November 2024 Archives

This year, a couple of friends and I booked a hotel to visit the Winchester Christmas Market in the middle of November during its opening weekend, and we had been looking forward to it for the past couple of months. This was the first weekend of the market, and it turned out to be a horrible weekend weather-wise with Storm Bert over both days. Nevertheless, we went as we had our train and hotel tickets and planned to make the most of it.

We arrived late on Saturday and had a wander around the market. The weather was very bad with wind and rain, but we made the most of it. 

We had some mulled wine and walked around the rainy market and bought some items.

We had more mulled wine, which was even stronger and closer to the German version of mulled wine, gluhwein.

We had a little bit of food. I got some Indian with paneer, but it was not that enjoyable.

I had crumble for dessert, and the crumble was delicious.

Afterwards, we headed for some drinks. 

We ended up at The Eclipse Inn pub and had some bubbly and mulled wine.

After a couple of mulled wines, I got a little hungry as I hadn't eaten much earlier. I bought a pizza from Three Joe's, and I shared with my friends.

The Eclipse Inn pub is a small pub near to the cathedral. I was surprised that it was not busy.

Afterwards, I had a walk around Winchester to get my steps in.

The next morning, I also woke early to take advantage of the decent weather. The rain and wind had ceased. I had a walk around Winchester and then went to the market once it opened.

I bought a few items from a couple of the sellers while my friends were sleeping in.

I had lunch booked at Bishop on the Bridge, which is a pub next to the river that I have been to before that I have enjoyed. My friends and I went straight there after they were ready. While we were there, it started to rain and the wind picked up again.

We finished the meal and headed back to the market, but three minutes from our arrival to the market, we saw that they were closing the market. The sellers that my friends wanted to go to had closed before we got to them, and we were disappointed because the day before was much worse with the weather, and it wasn't even raining (but had rained when we were inside having the meal). We eventually made our way back to London, and it was a long trip with busy trains. 

The year and all of the seasons have flown by, and I thought that I would blog some of the photographs that I took over autumn that I have not posted. So, this autumn I had been busy with doing my walks. I have been walking in the afternoons and evenings, often listening to audio books. I have been consciously trying to lose weight that I put on. I have had a few walks to Ruislip Lido and enjoyed the last of the warmer days with autumn colour.

The trees have turned beautiful golden and orange colours this year. 

Some nice postbox decorations have also appeared on some of the postboxes locally with themes of rememberance.

A Gail's Bakery (part of a chain) opened up locally too. The first time I went to one was in South Kensington in 2012, and you can read my post here: Gail's Bakery in South Kensingston. I enjoyed the maple scone, chai latte, and a penguin biscuits on different visits. Sometimes they have soup.

Throughout November, a few cafes and restaurants are doing deals with two-for-one cocktails. I had some at a local cafe, Anabella's. You can read more about Anabella's here.

I also had some at The Arth Indian restaurant, which you can read more about here: Bottomless Brunch at The Arth.

As the weather has been so cold recently, I sometimes have a hot drink (mainly chai latte) before I walk back.

I also had a few walks to Eastcote. I had a hot chocolate and strawberry tart at Cafe Brione, which is a French cafe in Eastcote.

I also had a chai latte and two macaroons from a new cafe that popped up where a cafe I liked had been. The nw cafe doesn't do the amazing hot chocolate, but the chai latte (which I get them to make with a spoon of spiced chai) and macaroons are good. The macaroons are actually made from the previous cafe owner.

I also did get a Halloween cupcake treat.

That concludes my autumn. Note that the Christmas stuff has come along very early this year.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my readers. This year, I celebrated Thanksgiving by going to Smith and Wollensky restaurant in London to have their Thanksgiving Day menu. The offer included a starter, main, and dessert, and a selection of sides came with the main meal. Due to a large party going on, the ground floor was occupied with that, so I went into the basement area to have the meal.

I had previously been to this American steak house with my parents a several years ago; I don't eat steak but I am okay with vegetarian options and chicken. To see my previous visit, see my post about Smith and Wollensky. The restaurant has branches in America, and I'd been to the one in Ohio in Easton but found it a lot different. 

I had the kiwi cocktail, which was delicious, and the person I went with had the strawberry mocktail, which was fruity.

We got a roll to start.

My friend had the pea soup, which was served with croutons and bacon bits.

I had the leek and potato coquettes, which were served with roasted pepper sauce.

I also ordered a glass of wine from the Smith and Wollensky estate. Both of us had the turkey. The red wine gravy contained beef stock, so I did not have that. The turkey was a little dry for my taste. It was served with stuffing and cranberry sauce. The sides included creamed corn with bacon bits (which I also had to pick off), green beans, and mashed potatoes. However, I felt we were missing corn bread and macaroni cheese.

For the desserts, my friend had the Oreo cheesecake.

I had the pumpkin pie. Of course, it always has to be pumpkin pie.

I enjoyed the bread, starter, mashed potatoes, creamed corn, and pumpkin pie. The cocktails were also good. The turkey was a little dry and over-cooked and I wished that they had vegetarian gravy. 

At the beginning of the month, I visited Tallinn in Estonia for a couple of days. I had never been before, so this was my first visit to a city that I have wanted to visit for awhile to see the Old Town. I finally got to go and explore it, so better late than never. I was also lucky that the sun was out for most of my visit, even though the weather was cold. Tallinn was inhabited by Danish for a time and in a location that saw conflicts and was occupied in historical times. The city is quite small in size with a walled Old Town, defensive towers, churches, harbour, and a few museums. It also is a technology and business hub. Keep scrolling down to read more and to see what I got up to.

I had already posted a couple of the activities that I got up to. The first activity was walking the old walls sections and the bastion tunnels, and I enjoyed this. More photographs can be seen on the post: Tallinn Old Town Walls and Bastion Tunnels.

I also visited the harbour to see the Tallinn Seaplane Hangar, which houses a martime museum. This also includes a few sea vessels that visitors can explore.

I had a nice view over Tallinn from the hotel room, but I did not stay in the Old Town. It was a twenty minute walk, which was fine. The Old Town is quite small and easy to navigate. 

St. Catherine's Passage is on of Tallinn's most attractive streets. It is a medieval street with trade shops. One was selling stained glass, and another was selling pottery. The street contains little "bridges" which seem to act as buttresses between the buildings.

The Town Hall is located on a large square with a mixture of shops and restaurants around it. In the summer months, people can visit the building and climb the tower for views. I caught glimpses of the square at different times of the day - sunrise, day, and night. Each one was a different atmosphere.

On the Town Hall, the dragon gargoyle seemed to be a symbol of the city.

One other location I went to was on another picturesque medieval street. Master's Courtyard has a few tourist shops and craft shops, and there is a chocolate shop and cafe located here called Pierre's. I had a hot chocolate and a chocolate truffle here. 

There are some nice views over Tallinn from Toompea Hill, which makes the Upper Town. There are a couple of viewpoints, and I enjoyed seeing the city from above and also visited at different times - day and night.

I went to an Estonian traditional restaurant and had a gin and tonic and light lunch. 

On one other day, I went to Gelato Ladies, which is located in the Old Town at the lower town. I was able to try some different ice cream, and I had the pistachio with an ice cream macaroon. The ice cream was delicious. 

One of the meals I had was from an Italian restaurant, and I had the parmigiana, which is one of my favourite meals. 

On another day, I visited a Ukranian restaurant and had chicken kiev, which is another favourite meal of mine. For dessert, I had their special pavlova. This was the best dessert that I have had in awhile. It was made of ice cream, fruit, and almonds.

Also on Toompea Hill, I got some photographs. The first one is of beautiful autumn leaves and a spire of the lower town's church spire.

On Toompea is an attractive church called Alexander Nevsky church.

A park land near the church offered some nice views of the castle, which is now government buildings.

I had the cinnamon rolls in Tallinn, which seems to be a popular pastry. I loved them. The first one I had from Pulla Bakery, which was a home made delicious and fluffy pastry filled with cinnamon, sugar, and almond. It was delicious. 

Another one was from ROST, which was topped with large chunks of sugar crystals. This was also delicious.

Nikolay-Bar was one other place that I visited, but it's outside the Old Town. They specialise in pies, so I had the cherry pie and also had the raspbrry chili drink. I was not sure if I would like it, but it was delicious, and I am glad that it did actually taste a little bit of spice. Compared with other places in Europe, it seems that Estonians can tolerate spice levels and enjoy cinnamon. This was a win-win for me. I love spice, and I love cinnamon. 

I visited a couple of chocolate shops and tasted a variety. Chocokoo was the first one that I went to, and this is located outside the Old Town and near Balti Jaama Turg market. I also went to Chocolala in the Old Town, and the chocolates in the photograph are from there. Both shops sold delicious chocolates.

The Balti Jaama Turg market sold almost everything. There was fish, meat, produce, chocolate, coffee, and street food. There was a large place selling Italian ingredients as well. 

I walked to Skoone Bastion, which is a park on a hillside just outside the Old Town walls. There is a former bunker here.

I then headed back into the Old Town walls. The tower below is known as Fat Margaret. 

The Old Town has some attractive streets, so below is a selection of photographs that I took of the streets and walls on my numerous walks.

Below is Freedom Square lit up at dark.

I had a cookie from a small cafe located on the edge of the walls in the Old Town, and it was delicious.

Tallinn is also known for its marzipan, and one cafe near the square called Maiasmokk has a small museum dedicated to marzipan as they hav been making it for many years. They also sell some. 

One of the strangest attractions that I visited in Tallinn was Tallinna Linnahall; this is a former 5,000 seater Olympic stadium created for the 1980 Moscow summr Olympics. Today, the site is blocked off and in ruins. It is located on the edge of the water.

This concludes my visit to Tallinn, Estonia.

Lucy Sparrow is an artist who specialises in creating items from felt, and I have previously covered her work in this blog starting with her first exhibition in east London where she transformed a corner shop into being completely stocked with brands made of felt. Since then, she's done similar exhibitions in New York City, Florida, Australia, China, and other worldwide locations. She has recently returned to London's New Bond Street at Diptyque where she's created the Festive Felt Delicatessen. I went along to check it out.

The felt items created are festive with Christmas puddings, brandy butter, oysters, Christmas cookies, and other food items.

A shopping trolly or cart was filled with some of these items as well.

On the other shelves were felt candles. The candles featured Diptyque's scents and their Christmas range. The Christmas range real candles have a felt label on them.

The cash machine was also made of felt.

In previous years and in addition to the cornershop, Lucy Sparrow has created a pop up at a chemist and a shop at Russel Square selling all sorts of branded felt items.

For more Lucy Sparrow exhibitions on this blog, see:

Lucy Sparrow's Felt 'R' Us at Brunswick Centre
Lucy Sparrow Bourdon Street Chemist
Lucy Sparrow's Cornershop in London 

I visited Tallinn, Estonia early this month, and one of the attractions that I visited was the Seaplane Harbour Martime Museum. The museum is located inside a former seaplane hangar. It includes a submarine called Lembit, a seaplane, other ships (canoes, craft in the Olympics or world-breaking activities, and so on), items used in navigation or colonialism, and the remains of the oldest ship that was found in Estonia. 

The interior of the museum is stunning with visitors being able to walk on "bridges" before going into the submarine and seeing exhibits dotted around. From here, visitors can see exhibitions on the ground level. There were some interactive exhibitions with model ships and a demonstration of water pressure. There was also information about the ferry passenger boats.

Visitors could pay a small fee to walk across a higher bridge, but I'm not the best with heights so declined it.

I had a glimpse into the submarine.

I was interested in the archeology of items discovered on the seabed exhibition and the oldest ship discovered in Estonia.

The ticket into the museum also includes some ships in the harbour area. There were a few boats on the dry land to see, but there were also two floating boats to see.

Suur Tool is one of the ships to explore, and this is an ice-breaker ship. Visitors can explore the rooms on the ship from the engine room to the kitchen to the captain's bedroom.

The other ship that I could see was gifted to Estonia by the United States, and it is a warship. The rooms were not open to visit, but visitors could walk onto the ship and look inside it.

I saw a guy on a motorized water board, which I am sure looked easier than it was to do.

I enjoyed exploring the ships and the Martime Museum at Tallinn, Estonia.

At the beginning of this month, I visited Tallinn in Estonia for the first time. Tallinn's Old Town is surrounded by a 2.35km wall with 26 of its towers (out of 45) still standing. The Old Town contains medieval buildings; this town is the best example of a medieval town in Northern Europe and a UNESCO heritage site. The wall surrounding the Old Town dates from the 13th century. Visitors to Tallinn's Old Town can visit some of the sections of walls and towers. These include Hellemann Tower section, the section of walls at Nunna, Sauna, and Kuldjala, and the final section at Kiek in de Kok on Toompea Hill with the tower and bastion tunnels. Toompea Hill also has a couple of viewing platforms. I visited the sections of walls and the tunnels on my visit to Tallinn. Tallinn is a small city, and this was my favourite attraction on the visit.

Hellemann Tower has a section of city walls and towers to climb, and there are viewings over the town and some artwork on display. The tower was built in the 15th century, and it was named after a nearby landowner. One of the oldest sections of wall is here. This is the longest portion of the wall open to the public.

I climbed the tower for nice views.

The wall walk was a little bit scary in places.

Another section of the walls are Nunna, Sauna, and Kuldjala. Visitors can also climb this section of walls.

Kiek in de Kok tower complex was the largest complex of towers, walls, and tunnels to explore. This ticket allows visitors to explore three additional towers besides Kiek in de Kok: Neitsitorn (maiden's tower), Tallitorn (stable tower), and Varavatorn (Gate tower). 

Kiek in de Kok is the largest tower and a symbol of Tallinn. The tower has withstood some damage too; Russian forces attacked it in 1577 but only slightly damaged it. The tower serves as a museum today with the lower couple of floors being used as a museum about the "Brotherhood of the Black Heads", which was a group of elite Tallinn merchant men served to defend and protect the city from enemies and fires. 

Some of the upper floors contained armour and other items. There was also a little kitchen off the stairs to look into, but it wasn't possible to get a good photograph of it.

The views from the tower are worthwhile.

Toompea Hill and the St. Nicholas church makes a great photograph.

After the Kiek in de Kok tower, I walked along the walls to see the other towers.

Maiden Tower contains a cafe, which was closed on my visit, and living quarters of families and artists over the years. There was information about the German family that lived here with the two young girls, and the father photographed their lives living at the tower during the 1930s, and they moved in 1939. Afterwards, the tower was lived in by artists and actors.

After Maiden Tower, I continued the walk. The Stable Tower was a dungeon, and it is one of the smallest towers, and it only had a couple of very tiny rooms.

The Gate Tower is at the edge of Toompea and the lower part of the town, and it has some ghost stories associated with it. Today, it features information and photographs about some of Tallinn's cafes and restaurants over the years. It also has a couple of pieces of furniture from these cafes.

Danish King's Gardens is a plasant garden around the towers and on the edge of Toompea Hill and the lower town. The gardens are named after the Danish as Denmark had taken control of the city in 1219.

After the wall walk and towers, I headed back to Kiek in de Kok to go into the bastion tunnels. It was not long until closing, and I was by myself. At first, there was a small video about the history of Tallinn, and I watched this before descending into the tunnels. Upon entering the tunnels, I could see it stretch before me with a mannequin in front of me. I was alone, and not anyone else was in sight. I started to feel a little uncomfortable but was sure that I would meet someone else in the tunnels. I never did! I explored the tunnels on my own, and it was a bit creepy.

The bastion underground tunnels were created to conceal equipment and soldiers. They start from the Toompea Hill towers at Kiek in de Kok and end in Freedom Square at the bottom of the hill. There are over 400 meters of tunnels open to the public but different complexes of tunnels exist. They served multiple purposes over the years with a rich history.

In 1991 until 2005, the tunnels were lived in by homeless people. Another mannequin of a homeless person was in one of the segments (or little "rooms") of tunnel.

Before this from 1980, the tunnels were meeting points for the punk movement, and they were often raided but usually avoided capture.

The tunnels were also used to store Soviet propaganda.

The tunnels were used in the Cold War from 1945 as shelters and for protection and said to withstand 48 hours. The tunnels were meant to be occupied by the residents of old town and city government. 

Ghosts are also said to haunt the tunnels. It was at this point that I started to feel really alone, and I think this must have been the half-way point.

The tunnels were used in the 1930s and 1940s as air raids from the Soviets attacked Tallinn, and many people were killed in the air raids. The tunnels offered protection from the falling bombs in the second World War, but Europe was suffering from the Spanish Civil War and the start of World War II soon after the first war. There were some videos to watch about the use during the air raids.

The tunnels also became places of mystery and legends, spinning off stories. There was a short video film about children who go to explore the tunnels. I started to watch it, and half the way in when it met a couple of ghosts, I looked down the tunnel both sides and realised how alone that I was and decided to head out.

Of course, there were more mannequins.

The Carved Stone Museum occupied the last couple of sections of the bastion tunnels. This featured stonework and some gravestones. This made me feel creeped out even more, so I did not linger.

I enjoyed exploring Tallinn's walls and tunnels, though I think I would prefer to have not been the only one in the tunnels at the time I explored. When I emerged in Freedom Square, the darkness had already come. Overall, I would recommend this if visiting Tallinn, Estonia.

I visited Wightwick Manor toward the end of August, and this was my second visit to the house and gardens. I first visited it over the Christmas period when the house and gardens were decorated for the holidays, but the full house was not open. Wightwick is located in Staffordshire in the West Midlands, and it is maintained by National Trust. This timber-framed manor house looks medieval, but it was actually built at the end of the 1800s.

When I visited, I was told that the conservation on the windows had been completed. Some of the timbers around the windows needed to be replaced.

I first went to check out the gardens, which were at the end of the summer hurrah. There were still some of the late summer plants out and fruit, such as apples, on the trees. I also saw some vegetables in the walled garden.

After I had looked around the garden, I went inside the house.

On this visit, I got to see the upstairs of the house. This was closed over Christmas. 

One of the rooms that was opened was the nursery, where the children would play and learn. The nanny would also mind the children in this part of the house.

Next up were the servant quarters, such as kitchens and scullery and the servant dining room.

One of the other servant rooms was the laundry.

After looking around the house, I went to the gallery next door at the Malthouse. The gallery, De Morgan Gallery, contains the collection of ceramics and paintings.

Wightwick Manor has beautiful gardens and a house with interesting objects to explore, and there is also a shop, bookshop, and a cafe. For additional posts about the property on this blog, see the below posts:

Christmas at Wightwick Manor

I have been visiting the Sculpture in the City artworks in the City of London for the past several years now, and the annual sculpture trail is in its thirteenth year this year. The event runs from the summer to the following spring, providing visitors and workers the chance to see sculptures in the City. The event has included the placement of work of famous and new sculptors and artists. The most recent edition's artwork is posted below, and some of these have been in place in the previous year or two.

"Charles, Jiwon, Nethaneel, Elena" - Julian Opie

"Muamba Groove" - Vanessa da Silva

"Temple" - Richard Mackness

"Nest Series" - Victor Lim Seaward

"In Loving Memory" - Oliver Bragg

"Book of Boredom" - Ida Ekblad

"Untitled" - Arturo Herrera

"Deluge" - Hillary Jack

"Untitled" - Daniel Silver

"Untitled" - Daniel Silver

"Everything Before, Everything After" - Seph Li

"Kissing Gate" - Maya Rose Edwards

"Caucus" - Samuel Ross

"Unititled" - Arturo Herrera

"The Granary" - Jesse Pollock

"Secret Sentinels" - Clare Burnett

"The Garden of Floating Words" - Elisa Artesero

Previous years of London's Sculpture in the City are included below:

• Sculpture in the City 2023
• Sculpture in the City 2022
• Sculpture in the City, 2021
• Sculpture in the City, 2020 (cancelled)
• Sculpture in the City, 2019
• Sculpture in the City, 2018
• Sculpture in the City, 2017
• Sculpture in the City 2016
• Sculpture in the City 2015
• Sculpture in the City 2014
• Sculpture in the City 2013

Toward the end of October, I visited Quarry Bank Mill and the village of Styal, which was built for the mill. The mill created cloth and threads made from cotton shipped from abroad, and the town was built up around it by the mill's owners for providing the workers with a community and a place to spend their money in the shops and pub, all of which benefit the owner of the mill. Styal and Quarry Bank Mill are located in Cheshire and owned by the National Trust. I visited the estate in the morning, which included a visit to the Apprentice's House, Worker's Cottage, gardens, Owner's House, and the mill itself. Later in the day, I returned for the Halloween event at Quarry Bank Mill.

The mill was constructed toward the end of the 1700s and is one of the best preserved artefacts from the Industrial Revolution in Europe. My first visit was to the Apprentice's House, which I secured a token for as numbers are limited. The tour was conducted by a man wearing period clothing. He told us about the young child apprentices who were basically forced into labour there, but it was a better prospect than other options. The young boys and girls were put to work for many hours each day and only had Sundays off. He told us some of their stories, although most are lost to time. The boys and girls were cared for, and the Apprentice's House was managed and maintained by a man and wife.

Upon entering the house, we arrived in the kitchen and were told about some of the boys and girls, including if they needed medical attention.

We were shown the living quarters of the man and wife who lived in and maintained the house, ensuring that the children were kept in order.

We were shown the boy's room, and there were two boys to a bed. The boys had their own personal possessions in a wooden box.

The room of the girls was next door.

Down the stairs was the teaching room and dining room set with wooden bowls.

After the very good tour, I went to the next tour of the workers' cottages, Oak Tree Cottage. To get there, I walked down a lane and past the war memorial cross.

Oak Cottages is a row of terraced houses.

One of the houses is open to visitors with timed entry, and the other cottages are lived in to modern standards. At the end of the cottages is Styal school. A famous boxer went to school here.

We were shown the house, which was lived in modestly by a man and wife. He was a mechanic at the mill. All of the cottages were built by the owner of the mill for workers. Many of the cottages had multiple occupants living in them, and although crowded, the conditions were far superior here than in Manchester. This family did rent out one of their bedrooms; there are two bedrooms in each cottage originally. The basement was also rented with a family living in it. There were not many comforts. The cottages dat from the early to mid 1800s.

Th wallpaper is original.

The basement was a damp one-room location that was lived in by a family.

After visiting the cottage, I walked to the garden.

Styal church made a good background on the way to the gardens.

There was a greenhouse, and I admired the autumn flowers.

I walked down the hill from the garden to get to the mill and the owner's home.

The Halloween decorations were on display for the night show.

I first went to the house that was owned and lived in by the owner.

Afterwards, I went to the mill and had a look around.

I enjoyed the visit to Quarry Bank Mill and Styal. There is a lot to see. Later in the evening, I went to one of the pubs in Styal before returning for the Halloween trail. Visitors can see my additional posts about Quarry Bank here:

Halloween at Quarry Bank

In late October, I visited Speke Hall. Speke Hall is located near Liverpool airport, and it is maintained by the National Trust. The hall and grounds are right next to the landing strip, so planes can be heard arriving and departing from Liverpool Airport nearby. It's also not far from the river Mersey. The manor house dates from the Tudor period, and it was restored in the 1800s with Arts and Crafts interiors after it had falled into decay for some years. There are some grounds to explore as well along the river.

I listened to a talk about the history of the house, which actually focused more on the architecture. It was conducted by a lady wearing Tudor period dress. The house was owned by the Norris family, and they were Catholics and hid a priest in their home. As Liverpool was popular as a slave port, the owners had financed the hall from slave trade.

I first had a wander around the grounds listening to the guide discuss the architecture of the hall and the grounds.

The hall does look really nice with the autumn colour.

The hall was originally surrounded by a moat with the bridge at the front being the entrance. 

Across the bridge led into the interior courtyard and access to the hall.

Many of the rooms were dark, and a central hallway had multiple rooms leading off of it.

As I visited in the week before Halloween, the hall was decorated with a Halloween theme with each room having its own theme. The first room I went in was dedicated to Edgae Allan Poe's "The Raven".

The games room had a skeleton.

There were other rooms decorated in the Arts and Crafts style.

The Great Hall was the largest room with high ceilings.

This beautiful room was dimly lit with a lot of dark wood panelling. 

By the window was another Halloween display. 

Upstairs and in one of the bedrooms, the Halloween display was "A Picture of Dorian Gray".

The carvings and furniture was carved beautifully in some of the rooms.

In the 18th century remodelling, the bathroom was fitted.

The kitchens were the next to see.

There was a cauldron for Halloween and a lot of magical recipes.

After visiting the house, I had a quick wander through the woods and went to the hedge maze. There did not seem to be a separate entrance and exit, though all but one or two of the bridges were fenced off.

I enjoyed the visit to Speke Hall but would not have minded a little more time to explore the grounds and see the gardens in the summer months.

In early October, one of my friends came to visit me. We opted to have bottomless brunch at The Arth Indian restaurant in Ruislip Gardens. Indian cuisine is one of my favourites (as is Italian), so I really wanted to try this. We enjoyed the brunch on the Sunday, and we had bottomless Prosecco. The brunch was a selection of dishes from a menu, and we were able to choose our own starter, main, sides, and desserts.

I choose the vegetable pakora, which were delicious.

My friend had the halloumi, which was also delicious. We shared.

My friend had the chicken biryani.

I had the vegetable jalfrezi. We also got a side each to share, and we both selected garlic naan bread instead of roti.

We also had the desserts, which were fruity and delicious.

The food is always good here, and I enjoyed as usual.

A couple of weeks ago, I visited Little Moreton Hall, which is a Tudor home (built at the beginning of the 1500s) located in Cheshire and maintained by the National Trust. The house itself has a charm about it with its irregular walls and structure. The house was in the same family for over 450 years, but they fell on hard times and the house became nearly derelict. The family transferred ownership of the home to National Trust in the 1930s at a time when so many old houses were becoming demolished or out of favour.

In front of the house is a maze made in the ground.

The house still has a moat surrounding it.

A stone bridge is crossed to get to the house.

This takes visitors to the internal cobble-stoned courtyard of the house, and visitors can visit the rooms.

The Great Parlour has an attractive window and a table dating from the 1500s, which was in the inventory of the house. Very few items are still present inside the house. 

The Little Parlour has some original wall drawings to see.

The Great Hall was the most spacious room, and opposite this room is the modern day cafe restaurant.

Afterwards, I went to the chapel, which is a part of the building accessed via a different door.

There was also a stable.

From here, I found the way up to the first floor and the Long Gallery all the way at the top of the building.

There was a bedroom to see with some wooden carvings.

The Long Gallery contains wood panelling and designs. The family would open this to the public for a fee. 

Some of the rooms had the wood panelling and fireplace.

After visiting the house, I went to have a look at the garden.

It is a traditional garden from the Tudor times.

I enjoyed the visit to Little Moreton Hall. The hall is open in the summer months and closes toward the end of October each year.

A food collaboration between Awar ice cream and CanToast, a Hong Kong style French toast, has come to London for a couple of weeks at the end of October in a foodie pop up. There were different flavours to choose from for the French Toast and ice cream blend. I had the ube flavour, which is bright purple, though it was a close choice with the creme brulee flavour. Awar is located in Soho, so I went there to try the dessert.

You could order with or without the ice cream.

The dessert was okay but not too sweet, and it didn't taste much like cinnamon nor standard French toast, which is meant to be soft and gooey. It was ok, and I enjoyed the ice cream. 

On Saturday, I watched the fireworks in Ruislip with some friends. This is an annual event, and I enjoy watching them. I got some photographs of the fireworks again this year. Happy Bonfire Night / Guy Fawkes Day / November 5th.

In the middle of October, a friend and I went to Roast restaurant at Borough Market in London to enjoy bottomless afternoon tea. It was a Day of the Dead and Halloween theme, and we also indulged in bottomless Prosecco and we had three cocktails, which were the special themed cocktails. Keep reading and scrolling down to see what we received.

We both got the vegetarian menus, and this included a selection of sweet and savoury items. First up, we had a Bratwurst Scotch egg (made with vegetables not meat), Falafel with hummus and mustard cress, a Bratwurst sausage roll (plant-based), chickpea roll, tomato lateral, and an onion lateral. 

We could choose our own tea from the list, and I had the Indian Darjeeling tea.

The sweets received were decorated with the Day of the Dead theme. There was a pumpkin mousse, fresh fruit tart, and a choux bun.

The cocktails were ordered separately. Roast Raven came with black raven feathers. La Llorona came in the skull glass and was tequila and linquer with grenadine and lime juice. Dead End was Campari, gin, and pumpkin puree. It was served with a black skull ice cube.

We also got scones, which were coloured black. These came with a syringe of strawberry jam (which looked like blood) and clotted cream.

The food was very filling, and we had to wait for awhile to be served and to receive top ups of the Prosecco. They were definitely short-staffed, and the afternoon tea must have proved to be very popular.

Before we went home, we went to London Bridge Rooftop Bar and had a couple of drinks.

Happy belated Day of the Dead! It took awhil to publish this post as I have been busy in the past three weeks.

Stokesay Castle, which is located in Shropshire, dates from the 13th century and is a good example of a fortified manor house. The family who built the house were the Ludlow family, and they received their money from the wool industry and members of the family lived there until the 1600s. Afterwards, the house was rented out, and during the Civil War, they supported the losing side, but the castle was not fully damaged as it retained its use as a home. The castle was never intended to be used as a stronghold and was built only as a home. In later years, the house was used for agriculture and restored and then opened for tourism in 1908. Today, it is managed by English Heritage.

I visited Stokesay Castle at the end of August when I visited Shropshire and Worcestershire. The first building on the entrance to the castle is the 17th century gatehouse. The gatehouse contains carvings from Biblical stories, and it was never meant to be used for defense.

Note that the buildings are relatively empty of furnishings and furniture.

The building in front of the gatehouse or just behind it is the old hall and the tower with solar block. The tower has three floors. The structures mainly date from the 1200s. 

The hall was constructed with high ceilings and an area in the middle of the floor for a hearth, which was made to appear that the building is older than it actually is. In fact, there isn't any way for the smoke to escape if a hearth is heated and put into the middle of the floor. The great hall was used to host guests, such as the bishop of Herefordshire who was entertained here over ten days at the expense of the owner.

Off of the great tower is a small cellar, and this is in the north tower. The area was used to prepare food and clean dishes.

Some previous wall paintings have been uncovered in the castle.

The north tower has some other rooms which would have been richly decorated.

The top of the tower includes a room with a lot of windows, and this jets outward from the structure.

On the opposite side of the hall is the solar block, and I checked out the cellar first. This was used for storing perishables.

Above, the rooms are richly decorated. There are views from this room into the Great Hall.

Outside from here, I climbed stairs to the south tower, which has great views.

The garden at Stokesay is designed in Edwardian style, typical of 1908 with a practical use for growing useful plants and vegetables.

After exploring the castle, I had a wander around the former moat, which is now a walkway around the castle.

There is a church just outside of the castle grounds as well.

I enjoyed my visit to Stokesay Castle.

Yayoi Kusama is a Japanese artist who creates immersive artwork and installations, and the pumpkin is one of the subjects that features a lot in her works, and she often uses the polka dot for styling. She is inspired by pumpkins and squash as they featured in her childhood with the land around her being planted with them. This sculpture, titled simply as "Pumpkin" is cast in bronze is six metres tall and 5.5 metres wide, and it is located near the Round Pond at Kensington Gardens. The artwork was created this year, and it gives off perfect vibes for Halloween and autumn.

Her first large-scale permannt sculpture was placed at Liverpool Street recently, and visitors can read about the work and see photographs on this blog Yayoi Kusama Sculpture at Liverpool Street. I also saw one of her shows several years ago, "The Moving Moment When I Went to the Universe", which included her paintings, sculptures, and infinity rooms, which I also went to and covered on this blog.

The giant pumpkin was placed in early July and is installed until tomorrow, Sunday, November 3. It has been placed by Serpentine Gallery. See it before it is gone.

This year, Diwali and Halloween fell on the same day. Because of this, I know that some people celebrated Diwali over the course of the two days, and this evening has brought many fireworks and parties. I took some photographs of the fireworks held locally, and they never disappoint. Happy Diwali!