Well, that was a hard day. We are now at the top of the Tardebigge (pron: TAD-dee-big) locks having spent most of a rainy day slogging up and up and up. There are thirty locks in the flight, making it the longest in the country. It was raining heavily this morning, and when it lightened up to the soul-destroying drizzle that has done so much to shape the British character, we set out. We were the first boat going up…
We had a short journey of just six locks planned for today, which was just as well. By the fourth lock it started to drizzle, and by the sixth lock is was raining quite hard. We holed up for the rest of the day. Paula baked banana bread and scalloped potatoes to keep the boat warm, and we both worked on our French. Duo the Duolingo owl is very happy with us today. We are now at the bottom of…
First the bad news. It’s the same size on the inside. But the good news is, it is part of the National Telephone Kiosk Collection so it’s being preserved until they can get it a proper time vortex. They have classic red phone boxes galore. The one on the right also sells stamps and accepts letters. They have phone boxes from the Automobile Association and the Royal Automobile Club. They have vintage wooden phone boxes. The have the phone booth’s…
Queen Anne was a monarch more noted for her furniture than her statesmanship, but the National Trust, at least at Hanbury House, seems keen to rehabilitate her. I’ll explain the reason in a minute, but first, here’s a picture of Paula in a field of broad beans. Yes, bushwhacking through a bean field is one of the many skills required to bring you this blog. Now, technically we were on a public right of way, but the farmer had planted…
Rain was forecast for this afternoon, so we headed off in the morning, and moored up by lunchtime in the village of Tibberton, just outside Worcester’s suburban sprawl. This is the view from our bedroom window. Though we only came a few miles, there were twelve locks, so we had a busy morning. A family of battle swans came to see us off, or perhaps chase us away. Tibberton has two pubs, Speed the Plough and The Bridge… … though…
It’s 1751. On the death of his brother, George Coventry becomes sixth earl of Coventry, and inherits a hundred year old brick manor house. Determined to make the place more contemporary, he hires an unknown designer, Lancelot Brown, to remodel the house and grounds, and a budding Scottish architect called Robert Adam to work on the interiors. The result was a masterpiece. Brown later became known as Capability Brown, the great landscape gardener. Gone were the highly formal garden designs…
Worcester is not just the place that strange brown sauce comes from, it was also the home of the composer Edward Elgar. This is just a statue of him of course. The real Edward Elgar did not have pigeon shit on his head. Elgar had little formal musical training, and initially had little success as a composer. He eked out living as a musician, teacher, and conductor of the band at the Worcester lunatic asylum. It was not until his…
Two days of traveling, and we are back on our boat Wharram Percy, which is currently moored in swan-infested Worcester (pronounced Wooster, like Bertie). This is the River Severn, which we have navigated before, but we are actually moored on the Worcester and Birmingham canal, which we haven’t been on before. We’re likely to head up towards Brum, and when I say up, I don’t just mean north. The longest flight of locks in the system lies is in this…