canapés reception, while others had been to the pre-concert talk given by Guildford resident and principal flautist, Gareth Davies. The venue is an impressive building and we descended the stairs to entrance no.2 (tiered stalls), collecting a free programme on the way.The concert hall filled up and the audience noise increased; the orchestra entered and took their seats and then, as anticipated, a huge round of applause welcomed Valéry Gergiev to the platform. He quickly began the Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy. The sound is very bright, with many individual instruments clearly audible such as the harp. The orchestra is, of course, world class and lived up to their reputation. The audience really appreciated their performance.
Now the scene changed as the grand piano was wheeled into place for the Piano Concerto no 1. The soloist, Daniil Trifonov,is the winner of the 2011 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition and was warmly welcomed by the audience. He sat and the conductor began the piece. It was spellbinding - until suddenly with a slight crack all the lights went out, leaving only the emergency lighting throughout the auditorium.
The music went on as battery powered lights were passed quietly out around the orchestra. They finished the first movement and received a standing ovation for their efforts. Discussion followed as some people left the auditorium, and much of the orchestra, too. Then young Mr. Trifonov sat down at the piano and played a Chopin Waltz. More ecstatic applause and then we all trooped out for an unscheduled interval.

The lights in the foyer were all on, but obviously lots of power was off as the door magnets were not working, nor the tills for a while and we had one moment when everything went black for just a second or two.It took about half an hour, but eventually we were called back to our seats and the MD of the management of G Live climbed onto the platform to explain that the venue had lost power but it was all alright now. He also told us that the orchestra would now reprise the 2nd and 3rd movements of the piano concerto despite their not having yet played it.There was also a comment from someone from Guildford Borough Council. Unfortunately it was all to clear to see that all was not well - there were no platform lights and the rest of the concert was performed with the house lights up.

Despite all this, the orchestra returned as did our intrepid soloist who performed the remaining movements of the piano concerto superbly, and received yet another ovation from the audience. We then moved quickly on to the final piece of the evening, Symphony No.4, which once again was played to the highest standards and rightly Valéry Gergiev received massive applause from the appreciative audience. It was a wonderful opening concert and to give G Live credit, they did invite everyone for a free drink as we left the auditorium. It was here that we stumbled across some old acquaintances from our time overseas. What a coincidence!

G Live
LSO
Gergiev
Trifonov

How do I create a Slideshow?

2011-09-23T21:42:00.001+01:00

How do I create a Slideshow?

As Slide is in the process of retiring our applications and products, the ability to create new Slideshows has been disabled.

If you'd like to export any of your current Slideshows, we've built a utility to let you upload them to your Picasa album or your computer. Click HERE for instructions!

Remember, all your current content and Slideshows will be accessible until the shut down date of March 6, 2012.

So no more slideshows with slide and what to do with all those hundreds of embedded shows in Blogger accounts!!!!

G Live Guildford

2011-09-20T18:55:00.001+01:00

G Live is open for visitors - this is the new venue in Guildford and from our visit today it looks wonderful. The first concert is on Saturday and we will be there to hear the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev. They are performing an evening of Tchaikovsky: Romeo & Juliet Overture-Fantasy; Piano Concerto No.1; and Symphony No.4. The pianist is the winner of the 2011 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition, Daniil Trifonof.

We sampled coffe in the new cafe and enjoyed the setting - very light and bright. Can't wait 'til Saturday!

G Live

Dinner at Cau

2011-09-16T00:02:00.000+01:00

After all our exertions at Great Dixter we walked into Guildford to try out a relatively new restaurant called Cau, which stands for Carne Argentina Única and is pronounced 'cow'. It prides itself on its beef from Argentina and it appears that there is just one other Cau restaurant in Europe and that's in Amsterdam.
The decor is stunning and the staff were very attentive. We started with some crispbread and dips - aubergine and spicy tomato, while we chose our steaks, sauces and sides. We went for the smallest portions - 8oz, and varied from rump to medallions and a rib eye. The sides included with the steaks were thin chips or salad, so two had chips and two had salad and the extras were two triple cooked chunky chips and peas! The sauces were blue cheese, horseradish and a herb and garlic aoli.
If you look at the menu you may wonder how we managed to pass on the side-walking crab salad or a
Tira de ancho at 18oz, but they do suggest it's perfect to share. (Phew! but there was one weighing in at 22oz, too.)

We chose the Malbrontes Malbec Torrontes to accompany the steaks and were not disappointed.
But that was all we managed, no puds from their delicious dessert menu and home for tea and a movie - RED with Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker and a host of others, an amazing film.
One unusual item on the Cau drinks menu is the Clericot selection. Never heard of this one before, but it is a famous Argentinian wine-based drink served with either a half or full bottle of regional wine and local fruits. For example, Salta: Torrontes white wine mixed with red and white grapes, passion fruit purée and basil leaves. Could be we'll explore that road next time we visit!

Cau
Malbrontes - what Jancis Robinson has to say

RED

Great Dixter

2011-09-15T23:32:00.003+01:00

With all the wedding things being done, R&D came to stay the end of this week, arriving on Wednesday evening in time to share a delicious lamb tajine with couscous from Cook. Although they were at the wedding we hadn't had chance to do much catching up on their life in New England, so there was none stop chattering over dinner. Neither of us has been to visit Christopher Lloyd's Garden and house at Great Dixter, so the plan was to make a vaguely early start and spend the day in East Sussex.
We set off soon after 9.30 when. hopefully the traffic on M25 had subsided a little. The satnav did a good job and we got within a mile or so before finding the road closed. A was map reading and found an alternative route, but once again the road was closed and we needed to go even further off piste before eventually turning into the driveway and parking. There were several cars already parked, so plenty of people undeterred by the closure.
Great Dixter is the family home of the Lloyd family with its fifteenth century Great Hall, the largest surviving timber-framed hall in Great Britain. Christopher Lloyd's father, Nathaniel commissioned Sir Edwin Lutyens to restore the hall to its former medieval splendour in 1910; and to add necessary living quarters for the Edwardian household. He did this by adding a hall house from around 1500, which was about to be demolished in nearby Benenden. This hall house was taken apart and painstakingly reconstructed at Great Dixter, adjoining the Great Hall. It is magnificent and we all wished we could have seen more of the house - only getting to see the Great Hall, Christopher Lloyd's study and the Solar on the first floor. In a feature in The World of Interiors, March 2011, there are several photographs of other parts of the house, which look very interesting.

But before we visited the house we spent a long time walking through the several garden rooms that were created by Lutyens and Nathaniel Lloyd. Mr Lloyd sr was particularly responsible for the topiary, which is clipped as soon as possible during and after August, but can take until November to be completed, so that it maintains its shape through until the following late spring. We saw them trimming some of the bird topiary on our visit. The gardens encircle the house, giving lovely views of the house from every angle through the colourful planting. Lutyens designed the garden so you can make a natural progression through the various areas, completing a full circle. Whether you are in the Sunk Garden, the High Garden, the Long Border or the Exotic Garden and all places between, there is plenty to look at and admire with vibrant colours vying for attention. None of your white or pink borders here, orange and purple flowers, for example, grow side by side in profusion. We were bowled over by the bold tones. This is all coming from Christopher Lloyd, who returned to Great Dixter in 1954. He has written several books about his gardening philosophy, and also wrote a column in Country Life for 42 years, as well as contributing to the Guardian newspaper. This is definitely a labour intensive garden and several gardeners are employed here as well as some students who work alongside them. The students get to stay in the house, which is why much of it is off limits to the public.

It was a wonderful day out, and before leaving we sampled tea from the gift shop and refreshment area at the back of the nursery. The nursery sells some of its plants, though quite a few are only for use in the garden and not for sale.

Christopher Lloyd
Obituary 1
Obituary 2
Great Dixter

Aftermath

2011-09-12T17:14:00.001+01:00

The bride and groom are away on honeymoon; the guests have left; family have dispersed to their homes. Presents and other detritus has been collected from the venue; washing has been done; our bags packed. The suits - all seven of them - have been returned and so there's nothing more to do. So it's time for us to head home, look at the photos and make a blog!
What a fabulous time, what fabulous memories!

M & N's Big Day

2011-09-10T23:59:00.054+01:00

The hairdresser was first on the scene, so while we had breakfast, S and M both had their hair fixed. After a short break the make-up lady arrived and began M's make-up - golden eyes and a lovely natural look. Suddenly we needed to be ready and to leave - S,D and me for the hotel then a taxi to Redhouse Barn; and M and Dad in a taxi straight to Redhouse Barn about half an hour later.
No ready rooms at the Hilton, but that was to be expected, so we left the cases on a trolley hoping they would put them in the rooms. After we saw a couple of friends, our taxi arrived and we whisked off to the venue, meeting up with A and M there.

The tables looked beautiful, and the cake had also arrived from Alexander Taylor's in Guildford. They had iced the three tiered family recipe fruit cakes. It was a fantasy of flowers and butterflies and one caterpillar and looked gorgeous. The choir, Enchant, were rehearsing and soon N and his Bestman, A arrived, so M retired up to the room upstairs. The photographer, Nick of Boundless Photos, came up and after a couple of photos arranged to return when we were lacing up the dress. Some friends came up to see M, and soon it was time to get her into the dress, lace it up, more photos and then in came the registrars for the all important pre-wedding chat and formalities. One last check of M's sash, and I went down to take my place in the ceremony room, catching up with family and friends on the way. Nearly everyone was seated, the registrars took their seats and the doors were closed. A hush came over us as the music filled the room - YoYo Ma playing the first of the Bach Cello suites; then the doors were opening and A and M walked in, down the aisle between the seats to where N was waiting; and with a light kiss, A handed M over to N and the ceremony began. The choir, Enchant, sang Purcell's 'If music be the food of love', the registrar took M & N through the vows and exchange of rings and then Laura and Charlie read ' by W H Auden 'O Tell me the truth about love'. Now it was time to sign the register as Enchant sang The Guillemots' Made up love song #34. Following the official signing, M & N moved round the table, took up a fancy quill pen and posed for photos, but soon the registrars were ready and presented them with their marriage certificate. The music began agin, this time the introduction to 'All you need is love'heralded the end of the ceremony and N & M smiling hugely, exited to the choir singing, and into the champagne reception.
Fizz and canapes circulated among the guests as a well ordered procession of photographs was taken on the lawn - a windy location, but it remained dry until the last group were captured by the camera - Boundless Photos taking boundless numbers of photos. The 22 children were well entertained with their party bags. We were called to take our seats in the so far secret other side of the barn, using the table plan and M's maps to find the right location. Everyone was delighted at the sight of the tables and soon discovered where they were sitting and when we were all settled, the Master of Ceremonies, Andy, called on us to welcome the new Mr & Mrs. The staff of Redhouse Barn now served us the delicious wedding breakfast prepared by Chef Anthony of Morgans - the level of service was excellent and the food outstanding.

Tian of lightly smoked trout and crushed avocado with cucumber pickle and a citrus dressing
(v) Quinoa Salad

Mint Lemonade

Roast rack of lamb with creamed celeriac, marjaoramand garkic crust with redcurrant and port sauce
(v) Mushroom risotto on butternut squash

Panache of vegetables and potatoes

Dessert Trio
Raspberry crème brûlée
Iced lemon posset with fresh berries and a tuille biscuit
Summer berry jelly

Tea & coffee, fudge and petit fours

As the dessert was cleared away, Andy introduced the speeches, first A, Bride's father, then N, the Groom and finally A, the Bestman; and with that out of the way, N & M cut the cake.

The room was partially cleared and the Ceilidh Band, Burdock, set up so the dancing could begin and we danced to midnight when a taxi swept M & N off to the hotel and the rest of us boarded the bus and followed them at a much more sedate pace. What a lovely, lovely day it has been, so full of friends, families and memories.

Morgans

Cupcakes Galore!

2011-09-09T22:43:00.028+01:00

Today we made cupcakes for the wedding breakfast. These are going to be for the gluten free guests and the children and M and I got into a great rhythm, weighing out, mixing, filling the cupcake cases, getting them into the oven for barely fifteen minutes, then out onto cooling racks to repeat the performance about six times. We made around eighty and picked out the best sixty to decorate once they had cooled. M has made beautiful icing decorations to sit on the butter cream frosting. Then we sprinkled them with glitter and boxed them up ready to take to Redhouse Barn tomorrow. A & D went off to meet S from the airport, N's family arrived for a cuppa before whisking him away with several suits to the Bromsgrove Hilton where a little later, we met for a delicious dinner along with several friends and other family. Then we came home for some well earned rest before The Big Day tomorrow.

Nails and stuff

2011-09-08T22:39:00.001+01:00

Thursday was nail day while the chaps went off to collect the seven morning suits from Peter Posh. M and I walked down to Urban Tonic where Charlotte did a brilliant job of making the bride's nails look wonderful for the wearing of the ring on Saturday. Then we made a trip over to Redhouse Barn for a final check in with the wonderful people there. All the amazing ceramics, books, maps and other printing, chocolate buttons, leaves etc. that will make up the table decorations, not to mention the neatly rolled and be-ribboned napkins were delivered. For the centre of each table there is a Particle Article from Clare Benson and Amy Nightingale. There are also the party bags for the 22 children who are expected. The dress is hanging in the Bride's retiring room - we forgot the sashes, but N & A can take those tomorrow when they test out the laptop connection. Then it was back home to prepare the BBQ and down to the station to collect A from the train. Nearly everyone is here now. It is getting exciting.

Urban Tonic
Peter Posh
Redhouse Barn
Particle Articles

At the MAC, Moseley

2011-09-07T22:20:00.002+01:00

Tonight we visited the Anticurate no 6 exhibition at the MAC in Moseley. Mel had her Molecular Pebbles in the exhibition as she had been chose for the third and fourth shows in the series. This is the final show and is on until Sunday. By then the artist will be married and off on honeymoon with N.
All this was after a busy day tying up loose ends for the Big Day on Saturday followed by a couple of hours down at Redpoint Climbing Centre. What fun, but hard on the arms and hands. Luckily nothing broken - not even a nail, which M has been preserving for our manicures tomorrow morning.

Redpoint Climbing Centre
The Mac, Moseley

2011-08-31T15:46:00.000+01:00

Two theatre visits in less than a week and both to Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford. It's not been great over the last year or so, with just a few good productions, but now two in a row, which is good for everyone.
The first performance we saw was on Saturday - Woman in White, by Wilkie Collins. A tour de force of almost three hours, but well done. With a clever set that took us around the country, we watched the worrying events unfold, ending in relief and tragedy. At the interval we went out to stretch our legs and in search of refreshments - but - oh no! - there was nothing to be had on the sweet side - no ice cream or choccies, and we had not taken any dessert with dinner in anticipation of something at 'half-time'!

Before curtain-up for A Little Night Music at YAT

Wednesday evening we made our way down to YAT again for the Guildford-based theatre company PH Productions' A Little Night Music (music and lyrics, Stephen Sondheim and book, Hugh Wheeler).
As the lights went down and the audience went quiet, footsteps came down the side aisle - a latecomer? No, a lone cellist walked onto the stage and sat on a dimly lit chair and started playing. The curtain rose revealing panels and sheer curtains about two thirds back from the front of the stage, behind which the 18 piece orchestra began playing the overture and our cellist quietly disappeared off stage. We were then treated to a fast paced opening song from the liebeslieders and soon the story unfolded, punctuated with many Steven Sondheim songs. It was great fun and everyone enjoyed the performance judging by the prolonged applause. And I should mention that this was an amateur production, although many of the cast are either students of drama, or have had some previous experience. And, yes, they had even managed to get in some ice cream for the interval!

Yvonne Arnaud Theatre
PH Productions

Birds, music, flowers and food

2011-08-21T23:50:00.107+01:00

August weekends at Wisley have been busy and we decided to go down and join the fun this Sunday. It all began with a flying demonstration by the wonderful birds of Xtreme Falconry. They come up from Kent (soon to be Dorset) for a few weekends of displays at Wisley each year. It all began with a beautiful barn owl and then a European eagle owl, a Mexican striped owl and a Griffon vulture. To round off the performance they flew a Bateleur Eagle form Africa, with her impressive red beak and chocolatey plumage. The families loved it and the children had plenty of questions for the main handler. When the birds were back on their perches, we went across to the marquee and took a closer look at these amazing birds.
As we were looking at the birds, a band struck up and soon their up beat tunes were wafting across the grass. This was the Panama Cafe Orchestra playing on the terrace outside the cafe - very appropriate! As the weather did look a little 'iffy' they found a corner under the glass roof, and cheerfully played away to the delight of the crowd. We decided to pop into the cafe for a coffee and listen, before going on our walk around the Garden.

From the cafe we turned left to walk round the side of the lake, where plenty of people were watching the ducks, geese and coots paddling in the shallows. There are also some large carp that swim in the shallows gaping their large mouths at the visitors. We came to the Glasshouse where there is a great display of Wisley fuchsias, as well as some smaller displays of the various local fuchsia societies in the Glasshouse Gallery. Up the ramp behind the waterfall is a plant/tree that was featured on the Wisley facebook page, Ensete glaucum or snow banana. It grows fairly high up in Yunnan, China. In the tropical area there were several plants flowering including a small version of the creeper, Dutchman's Pipe (Aristolochia), which is winding it's way along the balcony with lots of flowers.

Leaving by the back door, we strolled through the lovely prairie planting and on up the rockery to the Alpine Houses where Sunny, the cat, hangs out lying on the warm gravel between the plants.
Time for more coffee before descending through the Bowes-Lyon Rose Garden and into the Jubilee Rose Garden, the AGM borders (where all the plants have Awards of Garden Merit from the RHS). The Country Garden is just beyond these, and from there we walked down what was left of the Mixed borders, looking up to see the newly refurbished and replaced Henry Moore Arch at the top of Battleston Hill.

Time to leave as we had an early dinner date as well as wanting to see some of the cricket before we left for the restaurant. England in command in the last test, so that's good. We met up with friends who had been in Sakhalin with us at the Good Earth in Esher. Great food, but abysmal service (again) even though we had a Chinese person with us, doing the ordering! But it was great to catch up with people we had largely not seen for ten years or so!

Xtreme Falconry
Snow Banana
RHS Garden Wisley
Panama Cafe Orchestra
The Good Earth
Sakhalin

Karoo Plainsong

2011-08-18T17:23:00.000+01:00

I've recently read Karoo Plainsong, the debut novel from local author, Barbara Mutch. Barbara hails from South Africa, which is where the novel is set (the title is the give away!) and is the tale of Ada Mabuse who is brought up in service to a white family in Cradock at the start of the apartheid era in South Africa. She has a natural talent as a pianist and as the brutality of the times reaches into the Karoo, we learn how this helps her to survive outrageous circumstances. It is a wonderful, well written and fascinating book that you can buy from Barbara's publishers and elsewhere, and she is very proud that it has made it into ebook form as well.
I have also enjoyed reading Barbara's blog all about publishing one's first book. It's a story in itself and through sheer hard work and determination this book is already in its second print run.
Congratulations Barbara!

Walking with friends

2011-08-14T23:33:00.018+01:00

Today we met up with some friends for a walk to a pub and beyond. Their day started with dodging the crowds and closed roads due to the London-Surrey Cycle Race. This was a rehearsal for the Olympics next year - twice up and around Box Hill (SSSI) in the middle, a strenuous uphill zig-zag to test the best of them. We started off walking up and over Pewley Down and down to the Wey where we crossed over by Guildford's golden sands. There were plenty of people out and about, walking, biking, rowing and kayaking; and even trying their hand navigating the Navigation in a narrow boat. We made good time to the Parrot, arriving around 13.15, but they seemed to have overlooked our booking although there it was in the diary. Nevertheless, we did get a table, and soon had our drinks and ordered lunch - roast beef and turkey. We chatted away, catching up on the news from both sides, but no food was forthcoming, so at just after two, we inquired as to what was going on. They had lost the order, so we had to start again, although it was tempting to up sticks and go elsewhere. We could have free drinks as compensation, but that's slim consolation. At 14.35 the meals arrived and after we had dessert, too, we were on our way by 15.20.

Our first stop was to visit Shalford Mill, a National Trust property since 1932, but built back in the late eighteenth century, one of twenty five mills along the length of the Tillingbourne river that rises by Leith Hill and joins the Wey, just across the road from this site. We had a comprehensive tour from our guide, David, who is a complete enthusiast. He has done plenty of research into the history and working of the place and has even built a working model on display inside. We clambered up the steps and ladders to the top to where the new grain was hoisted from the farmers' carts, and then began its journey down the various shoots to arrive to be gathered into sacks as flour on the ground floor.
Now we took the footpath in front of the mill, over the mill race, and up to the Chantries. It was pleasant under the trees, then coming out into the sunlight at the top of the slope, only to plunge down the other side. We turned left eventually, to follow the narrow path between the fields where harvesting was taking place, even on Sunday. Neat square bales lay where the combine dropped them. Soon we were back up on Pewley Down to complete the circuit, and we got back home by six for a welcome cup of tea, and to see the start of the last day of the USPGA Golf from Atlanta. Mark Cavendish had won the cycle race, in the meantime!

The Wey
Shalford Mill
Tillingbourne River
Box Hill
London-Surrey Cycle Race

Prom 33

2011-08-09T10:57:00.018+01:00

Last night it was the Scandinavian Prom with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor Sakari Oramo. The concert opened with Sibelius Symphony no. 6 in D minor, which the orchestra played magnificently - all those sweeping passages soaring up into the roof of the Royal Albert Hall.
Then we had the usual furniture removals as the platform was re-arranged to include the grand piano - along with the promenaders' 'Heave-Ho' as the lid was raised! This was all in preparation of the second of the night's pieces Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor, played by Alice Sara Ott, a new face at the Proms. Miss Ott who is German-Japanese seems to have come to notice through her famously standing in for established soloists such as Lang Lang, Hélène Grimaud and Murray Perahia, but also through her tour of Japan with tonight's orchestra. She played the Grieg beautifully and delighted everyone by playing an encore, Liszt's La Campanella.
The last piece after the interval was Nielsen's Symphony no. 4 'Inextinguishable' . As way of introduction to his symphony Carl Nielsen said “Music is life, and, like it, inextinguishable” and that is what this piece of music is all about, apparently. It was certainly a very exciting piece with lots of wind instruments, typically Scandinavian tones, but also some American accents coming in, too. In the last movement the two tympanists seemed to have a heated conversation back and forth across the platform. Needless to say there was a huge ovation for the orchestra and its conductor as the final notes faded away. And we were treated to another encore, this time a Swedish composer, Hugo Alfvén, and we think it was called the Song of the Shepherdess. So the four Scandinavian countries were represented at the concert.

Coming home there were warnings that several stations on the Underground and overground rail networks were closed at request of the police, but nothing could prepare us for the awful devastation caused by rioting that was reported in the news today.

Proms 2011 no 33
Royal Albert Hall
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
Sakari Oramo
Alice Sara Ott

Scholar's Trail

2011-08-08T11:14:00.001+01:00

Guildford Cathedral in the distance

This is a Speckled Wood butterfly, Pararge aegeria

Out on a stroll on Sunday we walked along part of what is called the Scholar's Trail. The walk was very pleasant, not too hot and partly under the shady trees of the Chantries. At one high point we had a view across to Guildford Cathedral, before descending into farmland, then up on to the Downs again, where we found some butterflies on the ripening brambles.
If I find out more about the Scholar's Trail, I'll add it here.

Apparently the countryside department of Guildford Borough Council set up the trail, putting the discs on posts. but they haven't any funds to make maps/route information etc. about it. But what it is, is still not forthcoming - i.e. where it starts and where it goes to. Could be a genuine mystery tour!

London Weekend

2011-07-31T23:32:00.060+01:00

We set off for London on Saturday afternoon and dropped the bags at our hotel before making our way to Byrons for burgers before our Prom. Tonight we were treated to a performance by the CBSO with Andris Nelsons. They began with Strauss's Don Juan followed quickly by Midori playing the Walton Violin Concerto, a piece new to us. Midori turns forty this year, but was a child prodigy who performed with Zubin Meta in New York aged eleven. She played beautifully and received quite an ovation from the Proms audience.

After the interval the orchestra played Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky Cantata along with the CBSO Chorus and soloist, mezzo-soprano, Nadezhda Serdiuk. It is a wonderful piece of music, which they interpreted with all the necessary drama of the tale. Finally we heard Strauss's Salome - Dance of the Seven Veils - but there were no dancers!

On Sunday we dropped the suitcase at Waterloo and went for breakfast at Le Pain de Quotidien, delicious granola with yoghurt and fruit. After this we went up to the Royal Academy to see the Summer Exhibition. It seemed a little 'thinner' than in previous years, but there were several highlights such as another amazing Anish Kapoor piece, some lovely floral pieces from Dame Elizabeth Blackadder and some Michael Craig-Martin 'words'. In the courtyard was an amazing sculpture called Colouring Book by Jeff Koons. It is made from high chromium stainless steel with a transparent colour coating. It gave the illusion of being transparent, but really reflected the courtyard off its colourful surface.

Now we had time to stroll down to and through Hyde Park, along with thousands of other people. Lots of visitors enjoying the sun by walking, sitting on the grass, boating on the Serpentine, eating ice-creams or even listening, 1960s style, to Indian chants in romantic dress under the trees! As we came to Exhibition Road the phone rang and our friends were already at Carluccio's, so we quickened our pace, not to keep them waiting. After a quick dinner, we walked up to The Royal Albert Hall and our next Prom, which was all Rachmaninov and mostly choral as we had the Chorus of the Mariinsky Theatre singing with the BBC Philharmonic under Gianandrea Noseda. It was a wonderful performance from the choir that has such a rich tone, especially singing those Russian syllables. The bass, Alexei Tanovitski was excellent and the little we heard from tenor Misha Didyk was also very good. Soprano Svetla Vassileva sang very well, but rather spoiled it all by trying to steal all the glory, and even had to be asked to leave the stage by the conductor (very politely, of course!) as she didn't seem to know how to retire gracefully!

And suddenly it was time to leave the RAH, get the tube down to Waterloo, collect the suitcases and make our way back home again. What a great weekend!

Prom 21
Walton Violin Concerto Notes
Midori biography
Prom 22
Chorus of the Mariinsky Theatre
BBC Philharmonic
The Royal Albert Hall