tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33806104016633137222024-03-13T10:29:55.680+00:00Life in Northern Towns A travel blog to chronicle trips to random northern towns in the UK.Anne-Marie Marshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841069517102281192noreply@blogger.comBlogger176125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3380610401663313722.post-19983110923013144592017-02-26T14:00:00.000+00:002017-02-26T14:00:28.787+00:00Longridge, Preston<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gosh, I’m really struggling to find places I haven’t been in
the North of England! I’d heard of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longridge">Longridge </a>as it’s a place for lots of
engineering and stuff like that. When I
Googled and discovered it was a “medium-sized town” I thought we’d give it a
go. If it’s not so exciting we can go to
nearby <a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2013/08/preston-lancashire.html">Preston</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Longridge is about 8 miles north east of Preston and 30
miles from Manchester. From North
Manchester take the M60, M61, M6 and exit junction 31A onto the B6242, B6243,
B5269 and head towards Berry Lane. There
is free on street parking in Longridge, which is always a plus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The town itself is a traditionally northern town built from
the local sandstone. Berry Lane is the
main shopping area with quite a few local pubs dotted across the town.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was a grey Monday afternoon, but Longridge did have a
good deal to offer. First and foremost
it has charity shops – 5 in total including a Children’s Barnardos. It made me chuckle to overhear in one charity
shop, locals complaining that another florist was opening – there are about
three in close proximity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Longridge has a mix of traditional and modern independent
shops. I knew this was a classy town
from the fact there was a designer dress agency there, unfortunately it was
closed so I couldn’t have a look. There
were a few lovely looking café’s which seemed to be the busiest places in town. One shop had a black and white dog resting in
the window – so cute. I was thrilled to see a craft shop called “Oh Sew Crafty”
so naturally I had to go in and have a browse.
They do courses there too, which is always a joy to see.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you live in Lancashire and Cumbria, you will have heard
of <a href="http://www.booths.co.uk/">Booths </a>supermarkets – they are like the northern Waitrose. It’s always a sign of a good neighbourhood
and it’s always a lovely shop to potter around.
Pricier than the Tescos and ASDA’s of this world, but a much more interesting
shopping experience with more locally sourced produce than the high street
chains.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Longridge seems to me to be a nice commuter town for Preston
and <a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2014/10/blackburn-lancashire.html">Blackburn </a>with good access to the M6.
Plus it has the advantage of being close to a number of large businesses
on the outskirts of town. It’s the sort
of place you would bring up your family where you have the convenience of being
close to a city and some large industrial towns, but just a stone’s throw from
the countryside. It’s a pleasant little
town and I’d definitely stop off here again.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Anne-Marie Marshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841069517102281192noreply@blogger.com2Longridge, Preston PR3, UK53.831915 -2.598801999999977953.7944285 -2.6794829999999781 53.8694015 -2.5181209999999776tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3380610401663313722.post-24544364757233111472016-11-20T15:04:00.001+00:002016-11-20T15:04:17.373+00:00Neston, Cheshire<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We hadn’t been to the Wirral for a while so as it was a nice
day we thought we’d pay another visit.
Our main destination was the affluent <a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2013/07/heswall-wirral.html">Heswall </a>– birth place of John Peel
and home to lots of nice charity shops.
However our first port of call was Neston, which I was surprised to find
was not in fact part of the Wirral, but on the very edges of Cheshire.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Normally getting to Neston from north Manchester is about an
hour via the M60, M62, M6, M56, A540 and B5134. However, due to road works we ended up going
via <a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2015/01/widnes-cheshire.html">Widnes </a>/ Runcorn, which wasn’t much better either as we got stuck in more
road works. Hopefully when they finish
the bridge works over the Mersey it might be a better route. At least we found free parking in Neston,
which is always good. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Neston itself is a quiet well-to-do town.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Architecturally small scale with some nice
red brick buildings, interspersed with black and white rendered buildings with
a hint to the 20</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> century with a small stretch of newer shops.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is a modern Sainsbury’s hidden behind
the town hall, which helps to retain its small town charm. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are a number of period pubs you could
easily spend a cosy evening in or have Sunday lunch.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It seems like the sort of town you would like
to bring up a family in or retire to.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Obviously we were there to check out the charity shops and
we toured the lot. These included
Oakwood Animal Sanctuary, Age UK, Sue Ryder and Hospice of the Good Shepherd. I regretted not buying a cocktail shaker in
one shop, but I eventually got one from <a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2012/03/lymm.html">Lymm</a>.
Neil didn’t spot much, but then again we were heading off to nearby
Heswall which is great for charity shops.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were heading off to eat in Heswall, so we didn’t get to
sample any coffee and cakes here.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Obviously there is a Costa here, although I’d like to know where there
isn’t a Costa these days. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However if you
are looking for a local independent alternative, </span><a href="http://elephant-coffee.co.uk/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Elephant Coffee</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> looked like a
really nice option.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To be truthful we didn’t stop long here as Heswall was our
main destination, but people have since told us we missed out on going to
nearby <a href="http://www.nessgardens.org.uk/">Ness Botanical Gardens</a>, which is a shame as it was a lovely blue sky
day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whilst technically Neston isn’t on the Wirral Peninsula, if
you are planning a road trip around it, you should definitely take in
Neston.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s a pretty little town and
worth a quick detour, especially if you are going to charity shops or want to visit
a botanical garden.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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Anne-Marie Marshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841069517102281192noreply@blogger.com0Neston, UK53.290584 -3.0691019999999353.2146495 -3.2304634999999298 53.366518500000005 -2.90774049999993tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3380610401663313722.post-31792958102368180372016-10-16T13:56:00.001+01:002016-10-16T13:56:19.437+01:00Brighouse, West Yorkshire
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We’d been meaning to go to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brighouse">Brighouse</a> for a while as we know
some people who live just outside of the town.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It has to be said that Neil was excited to go because of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brighouse_and_Rastrick_Brass_Band">Brighouseand Rastrick Brass Band</a> who reached number 2 with “The Floral Dance” in late
1977. As you’d expect their albums can be found cluttering up the vinyl section
of many a charity shop in the area. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The route to Brighouse is very straightforward from
Manchester – M60, M62, exit junction 25, A644 and follow the signs to Brighouse.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We parked for free in Tesco which is at the
edge of the town centre.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Although, note
to self – must remember in future to turn off car lights, otherwise will end up
needing to get new car battery.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The weather wasn’t too great in Brighouse - it was a bit
overcast and drizzly. However it was much better than Manchester which was
experiencing a monsoon that day.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Brighouse is typical of your Yorkshire town, sturdy and
squat buildings made of local Yorkshire stone – understated but classy.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Although in Brighouse they have massive silos
on the edge of town dominating the skyline.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">One of them has been turned into a climbing gym, which sounds like a
good alternative to normal gyms which can be rather boring. A canal cuts
through the town too - no doubt it used to service the huge silos back in the
day.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The town itself is a mix of traditional and independent
shops.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Clearly it has been inspired by
the nearby <a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2010/01/hebden-bridge.html">Hebden Bridge</a> and <a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2010/10/holmfirth.html">Holmfirth</a> to up its game in terms of attracting
out-of-towners into Brighouse with cafes and restaurants.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">But I do like to say it hasn’t gone overboard
in that direction too so it retains much of its character.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At the back of the main shops there is an open air
market.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It wasn’t that exciting as that
Saturday it was a second hand market with locals flogging off stuff they didn’t
need.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It reminded me of the flea market
in <a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2013/02/huddersfield.html">Huddersfield</a>, which is on a much larger scale. </span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The good thing I found about it was how
friendly it was with stall holders and locals chatting. Apparently there is a Food
and Craft market that pops up once in a while and dates can be found here </span><a href="http://brighousemarket.co.uk/"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: Calibri;">http://brighousemarket.co.uk/</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I did notice on Visit Brighouse </span><a href="http://visitbrighouse.com/"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: Calibri;">website</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> they do various festival weekends
throughout the year and it’s worth timing your visit to coincide with these
events.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There are quite a few charity shops in Brighouse and
naturally we toured them all.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The
charity shops were rather busy and Neil again was experiencing a severe case of
charity shop blockers – basically old men slowly browsing through all the
records Neil wanted to look at.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">If you
are looking for wedding outfits or outfits for a fancy do, go no further than
<a href="http://overgatehospice.org.uk/">Overgate Hospice</a> designer wear shop on Bethel Street.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As usual in Yorkshire we had our chippy lunch and we went to
<a href="http://blakeleysofbrighouse.co.uk/">Blakeley’s</a> by the market.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We both had
fish and chips which were great.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Somehow
we missed the entrance to the restaurant and went to the takeaway bit.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Thankfully they do have a sheltered outdoor
eating place overlooking the canal which was a nice place to eat.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">There was a mum struggling to make her kids
eat their lunch as they kept wanting more tomato sauce, even though they still
had some on their plates.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">If you are looking for a place to drink in Brighouse you
will be spoilt by the amount of pubs available here.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Many are the old traditional style pubs with
lots of original features and I can imagine you’d be spoilt for choice doing a
pub crawl here.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was very surprised to find
the local Freemasons had put up a banner to recruit new members.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I thought they were a rather secretive
organisation, but clearly not in Brighouse.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was a pleasant trip to Brighouse, although the weather
was a bit overcast.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Brighouse is an
interesting mix of the traditional and industrial, as the silos and industrial
buildings do dominate the town.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It
doesn’t lend itself to being a traditional pretty Yorkshire town, but great for
photographers who are looking for something different.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Clearly the local town’s people are taking
pride in the place and put on events throughout the year to attract people into
Brighouse.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We’d definitely visit again,
but will time it with the Food and Craft Market as I do love exploring these
type of events.</span></div>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Anne-Marie Marshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841069517102281192noreply@blogger.com0Brighouse, UK53.699729 -1.782501000000024853.6245275 -1.9438625000000247 53.774930499999996 -1.6211395000000248tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3380610401663313722.post-62709204634015257212016-09-25T14:23:00.000+01:002016-09-25T14:23:32.632+01:00Accrington, Lancashire
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We hadn’t been to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accrington">Accrington</a> before and I had heard scary
stories about the place from a former manager who lived there, so I wasn’t too
sure what to expect.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The drive from Manchester to Accrington is straightforward -
M60, M66, A56 and A680.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It takes about
30 minutes from north Manchester.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We
found free parking behind some shops which is always good.</span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was surprised to find there is some nice architecture in
Accrington – the Town Hall and the Market Hall are fine examples of 19</span><sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
century architecture with their solid stone facades and symmetrical
design.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was great to see the Town
Hall was being used to host weddings.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">There
is also a lovely arcade which has seen better days.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It has a lovely sweeping curve and light
streamed in through the ceiling windows.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">However the fine stained glass panels, high up on the shop windows are
obscured as the shops have installed suspended ceilings so the stained glass
colours can’t be seen.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This place is
crying out for some TLC and some more occupants.</span></div>
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<a href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/99/bf/c9/99bfc900d31ddc15154342b0377a1a2b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Accrington Town Hall from an angle" border="0" height="240" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/99/bf/c9/99bfc900d31ddc15154342b0377a1a2b.jpg" title="Accrington Town Hall" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The main shopping area is a 1960s shopping centre, which
isn’t very exciting, although I loved the massive banner across the buildings for
the Accrington Pals as part of the WW1 commemorations. </span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Across the rest of the town there are lots of
independent shops and bizarrely quite a few wedding shops. There are plenty of
empty shops too, which is always sad to see.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">However there seems to be a lively night time economy with plenty of
pubs, bars and takeaways – I think this was what my former manager was referring
to.</span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Obviously we were here for the charity shops and there are
loads.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Other people had a similar idea
and these shops were busy.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Neil
experienced a severe case of record section blockers.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Most charity shops have their records under
the DVDs, so you often find people slowly browse through the DVDs whilst blocking
access to the records.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Then you find the
older blokes who look at every record with no intention of buying anything.
Thankfully the larger charity shops were where he had less chance of tripping
up old ladies whist he was on the floor looking through the records.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">For once I got lucky and bought some unused
place mats for £1.99.</span></div>
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<a href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/83/72/7d/83727ddf2113a6fbcb556e43a284eb07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Picture of Accrington Town Centre and the banner for the Accrington Pals for the World War One memorial" border="0" height="240" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/83/72/7d/83727ddf2113a6fbcb556e43a284eb07.jpg" title="Accrington Town Centre" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Market Hall seemed to be a popular place for the older
people of Accrington.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I think the fact
it had lots of benches to sit on was part of the draw.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The lady at the pet stall was very helpful
with my kitten queries.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I like these old
Victorian markets as they do give a place a sense of heritage and community.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">One good reason to visit Accrington is the pun names of the
town’s shops. There’s a fish shop called “Passion for Sole” and a cycle shop
called “Blood, Sweat and Gears”.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">My
personal favourite was the charity shop called “Only Foals and Horses” - sadly
it wasn’t open but what a fab name!</span></div>
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<a href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/bc/48/53/bc48532114d564859bb7ce017b20e147.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Only Foals and Horses Charity Shop in Accrington, Lancashire" border="0" height="320" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/bc/48/53/bc48532114d564859bb7ce017b20e147.jpg" title="Only Foals and Horses Charity Shop" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We had a cake and a coffee in Costa.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I swear Costa has become the new pub, so it’s
quite apt the chain is owned by the brewery chain of Whitbread.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was full of old people catching up with
friends and collecting points on their loyalty cards.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">To be honest I’d rather meet up in a coffee
shop with friends rather than a pub these days, but that’s more to do with the
fact I do fall asleep after a few drinks.</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Whilst it wasn’t a very exciting visit, I was pleasantly
surprised by the place - the shop name puns alone put smiles on our faces.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It’s a down-to-earth working class town, which
has seen better days and could do with investment.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">However it does have a sense of community and
that’s always a good thing.</span></div>
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<a href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/75/65/5e/75655e2157913e2bbf74c6732ec8d29f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Street view of Blackburn Road in Accrington" border="0" height="320" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/75/65/5e/75655e2157913e2bbf74c6732ec8d29f.jpg" title="Blackburn Road in Accrington" width="240" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/12339981/?claim=5fkw9d5bxez">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>Anne-Marie Marshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841069517102281192noreply@blogger.com0Accrington, UK53.753609 -2.372180000000071253.678487999999994 -2.5335415000000712 53.82873 -2.2108185000000713tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3380610401663313722.post-8322330514264921672016-04-10T15:04:00.001+01:002016-04-10T15:04:16.914+01:00Uttoxeter, Staffordshire<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Despite the miserable weather we ploughed on, over the
county border from Derbyshire to Staffordshire.
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uttoxeter">Uttoxeter </a>is 14 miles from <a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2016/04/ashbourne-derbyshire.html">Ashbourne </a>and it takes about 25 minutes, driving
via the A515, A50 and A518.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before this visit I had very little knowledge of Uttoxeter
apart from the many signs I’ve passed over the year on the A50, the film
director <a href="http://www.shanemeadows.co.uk/">Shane Meadows</a> is from here and the Starbucks drive through at the
Uttoxeter service station. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We parked up behind the little precinct and wondered why
there was a queue at the ticket machine.
Apparently people were waiting until 3pm to get a free ticket for
parking, which is always good to know as these things aren’t always widely
signposted.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/c5/bc/7d/c5bc7d08e719ae0ce2352f676aa1af92.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/c5/bc/7d/c5bc7d08e719ae0ce2352f676aa1af92.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As we walked through the little precinct, the song “Ghost
Town” by The Specials went through my head.
It was a rather bleak concrete place from the 60s with lots of empty
units. There was a handful of shops still open but mainly charity shops. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When we made it out onto the main shopping street, things
improved. Firstly the street is pedestrianised
which always helps. Also the architecture
is definitely market town, with many buildings dating back at least a couple of
centuries. The butcher’s shop on Market Street had a little brown plaque
stating it was from Elizabethan times – you could tell with its Tudor wooden
beamed structure. At least the town
planners have kept the newer developments behind the main shopping streets to
retain the character of the place. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/e7/89/bc/e789bc33fc10a45fd970a7c288c30b0f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/e7/89/bc/e789bc33fc10a45fd970a7c288c30b0f.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Luckily for us, there were a quite a few charity shops to
explore in Uttoxeter. I’m always a fan
of good second hand charity book shops and the <a href="http://www.khh.org.uk/">Katherine House Hospice</a> had a
particularly good one – plenty of books, well organised and reasonably priced. I bought <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheryl_Strayed">Cheryl Strayed’s</a> “Wild” here, which
is a gripping read by the way. In the
other charity shops, Neil was also having some luck with vinyl records and CDs
and picked up some stuff – even some sheet music which happened to be in good
condition. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the mobile phone front, Neil was getting tetchy as the
signal for O2 was pretty patchy, whilst on Vodafone there was a better
reception. Thank goodness for tethering
is all I can say.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There were a few independent shops in the town too, but it
must have been a slow day for them as the place was virtually empty as the wet
weather kept most people indoors. The
only place which was experiencing shopping action that day was the local ASDA.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/c1/a5/3a/c1a53a8a6f24e5cf118ed7fcecb81a95.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/c1/a5/3a/c1a53a8a6f24e5cf118ed7fcecb81a95.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The main thing I really took from this place was the Staffordshire
version of the Midlands accent. It’s not
as strong as you’d find in Birmingham or Wolverhampton, but it still has that burr
which is captured beautifully by Shane Meadows in his films and TV programmes. It’s fascinating how accents change with
geography and the first time I’d spotted this accent was on a previous trip to
<a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2013/10/leek-staffordshire.html">Leek </a>about 20 miles north west. I do
think it’s one of the most interesting things about the UK how accents can be
so radically different over relatively short distances, for example there are
only 30 miles between <a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2013/03/liverpool-take-two.html">Liverpool </a>and Manchester but the accents are poles apart.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m sure Uttoxeter on a race day feels like a different
place, but on the day we went we found it to be a dull but functional place. I’m sure it’s a nice place to live – the
countryside on the door step, but within easy reach of <a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2015/04/stoke-on-trent-hanley-staffordshire.html">Stoke</a>, Derby and
Stafford. I wouldn’t be that excited to
visit here again, but as ever with certain places the weather can really temper
your experience of a place.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Anne-Marie Marshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841069517102281192noreply@blogger.com0Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, UK52.898115999999987 -1.865801000000033152.859803499999984 -1.9464820000000331 52.936428499999991 -1.7851200000000331tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3380610401663313722.post-2110731406735771072016-04-03T14:28:00.001+01:002016-04-03T14:28:08.222+01:00Ashbourne, Derbyshire<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I discovered <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashbourne,_Derbyshire">Ashbourne </a>in Derbyshire through taking detours
back to Manchester when the A40 or M6 had been jammed with traffic. As I passed through, I noticed the town
seemed rather nice and I made a mental note to return here to visit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Getting to Ashbourne from Manchester takes about an hour and
a half to drive. There are several ways
to get there and the route I took was the M60, M62, M6, A50, B5030, B5032 and
A52. I think there are better ways to
get there, that’s for sure, and Neil was getting queasy on the B road part of
the journey. We parked up in Sainbury’s
car park and you have to pay to park for a maximum of 2 hours, but you can get the
parking fee refunded in the supermarket.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was a grey and drizzly kind of day - not the best to go
visiting towns, to be honest with you.
After parking up, the first order of our day was to get food. As we didn’t want a pub lunch, we found
Billy’s fish and chip shop in the centre of town and thankfully they had some
indoor tables so we didn’t have to eat them out in the rain. The fish and chips were nice which is always
a bonus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/3a/4c/88/3a4c88296b9c3885fc6df4eec54378a5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/3a/4c/88/3a4c88296b9c3885fc6df4eec54378a5.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ashbourne is a classy kind of town. Not only does it have a
Sainbury’s and an M&S supermarket in a nearby retail park, but it rocks the
holy grail of middle class supermarkets – a Waitrose. It also has an Edinburgh Woollen Mill, which
to me is always an indicator of a tourist destination. It’s definitely upmarket with lots of lovely
little independent shops too. Ashbourne
also prides itself on being a fair trade town which is always good thing. If you like antiques and art you will find
plenty of shops to your taste. In one
antique shop window there was a pair of glorious, white life sized greyhounds –
they were so lifelike and no doubt cost a small fortune. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is both an indoor and outdoor market in
Ashbourne. The outdoor market wasn’t
that big or exciting, but I did like the upholstery stall where they were
selling footstools, which could be customised to your own taste. The small indoor market was hosting a craft
day and it was very busy as the rain was driving people inside.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/7d/14/98/7d1498b5279a284e31addae31688949e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/7d/14/98/7d1498b5279a284e31addae31688949e.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Architecturally, there is a country market town vibe going
on and the sort of place you could spend a weekend soaking in the relaxing
calm. The gallows sign “Green Man and
Black’s Head Royal Hotel” spanning St John’s Street is a distinctive landmark
in the town and I couldn’t help but think that some lorries wouldn’t be able to
pass down this street because of it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the cities and suburbs, pubs are closing at a rapid rate,
but here I was surprised to see so many - apparently 1 in 4 of the buildings in this
town had been a pub. Many looked like
they had been here hundreds of years and it’s a shame I was driving as it would
have been nice to sample a pint or two here.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/3f/fb/7e/3ffb7e65c336545271e6dd633026bc8d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/3f/fb/7e/3ffb7e65c336545271e6dd633026bc8d.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were here obviously for the charity shops. One was particularly overpriced, but the
others were fine. In Oxfam I overheard a
conversation where the volunteer was telling customers that the rain was
keeping people away from Ashbourne, but come on a sunny day and the place would
be teeming with folk. Neil managed to
pick up some CDs and vinyl and that always bodes well for a repeat visit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bizarrely there were two religious speakers near the market proclaiming
their stories of redemption to all who would listen. This was really rather strange and
unexpected. You sort of expect this on a
busy city centre street in Manchester, but not in a sleepy market town in
Derbyshire.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can’t quite understand why I’d never really heard about
this place before my detours as I know Derbyshire fairly well. Maybe it doesn’t have obvious lures like
<a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2012/08/bakewell.html">Bakewell </a>(the Tart) and <a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2012/06/buxton.html">Buxton </a>and <a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2012/09/matlock.html">Matlock </a>(the Spas), but I’m so glad to finally
stop off in here and explore the place with Neil. It’s an unassuming, but charming place to
visit and it definitely makes its way on the ‘revisit and stay overnight’ list. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Anne-Marie Marshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841069517102281192noreply@blogger.com0Ashbourne, Ashbourne, Derbyshire DE6, UK53.016626 -1.732178999999973752.978415000000005 -1.8128599999999737 53.054837 -1.6514979999999737tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3380610401663313722.post-28442496698021105252016-02-28T15:18:00.001+00:002016-02-28T15:18:29.229+00:00Knaresborough, North Yorkshire<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first time I came to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knaresborough">Knaresborough </a>was on a school trip
to visit Mrs Shipton’s Cave and the Dropping Well where you could, at the time,
petrify your handbag on the little waterfall.
The tour guide took great pleasure in telling us 10 year olds about how
people used to get hung, drawn and quartered, with their bodies being left on
display by the river as a lesson to others.
I’m not sure many of us had pleasant dreams that night, but that piece
of knowledge has stuck with me ever since.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This time, we had just visited nearby <a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2016/02/wetherby-west-yorkshire.html">Wetherby </a>and so
decided to go to Knaresborough. There is
supposed to be a B road route between the two towns, but as ever I missed the
right road and ended up doing a detour via the A1. When we got there we found a little car park
behind the main shops on Chapel Street - £1 for 2 hours. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Knaresborough is a pretty little town packed full of
characterful buildings, dating back hundreds of years.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One thing I did notice about many of the
buildings was that they had three floors which gave the place a more imposing
presence.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I liked the fact that the
centre of town was pedestrianised with car access for disabled parking. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is also a pet friendly town and we kept
seeing posh pedigree pooches all over the place, which is always nice to see.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are so many independent shops in Knaresborough and I did
notice there were plenty of vintage style shops selling clothes, knickknacks and
upcycled furniture. Definitely a place
to go to get vintage stuff and style ideas.
I also love to visit stationery shops and I found two here which is
always great to see in this digital day and age.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Neil is a fan of daft shop pun names and he remembered on
our last trip there was a shop called “Mungo Deli”. Thankfully it was still open and Neil managed
to get a picture of it for his Facebook album of silly shop signs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/5d/5e/8e/5d5e8e374a751f74b2b656a9150de4f1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Mungo Deli Shop in Knaresborough" border="0" height="320" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/5d/5e/8e/5d5e8e374a751f74b2b656a9150de4f1.jpg" title="Knaresborough Copyright Anne-Marie Marshall" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are plenty of places to eat and drink here – lots of
cosy old pubs, cute cafes and gastropubs.
We had already eaten in Wetherby, but as we are greedy we did pick up
cake from the friendly and down to earth Hurst’s Bakery. I have to recommend the chocolate cream cake,
especially as it had a surprise layer of black cherries in it and tasted great
too. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As ever we checked out the charity shops. Other people had the same idea and we kept
bumping into them in every shop. There
was a hospice charity shop which was really overpriced – although in fairness, with
the proximity of so many vintage shops, they probably have a policy to mark up
the stock so the vintage shops don’t profit on their donations. Neil managed to get locked in one charity shop
when he was browsing through the records upstairs. I was a bit panicked and tried to phone
him. Thankfully the shop assistant
checked the shop before she left and Neil managed to get out. A practical point to note is that most
charity shops in Knaresborough close about 4.00 pm so it’s better to get there
earlier than we did.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Knaresborough is a great little place to go, and one to
consider for a weekend away as it’s close to the countryside, especially when
it’s only a short drive from Harrogate too (fab place, you must visit).</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our only advice is to get there earlier in
the day, as it begins to close around 4ish – otherwise it’s another fab
Yorkshire town to visit.</span></div>
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Anne-Marie Marshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841069517102281192noreply@blogger.com0Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, UK54.011022 -1.471019999999953153.9736955 -1.5517009999999531 54.048348499999996 -1.3903389999999531tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3380610401663313722.post-43735266703143876672016-02-07T15:21:00.003+00:002016-02-22T23:49:18.050+00:00Wetherby, West Yorkshire<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It was our first road trip of the New Year so where do we
go? We’ve been to loads of places in the
North over the years, so finding somewhere new to go that’s nice can be more
miss than hit. So to ensure a hit on our
day out, I wanted to go to Knaresborough as we’d been there before but I hadn’t
written about it. However, to make that
journey worthwhile we needed to visit another town. I dusted off the atlas and
found Wetherby, which is about 8 miles from Knaresborough – well, that is if
you take the right route. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Getting to Wetherby from Manchester is straightforward enough
– M60, M62, M1, A1, exit junction 45 and then follow the signs into Wetherby on
to the A168 and A661. I was very pleased
to see on the way into town, a sign stating “Historic Market Town” – Wetherby
looked to be a promising visit after all.
As for parking, I got a little confused and ended up going through the
town. Luckily we found 2 hours free
parking on the edge of Wetherby town centre just off Crossley Street. We had to laugh at the name of the gymnasium
next to the car park – it’s called “Sunny Gym”!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We cut through the car park and found ourselves on Westgate
where we found our first charity shop of the day.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">According to my Yell app, there were supposed
to be 7 charity shops, but in reality there seemed to be many more.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The shops were teeming with older people
browsing and chatting to staff.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There
are some pretty good charity shops in Wetherby and Neil picked up some cheap
vinyl records and CDs. Neil will definitely want to come back here again for
the charity shops alone.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You will always find a place to eat in Wetherby with its
wide selection of cafes, pubs and restaurants.
As it was a cold day we wanted to eat indoors somewhere and we found the
Wetherby Whaler chip shop which had a restaurant upstairs. It’s a nice, clean place and seemed to be
popular with the locals. Maybe it’s because
I’m getting older and need them more often, but I noticed the toilets were well
maintained and pleasant. The fish and
chips we ordered were tasty and we’d certainly come back here again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Wetherby is full of independent shops, which is always great
to see.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I loved the pet shop with the
animal tableau outside and there was a pie shop that caught Neil’s eye, especially
the pies with black pudding in them.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Each
Saturday you can find in the local town hall an </span><a href="http://www.antiques-atlas.com/antique_fair/wetherby_antiques_vintage_collectors_fair/af624" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">antiques
market</a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It’s not a big market, but
it was well organised and there was a camaraderie between the stall
holders.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I also noticed there’s a
farmers and craft market every second Sunday of each month.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This town seems like it has got its act
together with lots of activities planned throughout the year.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The architecture in Wetherby is typically sturdy as it’s made
from Yorkshire stone. We did spot the
odd building built in the 1960s and 1970s, but they look much more dated than
the buildings which have been here for hundreds of years. The place is very well maintained and you can
tell people here really take pride in the town.
I wish this was the case everywhere.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Whilst Wetherby is not really a touristy type of place, it
seemed to me to be a nice middle class commuter town (well it does have an
M&S supermarket after all) for people working in either <a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2013/09/leeds.html">Leeds </a>or York. It’s great to go to towns with no
expectations of them, as you come with no preconceptions and just see it for
what it is. In this case we were
pleasantly impressed with Wetherby and would definitely revisit. </span> </div>
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Anne-Marie Marshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841069517102281192noreply@blogger.com0Wetherby, Wetherby, West Yorkshire LS22, UK53.927056000000007 -1.384816000000000753.908258500000009 -1.4253280000000008 53.945853500000005 -1.3443040000000006tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3380610401663313722.post-77063478707686023702016-01-17T15:02:00.000+00:002016-02-22T23:55:00.731+00:00Abergavenny, Monmouthshire<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The final stop on the Welsh part of our road trip was
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abergavenny">Abergavenny</a>, on the edge of the Brecon Beacons.
We had no clue what to expect there and were curious to find out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We parked at the local car park on the edge of the main
shopping area – it was £1 for 2 hours, but on a market day it’s better to get
the £1.50 ticket for 3 hours.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Abergavenny is an old-school sort of town and very down to
earth. The central shopping precinct is a
typical, functional concrete mid-20<sup>th</sup> century building with many
high street names. However surrounding
the precinct is where you will find more interesting shops and some interesting
period buildings. Many of the buildings
are in typical Welsh style with painted rendered walls – all of which add
character to the town. The two buildings
which stood out for me were the Abergavenny Baptist Church and Abergavenny Market
Hall. Both buildings used dark rough-hewn
stone and sandstone in their construction to create a distinctive look. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The town was busy as the kids hadn’t gone back to school yet
and the pavements and side streets are quite narrow so you end up walking in
the road, trying to dodge traffic. The A40
runs through the heart of the town too so there is always plenty of traffic and
you need to use the pedestrian crossings to navigate the town safely.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">First thing we did was to find food. We ended up at a little takeaway called the
Codfather and had a generous portion of fish and chips - they were nice too. Then there was the mission to find the local toilets. I tried
the local public toilets which weren’t great – lack of tissues and the
overwhelming smell weren’t pleasant. However
Neil on the other hand used the toilets in Nicholls department store which were
much nicer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Obviously we were here to check out the charity shops and
found plenty to choose from. As we were
in Wales it wasn’t clear whether some were charity shops or just local independent
shops. So I ended up being the Sherpa trying
to suss out what was a charity shop and what wasn’t. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">There are plenty of independent shops in Abergavenny, which was
great to see. I did notice there were a
number of empty shop units in the town and also there weren’t that many pubs
either. The recession has clearly hit
this place, but the independent trade is keeping it afloat. I found a few craft shops, which is always a
joy for me. One shop specialised in
fabric and I picked up a few pieces in their sale. There was a good wool shop too, but sadly I
couldn’t buy anything as I can’t knit anymore. Neil found a house clearance
shop, but the owners were impatiently waiting for Neil to finish browsing so
they could shut up shop for lunch. It’s
definitely worth popping in Nicholls, which is a classy independent department store. We’d seen one in Brecon and apparently they
have a tiny chain of shops in South Wales.
It’s quite a pleasant upmarket place and the café seemed to be full of
families and ladies-who-lunch. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My favourite place was Abergavenny Market Hall as it was
hosting the regular Wednesday flea market, which proved popular with the locals
too. It reminded me of the Sunday flea
markets you find in New York – jammed packed full of interesting and quirky stuff. I loved the realistic looking flying pigs
which were hanging above the stalls and I had to take a few pictures of them. Neil found some record stalls and picked up
some nice 80s 7 inch singles. I didn’t
pick up anything, although a couple of the locals were commenting on my camera. They have a wide range of different markets
here over the month including a farmers, craft and antiques <a href="http://www.abergavenny.org.uk/abergavenny-market.htm">markets</a>. If I lived near here I would definitely be
visiting this place on a regular basis.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/48/25/f7/4825f7e02c1ae23867bf36e74081ad3a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Flying pigs in Abergavenny Market Hall" border="0" height="241" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/48/25/f7/4825f7e02c1ae23867bf36e74081ad3a.jpg" title="Abergavenny Market Hall" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">We had only planned to stay in Abergavenny for a couple of
hours, but now wished we’d spent a bit longer here. I really didn’t expect the place to be quite
as interesting as it was, because it didn’t strike me as a tourist destination. Clearly the community likes to shop local and
it’s great to see a place like this teeming with people. If we were ever in the vicinity again, I’d
definitely pay another visit, particularly to the Market Hall.</span></div>
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Anne-Marie Marshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841069517102281192noreply@blogger.com0Abergavenny, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire NP7, UK51.825366 -3.019422999999960751.78611 -3.1001039999999609 51.864622000000004 -2.9387419999999604tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3380610401663313722.post-1288021767599291642015-12-13T15:31:00.001+00:002015-12-13T15:31:49.751+00:00Hay-on-Wye, Powys<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The base we chose for our South Wales excursion was
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hay-on-Wye">Hay-on-Wye</a>. Obviously I’d heard about it
due to the annual book festival, but also because my friend is a book fanatic and
has visited this place to stock up his library.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Getting to Hay-on-Wye from anywhere is a chore as it’s in
the middle of nowhere, well, on the edge of the Brecon Beacons close to the
English border. As we were coming from
Manchester we had the choice of three routes – the A5 through the west of
Shropshire, the A49 through the east of Shropshire or the longer route via the
M6/M5. Unfortunately the first two routes
were ruled out for us due to the Creamfields festival in Cheshire, so we had to
take the M6/M5 route. All I’m saying is:
don’t be fooled into thinking that driving on a Sunday down the M6 will be a
breeze – roadworks plus Birmingham equals traffic hell. That’s before the random cross country
journey that involved finding an alternative route because of a car
accident. It was one of the few times I wished for a sat
nav, as the iPhone was useless as the signal cross country was either
non-existent or GPRS. It felt like we
were guided by divine intervention rather than anything else. So what should have been a three hour journey
took four hours instead. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hay-on-Wye itself is a lovely stone built town, full of
character and rather well-to-do.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the
centre of the town, on a hill, is Hay-on-Wye Castle – its remains overshadow the
little town.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These types of country
towns have evolved over centuries and as a result the architecture is a real
historical mixed bag.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There’s the
distinctive Clock Tower that overlooks the town.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The small stone built Butter Market plays
host to the various markets that pop up. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I lost Neil to the Butter Market for a couple
of hours as there was a record fair going on. There are lots of places to
explore and if you are an architecture photographer get there early as the
streets get very busy late morning into late afternoon.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We stayed in the <a href="http://www.oldblacklion.co.uk/">Old Black Lion</a> on the edge of Hay. It’s a pub, restaurant and B&B which
dates back from the 17<sup>th</sup> century, although parts of it date from the
13<sup>th</sup> century. It’s one of
those characterful places with low beams and wibbly-wobbly floors, and it probably
plays host to a local ghost or two. You
feel like you are drunk climbing the stairs to the bedrooms as the stairs are
at an odd angle. If you are tall like
us, then be really careful as you could quite easily knock yourself out on the
beams. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our bedroom overlooked the car park and the fields beyond so
you really felt connected to the countryside.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The room was decorated in red and gold and had an en-suite bathroom.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As with these old buildings, en-suites can be
a bit bizarre and our en-suite was split level with the shower on one level and
the toilet and sink on another. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was
also dicey for both Neil and myself as you had to mind your head going down the
steps otherwise you could give yourself concussion.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The breakfasts were really nice too with
ingredients sourced locally and I would wholeheartedly recommend the restaurant
for lunch and evening meals as they were the best we had on our stay. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Beef and Butty Bach was ace and the Choc
and Port Cake is divine. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you are
staying Sunday in Hay it’s best to book a table here as not all the restaurants
are open on a Sunday evening.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’d definitely
come here again.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Obviously Hay-on-Wye is known for books and we explored most
of the book shops. I was surprised how
pricy some of the second hand bookshops were, but my book fanatic friend did
say later that he doesn’t get as many books as he used to in Hay because of the
prices. That said, my favourite bookshop
was the <a href="http://www.haycinemabookshop.co.uk/">Hay Cinema Bookshop</a> on the edge of town. It’s massive and I don’t think I’ve been into
a larger bookshop – you could lose yourself for days in here. The cheapest place to find books is at Hay
Castle which has an assortment of cheap books and you pay for them by leaving
money in the honesty box.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is more to Hay than books and if you like your craft,
vintage and locally-made stuff, this place will have something for you. It made me laugh to look in one vintage shop where
they had a sign in the window with the words “best quality old tat”– so true. Another vintage shop was called “Nantique” –
top name. <a href="http://oldelectric.co.uk/">The Old Electric Shop</a> had the
classic combo of café, art gallery, upcycled furniture and vintage clothes - definitely
a place to go to get inspiration for craft projects. A special mention goes to the Fudge Shop who
make their own delicious fudge and were very helpful too. They recommended the Thursday markets as you
can get really good sourdough bread from there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We did visit the local charity shops too.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Plenty of books obviously, and Neil found
some vinyl to rummage through.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The St
David’s Charity Shop was particularly overpriced, but the rest were fine, even
Oxfam to Neil’s astonishment!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are quite a few pubs in Hay-on-Wye and as we were
staying three nights we managed to visit most of them. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/blueboarhay">The Blue Boar</a> seemed pretty busy doing mainly
food. It was nice to see generations of
a family happy to be having a meal together.
There was also an American couple giving a running commentary of their
trip to everyone in earshot. The <a href="http://www.three-tuns.com/">ThreeTuns</a>, again another pub that specialises in food and in particularly
pizza. They seem to attract a younger clientele
and it made me laugh to see the most sedate middle class hen-do known to man in
the pub. Honestly they were so tame – the
bride wore a classy sash and crown, her friends were dressed in sensible
walking gear and they probably drank a maximum one bottle of wine between them. The Rose and Crown was a very different
affair – it seemed to be the only bar showing sport in Hay and was only ever
busy when there was a match on. It had a
funny smell and the barman looked as if he’d been a roadie in the 1970s. We only had one drink in here, but the music
was the best we had heard in Hay. The
<a href="http://www.kilverts.co.uk/index">Kilvert </a>was particularly quiet too as we were the only ones in there, but I
think that was because it was a Tuesday evening rather than anything else. We did drink in the Old Black Lion too and
they have a nice back room which is lovely to relax in with a glass of wine or
a pint. The locals seemed to hang out at
the local social clubs - the Conservative Club and the Royal British
Legion. However we didn’t go in there as
we were so occupied with the other places. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The other place we ate in was <a href="http://www.haytomatitos.co.uk/">Tomatitos</a>, which is a cracking
little tapas bar. It was very busy and
it’s good to get there early. The tapas
was the best I’ve had for a long time – the chorizo was lovely and tender, the
meatballs were tasty and everything was absolutely spot on. My book fanatic friend really rates this
place too and it comes up as one of the best places to eat in Hay according to
Trip Advisor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hay-on-Wye is a nice place to visit and clearly knows how to
rock its book angle for the tourists like ourselves. What impressed me most about Hay was not the
books, but the place itself. It’s such a
lovely part of the world and whilst the weather was not particularly great
during our visit, we had a good time exploring the place, taking photos and
having really good food. I’d be back
like a shot and if you are ever in this part of the world, you must visit.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Anne-Marie Marshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841069517102281192noreply@blogger.com0Hay-on-Wye, Hereford, Powys HR3, UK52.075697 -3.125907999999981352.0561775 -3.1662484999999814 52.0952165 -3.0855674999999811tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3380610401663313722.post-90244740482376658722015-11-29T15:55:00.002+00:002015-11-29T15:55:45.084+00:00Chepstow, Monmouthshire<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All I knew about <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chepstow">Chepstow </a>was that it had a racecourse and
that’s it. I didn’t know it was in Wales
as its name sounds English, but apparently Chepstow is the English name for the
place.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We took the scenic route along the River Wye from <a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2015/11/monmouth-monmouthshire.html">Monmouth</a> to Chepstow along the A466. It’s only 16
miles, though as it’s a winding road it took much longer than anticipated and
not good for passengers who get travel sick.
The plus points of choosing this route is that it’s pretty and you pass
Tintern Abbey. Sadly we didn’t have time
to stop, but it did look good.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Parking in Chepstow is straightforward as there’s a big car
park behind the main shopping area which costs £1 for 2 hours.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chepstow is quite a compact town and certainly not as busy
as Monmouth, but that could be just the time of day.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The architecture is rather mixed with new
developments amongst the medieval and historic buildings.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the top of the hill there is the Town Gate
which dates from the medieval times and in the car park you can still see the
remains of the Port Wall which used to protect the town.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is also some random street art too with
a surprising statue of a naked man complete with genitals.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Obviously we were here for the charity shops and they didn’t
disappoint. I found the shops were
particularly good for books, especially newly published ones. I picked up the Amy Poehler book “Yes Please”
for a song at £1.50. I’d have bought
more books if I hadn’t already purchased them at full price. I also picked up a practically new clutch bag
for £2.99.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There were some good overheard conversations to be had in
the charity shops and I spent far too much time eavesdropping on them.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One was a lady who was discussing her career
change – she’s so much happier now.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The
other was the concerned grandparents who were hoping their grandson will
finally pass his driving test to improve his job prospects.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I forget, living in a city, how important it
is to drive when you live in the countryside.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s practically a rite of passage to pass a driving test where there’s
very little public transport available.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are a few antique / vintage places in Chepstow and
Neil spent almost an hour trawling through them. He did pick up a good haul of vinyl records
and CDs. I know he’d happily come back here again just for these shops. As a result of this I spent quite a bit of
time looking through the craft shops, exploring the tiny shopping arcades and
taking photos. Damn the traffic in this
town though, as it makes it hard to take photographs of buildings without a blurred
car in shot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Neil noticed the WiFi was particularly good in Chepstow too
and you could get a half decent O2 signal (3G).</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He’s rather obsessed with these things and mobile phone coverage – it’s
possible he may have a social media addiction.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chepstow is definitely a good place to visit in South Wales;
a bit quieter than Monmonth and easier to navigate without getting killed in
the process. We had already eaten but
there are lots of cafes and restaurants to get something nice to eat. If we are ever in the area again, we’d
definitely stop off and have a wander.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Anne-Marie Marshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841069517102281192noreply@blogger.com0Chepstow, Chepstow, Monmouthshire NP16, UK51.641856 -2.673804000000018351.602435 -2.7544850000000185 51.681276999999994 -2.5931230000000181tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3380610401663313722.post-31199471044066574192015-11-08T15:59:00.002+00:002015-11-08T15:59:50.589+00:00Monmouth, Monmouthshire<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Monmouth had been recommended to us as a place to go in
South Wales by a friend who knew about our weakness for visiting towns and
charity shops. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Traveling across South Wales is not like traveling across a
city or between urban conurbations where the roads are straightforward and
speedy. The 33 mile drive took over an
hour from Hay-on-Wye to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monmouth">Monmouth </a>which I couldn’t believe. This was not helped by Neil as he’s not a fan
of winding roads, so I had to take them at sane speeds to avoid that inevitable
phrase “Are we there yet? I feel
sick”. All the same it was a pretty
drive and we took a route along the B4348, A465 and A466. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We parked up in a car park behind the main shops in the town
centre. It was a very busy car park and
people were hovering like vultures trying to nab a spot. We were very lucky to get a parking spot quickly
and paid £1.50 for 3 hours.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Monmouth is a busy town and I’ve never seen so much traffic
pass through one place.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How people cross
the main street without getting hit by a car on a daily basis is a miracle. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This posed problems for me as I wanted to
take photos of the buildings and kept getting random trucks and cars in
shot.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The street was busy too, with old
people, families and tourists.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was
genuinely surprised how popular this place seemed to be.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Given the amount of pubs and places to eat it
seems to be a popular destination for tourists.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Behind the main shops I did spot a gardening shop-cum-café called the
<a href="http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g552009-d7002274-Reviews-The_Potting_Shed_Vintage_Garden_Teas_and_Seasonal_Plants-Monmouth_Monmouthshire_S.html">Potting Shed</a>.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was a nice little quiet
spot where you could enjoy a cup of tea and a slice of cake away from the hubbub
of the town.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Architecturally, Monmouth is a rather pretty mix of rendered
buildings which have evolved over the centuries.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The baroque 18</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> century <a href="http://www.shirehallmonmouth.org.uk/">ShireHall</a> is certainly the star of the town, with its perfectly symmetrical frontage
looking grand and refined overlooking Agincourt Square – it’s clearly well
maintained by the local council.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the
edge of town is the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monnow_Bridge">Monnow Bridge</a> which is the oldest surviving medieval bridge
with a gate house in the UK.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s
certainly worth a look and makes a good photo opportunity as well as a chance
to feed the local ducks who live underneath it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were here for charity shops, and Monmouth did not
disappoint. Neil found a couple of CDs
but managed to get stuck in Mind behind a mum and her screaming child. The child wasn’t impressed with the shop as she
thought it was “smelly”. It wasn’t by
the way, she was just tired and grumpy.
I did have a charity shop regret here as I found a pottery goblet but
didn’t buy it. As we walked around, I
was bugged that I didn’t pick it up, so I went back only to find it had been
sold already. Damn – I never learn!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was impressed that Monmouth had a few craft shops and I
spent some time browsing the fabrics. In
one shop the assistant was upcycling a chair with vivid red chalk paint as it
was a bit of a slow day. Needless to say
I ended up buying more fabric for my stash.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Neil grabbed a bite to eat and had an uninspiring pasty,
whereas I went to Caffe Nero and got a nice latte. It amused me to hear the staff discussing how
well other chains had done over the weekend.
It’s funny to see the competitiveness in the coffee trade. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All in all, Monmouth was definitely a successful trip for us
– pretty, pleasant and some decent charity shops. The only downside was the
traffic and I was certainly happy not to get run over – something from past
experience I wouldn’t recommend. This is
the kind of place you could easily spend a night or two in if you fancied a
short break in this part of the world. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Anne-Marie Marshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841069517102281192noreply@blogger.com1Monmouth, Monmouth NP25, UK51.8116533 -2.716304499999978451.772392800000006 -2.7969854999999786 51.8509138 -2.6356234999999781tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3380610401663313722.post-4001295764231780122015-11-01T14:39:00.000+00:002015-11-01T14:39:23.704+00:00Brecon, Powys<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We took a few days off work and decided to take a road trip
to South Wales as we’d never been together before. We were staying in Hay-on-Wye for three
nights and that provided a great base to explore the surrounding area.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was Bank Holiday Monday and we weren’t too sure whether
any of the surrounding towns would be open.
So we had a look on the map and found <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brecon">Brecon </a>was about 16 miles
away. The plan was if it was closed then
we’d have a drive around the Brecon Beacons.
It took us about half an hour to drive there and we took a route along
the B4350, A479 and A470. We parked up
at Lidl where you get 1.5 hours of parking for free.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On first impression, Brecon seemed like a tidy Welsh town
built on a hill. Whilst the majority of
buildings are modest, often colourfully rendered, there are some fine
architectural buildings. The Greek
revival Brecknock Museum, whilst undergoing renovations, looks really grand
with its imposing columns and sturdy symmetrical design. <a href="http://stmarysbrecon.org.uk/">St Mary’s Church</a> in the centre of town is suitably
old and weathered and has evolved into its current form from the Norman
times. We didn’t see the cathedral as we
explored the town, but if we’d known we’d have visited it too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first thing we did was get some food.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I wasn’t too fussed about getting fish and
chips so Neil decided to get his own from a nearby chippy.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It took an age for Neil to get served, but it
was worth the wait.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I sampled one of his
chips and they were the best chippy chips I have ever had.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My intentions to eat something healthier went
straight out the window and I bought myself a portion of chips - they were
heaven.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Often chippy chips smell nicer
than they taste and are soggy.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However these
were proper crispy and so fluffy inside - chippy must double fry them.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The chippy’s name is Coracle Fish Bar and,
although it does get very mixed reviews on Trip Advisor, the chips are
fantastic.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fortified with chips, we explored Brecon. Even though it was a Bank Holiday most of the
shops were open. The charity shops
weren’t that exciting to be honest and that’s possibly because there is an overpriced
antique shop in town picking up the best stuff.
To be truthful it’s a bit of a stretch to call it an antique shop as to
me it seemed like a vintage shop. I do
think in recent times there has been a blurring of lines between what is
considered antique (rare old stuff that people want) and what is classed as
vintage (old stuff).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There was a Fairy Fair going on off one of the side
streets. We didn’t know what to expect
so we peaked in. It was all a bit odd
and hippyish. There was some bloke
giving a talk and we couldn’t get through to the stalls as the place was very
crowded with people watching him speak.
So we made a swift exit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Surprisingly the indoor market was open and we popped
in. It’s one of those traditional indoor
markets with some permanent stalls as you walk in and a big space full of trestle
tables for the temporary stalls. If you
wanted carpets this was the place to go as it was full of them. Otherwise we found people selling cheap stuff
you normally find at traditional markets.
Although if you are visiting it’s worth checking out what’s on at the
markets as they do have a monthly farmers market as well as host craft and
antiques fairs. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before we left we nipped into a sweet shop to buy some ice
cream. However we were stuck in a queue
for ages as there were two indecisive Irish ladies trying every type of fudge
as they were buying holiday gifts for their families. Thankfully the shop assistant managed to serve
us between a bout of indecisiveness. It
was worth the wait though as it was nice Welsh made ice cream. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whilst Brecon didn’t strike me as a touristy place, more of
a down-to-earth town serving its local community - it was a nice place to stop
off and spend a couple of hours exploring.
Bank holiday probably wasn’t the best time to go, but we did get to see
most things and I got dog envy seeing all the cute pooches in town. If I was ever in that neck of the woods again
I would definitely stop off to try the chips as they were brill.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Anne-Marie Marshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841069517102281192noreply@blogger.com0Brecon, Brecon, Powys LD3, UK51.9489469 -3.391462999999930651.9097999 -3.4721439999999308 51.9880939 -3.3107819999999304tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3380610401663313722.post-7921309161681597082015-10-18T14:49:00.000+01:002015-10-18T14:49:14.945+01:00Morley, West Yorkshire<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Following a recommendation, we went to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morley,_West_Yorkshire">Morley </a>in West
Yorkshire. It is a suburb of <a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2013/09/leeds.html">Leeds</a>, on
the south side of the city, so very easy to get to from the M62 - just exit
junction 27 and follow the signs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Driving into Morley, I noticed there was a new leisure
centre, a concrete skate park and a newish play area with space nets. To be honest the space nets impressed me
most. Ever since my days working on
council play areas, I’ve always had a soft spot for space nets as they look
great and have a hint of danger. Perfect
for a play area in my books as lots of playgrounds nowadays are really safety
conscious and have become really dull places.
I was brought up in the 1970s where every playground had at least one piece
of equipment with health and safety disaster written all over it that was so
much fun to play on. How I managed not
to break a bone on one of these things was a miracle – OK, I did chip a tooth
and split my knees open on countless occasions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Morrisons car park is the most convenient place to park, as
it’s behind the main shopping area and you can park for free for three hours.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Morley can be classed as a suburban northern town, a feeder
town to the nearby city close by, but distinctive enough to retain its
identity. It’s a down to earth, working
class town – pensioners with hard worn faces, cash strapped teenagers hanging
out with mates and frazzled parents tussling with errant children. Having explored some other West Yorkshire
towns recently, Morley isn’t as down at heel as <a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2015/08/dewsbury-west-yorkshire.html">Dewsbury </a>and <a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2015/08/batley-west-yorkshire.html">Batley</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Morley Town Hall is the most impressive building in town. Built
in the 19<sup>th</sup> century, it was inspired by Roman architecture complete with
Corinthian columns built from Yorkshire stone.
The majority of the buildings in town tend to be boxy Yorkshire stone
buildings built in the Victorian and Edwardian periods. Surprisingly we found a statue of Ernie Wise
in town – we had no idea he had a connection to Morley! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The main shopping area in Morley is pedestrianised and there
is a tiny concrete precinct that leads to Morrisons supermarket.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The precinct is not very exciting and the
most popular feature was the gorgeous bear type dog sitting with its
owner.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The dog was practically a deity
with locals paying homage by stroking its sumptuous fur.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It took a significant amount of self-control
not to do it myself.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the main pedestrianised street there was a choir busking
to 90s dance tracks. I know I should
appreciate the hard work they put in to learning these songs, but I wasn’t
keen. The arrangements were a bit odd
and the pianist sounded a bit inexperienced.
Maybe if it had been 80s songs I would have appreciated them more. Still I wanted to punch the air when they
finished. In my defence I was traumatised
by my experience singing in the school choir as a teenager - I find it
difficult to listen to choirs without experiencing some sweat inducing
flashback. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There’s also an indoor market in Morley.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s a bit of a maze with no natural light,
but it is well maintained with a good selection of stock and popular with
locals.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I liked the fact it had a good
stationery stall as I have a weakness for paper based products and pens.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Further up the road, there was a table top sale going on in
the back of a furniture shop. Even
though the sale was due to close there were still lots of people browsing. It was more like a community event and people
were catching up with each other whilst grabbing a brew at the café. I think it was a cunning ploy by the
furniture shop to get people in to see the furniture. It was one of those furniture shops that is
aimed at older people, stocking sensible biscuit coloured furniture, which are
not too low down so OAPs are still able to get up without help.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One thing is for certain, there are lots of charity shops in
Morley, although one thing missing was a decent second hand book section.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Normally Oxfam covers that particular base,
but due to a staff shortage they weren’t open.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Neil had a very good day picking up vinyl records and also found a
“Question of Pop” board game too.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In one
shop a young volunteer was discussing his ‘A’ Level results – he got a D in
Chemistry.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My eyes used to glaze over in
chemistry with the periodic table - I took physics instead.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not the best choice as it turned out because
I was taught by a psychotic teacher who hated teaching.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The lad in the shop was considering studying
at Huddersfield University.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I just
wanted to say to the lad, “Spread your wings – go further afield.”</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was lucky when I was a student as I
received a full grant, rather than now where you have to pay £9k per year for
the privilege.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had no expectations of Morley and as a result I was pleasantly
surprised. There are lots of towns in
West Yorkshire struggling these days, but Morley seems to be coping. Morley is by no means a tourist destination,
but it’s alright and does its job. Obviously
nearby Leeds is the main attraction in this part of the world, but as a random
trip to check out the charity shops, Morley is a good option.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Anne-Marie Marshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841069517102281192noreply@blogger.com0Morley, West Yorkshire, UK53.744513 -1.598044999999956453.669382999999996 -1.7594064999999564 53.819643 -1.4366834999999565tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3380610401663313722.post-12136810056652473262015-10-11T14:55:00.001+01:002015-10-11T14:55:56.449+01:00Bradford, West Yorkshire<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first time I went to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradford">Bradford </a>was on a Saturday in the
1970s, driven by my Dad in a mustard yellow van. Bizarrely he wanted to show Bradford to me
and my brother as it had a large Asian community and looked so different to
other places – apparently the advertising hoardings were even in Arabic. As we lived in <a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2015/05/cheetham-hill-manchester-2015-update.html">Cheetham Hill </a>at the time, my brother
and I were well versed in multiculturalism so it wasn’t a big deal. However I think my Dad was having a culture
shock moment and was fascinated by it all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We’d already visited some of Bradford’s suburbs for the blog
including <a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2014/04/shipley-west-yorkshire.html">Shipley</a>, <a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2014/05/saltaire-west-yorkshire.html">Saltaire </a>and <a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2013/01/keighley.html">Keighley</a>, but never quite got around to the
city. Having had a drunken conversation
at a “do” recently with someone who works in Bradford, I knew I had to go and
see it for myself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Getting to Bradford from Manchester is straightforward –
M60, M62, exit junction 26 onto the M606, exit junction 3 onto the A6177 and
headed down the hill towards the city centre.
I had no idea where to park, so when we got to the city centre we parked
at the NCP on Hall Ings Road and paid £6 for 3 hours parking. The place was less than a quarter full so you’d
think they would do a weekend rate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Two things hit you when you walk into Bradford: the
architecture and the people.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Firstly there is the City Hall, which is one of those
wonderfully impressive gothic Victorian civic buildings, built at the height of
its economic success in the 19<sup>th</sup> century. As it was a Saturday I wasn’t sure if I could
go in to check out the inside, but given there were lots of people outside in
fancy outfits, no doubt this place is busy at the weekends with weddings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Outside the City Hall there was a big family event happening
and the place was packed full of people.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The kids were trying out all the activities like trampolining and climbing
on a mobile climbing wall, although one of the most popular was kids playing
with large cardboard boxes.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kids are
like cats in many ways as you can buy them something nice, but they will have
more fun playing with the packaging it came in.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wandering through Bradford, it’s always good to look up and
see the fine architecture. If you look
at the shop fronts you will find many of them are rough and ready, but looking
up you will see what fine buildings they are.
It would have been interesting to see these buildings in their heyday,
although you can tell many of these buildings have been cleaned up over the
years - there are vast swathes of pigeon-proof netting protecting the buildings
from bird poop.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The <a href="http://www.bradford-theatres.co.uk/venues/the-alhambra-theatre">Alhambra Theatre</a> is another building of note in
Bradford. You can’t miss it with its
domes and columns – I don’t think I’ve ever seen a theatre like this. The white and blue colour scheme just makes
the place pop out against the surrounding Yorkshire stone buildings. I wonder if the inside of the theatre is as
distinctive as the outside?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another thing you will notice walking around Bradford is that
it is built on a hill.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You almost have
to invest in sturdy walking boots to hike up the steep hills.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’d been told there is a new development
happening in Bradford where they were renovating the tunnels into shops and
bars.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I tried to find them, but I
believe at the time it hadn’t opened.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I
think they are supposed to be focusing on getting new and young businesses into
the area.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The shops in Bradford are not that exciting – your usual
high street names. We did manage to find
a side street with some independent bars and shops, which seemed to be looking
at the Northern Quarter in Manchester for inspiration. There was one place that did beer and vinyl
records, which sounds like the perfect combination.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As with most northern towns, there is a market hall. Sadly it wasn’t the most exciting of places
as many of the stalls had closed down and the others that remained open were
selling the usual market stall fodder. I
do think if the market hall had more light and was redecorated it might attract
more people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We obviously checked out all the charity shops and they were
probably some of the busiest places in the city centre.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whilst most were not that exciting Neil
managed to find some vinyl records.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My
favourite shop was the Oxfam which had a great bookshop on the first
floor.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The good thing about Bradford being
a university town is that you do get a better quality charity bookshop.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I ended up buying a Mitford Sisters book as I
started reading it when Neil decided to go through their large music section.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We grabbed some fish and chips at “The In Plaice” (terrible
pun I know) opposite the City Hall. The
food was fine and it seemed to be really popular with the locals. We also grabbed a 99 cone at an ice cream van
that was doing brisk trade at the family fun day. We had tried getting an ice cream at an ice
cream and milk shake place, but they were giving us the hard sell (it’s ice
cream for goodness sake!) and we left.
Sometimes a nice Mr Whippy is all you need, rather than a vast selection
of ice cream that often looks better than it taste.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you visit Bradford, a visit to the <a href="http://www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/">National Media Museum</a>
is a must, especially if you have kids.
Neil has an interest in old TV programmes and so when he saw all the BBC
stuff, he took lots of pictures. It’s
quite a dark museum with all the audio-visual exhibits which could be a bit
claustrophobic at times. Obviously, as with
all museums these days, they had a good café and gift shop. However, my favourite exhibit was the
computer section. In the floor they had
a glass display of the timeline of personal computers. My only disappointment with the display was
that they didn’t include a Commodore 64, which was my brother’s first
computer. Honestly it was THE personal
computer of the 1980s – the gaming industry was started through that machine. It
really is amazing how computers have transformed our lives over the past 30
years, and I don’t think we really appreciate how radical their impact has
been.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the beginning, I mentioned the two things you notice
about Bradford are the architecture and the people.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bradford is a deprived city and much of this
deprivation is written across the faces of the people who live here.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the family fun day there was a massive
turn out and when I started looking at the people I realised there was a big
turn out as the event was free.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There
were families who were clearly on benefits and this was all they could afford
to do with their kids.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There were many people
who were of indeterminate ages as they looked old, but dressed younger than they
looked - some hard lives have been lived here.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was genuinely surprised not to find as many Asian people in the city
centre as I’d expected.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It had been Eid,
so possibly people were with their families at home.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However it’s possible that many keep to the
suburbs, as I’ve been told there are many thriving shopping areas that cater
for the community outside of the city centre.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bradford was an experience and certainly one of the most
deprived city centres I’d been to in a long time, despite the regeneration that
has gone on. There is so much to do and I
can understand why people I know who work in the city are keen to see it
flourish. I do hope the new development
with the tunnels gets off the ground and triggers some much needed economic
growth. Having been to <a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2013/09/leeds.html">Leeds </a>I do understand how people and money tends to
gravitate there rather Bradford, which is a real shame as there is potential. Fingers crossed that the good people of
Bradford have the energy and motivation to make great things happen here in
these trying times.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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Anne-Marie Marshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841069517102281192noreply@blogger.com0Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK53.795984 -1.759398000000032953.6459245 -2.0821215000000328 53.946043499999995 -1.4366745000000329tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3380610401663313722.post-46490768010820019272015-10-04T15:09:00.002+01:002015-10-04T15:12:44.058+01:00Shrewsbury, Shropshire<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’d been to Shrewsbury numerous times in the 1990s to visit
a friend, but this was the first time I’d ever been there sober and without a
hangover. This time our trip to Shrewsbury was a pit stop on our way back to
Manchester to grab a bite to eat and stretch our legs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We parked in St Julian’s Friars car park on the edge of town. It was £2.70 for 3 hours – as you would
expect for a busy town. I believe in the
winter time these car parks are allowed to flood as the River Severn flows
through the town.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I learnt with <a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2015/09/ludlow-shropshire.html">Ludlow</a>, Castle equals hill, and so it was with
Shrewsbury. Needless to say, if you
struggle with walking, Shrewsbury can be problematic on that score.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you like historical cities like York or <a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2013/07/chester.html">Chester</a>, then you
will love Shrewsbury. Although
technically Shrewsbury isn’t a city, but a town, which is surprising given its
long history. Shrewsbury is packed full
of gorgeous architecture and you just can’t help yourself from taking photo
after photo. You can practically tick
off the history of British architecture in this town – medieval sandstone
castle, Tudor black and white buildings are littered across the town like
confetti, Georgian buildings to 20<sup>th</sup> centre shopping precincts. Even
the railway station looks grand like a Victorian castle. Getting planning permission in this town must
be a nightmare, but it does look really good for tight planning controls. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We grabbed a bite to eat at a little sandwich shop in the
town centre.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I opted for the spinach and
mushroom roll as I was getting fed up of eating meat at every meal whilst we
were on this trip. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We had to eat in a
nearby alley way as it was a miserable wet Monday afternoon.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was nice despite the surroundings.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the end, to get warm we ended up
sheltering in Patisserie Valerie for a cake and a coffee.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Shopping in Shrewsbury is quite a middle class affair with
lots Cath Kitson inspired designs, Farrow and Ball paint palette adorning the
shops and Annie Soan chalk paint finishes everywhere. It has a good mix of specialist independent and
classy high street shops like L’Octane, which you’d normally find in the posh
parts of cities. Lifestyle shops are
everywhere in Shrewsbury, so if you are looking for something bespoke or
handmade this is the place for you. If
you are a big fan of stationery shops like myself, then definitely pop into <a href="http://www.writeherekitenow.co.uk/">Write Here</a>. What did make me jealous were all
the classy looking spa places. In
Manchester you normally find spa places in overpriced hotels, dodgy looking
places above shops or beauty salons doing groupon offers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Shrewsbury is a must for charity shop addicts and there were
plenty in the town to rifle through. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Many
of them sell decent stuff and if you are looking for furniture to upcycle this
is a good place to go. My favourite shop was Oxfam Books, because when </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Neil had left me for dust as he’d found a pile
of records to rummage through, I found a copy of the book I was currently
reading and started reading it from the place I was up to.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I know it was very cheeky, but what can you
do when you’re a vinyl record widow?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was weird wandering the streets sober as there are lots
of lovely old pubs here which make for a good night out. As I was walking through the town I was
having flashbacks to drunken times in the 1990s. I recollected the time when me and my friends
spent hours in a narrow pub fleecing the general knowledge quiz machine with
our collective knowledge. When I went to
Shrewsbury Castle for a Folk Festival and discovered Folk music wasn’t for me –
I still haven’t forgiven my friend for making me go. Then there was the Buttermarket night club which
did club nights for over 25s – meat market is one phrase to describe it. I even remembered the taxi rank shop where I
got hiccups and couldn’t stop until I fell asleep. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’d forgotten what a fab place Shrewsbury is to visit for a
day out or better still for a weekend break.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s interesting how differently you perceive a place to be in your 40s
compared to your 20s. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I found I was
spotting things I didn’t realise were there the first time I’d visited. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Shame the weather wasn’t so great and we didn’t
have much time, but Shrewsbury is an absolute gem of a place and worth a visit.</span></div>
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Anne-Marie Marshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841069517102281192noreply@blogger.com0Shrewsbury, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK52.707302899999988 -2.755326800000034452.63035039999999 -2.9166883000000343 52.784255399999985 -2.5939653000000344tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3380610401663313722.post-37903663291724427992015-09-20T13:46:00.000+01:002015-09-20T13:46:36.224+01:00Worcester, Worcestershire<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were meant to go to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leominster">Leominster </a>(pronounced Lemster by
the locals), just a 25 minute drive from <a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2015/09/ludlow-shropshire.html">Ludlow</a>, but when we got there it was
closed as it was a Sunday. Therefore we
just popped into to a Wetherspoons and had a very functional Sunday lunch. Our plans were pretty much scuppered, so
after a quick look on Google maps, I found <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worcester">Worcester </a>was a 45 minute drive away
(A44).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The drive to Worcester was quite eventful for all the wrong
reasons. Firstly we were running low on
petrol and the petrol station in Leominster had run out of unleaded petrol. We had no idea where we could get petrol and
hoped that we had enough to take us to Worcester. So I decided to drive at a sensible speed and
turn off the air-con to Worcester to conserve petrol, which is a complete
anathema to me. Thankfully there was a
petrol station Bromyard, so crisis was averted and I could drive at my usual just-legal
speed. The other event was the terrible
thunderstorm we had to drive through.
The rain was so heavy the road was a grey blur and the windscreen wipers
were at warp speed. When the rain had
cleared up, it was so warm you still couldn’t see the road as it was
steaming. By the time we got to
Worcester I was soaked through with sweat and could have drunk a pint of gin
and tonic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We parked at the multi-storey at Crowngate shopping centre
and as it was a Sunday it was just £1 for the day.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The centre of Worcester is pedestrianised so
that helps to make shopping a little more pleasant.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The shops in Worcester are typically
mainstream and just what you would expect in a city centre.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However when you get off the beaten track it
gets more interesting with independent shops and intriguing places to eat and
drink.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On a Sunday, charity shop opening hours can become a bit hit
and miss as they rely on volunteers.
Thankfully in Worcester many of the charity shops were open. <a href="http://www.strichards.org.uk/">St Richard’s Hospice</a> shop on St Swithins
Street was a particular gem, as not only did it have a community café but also
had an excellent book section with two older ladies busily processing
stock. I love a good second hand book
shop and I could have spent a good hour browsing its shelves. I’m sure having a university nearby helps
boost the diversity of the books in this place.
They also stock vinyl which was a great distraction for Neil.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you like architecture then Worcester is a great place to
visit as there is a lot to see: Tudor – check; Georgian – check; Medieval –
check; and even 60s brutalist – it’s got it all. Visually it’s an interesting
place and, maybe it’s just me, but I did find some of the architecture
reminiscent of parts of central London.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This place would definitely make a fine film location.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We really didn’t know what to expect when we came to
Worcester.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sometimes the Midlands conjures
up image of 60’s concrete shopping precincts and whilst Worcester does have a tiny
bit of that, it’s packed full of centuries of architecture which is a delight. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All in all, I definitely want to come back
here again, as not only is it a pleasant place to visit but also I reckon you
could have a good night out here with the amount of bars and restaurants we
found.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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Anne-Marie Marshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841069517102281192noreply@blogger.com0Worcester, Worcester, UK52.193636 -2.2215750000000352.1157725 -2.3829365000000298 52.2714995 -2.06021350000003tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3380610401663313722.post-8922681781965120192015-09-06T22:27:00.001+01:002015-09-06T22:27:40.964+01:00Ludlow, Shropshire<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were meant to go to Hay-on-Wye for a couple of days but
couldn’t get booked in anywhere, so I looked at the map and spotted <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludlow">Ludlow</a>. There
were two things I knew about Ludlow – one, it has a castle and two, it has a
reputation for good food. I thought we might as well give it a go just for the
food. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Getting to Ludlow requires a bit of a trek on the A roads as
there is no direct motorway route to the area.
So after having a pit stop in <a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2015/08/whitchurch-shropshire.html">Whitchurch</a>, we continued on the A49,
zooming past Shrewsbury and onto Ludlow.
It seemed to take forever, but our patience was rewarded with a nice
cottage in a lovely country town.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We’d booked a cottage called <a href="http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g186367-d600447-Reviews-Bromley_Court_B_B-Ludlow_Shropshire_England.html">Bromley Court</a> for a couple of
nights. It was a mini cottage as the
building had been split into two apartments of sorts. Our apartment had a kitchenette and lounge,
with stairs to a roomy bedroom and bathroom.
It had low beams and as we’re both tall we had to be careful not to
knock ourselves out. The kitchenette
didn’t have a cooker, but had everything else so you could make sandwiches and drinks,
and the owner of the apartment supplied a continental breakfast which was very
handy. It had on-street parking outside
and made a great base to explore Ludlow and Shropshire. It was really good that we could have cottage
style accommodation without having to book it for a full week. Our favourite things about the place were the
owner’s two cats. Ceefer, a big black
cat, was very friendly towards us and allowed us to stroke him. Ellie, the female cat, was shyer but very
cute and didn’t get on well with Ceefer.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ludlow is rather hilly, but I should have guessed this
beforehand as it has a castle and they are normally built on hills.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We had to practically hike up the hill to get
to the town centre as it was that steep.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The town itself is a rather lovely country town with lots of “oldie
worldie” buildings you would expect to find in that chocolate box version of
England.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lots of black and white
buildings and a hodgepodge of architectural styles which shows the evolution of
the town.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Every nook and cranny of this
town is packed full of places to explore.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You do have to be careful not to get hit by a car though as the
pavements are narrow and often it’s easier to walk on the roads.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are plenty of little independent shops in Ludlow and I
was particularly pleased to find <a href="https://www.facebook.com/abodeinteriorsludlow">Abode</a>, an interior design retailer. It sells lots of lovely items for the home
and most importantly is an Annie Sloan’s paint stockist, so I was able to stock
up on paint for a DIY project. Just off
the main street Neil managed to find a record shop called <a href="http://modlanguk.com/">Mod Lang</a> in a side
alley. They stocked lots of second hand
vinyl records and to say Neil was in his element was an understatement. I lost him for about an hour as he worked his
way through the 7” singles.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are plenty of pubs to try out in Ludlow. Some of them are fancy, with equally fancy
prices. Others cater for the passing tourist
trade. The Rose and Crown is a lovely
little place tucked away in a little courtyard. Bizarrely one pub called Ye
Olde Bull Ring Tavern holds a bingo night on Sunday nights for the locals. I’ve never seen a pub so full and yet so
quiet that you could hear a pin drop. We
had to practically whisper our order to the bar person. Thankfully there was a beer garden out the
back, so we could at least talk to each other.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The weekend we were in Ludlow was the final weekend of the
</span><a href="http://ludlowfringe.co.uk/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ludlow Fringe Festival</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Part of the festival
was a folk event at Ludlow Castle and there were rumours that Robert Plant, yes
the same one who sang with the rock behemoth Led Zeppelin, was guesting at the
festival.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However after listening to
some of the music you could hear outside the castle walls, we knew this wasn’t
the kind of festival for us.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Folk music
certainly isn’t for me – having been forced to go to a folk gig in the 1990s by
friends – I could not be persuaded to go.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It did turn out that he made a guest appearance at the festival, about 10.50pm
when quite a few of the festival goers had left to relieve their
babysitters.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At this point we had gone
to the Church Inn for last orders.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Still
there was no amount of drink you could have given me to sit through the 5 hours
of folk music preceding his appearance.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ludlow on a Saturday night is a genteel affair, with older
people frequenting the pubs, and teenagers drinking and chatting with friends
outside the castle walls. A group of
teenage girls joined up with a group of lads and they shamelessly told them “we
weren’t going to talk to you if you didn’t have wine”. At one point there was a bit of drama when a
middle aged lady in floods of tears was escorted from the folk festival by her
friends. Apparently she was upset over
her divorce. Another older gentlemen was
complaining to his companion that he felt “obsolete”. This was better than an episode of Eastenders
- well most things are these days. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We went to two food places in
Ludlow – The Church Inn and </span><a href="http://www.thailudlow.co.uk/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chang Thai</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Church Inn specialises in pies, so Neil was rather excited about
this prospect.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They did a wide selection
of pies, but by the time we ordered, many of the pies had sold out.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the end what we had was fine, but we were
disappointed their pies were of the puff pastry lid variety.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We’ve been spoilt in the past with full
pastry pies from the likes of Pieminister, so puff pastry lid pies no longer
cut it for us.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the other hand the
Chang Thai was a delightful experience and we enjoyed their food
thoroughly.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I find Thai food a safe
option these days as you can’t go too badly wrong with it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Obviously we checked out all the
charity shops and I was pleased to find out this middle class town wasn’t
ashamed of them. The town had developed
a charity shop trail complete with map.
Neil didn’t find any vinyl records to his tastes in the charity shops,
but that was fine as he’d found lots in the record shop. The good thing to note about Ludlow is that
most of the charity shops are open on Sunday too. Visiting towns on a Sunday can be a hit and
miss affair with shop openings, but on the whole Ludlow is open.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were genuinely surprised to
find out how lovely Ludlow was and were pleased with our accommodation too. There is plenty on offer in this town and the
surrounding areas. It’s worth checking
out what’s on at the art centre or when the next festival is on, as they have
lots of different events throughout the year.
It’s great to see the locals are really passionate about this town and work
hard to keep the place interesting and vibrant. We’ll definitely come back
again.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Anne-Marie Marshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841069517102281192noreply@blogger.com0Ludlow, Ludlow, Shropshire SY8, UK52.367749 -2.713912899999968452.328971 -2.7945938999999687 52.406527000000004 -2.6332318999999682tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3380610401663313722.post-25994450636983760952015-08-23T14:25:00.003+01:002015-08-23T14:25:57.221+01:00Whitchurch, Shropshire<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We’re taking a detour for a few weeks and resurrecting Life
in Midlands Towns – our first stop is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitchurch,_Shropshire">Whitchurch </a>in Shropshire.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’d been meaning to go to Whitchurch over the years as many
of our road trips have taken us through Cheshire, just over the border, but
none of the roads ever led through Whitchurch.
As we were going to Ludlow for a couple of days, I made sure our route
took us through Whitchurch so we could stop off and have lunch.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Getting to Whitchurch means getting on the M62, M6, M56,
exit junction 10 onto the A49 and keep on going until the B5476 which takes you
into Whitchurch. There is another route
that takes you by Chester which is 5 minutes quicker but 10 miles longer. As I spend far too much time on the motorways
these days, I opted for the pretty route instead.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We took advantage of 2 hours free parking in Iceland’s car park
on the edge of town.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s only a short
walk into Whitchurch town centre so it was fine.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My first impression was that it’s a bit like <a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2013/02/cards-on-table-i-love-nantwich.html">Nantwich</a>, but
with less people. It’s a pretty little
place with nice architecture including some black and white buildings (the
Natwest looks really good) and lots of Farrow and Ball neutral paints going on
with a touch of Cath Kidson in the décor.
It is one of those places that looks typically English, and tourists
like to visit, although I don’t really think that many tourists have found
Whitchurch, sadly. Interestingly,
Whitchurch has a new Civic Centre built from wood and brick, and whilst it
doesn’t blend in with the rest of the town, I like it a lot as it is both
refreshingly modern and sympathetic to the existing architecture. Gold stars for town planning there!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are quite a few independent shops and pubs in
Whitchurch, but it was sad to see quite a few had closed down too.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I guess that’s partly due to the location,
which is miles from the nearest motorway and large populations that you’d find
in big towns and cities.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the upside
there is still an independent book shop in town, which is always a positive
sign although the name “Bookshrop” is a bad pun in my world.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was great to see in the centre of town
there was a farmer’s market.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If we had
been going home from our trip, rather than heading off on one, I would have bought
a car boot full load of food as it looked so tasty.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We did a tour of the charity shops, naturally. One shop we noticed was going all-out vintage,
which I like to see as it makes a change from the standard charity shops. However Neil didn’t find much, but Whitchurch
didn’t strike me as a music town. On the
other hand I picked up a copy of Tony Parsons’ “The Murder Bag”. Normally I’m don’t read Tony Parsons as I
tend to read crime fiction, though I hadn’t realised he’d started to write crime
fiction now too. I have to say it was a
good effort although the ending tailed off a bit. It was a gripping read though and it only
took me three days to finish. For a
first crime novel it was a great start and I look forward to reading more of
his crime books. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We did find a slightly rambling antique centre in Whitchurch
and I always love browsing these places.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was definitely more vintage than antique – honestly who will buy a
cross stitch picture for £25 when you can find them for £3 in charity shops?</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That said, it was nice enough and you can
also pick up some chalk paint there (not the Annie Sloan’s stuff though).</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was a bit more interested in eavesdropping
on a conversation where a young lad was talking about what he’ll do when he
finishes his apprenticeship.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He plans to
go to America, so I guess he must be doing some sort of engineering
apprenticeship, as I can’t imagine an admin one will take you that far outside
the borders of Shropshire.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We did find something to eat at the local chip shop called
Chester’s on Green End. It was busy and
the food was nice. I had fish and chips and Neil had a battered
burger. In all honesty, battered burger doesn’t
float my boat, but Neil always has to order them when he sees them on the menu –
I’m sure this is a Cheshire / Shropshire
thing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We couldn’t stay too long as we had to get to Ludlow, but I
was really pleased we’d finally made it to Whitchurch.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s one of those places that gets overlooked
as it’s in the middle of nowhere and a chore to get to.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We’ve been to other northern Shropshire towns
like </span><a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2013/03/market-drayton.html" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Market Drayton</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and </span><a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2013/02/oswestry.html" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oswestry </a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">over the years and it seems Whitchurch has
suffered like them from the recession.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is a nice little place to visit and the locals are really making an
effort to make this place somewhere pleasant to come.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So if you are planning a trip to Shropshire,
try to stop in Whitchurch for a bite to eat, but don’t blame me if you get
stuck behind tractors on the way!</span></div>
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Anne-Marie Marshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841069517102281192noreply@blogger.com0Whitchurch, Whitchurch, Shropshire SY13, UK52.968716 -2.682045000000016452.930465 -2.7627260000000167 53.006967 -2.6013640000000162tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3380610401663313722.post-88394461432176039042015-08-16T13:42:00.000+01:002015-08-16T13:42:10.831+01:00Batley, West Yorkshire<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batley">Batley </a>is just a short drive from <a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2015/08/dewsbury-west-yorkshire.html">Dewsbury</a>. To be honest, the drive into Batley is rather
industrial and down at heel, so my hopes about the place had slid down several
notches. It has a <a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2013/06/blackpool.html">Blackpool </a>feel with
large, almost industrial sized night clubs on the edge of town, but without the
sea, the illuminations and the crowds.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We parked up behind the main town centre in a small free car
park. You can also get parked in the Tesco
car park which is just behind the main street, running through Batley town
centre.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Compared to Dewsbury, Batley was pretty much devoid of
people and there might as well have been tumbleweed rolling through the town,
it was that quiet. It is clear that some
regeneration money has been spent on the main thoroughfare through Batley as it
looks neat and tidy, although there are still some empty shops along here. There is a tiny little precinct near Tesco,
but there were no shops open there and it had a funny smell as it has lain
dormant for some time. We did spot a
couple of places that had taken some inspiration from thriving towns like
<a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2010/10/holmfirth.html">Holmfirth </a>and <a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2014/05/saltaire-west-yorkshire.html">Saltaire</a>. They were making the effort to look classy with Farrow
and Ball style neutral paint schemes and vintage decor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There were a few charity shops and we bobbed in and out of
them to pass the time.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However there
wasn’t much to find for either myself (books) or Neil (records), though I quite
liked the charity shop which specialised in furniture – definitely a place to
find stuff to re-upholster.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I did get
the impression they were waiting for us to leave so they could close for the
day – you can’t blame them as it must have been a really slow day for them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In all fairness, Batley town centre has some nice
architecture going on with several impressive buildings made from sturdy Yorkshire
stone buildings. The Town Hall and the
nearby Methodist Chapel look pretty fine, and up the hill there is a well-manicured
municipal garden. However, the place I
did really take a shine to was Batley Library, which was originally funded by
the philanthropist Carnegie. As we had
nothing better to do, we took a stroll through the library and art
gallery. This was where all the people in
Batley were hanging out. I think the
lure of free Internet access on a gloomy Saturday afternoon was the main explanation. We had a potter through the upstairs art
gallery – it was hosting an exhibition by local artists. We did think we might find a picture of the
singer/musician <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Palmer_(singer)">Robert Palmer</a>, as he was originally from Batley, but there was
nothing to be found.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One thing is for sure, you will be never short of a drink in
Batley.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The place is full of pubs and
night clubs – many of them scary-looking.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the weird and wonderful world of 1960s and 1970s UK variety, Batley
holds a bizarre place as being one of the top places for world famous acts to
perform.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can hardly believe that
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batley_Variety_Club">Batley Variety Club</a> saw the likes of Shirley Bassey, Tom Jones and Tina Turner
perform on stage.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nowadays the club is
called The Frontier, but it still looks like a throwback to the 1970s.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In all honesty I’d be half interested to go
in and see what it looks like now as I hear it hasn’t changed much over the
years.</span></div>
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<a href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/bf/ff/bd/bfffbdc1796e3d93a4946620bd72f5c0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/bf/ff/bd/bfffbdc1796e3d93a4946620bd72f5c0.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To cheer ourselves up, as it was getting a little
depressing, we thought we’d get some ice cream.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However we couldn’t find anything in the local shops and in the end we
bought some from the local garage at the edge of town.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We thought our trip to Batley was over, but on the drive out
of town we spotted a mill called <a href="http://www.redbrickmill.co.uk/">Redbrick</a>
and thought we might as well pop in. It
was such a pleasant surprise. It’s a
discount outlet for a number of classy shops like Heal’s, BoConcept and Kelly
Hoppen to name but a few. My brother
would love this place as he’s fond of interior design. Even though it is a discount outlet it’s
still pricey, but a great place to get some interior design inspiration. The little cafes looked good too with
homemade cakes and I bet they do the best business in the place. Apparently there is another discount outlet
up the road called <a href="http://www.themillbatley.com/">The Mill Outlet</a>, which is a bigger draw for Batley. We somehow managed to miss it completely, but
I think it was due to the road system.
Looking online the Mill Outlet does appear to be more like Boundary Mill
in Colne, which is more aimed at older people.
Whereas Redbrick Mill seems to be aiming more at the Saltaire Salt Mill
market.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Batley, well what can I say?
You’re now ticked off my Yorkshire list for starters. There is some good
architecture going on, but maybe we should have gone there earlier as we may
have seen more people about. This place
isn’t really day trip material, unless it’s for a retail trip to the local mill
outlets or going on a retro style stag do.
I really can’t say I’ll be back in a hurry, but sometimes you’ve just
got to go to places and find out what they are about as you never know what you
will find.</span></div>
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Anne-Marie Marshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841069517102281192noreply@blogger.com0Batley, West Yorkshire, UK53.717028 -1.635083000000008753.6794435 -1.7157640000000087 53.7546125 -1.5544020000000087tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3380610401663313722.post-63653853060710026882015-08-02T15:09:00.001+01:002015-08-02T15:16:22.840+01:00Dewsbury, West Yorkshire<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After <a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2015/07/wakefield-west-yorkshire.html">Wakefield</a>, I got a taste for going back to Yorkshire.
The only problem was that we’ve been to lots of places in Yorkshire over the
years and have visited most of the classy places. It was time to bite the bullet and visit some
of the more down-to-earth places.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dewsbury">Dewsbury </a>has been hitting the headlines over the years for
all the wrong reasons. Part of me was
curious to see what kind of place it was and part of me chose it as it’s less
than an hour’s drive from Manchester.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Getting to Dewsbury is straightforward – M60 (be patient
with the 50 mph speed limit at the moment), M62, exit Junction 25, take a right
onto the A644 and try to take the correct turns at the three roundabouts you
have to do to get to Dewsbury. We
managed to get parked in a tiny car park opposite the bus station – it cost £1
for 3 hours.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My first impression was that it’s quite hilly and there are
a lot of taxis in Dewsbury.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As we headed
towards the shops it became evident that Dewsbury had seen better days.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There were lots of empty shops and the ones
which were open were cheap shops.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We checked out the charity shops and there were plenty of
them. They seemed to be some of the
busiest places in town. Neil found plenty
of vinyl records, but they were of such poor condition there was nothing worth
picking up. On the other hand I did
manage to buy a book. On the whole, the
charity shops weren’t that exciting, but over the years I’ve found that charity
shops in poor places don’t have quality stuff.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We headed to <a href="http://www.kirklees.gov.uk/visitors/documents/dewsburymarket.pdf">Dewsbury Market</a>, which has been a big draw for
the town over the years. It’s not that
exciting and sells mainly standard market stuff, but it does looks nice with its
wrought iron arches and lamps which give the place a bit of character.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We went on the hunt for a bite to eat and eventually found
the Sea Urchin chippy.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We had fish and
chips – they were fine and it seemed like a popular place with the locals.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There weren’t that many food choices
available during the day in Dewsbury, although in the evening it’s probably a
different story.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The main thing I noticed in Dewsbury was the architecture –
you really need to look up above the cheap shop signs to see how classy this place
used to be. The place is built with
solid Yorkshire stone, which gives the place a sense of permanence and character. There were little arcades near the market
which had seen better days, but thankfully there was some scaffolding up and regeneration
work was going on, part-funded by the National Lottery. The <a href="http://www.kirklees.gov.uk/townhalls/dewsbury.aspx">Town Hall</a> is a particularly lovely
looking civic building, built in the Victorian era, again from Yorkshire stone. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As we wandered around the side streets we passed the tattoo
parlours and random shops like “Guns & Roses” – yes it sells flowers and shooting
supplies.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There were some pubs too,
which seemed to be traditional styled pubs – all very down-to-earth.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If Dewsbury was a more affluent area this place would be
buzzing – the buildings wouldn’t be going to rack and ruin, they would be
turned into cafes, bars and restaurants.
Little independent shops would be cropping up all over the place. Dewsbury has so much potential to be more
than what it is. This place is certainly
crying out for investment, not just in its buildings but also its local economy
and its people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Maybe it didn’t help that it was one of those grey miserable
days, but Dewsbury did strike me as quite a depressing place. You can see how people can get ground down by
places where they live when they are unloved and deprived. I know the media hasn’t painted Dewsbury in
the best light, but when you see how few opportunities are available in the
town you can understand why people can become disengaged and marginalised. With all the Council cutbacks you do worry how
Dewsbury will fare over the next few years.
I’m not sure I’ll be back in a hurry, but it’s always good to see a
place for yourself and not rely on media opinion.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Anne-Marie Marshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841069517102281192noreply@blogger.com0Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, UK53.689833 -1.629694900000004153.6145995 -1.791056400000004 53.7650665 -1.4683334000000041tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3380610401663313722.post-8668534709834235422015-07-26T14:32:00.001+01:002015-07-26T14:32:18.627+01:00Wakefield, West Yorkshire<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wakefield">Wakefield </a>isn’t really an automatic choice to spend your 43<sup>rd</sup>
birthday. In my defence it was probably
the only time of year I could persuade Neil to go to a sculpture gallery with
me – <a href="http://www.hepworthwakefield.org/">The Hepworth Gallery</a> to be precise.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Getting to Wakefield from Manchester is easy enough – M60,
M62, M1, exit junction 41 and the A650 into town. Word of warning – don’t travel back to
Manchester after 3pm on a Friday unless you want to spend time in a traffic
jam. As we were going to the Hepworth
Gallery we parked at the gallery’s car park and it cost £5. If I was going to Wakefield again I probably
park at the edge of town on the nearby retail parks, which would undoubtedly be
cheaper or free.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Hepworth Gallery is a relatively new feature to
Wakefield, built in 2011 to house the works of Barbara Hepworth and host
temporary art exhibitions. The building
itself is a very stark, grey, concrete building in the brutalist style. It’s definitely not going to appeal to
everyone, but all its planes and angles make great photo opportunities. Inside the gallery the stark architecture
continues - if you like polished concrete then this is the place to go. We wandered through the gallery and it
reaffirmed my love for Barbara Hepworth’s abstract sculptures. There were other exhibits throughout the
gallery and there was a group of sculptures that looked like oversized cow
poo. Some of it was gold coloured, but
it remained in my mind as cow poop. The
gallery is situated by a weir and large windows overlook it. If you are of a visually sensitive
disposition don’t spend too much time looking out of the windows as it can
bring on motion sickness. As it was a
Friday the gallery wasn’t busy and I did notice in one of the education rooms
there was a disability group doing some art, which was good to see. It’s a nice gallery, but rather niche with its
focus on sculpture. I’m not sure this
place is going to appeal to everybody, but it’s nice to find places like this
in working class towns.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Outside the Hepworth Gallery I was surprised to find a
boatyard, especially as it’s over 50 miles inland.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was fascinated by this and to be perfectly
honest I found it more interesting than some of the exhibits inside the museum.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As we’d paid £5 for parking, we thought it would be better
to walk into the town centre. It should
have taken 10 minutes, but as we had no idea where we were going, it took 20
minutes instead. My advice is to look
out for the tower blocks and head for them.
Normally doing that would lead you to a dodgy council estate. In Wakefield
it leads you to The Ridings Shopping centre - I’d never seen so many tower
blocks built on top of one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Ridings Shopping Centre is one of two main shopping
precincts in Wakefield. I think it dates back to the 1960s/early
1970s. As with other buildings dating
back from that period, it hasn’t aged well and I found the place quite dark and
depressing. It tended to have the cheap
high street shops and as a result drew a lower working class clientele. We noticed there was a big queue in the
middle of the shopping centre. It turned
out that the local police were paying each person £10 to have their photo taken
for their video line up database. It was
both depressing and sad to see.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As we wandered through Wakefield we found the other shopping
centre, which houses the main high street shops. This was a much nicer shopping experience as
it was brighter, livelier and more modern.
Regeneration money has definitely poured into Wakefield in recent years
and nearby Wakefield Market has been rebuilt to combine both an indoor and
outdoor market – it looks great.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Apart from the two main shopping centres there are lots of
side streets with independent shops, cafes and bars dotted along them - it’s
definitely worth exploring them.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The
good thing about Yorkshire is the local craft supply shops and there are quite
a few in Wakefield.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My favourite is </span><a href="http://woolnstuff.co.uk/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Wool n Stuff”</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> as it has a great range of
fabric and I spent quite a bit of my birthday money in there.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They stock materials that you wouldn’t
normally find in Manchester.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It turned
out the shop had a family connection to a local textile firm.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m fed up with all the floral Cath
Kidsonesque fabrics you find in most textile shops these days and it’s brilliant
to find shops like this that stock a wider range of designs.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’d happily revisit Wakefield on the basis of
this shop.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We also found a vintage shop on a side street selling
records so Neil had to have a browse.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It
was quite good and reaffirmed that I should have picked up the £5 typewriter in
</span><a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2015/04/stoke-on-trent-hanley-staffordshire.html" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stoke </a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">as they were going for £25 here.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I
was eavesdropping on conversations in here and the general gist of it were cool
people being cool with each other, talking about cool happenings in cool places
– it was all very cool and everyone was coolly attired.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Architecturally Wakefield is a mish-mash of lots of periods.
For example: a Tudor style black and
white building next to a modern shopping centre; brutalist architecture from the
1960s to the present day; and red brick Victorian side streets. There are plenty of Victorian pubs across
Wakefield although some did appear to be quite intimidating. On the other hand, <a href="http://www.wakefieldcathedral.org.uk/?idno=1">Wakefield Cathedral</a> did
stand out as a particularly lovely building perched on the highest point of
Wakefield. As it was a sunny day,
workers were perched on its steps and walls, enjoying the sun whilst eating their
sandwiches. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We obviously hit the charity shops and there were plenty in
Wakefield.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It did make me laugh in one
shop where there were some young geeky volunteers who were mucking about with
each other.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of them attempted to
test his new found social skills on Neil by engaging him in conversation.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Somehow I think this young lad has social
skills more suited for a job in IT rather than working in a shop.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We didn’t find much in Wakefield, but with
the vintage shop nearby I reckon they regularly go through the charity shops
creaming off the good stuff.</span></div>
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<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My only knowledge of Wakefield came from David Peace’s Red
Riding Quartet, which is a seriously grim but gripping story based in 1970s and
1980s West Yorkshire – it doesn’t paint a great picture of the place. Happily I can tell you Wakefield isn’t like
that anymore. Obviously it has its rough
parts and experiences deprivation, but Wakefield is definitely going down the
cultural regeneration route with The Hepworth Gallery and the nearby Yorkshire
Sculpture Park. There are some little green
shoots of growth going on and it will be interesting to see how that progresses
over the next few years. Still it was a
strange place to go to on your birthday, but it did make me smile to see a
granny walk down the street with pink streaks in her hair – I just love that
random sort of stuff.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Anne-Marie Marshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841069517102281192noreply@blogger.com1Wakefield, West Yorkshire, UK53.683298 -1.5059240000000553.6080515 -1.66728550000005 53.7585445 -1.34456250000005tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3380610401663313722.post-32587718303449272012015-07-12T15:40:00.001+01:002015-07-12T15:40:20.754+01:00Hyde, Greater Manchester<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’d never thought of going to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyde,_Greater_Manchester">Hyde </a>as it’s one of those
places in Greater Manchester that normally falls under the radar – except when it
has had serial killers operating in the area (three actually – Shipman and the
Moors Murderers). Anyway, apart from the
whole serial killer business, it’s an unassuming town on the side of the Pennines
and one of the last outposts before you hit Yorkshire.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’d been through Hyde as a kid to visit my Uncle in nearby
Hattersley. He lived in a tower block
and it was the first time I’d been introduced to the high rise etiquette of
showing the visitors the amazing view of Manchester on their first visit. I don’t have any particular memories of Hyde,
but typically my Dad mentioned we had visited the market at some point. I swear I've visited every market in Greater
Manchester in the 1970s and 1980s, but seem to have blocked out my memories of most
of them – possibly out of trauma, but probably out of boredom.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Getting to Hyde is straightforward – M60, turn off at
junction 24, pick up M67, exit junction 3 and follow the A627 onto the A57. We parked up by the Clarendon Shopping Centre
and it cost £2 for 3 hours. To be honest
it’s kind of optimistic to spend that amount of time in Hyde.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before hitting the shopping centre we decided to seek out
the 8 charity shops I had found on the internet.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Neil was struggling to find any vinyl that
didn’t involve easy listening from the 1960s.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unfortunately he drew a complete blank in the end and I did notice there
weren’t many books in the shops either. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m still kicking myself for not buying a
little writing bureau with a bookcase for £25, although I did buy a 99p Paris
tourist scarf to use for a craft project, but had to rearrange a whole window
display to retrieve it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are plenty of pubs in Hyde, many of which are
traditional looking boozers and I reckon it would be an interesting night out here
for someone quite brave. Some of the
customers had scary hard worn faces, but Hyde is one of those working class areas
where you find people have aged way before their time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When we were walking through the streets we heard a woman
shouting at her kids.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After listening to
what she was saying, we eventually realised she wasn’t actually shouting at
them, but her normal speaking voice was very loud.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were surprised to find there’s an active Asian community
in Hyde, as we spotted a local mosque on a side street and it appeared to be
the busiest place in town.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Obviously we found the outdoor market outside Clarendon
Shopping Centre, but there was nothing exciting to report – just usual cheap
stuff. On the other hand the indoor
market was slightly more interesting as there was a record stall selling vinyl
records, so I briefly became a record shop widow for about half an hour as Neil
browsed through the cheap singles and I ended up walking around the
market. There was a meat stall called “Let’s
Talk Tripe” and there was a haberdashery stall which also ran sewing machine
classes. I thought it was a great idea
for the haberdashery stall to run classes, as it’s a way to increase the number
of customers, especially as you can no longer learn these skills through night
classes at your local college.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/09/cb/d2/09cbd2430cd3a261c55a036a3a4b4256.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/09/cb/d2/09cbd2430cd3a261c55a036a3a4b4256.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My favourite shop though was </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Paper-Tulips/962638667080680" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Paper Tulips </a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">on one of the side
streets.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s a craft shop selling
reasonably priced nice handmade goods.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I
got crotchet envy in the shop, as that is one craft skill I’ve never been able
to pick up despite my Mum’s efforts to teach me.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was genuinely surprised to find a shop like
this here, as you expect to find places like this in </span><a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2014/11/chorlton.html" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chorlton </a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">or Manchester’s
Northern Quarter.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So what’s 21<sup>st</sup> century Hyde like? Very much like 20<sup>th</sup> century Hyde,
but with a snazzy bus station. There are
some interesting older buildings including the Town Hall, the Post Office
building which has been turned into a nursery and the Theatre Royal Hyde which the
locals are trying to save. The streets
surrounding the main shopping centre have buildings dating back to the Victorian
times, with some post war building initiatives.
Clarendon Shopping Centre appears to be a 1960s build with a tower block
on top, which is similar to what can be found at Salford Precinct. There have been some efforts with
regeneration including a new bus station and some street art. There is even an “I *heart* Hyde” campaign
going on by the council. Whilst this
seems to be ambitious for a small working class town on the edge of Greater
Manchester, it appears to be having some impact when you see places like Paper
Tulips and some little modern cafes dotted across the town.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/b7/b8/b7/b7b8b7a9cbe512a7be289dfde1c8db38.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/b7/b8/b7/b7b8b7a9cbe512a7be289dfde1c8db38.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hyde isn’t the most exciting place in the world to visit,
but it did offer some small surprises.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Who knew you could pick up vinyl records in the local market?</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you like your charity shops, then Hyde is definitely
a place to go to pick up stuff to upcycle.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Will I visit again?</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m very
tempted to go back to see if that writing bureau is still there.</span></div>
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<a href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/8c/4b/c6/8c4bc64e6cedd2e9cd8539a197a13a35.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/8c/4b/c6/8c4bc64e6cedd2e9cd8539a197a13a35.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
Anne-Marie Marshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841069517102281192noreply@blogger.com0Hyde, UK53.452977 -2.082785999999941953.3773255 -2.2441474999999418 53.528628499999996 -1.9214244999999419tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3380610401663313722.post-16351014522001003792015-06-21T14:45:00.001+01:002015-06-21T14:45:22.954+01:00Middleton, Greater Manchester<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, I did know I had been to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middleton,_Greater_Manchester">Middleton </a>before, in the 1970s. I believe a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lena_Zavaroni">Lena Zavaroni </a>album may have been
purchased there, along with some dodgy country and western records for my dad. Nearly 40 years later I’m back and the
<a href="http://www.middletonshoppingcentre.co.uk/">shopping precinct</a>, where those records were bought, is still there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Getting to Middleton is easy – turn off at junction 19 from
the M60 and take the A576 to the town centre.
We parked up near the Middleton Arena by the roundabout – parking is
free on a Saturday which is good to know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At first we headed towards <a href="http://link4life.org/centres/middleton-arena">Middleton Arena</a> as it looked like
a shopping centre, until we got there and I spotted the swimming goggles being
sold at reception. I then realised it
was a sports and arts centre. It’s a
nice, modern building which looks completely out of place in Middleton, although
that’s not a bad thing considering it provides a public service and brightens
up the place. Middleton is a
predominantly Victorian redbrick sort of town, with some ill-judged rebuilding in
the 20<sup>th</sup> century.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/69/68/93/6968935c63ed6fbcb905a64400675ab0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/69/68/93/6968935c63ed6fbcb905a64400675ab0.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We then headed across to the shops on the other side of the
roundabout.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The 1970s shopping precinct
really dominates this small town, although there are some shops surrounding it
and an outdoor market.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There weren’t
that many people about, but then again I think the large Tesco nearby draws
away most of the people from the other shops.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The outdoor market wasn’t that exciting – the usual cheap stuff.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There appeared to be a table top sale going
on for the locals, but sadly there was nothing for us.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The main thing that struck me was the piece
of random street art in the centre, which looked like a giant had balanced his
gardening equipment into a tent-like structure.</span></div>
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<a href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/3c/2c/ac/3c2cac2c424552f015ce1a8850dd7283.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/3c/2c/ac/3c2cac2c424552f015ce1a8850dd7283.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Obviously we did the charity shops, but there wasn’t too
much to be found.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We did spot a load of
dodgy albums from the 70s which reminded me of my first trip to Middleton – no doubt
these records originated from the precinct.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sadly, Oxfam had closed for the day at 1.45pm precisely, but there were
two RSPCA shops doing good business.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In a
hospice charity shop, an old man was donating a big bag of plastic bags.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He’d been in earlier and they were running
short of plastic bags so he thought he’d help them out.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He also donated £20 too, which was utterly sweet,
thoughtful and unexpected in a poor working class town like Middleton.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Finally we made it into the precinct and, to be truthful, it
wasn’t the most inspiring place in the world with its dated décor and cheap
shops. Finding the toilets in this place
is a complete mystery tour and it took about 10 minutes to find them. I noticed on one of the walls they had built
a Bayeux tapestry-like depiction of the history of Middleton out of brick. Only in the 1970s would this have been
thought a good idea. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We did get a nice ice cream from the coffee stall which was
served by a lady who looked just like Cilla from <a href="http://www.itv.com/coronationstreet">Coronation Street</a>. She seemed to know most of the people in the
place.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/81/00/de/8100deb033119452e36a8dba69a84149.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/81/00/de/8100deb033119452e36a8dba69a84149.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A friend of mine used to do temp work on a stall for a
no-win-no-fee solicitors in the precinct and got to know all the local
nutters.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can appreciate how he found
working here was soul destroying.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Having
worked in deprived areas myself, you are faced on a daily basis with people who
have lived hard lives and it takes its toll on people, both physically and
mentally.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s so hard to see people ground
down by life and it is no different here.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is a surprise to learn that </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Coogan" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Steve Coogan</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> is from here, along with
band members who have been in </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairport_Convention" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fairport Convention</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jethro_Tull_(band)" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jethro Tull</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inspiral_Carpets" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">InspiralCarpets</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chameleons" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Chameleons</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mock_Turtles" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mock Turtles </a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and most recently </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Courteeners" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Courteeners</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. There
must be something musical in the water here.</span></div>
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<a href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/5a/27/6f/5a276f5727aff278d981924a4d0d7ece.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/5a/27/6f/5a276f5727aff278d981924a4d0d7ece.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you are looking for a great photo opportunity, just out
of town on Long Street is an amazing looking black and white 17</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
century pub called </span><a href="http://www.middletonia.co.uk/peopleandplaces/boarshead.html" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Olde Boar’s Head Inn</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. It looks so wobbly that it might fall
into the street.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I really wish I’d stopped
to take some photos and go in to see what it’s like inside.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m sure the psychic who had posters
plastered across Middleton would be able to commune with the ghosts in this
place.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Middleton isn’t that exciting to be honest with you and
there wasn’t much to keep us hanging round any longer. I can’t say I’ll be back in a hurry, but it’s
interesting to revisit old haunts to see how they have changed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/12/f5/c1/12f5c1e0c8a88fc3994fdf577eb0f711.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/12/f5/c1/12f5c1e0c8a88fc3994fdf577eb0f711.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
Anne-Marie Marshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841069517102281192noreply@blogger.com0Middleton, UK53.545921 -2.2019479000000553.4704605 -2.36330940000005 53.6213815 -2.04058640000005tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3380610401663313722.post-23495176710388339982015-06-14T15:37:00.003+01:002015-06-14T15:37:57.841+01:00Heywood, Greater Manchester<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I thought I must have been to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heywood,_Greater_Manchester">Heywood </a>at least once in my
life as I knew it had a market, but in all honesty I couldn’t remember when – so
it must have been in the 1970s.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway back to the present day – it was one of those days
when I didn’t want to travel too far and since Heywood is nearby I thought I’d
give it ago. Getting to Heywood is
pretty easy - just get on the M60, exit at junction 19 and follow the A6046
into Heywood. You can also get there via
the M66, exit at junction 2 and take a right onto the A58. I think the latter route is better as you
avoid some of the blasted road works on the M60 at the moment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We parked up in a nearby car park by a roundabout in the
centre of town. It was free, which was
great, and there is also plenty of parking available in the nearby Morrisons
car park.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/38/9d/85/389d851394d59a98f81d11b21d440f1e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/38/9d/85/389d851394d59a98f81d11b21d440f1e.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I really didn’t know what to expect of Heywood.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For a split second I thought it had seen
better days, but I reckon this place has been resolutely working class from
time immemorial.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That said, it wasn’t a
disappointment, it just isn’t day-out material.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The architecture is predominantly Victorian red brick
terraced shops, although there are some interesting buildings if you look
up. The old reform club has an
impressive looking balcony, though unfortunately it’s in need of much TLC. St Luke’s Church dominates the skyline, but we
didn’t go in and we missed out on the beautiful carvings in the southern wing. You really don’t expect that sort of thing in
a local church. My favourite building though was the library. It’s an Edwardian stone building with pillars
and a carved archway entrance. I love
libraries and it’s a shame that they’ve been hit by the cutbacks in recent
years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/48/b9/59/48b959063aae4c218571e07ccd4940d1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/48/b9/59/48b959063aae4c218571e07ccd4940d1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nearby was the local war memorial gardens.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Often in towns, war memorials are consigned
to dark and dusty corners, but in Heywood it’s an immaculate and well-tended place.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s really nice to see a town take pride in
these gardens.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We visited the charity shops in the town, but unfortunately
we didn’t find much. There are a few
house clearance and second hand shops in Heywood too. If you are looking to upcycle some old
furniture, it’s definitely worth taking a trip here as you will find
something. There is a little vintage
furniture shop here, and they had a dressing table in the window which had been
painted white and fitted with some new funky handles – it looked great.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Amazingly we found a second hand record shop here and Neil
had a rummage. He actually knew the guy
who runs the shop, but had forgotten that it was based here. It’s packed to the rafters and you really
need to bring a packed lunch with you as it will take hours to go through all
the stock. Neil sadly didn’t have much
time to go through stuff, but he did say it was a reasonably priced shop. I never expected to find a shop like this
here, but it definitely makes a trip to Heywood worthwhile to pick up vinyl
records.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We did have a bite to eat at the Heywood Fish Bar next to
the indoor market. We both had fish and
chips and they were the best we’d had for some time. The fish was freshly done and whilst I’m not
a big fan of chippy chips, these were darn good.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The indoor market wasn’t very busy as it was a bright sunny
day outside.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However what I did notice
was the friendly banter between the stallholders and the customers.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is a good community vibe happening
here, which you don’t often see.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was
a pleasant antidote to the blokes on the street who were shouting random things–
no wonder Heywood is locally known as Monkey Town when there are idiots like
that here.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There weren’t many people on the streets in Heywood, but I’ve
never seen so much traffic pass through one small town. You do take your life in your hands when
crossing the roads here and there must have been lots of traffic accidents over
the years. There is a one way system
that cuts through the place to make it easier for traffic, but pedestrians can
spend half their time trying to cross the roads. I think the small retail park must do good
business with Morrisons and Dunnes Stores, although I think the majority of the
traffic is due to the fact that it’s the main road between <a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2009/06/bury.html">Bury </a>and <a href="http://www.lifeinnortherntowns.com/2014/03/rochdale-greater-manchester.html">Rochdale</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In all honestly Heywood is not that exciting – it’s just a
working class northern town and not a day- trip sort of place. That said, I found the place alright – great chippy,
good second hand record shop and a nice community vibe going on. No doubt we’ll be back at some point and next
time I’ll make sure we see the inside of the church.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Anne-Marie Marshallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841069517102281192noreply@blogger.com0Heywood, UK53.592628 -2.225649999999973353.517221 -2.3870114999999732 53.668034999999996 -2.0642884999999733