Bits and pieces, news, views, reviews and stuff
I was staying in Birmingham for a couple of days for a conference. I did have some time to explore the city centre and visit the Bullring. I also had some nice meals at the Gas Street Social and Dishoom.
This year I have planned to visit fifty places.
After enjoying my National Trust membership in 2023, I decided I would rejoin the Trust for 2025.
I had never been to Lacock before. I think I always thought it was too far away for a visit, but the reality was that though it’s fifty miles away, due to its location it was only, according to Google Maps an hour away. So I thought I would go and visit, especially as it was now open for the summer season.
I nearly didn’t go there, as I travelled up the M5 I hit traffic around Gordano, so I came off the M5, and as I drove towards Bristol, I did think about just going to Tyntesfield again. However I had only visited a couple of weeks back, so I made the decision I would go to Dyrham Park which is close to Bath, which I had visited back in May 2023. As I drove towards Dyrham Park I saw that Waze was telling me, it wasn’t that much further to get to my first choice of Lacock. So took the decision to stick with plan A and go to Lacock.
There is a National Trust car park, which is free to members, otherwise is £5 for the day. It’s then a short walk to Lacock and Lacock Abbey.
Lacock
Country house with monastic roots, once home to William Henry Fox Talbot, inventor of the photographic negative
Current saving £9.20
One adult £20.00
Parking £5.00
Total saving £25.00
Cumulative saving £107.00
Membership cost £91.20
Net cumulative saving £15.80
I walked through the grounds to the house. You then walk around the house before entering the building and into the cloisters.
The first part of the house you see are the older parts of the Abbey, which when it was an Abbey would have been used by the nuns.
This part of the building was used to film certain scenes in the Harry Potter films, including the corridors and two of the rooms. There are a couple of houses in Lacock itself that were also used by the filmmakers.
After exploring the cloisters, you enter the rest of the house, exploring the kitchens, before heading up the stairs to the main rooms.
It was a beautiful house and also I loved how light it was. There was protective screens on the windows (like many National Trust properties) but these still let in a lot of natural light.
There was a real mix of rooms, I was surprised by the small size of the main bedrooms and then the vastness of the entrance hall.
After exploring the house, I took a short walk around the grounds before heading into the village of Lacock.
This year I have planned to visit fifty places.
I have been visiting the Bristol Harbourside for years now, well actually decades. It was a lovely sunny day and I thought I would take a walk around the harbouside in Bristol. I parked close to Whapping Wharf and took a nice leisurely walk around the harbour.
I passed the SS Great Britain and the Undersell Yard. I crossed the Merchants Road Bridge before heading back towards the centre. I did consider grabbing some lunch from Ritorno Lounge, but in the end walked away from the Harbourside and up Wine Street to grab a coffee from Caffe Nero. I then finished my walk, crossing the Prince Street Bridge, walking past the MShed and then heading back to Whapping Wharf and my car.
After enjoying my National Trust membership in 2023, I decided I would rejoin the Trust for 2025.
I visited Tredegar House back in August 2016. Our visit was cut short because of some bees.
I hadn’t been back since.
Tredegar House
Tredegar House is one of the architectural wonders of Wales and one of the most significant late 17th-century houses in the whole of the British Isles. Situated within 90 acres of beautiful gardens and parkland, this delightful red brick house provides an ideal setting for a fantastic day out. For more than 500 years the house was home to one of the greatest Welsh families, the Morgans, later Lords Tredegar. The Morgan family owned more than 40,000 acres in Monmouthshire, Breconshire and Glamorgan at the end of the 18th century. Their lives impacted on the population of south-east Wales socially, economically and politically and influenced the heritage of the area.
Current saving £28.20
One adult £13.00
Parking £6.00
Total saving £19.00
Cumulative saving £82.00
Membership cost £91.20
Net cumulative saving £9.20
It wasn’t quite open when I arrived, so I went to the tearoom and had a coffee and a cheese scone. It was a tasty scone, and I enjoyed my coffee. They had an interesting lunch menu as well, more varied than some other National Trust properties I have visited.
After finishing my coffee, I walked over to reception, got my membership card scanned and walked over to the house. It wasn’t open when I arrived, so I waited outside for a short while.
Had a good look around the house and chatted to some of the volunteers. There are lots of rooms, as well as the ground floor, you can see some of the bedrooms on the first floor before walking down to the kitchen in the basement. There are lots of rooms down there. The Servants Hall was open, and this is where the servants would eat, however it was also where they would have dances and servant balls. It was though originally the main hall of the Tudor part of the house.
After leaving the house I walked around the lake and park. This was a lovely walk, but it was a bit muddy.
Decided I would head back to the house and go around again. It was nice to walk around and I saw things I had missed on my first walk around the house.
Tredegar House doesn’t have a NT shop, though there are some craft shops. I did think about buying a cold drink, but decided I would head home and have one there.
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.
I was visiting Tredegar House, a National Trust property close to Newport. While I was there I took a range of photographs. Checking the date of my previous visit, I wasn’t too surprised to see some similar photographs.
I took this photograph in August 2016 of the Tredegar House Orangery and Stables with an iPhone 6s Plus.
This photograph was taken in March 2025 with a Canon EOS R100.
I don’t know why, but this sign made me smile.
The local council have put out warning signs to drivers to avoid a country road (more of a lane) during the hours of darkness due to some migrating toads.
First time I have seen this kind of sign. Wondering if some toads complained or took legal action?
It was a wonderfully sunny day in February, so took the time to head to Portishead for a walk around the marina. Watching the yachts come through the lock. The weather was lovely, and we weren’t the only ones with the same idea. The marina was crowded with other people enjoying themselves, and the coffee places were packed.
After enjoying our walk around the marina we headed down the high street, where there are more places for coffee, and there were some free tables as well as they were less crowded.
Really nice visit to Portishead.
Last week I was in Helsinki for work, attending a workshop. I was there for a couple of days, but did have some time to walk around and explore Helsinki.
One place I saw on the map was the fortress island of Suomenlinna, which was just a short ferry ride away. Having arrived on the ferry, I walked around the island.
It was a beautiful island that was enhanced by the ice and snow. Across the islands were some beautiful buildings, sometimes I felt I was walking through a movie set. It was cold, around -6℃, but it was a crisp coldness and I was well wrapped up, so didn’t feel that chilly. I loved walking through the snow enjoyed the ice and bleakness of the island. I can imagine that in the heat of the summer it’s a very different place.
Built by Sweden in 1748 to deter Russian expansion, the Suomenlinna fortress was surrendered to Russia in 1808 during the Finnish War. This loss facilitated the Russian occupation of Finland in 1809. Following Finland’s declaration of independence in 1917, Russian forces withdrew. Finland’s Defence Department managed Suomenlinna until 1973, when control was largely transferred to civilian authorities. Suomenlinna is now one of the most popular tourist attractions in Helsinki.
I stopped for a coffee before heading back to Helsinki to catch my flight home.
his 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.
I visited Finland for a conference in Espoo back in July 2006. I had some time before my flight home, so took a bus to visit the centre of Helsinki.
Johan Ludvig Runeberg was a Finnish priest, lyric and epic poet. He wrote exclusively in Swedish. He is considered a national poet of Finland.
I took this photograph in July 2006 with a Sony DSC-P200 digital camera.
I took a similar photograph in February 2025 with a Canon EOS R100.
I was back in Helsinki for a workshop, so took the time to retake the photo. Not too much has changed over the last nineteen years, though the fact one was taken in summer and the other in winter.
Last week I was in Helsinki for work, attending a workshop. I was there for a couple of days, but did have some time to walk around and explore Helsinki.
I have been to Finland before, I was there for a conference in July 2006, nearly twenty years ago. Back then I was presenting at the EU e-Learning Conference in Espoo. It was a quick trip in 2006, flying out on Monday and then back home on the Wednesday. I flew from Bristol Airport and then there was a bit of a mad rush at Schiphol where I had to change to a flight to Helsinki. Schiphol is one huge airport…
Having arrived at Helsinki, I needed to get to Espoo and travelled by shared taxi to the hotel. I spent part of the evening walking around the area, before ending up in the hotel restaurant. It was lovely and sunny, and as being so far north, the sun never really set.
I spent the Tuesday at the conference. I had some time the following day before my flight to have a quick look around Helsinki. I caught a bus to the centre and back.
This time I flew direct to Helsinki from Heathrow. I arrived late afternoon, this time I took a train from the airport to the centre. I then walked to my hotel, so after checking in I did explore the area around the hotel. The following morning, I was up early so I went for a walk around the city centre. I then headed off to Espoo for my workshop, using the Metro to get there. The workshop was over two days.
I had an evening flight the following day. I woke up to 4cm of snow, so after working at the hotel, after checking out I took a walk down to the harbour to catch a ferry to Suomenlinna.
Helsinki is an amazing city, and there is some incredible architecture and buildings. I was impressed with the public transport, there were trains, buses, trams, a metro, and even a ferry. I used the HSL app extensively for tickets.
It was nice to return to Helsinki and having a little more time to see something of the place, whereas back in 2006 it was very rushed.