Pickford House Museum - Hidden Treasures

Since moving to our new offices in Friar Gate Derby, I've discovered Pickford's House Museum which is right next door.  The house was owned by Joseph Pickford the architect who built the house  in 1769 as his family home and workplace. Over the last month i have visited several times in my lunch hour, and can only say what a hidden treasure it is! Free entrance and a wealth of exhibits on display. As you enter the house through the side entrance you'll find several rooms as they would have been in Georgian times. The rooms all have light sensors, and as you approach the lights will come on. You'll find the Morning room, dining room and a drawing room here. Taking the stairs down a level, you'll find the kitchen, a wash room and an air raid shelter (this is probably my favourite floor)  There are information cards in all the rooms with further information, its worth taking the time to read them and to soak up the atmosphere of each room as you pass through.

As you ascend upstairs, you'll find bedrooms, a dressing room, bathrooms and several exhibits, and a room with clothes to dress up in! During term time you will find school groups visiting quite often.

On the top floor you will find a wonderful collection of toy theatres from all over the world. The work that has gone into these is amazing, and they are still in such good condition. There's also a fine collection of pottery, with some very interesting pieces on display.

Outside you will find a small and secluded garden, which has been created with plants that would have been available at the time.  This Garden probably wouldn't have been here in Pickford's time but is a representation of  a garden from that period. When the weather has been nice (and yes it actually was nice at least once!!) i have taken the opportunity to sit outside and enjoy the garden. Its beautiful, and you feel a million miles away from the hustle and bustle of the city centre.

I've only scratched the surface of what this lovely place has to offer, and only hope that others who live locally will make the effort to visit! Its there for all of us to enjoy, and remember its free. Even more importantly there is plentiful parking at the rear of the museum, and this too is free.

A trip to Nottingham

This week end has been absolutely wonderful, on Saturday morning we set off at about 8.30am – our destination was Nottingham. The sun was shining, and it was the start of a 4 day week end, it doesn’t get better than that. We arrived at the Orchard just before 9.30am, and were delighted when we caught our first glimpse of the hotel, it looked even better than the pictures we had seen on line. We had already decided to leave the car at the hotel and take a taxi into the city centre, so we popped into the hotel to ask reception to call us one. We were very pleasantly surprised when they informed us that our room was ready, and would we like to check in. We of course said yes, and once we’d completed registration we took bag up to our room. The rooms are lovely,  and very comfortable.  I am staggered they let us check in 5 hours early, other hotels like Travelodge charge you an extra £10 if you try to check in even half an early!! Anyway once we had been up to our room we came back to reception to wait for our taxi....which never arrived! Reception called the taxi company again, and spoke to them very sternly, and eventually a car came. No apology, we were so not impressed!!

Anyway that was the only blip on the day, once in  the city we had coffee and then went off for a wonder around the Victoria centre. The place is under going a major refurbishment, and looks a mess at the moment. However it’s long over due and hopefully the place will look good once it’s all finished. We bought a few things, DVD’s, something from Lush (you know it was going to happen!) etc. We grabbed lunch at a coffee shop and then made our way to Nottingham castle. It’s a very interesting place, and well worth a visit. The inside of the castle is a museum full of art work, pottery and other exhibits. There’s a lot to see, and has something for everyone. I love Hood from the Wood, the children’s exhibit in the basement, its fun! We really enjoyed looking around, the castle was busy, there were a lot of tourists there. Some of them were spending a fortune in the gift shop – I’m talking serious money!!  When we left the castle we headed to Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem for a drink. Exploring a castle is thirsty work, and I   love this old pub! The place was once again packed inside, and it was pure luck we found a seat. You have to hover by the tables and telepathically will people to leave, I have found this works quite well!! We stayed long enough to enjoy our drinks and to ponder on how awful some people’s children are.  Finally it was time to head back to the shopping area, on the way we popped into Primark, I felt the need to have a mad 5 minutes treating myself to something fun...like a bright yellow hand bag!  We carried on to the Roundhouse to have dinner at Turtle Bay, a restaurant recommended to me by lovely colleague Alisha. She had warned me to book well in advance, so glad I did the place was VERY busy! But we discovered it was happy hour, woo hoo! So we got ourselves some cocktails and sat out in the sun with them. They were called Jammin’ and involved all sorts of alcohol and a large spoon of apricot jam J Dinner was great, we both tried the jerk chicken, delicious!! And for dessert we shared a much too small piece of rum cake and ice cream. It was so good! We also tried another cocktail, a passion fruit and vanilla mojito. They were so good!! It was a lovely evening, I was feeling very merry when we left. I noticed a lot of people were buying several drinks at once, possibly because the bar was very busy, and if you timed it wrong, you could be waiting quite a while for your drink. In fact our dinner arrived before the drinks we ordered, which wasn’t ideal!  We got a taxi back to the hotel, be warned the black cabs that pick up from the taxi rank are expensive and I’m sure we got taken a very scenic route back to the hotel. In all we were not impressed with the taxi services in Nottingham at all and would say where possible, they are best avoided.

Back at the hotel we decided not to retire to our room as we usually would.  First we went for a lovely long walk around the grounds. The hotel is in the grounds of Nottingham University and as such you have access to the beautiful landscaped gardens. We really enjoyed our evening walk, we came upon a pond, pretty gardens, down lands, some lovely buildings etc. On the way back it was just starting to get dark, and lights had come on along the pathways. It was so pretty, like a fairyland setting! How lucky are the students who get to study here!  The hotel has a beautiful open reception area, and also a mezzanine area above. We decided to bring our books down and read, it was just too nice not to make the most of it. Devere Venue hotels provide free teas and coffees all day, which is great so we enjoyed a couple of those while we read and enjoyed the lovely surroundings. We ended up sitting downstairs till quite late, but I finished my book and we got to people watch too. The hotel is quiet, and everything about it is just so nice.

After a good nights sleep in a very comfortable bed, we decided to have breakfast at the hotel restaurant. This hadn’t been on the agenda, however Paul loved the hotel so much he wanted to spend as mush time as possible there.  I had the Eggs Benedict and it was delicious! It was kind of nice having a leisurely breakfast, once we’d finished we grabbed our jackets and went for another walk around the grounds, I wanted to take some photos.  I got some great ones, but everywhere you looked there was something beautiful to photograph. Finally it was time to leave, and believe me neither of us wanted to go!! I felt very sad leaving the hotel, and hope we can return soon!

After leaving the hotel we headed to Wollaton Hall, a lovely place we haven’t been to in quite a while. You have to play to park, however entrance to the hall is free.  The hall is home to a natural history museum, educational but also very interesting. The grounds are extensive, and often used for festivals and events. We explored the house, room by room. Some of the exhibits were closed, for repair of refurbishment I would think. We also went for a long walk around the lake and grounds. You don’t realise how far you’ve walked, till you look back and see the hall in the distance. We saw lots of deer too, they are so placid and so obviously used to visitors. They were totally uninterested in the numerous people walking past, or stopping to take photos.  We were lucky as there was a craft fair going on, only a small one with a few stalls, but I found a necklace and brooch that I liked. We also went back there before we left and treated ourselves to cake-pops, they were so good! The Hall caters well for children, and when we visited they were running a super heroes treasure trail type thing. Wollaton was the location for Dark Knight Rising back a couple of years ago, another reason why this property gets so many visitors these days. It’s a wonderful place, and beautiful. There’s also a lovely courtyard area with picnic tables, and a coffee shop too, but this is quite expensive. We did stop for tea, and that was nice but I think if we were going for the day a picnic would definitely be the way to go.

Sadly after leaving Wollaton we decided to head home, the sky was grey and it was starting to feel chilly. But at least it had stayed dry all day and what more can you ask for in April!!

A day out in the City

Well, welcome to what was a truly heavenly week end, it started on Friday with the long drive down to London. Luckily the traffic was flowing, and the weather was good, so it wasn’t the stressful drive we have sometimes had. We arrived at the Dartford Tunnel just after 10pm which meant we didn’t have to pay the toll charge...an added bonus! We arrived at my parents house about 10.50pm, a quick cup of tea, and we were ready for bed.

On Saturday we were up early, and after breakfast headed to the station to catch a train into London. We arrived just before 10am and met Mandy at the coffee shop at Victoria. After a cup of tea, and a chat about which walk we were going to do, we headed to the underground station guide books clutched in hands. It was so lovely to see Mandy again, it seemed like ages since we had last gotten to spend time together. We took the tube to St James Park, and from there started on our self guided walk, stopping every so often so we could read about the various sights, statues and history of the area. The walk started at Petty France, taking us over Birdcage walk and into St James Park. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and the park full of tourists. As we walked across the bridge in the park, I almost bumped into a well dressed gentleman who I would swear was Michael Portillo! The walk continued taking us past St James Palace and St James Square, from there we continued along the Pall Mall and past Admiralty Arch. The architecture is so amazing and beautiful, there is history every where you look. The walk finished near the Sherlock Holmes pub, which is where we stopped for lunch. There is a lovely restaurant upstairs, with a recreation on the sitting room of 221b Baker Street and memorabilia everywhere. Lunch was good, and gave us the chance to talk and rest our feet!

After lunch we headed to Camden Market, one of my favourite places. I love the colours, vibrancy and energy! We headed straight to the horse stables, it’s the most interesting park of Camden. We looked around the stalls and had tea at the quirky little cafe tucked way at the back. I love it there!! I bought a few little things, but the high light of Camden Market was Cyberdog. The place is amazing, loud music, podium dancers, and a basement only the very brave and adventurous would venture into (and yes I have been down there!!). Camden was so busy, absolutely heaving with people so once we had looked around enough we decided to head back to the west end – oh my god, you should have seen the crowds at the underground station!! Not for the faint hearted, I have to admit to feeling a little apprehensive about being caught up in the midst of it. Being so short, it was quite a scary experience to get carried along as part of the mass!! We made it back to the west end and got to spend some time at the National Gallery. Not as much as I would have liked, but even a small amount of time there is worth while. The building alone is beautiful, and there are some wonderful paintings on display. Time was marching on, and we couldn’t stay for long. We had hoped to have dinner in the Leicester Square area, but it soon became apparent that this wasn’t going to happen. Lets face it 5.45pm in theatre land is not the greatest time to be looking for somewhere to eat. Everywhere was full to capacity with the pre-theatre dinner crowd. Alas, we had to walk away and made the decision to head to St Pauls.  Once there we soon realised that dinner was going to be an issue....nothing was open!!! It seems when the offices close in this part of the city, so does everything else. Luckily we found a cafe Nero next to the Underground station which was open, and we ate there. Actually it turned out to be a wise choice, and we had a very nice dinner. It was exactly what I had been in the mood for - bacon and brie Panini and iced coffee! After dinner we headed back to the underground station to join the ghost walk.  There was quite a crowd, maybe about 30 or so people. There were several Americans who seemed to be loving it. I can totally recommend this London Walk (www.walks.com/) the guide was articulate, informative and at times downright hilarious! The walk lasted about an hour and 45 minutes, and we covered an area that took in St Pauls cathedral, the Old Bailey and St Barts Hospital, as well as Ava Maria road and Amen close! Each stop brought forth another ghostly tale, sometimes accompanied by songs or poetry.  I think we were all quite sad when it ended, especially as it was time to say good night and go our separate ways. We finally got back to my parents house at about 10.15pm, just in time to break out the bottle of brandy....this was for sure the only spirit I saw that evening! 

Be interesting to see if anyone carries on down this far and keeps reading!! Ok, just for a little fun and a small way of saying thanks for stopping by and reading my blog - i have a little something to give away. The first person to answer the following question correctly will get a little surprise in the post from me - 

On what underground line is St Paul's tube station and if you were to travel west for one stop, where would you be?

Many apologies to all my lovely overseas friends, but due to outrageous increases in overseas postage this is only open to UK residents (unless you happen to be visiting the UK some time soon!!) I know some of you have had trouble leaving comments on my blog, so please feel free to leave your answers for me on Facebook. 

Doncaster Delights

Paul and i were both looking forward to this week end, and at 8.30am we set off from home. We headed north and arrived at Brodsworth House just after 10am, it was a grey morning though the sun did come out briefly. We had a cup of tea, and went for a walk around the gardens till it was time for the 11am tour of the house. We have done it before but its always interesting to go back, as each guide will tell you something a little different. The tour lasts about 40 minutes, is free and gives you a little taste of what the house has to offer. The house is beautiful, and well worth a visit! After the tour we spent more time in the gardens till it sadly started to drizzle, so we headed back to our car for lunch. A picnic!! We didn't mind eating in the car, by the time we were finished it had stopped raining. We went back to the house to explore some more, at 1pm the house is open you can wander around at your own pace and see a lot more than you see on the tour. We finally left at about 2pm, after a good look around the brand new visitor centre/gift shop! It has only just opened, and looks great, and it smells new! I bought a cameo necklace and a book mark before leaving, little reminders of our visit.

Next stop was Lakeside Outlet centre, after a coffee at Costa's it was off to do some shopping. Claires was a huge disappointment, but we did find some lovely things in the Hallmark store. I love it in there, they always have something to make me smile. AT about 4.30pm we headed back to the Travelodge to check in. I really like this hotel and this time we got a room with a view of the lake. Sadly the walk way around the lake was teeming with flies, not very pleasant! I guess its just that time of year, it wasn't like that last time we stayed at this hotel. We had a rest at the hotel, before heading to the Beefeater for dinner. We had a lovely evening, the meal was very nice, the staff were lovely and i even treated myself to an Irish coffee, haven't had one of those in years. 

we had a chilled out evening, and i have to say i slept well. Paul however said there were some very noisy guests in the hotel and it took him ages to get to sleep. I made sure i let reception know that before leaving, and we've been promised a complimentary voucher to use towards our next stay at a Travelodge. Sometimes you just have to speak up.

Today we went to Meadowhall, the traffic was awful and there seemed to be millions around. We soon found out why. The Sheffield half marathon was taking place, and loads of roads were closed. The mall was so busy, and very warm inside, not conducive to happy ambling!! But we had a wander around, and i have to say were very restrained. I bought a couple of things in Lush, and that was it. We had lunch at Las Iguanas, one of our favourite restaurants, today we decided to have the Tapas sharing platter with garlic and chili prawns, a spicy chicken and coconut roasted butternut squash.....gorgeous!! This was followed by a small dessert which we shared - churros with Dulce de leche dip. Wonderful!!  We finally got home around 4pm, it was the loveliest week end, despite a killer back ache. Thank god for pain killers. This evening we heard on the news that the Sheffield half Marathon was actually cancelled as there was no water available for the runners, however the runners had other ideas and went ahead anyway. Local people were lining the streets with offerings of water, so i guess it really became a community event. I am just Glad it was all over by the time we headed home. 

Its been a wonderful week end away, wish it wasn't nearly over.