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Basildon Park #50places2025

After enjoying my National Trust membership in 2023, I decided I would rejoin the Trust for 2025. 

As I had time, I went to Basildon Park. I thought I had been there only a few years ago, but in fact it was 2018. 

Basildon Park

An estate saved from almost certain demolition and lovingly revived

Current saving £54.30
One adult £19.00
Parking – Free
Total saving £19.00
Cumulative saving £164.50
Membership cost £91.20
Net cumulative saving £73.30

Basildon Park is a big house and there are quite a few rooms to explore. It has also been used extensively for film and television. It was used a lot in a Downton Abbey Christmas special for example.

There are lots of lovely rooms at Basildon Park and I enjoyed exploring the house.

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Dunkerque #50places2025

DFDS had emailed an offer celebrating twenty five years of their Dover Dunkerque (Dunkirk) route, you could buy a ticket for a day trip for just £25. What a bargain I thought. The last time I had been on a day trip to France was in the 1980s. Then you either caught the Sealink, the Townsend Thoresen ferry, or a hovercraft!

I arrived at Dover in plenty of time for my 0800 ferry crossing. After passport control, I drove around to the DFDS check in. The man there said would I like to catch an earlier ferry to Calais at 0740, which would arrive fifty minutes earlier into France. I didn’t hesitate, would be nice to see Calais, which I had not visited since the 1980s, through had driven through a few times since after catching a ferry or driving through the tunnel.

Having spent some time in Calais I headed up the A16 to Dunkerque.

I had visited Dunkerque last summer on my way back from a driving holiday to France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg. We stopped and stayed there the night before catching the ferry the next day back to Dover. As a result I didn’t do much exploring and didn’t even have the chance to get to the infamous beach. So I had always planned to go back. The DFDS offer gave me that opportunity.

Having arrived in Dunkerque, I drove to the beach and parked. I went to the Operation Dynamo Museum which was excellent and good value at €8.

After exploring the museum I went for a walk along the promenade. Saw the infamous dunes of Dunkerque beach from where the 1940 evacuation had taken place. I had intended to walk quite a bit of the beach, stop for some food or coffee. However, it was getting colder and then it started to rain. A lot of places were closed as well. So, I walked back to the car.

After a quick visit to a supermarket, I headed to the centre of the town to do some more exploring.

After coffee, I decided I would go up the tower in the Beffroi Saint-Éloi de Dunkerque. There was a lift to the bells, but then you had to climb a very steep, narrow, low headroom spiral staircase. The views were impressive. I had to walk down the stairs backwards, so I didn’t bang my head.

As I left the tower it was raining. Went back to the place I had coffee and had another one. This time I had a dessert as well.

I did think about what to do next, but realised I was running out of time, the weather was unpredictable. So, I headed out of Dunkerque, but stopped at the large Carrefour. Lots of lovely things in there. I got a few more things and a loaf of bread, which I was expecting to be stale the following morning.

Left the supermarket with what I thought was just about the right amount of time, but I got to the terminal with plenty of time to spare.

At times it was quite surreal, knowing that I was only in France for the day

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Parliament #50places2025

This was only my third visit to Parliament. I was there for a breakfast briefing on the terrace. I had been inside in the Houses of Parliament only twice before. Once back in the 1970s when my primary school was threatened by closure and a group of us, pupils, parents, and teachers went to discuss this in parliament. My second visit was in the early 2000s when I worked at at-Bristol (now called We The Curious) and we were meeting some parliamentarians. I actually drove to the Houses of Parliament through the building, and parked underneath.

I went through the visitor entrance and on the way to security is a statue of Oliver Cromwell.

I was a little surprised, as though Cromwell championed Parliament against the monarchy, I did wonder if his legacy was a little toxic.

It was then into security before walking through Westminster Hall. Westminster Hall is a medieval great hall which is part of the Palace of Westminster. It was constructed in 1097 for William II, at which point it was the largest hall in Europe. It is an impressive space.

I then made my way to the Central Lobby (photography not allowed). I joined the queue and made my way to the terrace for a breakfast briefing.

After the event I walked back the way I came in. I had enjoyed the visit to Parliament.

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Calais #50places2025

I hadn’t planned to visit Calais, but I recently ended up there.

DFDS had emailed an offer celebrating twenty five years of their Dover Dunkerque route, you could buy a ticket for a day trip for just £25. What a bargain I thought.

I arrived at Dover in plenty of time for my 0800 ferry crossing. After passport control, I drove around to the DFDS check in. The man there said would I like to catch an earlier ferry to Calais at 0740, which would arrive fifty minutes earlier into France. I didn’t hesitate, would be nice to see Calais, which I had not visited since the 1980s, through had driven through a few times since after catching a ferry or driving through the tunnel.

As passport control is done at Dover, when I arrived in Calais, I was able to drive straight off the ferry and off to the town. Whilst I was on the ferry I had looked at parking places and had put one into Waze. Unfortunately as I drove there, following the route, one of the roads I went down was closed for roadworks. I made the detour, but got to the car park in the end.

I could see the Town Hall, which I remembered from my visits there in the 1980s. After taking a photograph or two I headed towards what I thought was the beach.

Nothing seemed very familiar, but it had been over forty years since I was last in Calais walking about. After checking a map at a shopping centre and realised I was going in the wrong direction. At the Town Hall I had turned left, when I should have turned right!

This time it started becoming more familiar. There had been some development, the Place D’Armes was very different to how I remembered it. When I went to Calais in the 1980s this was very much either a car park, or where the market was. I remember there been a fair there on one visit. 

I walked to the marina and then I walked to the Phare de Calais (lighthouse) before walking back to the car and preparing to head off to my originally planned destination of Dunkerque.

I enjoyed my nostalgic visit to Calais, it was a pity the weather wasn’t better.

This year I have planned to visit fifty places.

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Then and Now Take Two Again – Kings College Chapel

This is a regular series of blogs about photographs of the same place taken years apart. The first of the posts in this series was of a council building in Manchester. I always thought I should give then and now photographs a go. However what I have started to notice is that I have been doing Then and Now photographs unintentionally over the years and have been taking photographs of the same thing or place from the same view or perspective years apart. Now this has come to my attention I have started to intentionally take photographs of the same place.

As I had noted I had taken this view of Kings College Chapel quite a few times, so on a recent visit to Cambridge in March 2025, I took a photograph, using an iPhone 13,  of the chapel. Well I tried, as there was an event next to it and there was some fencing in the way.

I then raised my phone over the fencing and tried to take a photograph, which wasn’t quite the same, but shows what was happening.

On a visit to Cambridge in December 2023 I took an intentional photograph of Kings College Chapel as I had taken two other similar photographs of the chapel unintentionally.

I had also taken an intentional similar shot when I was in Cambridge in April 2023. Then it had more scaffolding, and the tree in front had some spring leaves on it.

On a visit to Cambridge,  I had taken this photograph of Kings College Chapel in July 2022.

I had been looking at posts on this blog with the cambridge tag when I noticed that back in January 2020 (pre-pandemic) I had taken a virtually identical photograph of Kings College Chapel.

Kings College Chapel

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Dunster Castle uncovered #50places2025

After enjoying my National Trust membership in 2023, I decided I would rejoin the Trust for 2025. 

I have made quite a few visits to Dunster Castle over the years, but this was the first time I had undertaken a guided tour. Though as a member I don’t pay an entrance fee or the car parking charge, I did need to pay the £3 tour cost.

Dunster Castle

An ancient castle and comfortable country home with dramatic vistas and subtropical gardens

Current saving £32.80
One adult £18.00
Parking – £6.50
Tour cost – £3.00
Total saving £21.50
Cumulative saving £145.50
Membership cost £91.20
Net cumulative saving £54.30

Though not too far from Weston-super-Mare, the route along the A39 from Bridgwater is quite twisty and slow. It takes about 80 minutes to do the 40 mile journey.

The previous day had been quite warm and sunny, so I was a little disappointed by the chill in the air. Having parked the car, I walked to the reception to get my membership card scanned. I was a little early for the tour, but didn’t think I would have time to walk around and enjoy the house. So I went for a coffee in the cafe. 

Having arrived at the entrance of the house I headed in for the uncovered tour.

We didn’t see many different spaces in the house, though all of the tour was interesting. It was interesting for example to hear that the main bedrooms weren’t available to view as the Trust need to protect the ceiling of the dining room which is below these rooms. As a result these rooms are used as offices and meeting rooms. Another challenge in showing off some rooms is access, and another of the main bedrooms was up a narrow staircase, and it would have been difficult to manage access for visitors up and down the staircase. Same issue with the upstairs servants quarters, which are accessed by a narrow spiral staircase. The servants quarters are in the main used for storage of artefacts now.

Following the upstairs rooms, we were led down the stairs to the basement. We then headed through a corridor to the gatehouse, and saw the rooms which had been used by the manager of the Estate when the land around was farmed.

Overall it was an interesting tour and I am glad I made the effort to get to Dunster to see it, I had missed out on the behind closed doors tour at Stourhead.

After the end of the tour I then went around the house following the “normal” route. It was much the same as I remembered from previous visits. One of the rooms I quite like is the modern kitchen that was installed in 1962. There are some great rooms in the house and I enjoyed exploring the house.

Walked around the grounds and then headed into Dunster Village. Did think about going around the house again but decided to leave that for another day. Also thought about walking to the Watermill but wasn’t sure what would be on the lunch menu in the café. So I headed back to my car and went to Minehead to grab some lunch, but that’s a story for another day.

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Then and Now Take Two – Minehead Engine Shed

This is a regular series of blogs about photographs of the same place taken years apart. I quite like those Then and Now comparison photographs that you see in books or on the Twitter or Facebook.  The first of the posts in this series was of a council building in Manchester.

I always thought I should give then and now photographs a go. However what I have started to notice is that I have been doing Then and Now photographs unintentionally over the years and have been taking photographs of the same thing or place from the same view or perspective years apart. Now this has come to my attention I have started to intentionally take photographs of the same place.

I took this photograph at Minehead Station on the West Somerset Railway on the 4th September 2004 using a Sony Cybershot digital camera.

It is one of my all time favourite photographs of a steam engine. I even printed it out once at A2 size.

Visiting the West Somerset Railway nearly twenty years later in September 2023 I decided I would try and take the same shot again. However looking through my photographs on Twitter (no GPS EXIF data on these older photographs) I found I had taken a very similar photograph on May 27th 2013 using a Canon EOS 400D.

Here is the photograph from September 2023 that I took with an iPhone 13.

On a recent visit to Minehead I popped into the station at Minehead to replicate the same shot, this time with an iPhone 13.

This time, there was a carriage in the way…. The trains weren’t running and the station was being used to store the rolling stock.

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Croome #50places2025

After enjoying my National Trust membership in 2023, I decided I would rejoin the Trust for 2025. 

Though when I was last a member of the National Trust I had visited a few properties in the Midlands, I hadn’t been to Croome.

Croome

Expect the unexpected. Incredible innovation, devastating loss, remarkable survival and magnificent restoration all in one place.

Current saving £15.80
One adult £17.00
Parking – Free
Total saving £17.00
Cumulative saving £124.00
Membership cost £91.20
Net cumulative saving £32.80

As well as the house, there is some lovely parkland, and a small RAF museum.

Unlike some National Trust properties there is no furniture inside the house, but this means that you can explore the entirety of the property, including the basement and the first floor. I liked how I was able to walk freely around the house. Not to say I missed the furnished rooms, but it was an interesting change.

This year I have planned to visit fifty places.