The Wettest January?

Each January I realise that I still have quite a lot of holiday to take before the end of March..... Use it or lose it I think they say. This year is no exception and today and yesterday were the start of me 'using' these full days up.

The weather was not kind at all and although my BBC Weather app promised me rain after 4pm I'm sure it was with me on most of my 8.5 mile walk!

First stop after a walk from Liverpool Street Station was Fashion and Textile Museum, Bermondsey for the first day of their new exhibition Artist Textiles Picasso to Warhol. The wording on the exhibition leaflet states: 20th Century art in textiles and fashion from Cubism and Surrealism to Pop Art. This runs until 17th May 2014 and is another fabulous exhibition.  A change from the last few which have been mainly about frocks but here were some really good examples of textiles designed by extremely well known artists - Picasso and Warhol obviously but also Chagall, Dali, Henry Moore and Dufy...

The museum is not open on Sunday or Monday but opens the rest of the week 11am until 6pm.

Next stop was supposed to be The Crossbones Cemetery in Southwark but unfortunately Network Rail had other ideas and the road was shut (for a few days anyway) to all traffic. 

Further along Southwark Street and after lunch at the Menier Chocolate Factory I went in search of Hopton's Almshouses on Hopton Street. They were founded from a trust set up in 1752 and are on their original site.  They are amazing and you get a glimpse of them through the railings. I'm going to look out on Open Gardens weekend to see if this oasis in the city opens to the public.

 

 



By now the rain was really falling but I still managed a look at the Tate Modern Turbine Hall followed by a wander along the Thames and back over The Millennium Bridge...

Back on the North side of the Thames I made a very quick visit to see the new exhibition at the Guildhall Library by the Worshipful Company of Needlemakers, a return visit is a must!  Across the courtyard I went to see the new display downstairs at The Guildhall Art Gallery...some lovely work on display old and not so old which work very well together..

 

 

 

That leaves only another ten days to take and hopefully they will be sunny!

The Last Day of God's Own Junkyard

Last Sunday I visited this extraordinary place in E17 which is being forced to relocate after many years on the same site.  My pictures from God's Own Junkyard...

Have Art Fund Pass Will Travel.....

I have just found this almost completed post from early August and added the missing link Friday.......


Monday was the first day of my holiday from work and a week opportunities in London.

This year I decided to invest in an Art Fund Pass to give me different options of places to visit... I have meant to do so for quite a while and didn't realise just what a brilliant thing it was.

I have had National Trust Membership for several years but this gives free access to some National Trust Houses, some English Heritage and a Historic Royal Palace!  The pass also gives discounted entry to a great number of exhibitions that you would normally have to pay for. My pass cost £39.95 and covers events, exhibitions and museums nationally.

MONDAY

I visited Kensington Palace free to Art Pass holders and £15.00 in the normal way....it was several years since my last visit and a lot of work had been done to make it a more interactive experience.  There is an exhibition running at the moment called Fashion Rules which is included in the cost of entry which shows various clothing items worn by The Queen, Princess Margaret and Princess Diana.

 

 

 

TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY

 

Nothing using my pass but I had a lovely lunch at Windows on 28th Floor of the Park Lane Hilton on Wednesday...

 

 

 

 

 

 

THURSDAY

 

Another trip up town this time to The National Portrait Gallery and The National Gallery.

 

At NPG admission is free for the most part although they do run a few exhibitions a year which are chargeable as with Laura Knight Portraits.  I had seen some of her work before, mainly the ones from WW2 in factory settings  The Art Fund Pass meant this was a very affordable £3.50 with the 50% off.  The gallery is still showing this years BP Portrait Award which runs until September 15th and that is free.

 

Just next door is the big brother to the Portrait Gallery, The National Gallery which I still do a little at a time a hangover from when I used to take two small boys to see the big pictures looking at a few a visit.  I went to see  Bathers at Asnières, by Georges Seurat a favourite of mine as well as a few by Turner and Gainsborough.  On recommendation I also took a look at the Vermeer and Music exhibition that is again finishing in early September and only £4.00 with my pass (50% off)....again a great exhibition although Vermeer is not one of my favourites.

 

In the evening I managed to get to a talk at the British Postal Museum Archive in Mount Pleasant.  The 8th August was the 50th anniversary of the Great Train Robbery and the archive has various documents relating to it and the investigation afterwards.  After a visit to the archive we went next door to the Phoenix Centre for a talk by Andrew Cook relating to his book The Great Train Robbery: The Untold Story from the Closed Investigation Files. It was fascinating hearing how evidence was used 50 years ago and how it would have been a different story today.

 

FRIDAY

 

Today involved a drive but not a particularly long one out to Saffron Walden in Essex.  The weather was a bit on the rainy side as I started out but gradually improved as I reached my destination.  Another great house and garden covered by my pass....Audley End. This place was not new to me as I lived fairly close by when I was very young and remember picnics on the lawn there in my 20's but had never been inside the house.

 

It is a delight and there is amazing taxidermy for corridor after corridor.  No photography was allowed in the main house but I got some pictures in the grounds and outbuildings.  I rounded of the day with a guided walk around the gardens. Well worth another visit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Change of Name.....not me the blog

I've just changed the name of this blog as I've not posted anything in a long while....this is mainly due to the fact that I haven't made anything.  It may become Made at Home again but for the moment I'm sticking with Out and About.  I've been to some fabulous things this year and wanted somewhere to put the odd photo or two.

Forest Art & Crafts: Almost September...

Forest Art & Crafts: Almost September...: We've now had three of our four outdoor exhibitions this year and the weather has been very kind to us.  The next date to remember is Sa...

Myddelton House Gardens

Fairly close to where I live is Enfield, in fact just over the other side of the reservoir my house faces!

Yesterday I walked to a lovely garden that forms part of the Lee Valley Park and was once the home of Edward Augustus Bowles who as their website states was "one of Britain's most famous self-taught gardeners, artists and expert botanists."

It has a bright new Visitor Centre housing a small cafe, shop and mini E.A. Bowles museum which leads out on to the stable yard seating area and plants for sale.

Unfortunately the house itself is now offices for the Lee Valley Park but I was told it opens for the Open House weekend in September.  The gardens are not on a huge scale and easy to get around.  A lovely spot and one which I will return to with a car to buy some of their Irises.

Myddelton House Gardens