April 2026 Archives

I recently enjoyed afternoon tea at St. James' Hotel and Club in Mayfair. The afternoon tea is themed "The Masterpiece" based upon the artwork from famous artists, and little pastries of these "Masterpieces" were created in edible form. The hotel is located near Green Park and not far from the Royal Academy of Arts, which is possibly the inspiration for the theme. The pastries are inspired by the works of Damien Hirst, René Magritte, Vincent van Gogh, and Salvador Dalí.

Finally, we had a little bit of sun to enjoy the afternoon tea. It's starting to look more like spring, and I enjoyed the special touch of blooms decorating the front of the hotel.

I ordered the Darjeeling afternoon tea. The sandwiches included the following, and they also cater for vegtarians and other dietary requirements: ham and plum chutney, smoked salmon on rye, egg mayonnaise and watercress, and cheddar and green tomato chutney.

The pastries included a coconut-flavoured "Spot Painting" inspired by Hirst, apple mousse inspired by Magritte's "The Son of Man", pistachio, raspberry and lemon choux inspired by Van Gogh's "Sunflowers", and a dark chocolate and cherry pastry inspired by Dali. My favourite was the coconut or apple mousse.

Following the pastries, I enjoyed scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam.

I absolutely love afternoon tea, and the start of spring is a perfect time to indulge.

The blooming azaleas in Richmond Park has been on my London "to do" list for over a decade now, and I finally got to se them on Sunday when they are at their peak bloom. Richmond Park contains a an area known as Isabella Plantation, and this was created in the Victorian 1830s and known for the blooms in April and May. The little part of garden (40 acres) has small ponds and streams with azaleas, rhododendrons, and magnolias. There were also several little spots with bluebells.

To get to Isabella Plantation, I walked from Norbiton train station through Richmond Park. There are some very old oak trees in the park, and I saw a fox in broad daylight.

Upon entering Isabella Plantation, I saw patches of beautiful bluebells.

There are several acres of the azalea blooms in different colours, and I went to explore them and to explore the ponds.

Richmond Park is one of the royal parks in London.

This is an absolutely beautiful little area of London. I visited on a Sunday afternoon. It was busy, but it was manageable as there are several acres of woodland and azalea blooms, but I imagine that it can get busy at peak times.

CityStack is a membership that aims to support independent pubs and to discover new venues. Members purchase a pack for 25.00 pounds, and they can visit ten pubs out of a list of more than seventy pubs across London and get ten pounds off when they spend twenty pounds. This means that visiting three pubs will pay for the membership itself. I received this gift at an event a little over a year ago and used it last year. I had two packets to use. This packet specified that visitors must trade or stamp a coaster for the pub discount, and I visited all ten pubs, even the three of them that were very much out of my way. 

The Dog and Bell - Deptford

This pub is a bit out of the way. I spent more than 40.00 here in order to use two vouchers, and I had a glass of wine, two gin and tonics, a delicious Sunday roast, and a lemon tart dessert. The pub is large with a lot of seating inside and out, and it is pleasant inside with a quirky traditional pub decor. The pub hosts events throughout the year, such as a pickle festival. I went in late September on a Sunday and enjoyed the roast chicken, vegetables, and a rather large Yorkshire pudding. I would return here.

Skehan's - Nunhead

Skehan's is a family-owned and run Irish pub; the owners are from Ireland and Thailand respectfully, and both cultures thrive with the food and drink. The pub serves delicious Thai cuisine. I spent over fourty pounds here on a couple of gin and tonics and a bottle of white wine. The food had to be paid for separately and not with the voucher. I also enjoyed seeing a local cat that seems to be a regular at the pub, and the pub is situated on a hill with views over London's skyline. I would return for the delicious food.

Princess of Wales - Primrose Hill

Another gem is the Princess of Wales in Primrose Hill, which I visited last August. The pub has a wonderful gin selection, so I had a couple of gin and tonics, spicy margarita, chicken kebab, and brownie. I spent over fourty pounds here and enjoyed the gin especially. The pub has a lower level with street art in a "garden". I would return for the delicious gin selection.

Highbury Barn - Highbury and Islington

This pub is near where I first lived and worked when I moved to London, although I never actually walked up this direction to my knowledge. I spent over fourty pounds here on a passionfruit martini, glass of wine, chicken burger, and sticky toffee pudding. I visited the pub in October last year.

Horn of Plenty - Stepney Green

This east London pub seems to be popular with locals and students and hosts pub quizzes. I visited in early October and spent fourty pounds on drinks - cocktails, wine, and gin and tonics. The pub did not serve its own food when I visited, but I was able to have a pizza delivered (cost not included with the voucher).

Crown and Shuttle - Shoreditch

I have visited this pub before with colleagues when I used to work in the area. Apparently, it used to be a gentleman's club before it became a pub, and the pub serves a lot of different beers and always had a "hipster" vibe common with most venues in the area. I spent fourty pounds here on wine and gin and tonic and a cocktail as well as a vegetarian sandwich (panini) and chips.

The Gladstone Arms - Borough

This family-owned and run pub is popular for its Anglo-Indian food, and the food really is delicious. Live music and quizzes are hosted here, and the pub seems to have built its own community. I spent fourty pounds here on a curry pie (the English pie with an Indian twist), and it was delicious. I would return here for the delicious food.

Hansom Cab - Kensington

This west London pub was once owned by Piers Morgan and is owned by two brothers. The pub is known for its beer selection; it's a shame I dislike beer. I spent over fourty pounds on cocktails and food. There is a nice cocktail list here, and the food was tasty. I had a chicken burger and chips. I would visit again.

The Bow Bells - Bow / Mile End

This east London pub is family-owned and a typical example of an east end pub and has large televisions broadcasting sports. The decor is "homely" with old photographs on the walls, and with the bright orange frontag, the pub is not easy to miss. This pub seems to be popular with the locals. I visited it in late August last year and spent over fourty pounds on gin and tonic and food. I had the chicken burger and chips. I found the pub to be a pleasant space, although I did have to wait awhile for the food.

Hawke - Hackney

The pub is located very near to Victoria Park and seems to be popular with the community. Service was friendly, and I was shown a lot of different and unique gins, which I tried. I spent one voucher here and also ordered the food - basically a chicken schnitzel. 

I enjoyed trying these pubs and found a few gems. I also purchased another couple of voucher packs to explore more pubs or to return to some of the ones I liked. The new vouchers allow you to visit any pubs in the list of independent participating pubs across London. I visited all of these pubs in this post last year.

Miguel H. Cuar is a Spanish artist who has painted some walls in London with a unique style focused on illustration and elements of graphic design and comic books. The artist uses bright colours and abstract shapes. I captured the below artwork in London a few years ago.

In March, I had an evening out to see the theatre performance of "Cabaret" at The Playhouse (Kit Kat Club) next to Embankment station. This was my first visit to this theatre, and the story is about an American man who goes to visit Berlin in order to write a book in the backdrop of the late 1930s. There, he meets a woman working in a club, and the story has political undertones of the start of the build-up to World War II. I did not know what the story was about before I visited, and I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed it. 

The entrance to the theatre was through the basement, which made it seem that you were entering a club. I received a shot of alcohol on entry (as did everyone), and I watched the entertainers dance around the different areas inside the club. I ordered a special drink at the bar, which was topped with champagne.

The music and dancing happened whilst waiting for the show to begin, and visitors could watch in the threatre itself or in one of the communal or bar areas. I loved that they did that so that the audience could feel immersed in a 1930s club. The theatre is a little bit different in that the stage is in the middle of the room with views on all the sides, but everyone got a good view no matter where they were sat as the stage did move as well.

I really recommend this show as I enjoyed it.

Earlier this month, I visited Vnilla to try their banana pudding dessert. The cafe is located between Covent Garden and Holborn, and I decided to have a quick afternoon snack. They serve two flavours in the cafe: traditional banana pudding and a monthly special. This month, it was banana pudding with dates, served with candied dates on top. The pudding comes in one size in a cup, but it can be stored in th fridge as it is quite filling.

The creators were inspired by desserts in New York City and created this brand in London.

Back in February, I ordered some cakes from Little Cake Co, which bakes and sends cake through the post. The cakes are bite-sized and moist, and I was not disappointed with them. As part of the package, I could select my own flavours. I selected pistachio, cinnamon, carrot cake, pecan, strawberries and cream, a special one for Valentine's Day, Victoria sponge, birthday, and rose. 

I enjoyed the little bite-sized cakes, and the small size meant that I was able to control how much I consumed as thse are small enough to enjoy and limit the calories.

This month, I received the Craft Gin Club gin monthly subscription box for 2026 April. The Craft Gin Club subscription box contains a full-sized bottle of gin, mixers, snacks, and a magazine (The Stir) with food and drink recipes using the gin. This month's full bottle of gin is House of Elrick "The Gardeners Edition" gin. The gin is produced in Scotland with botanicals from the stately home region where the distillery is located. Keep reading to see what I received in the box.

Mallows Mixers Elderflower tonic: This tonic has a hint of elderflower and pairs nicely with the gin.

punchy cucumber, Yuzu and Rosemary: This mixer can be paired with gin.

Karma Cola: I've had this brand of soda before, and it uses natural products.

Cheez-It Cheese and Chilli: These crackers are from a brand that I love based in the states. They have a different flavour here. They do pair with the gin, but I prefer the flavour from the states.

Shore Salt and Balsamic Seaweed chips: These chips pair well with gin with a sweet and salty taste.

Mad Butcher Chorizo Bites: This one I will not have bcaus it is pork, so I passed it on to someone else to enjoy.

Van Slooten Safari Animals Fruity Gummies: Subscribers will receive a different flavour in their box, and I received Cadillac cars. These were a red berry flavour.

Mrs Tilly's Original Scottish fudge: Perfect to pair with the Scotland-produced gin this month, this little snack is crumbly and uses the traditional Scottish recipe.

I also received lemon and lime slices to have with the gin and tonic, and there was a small bottle of Lemon Verbena Martini to create the perfect gin cocktail.

At the end of March, I visited The Cliff Country Pub and Rstaurant in Poole to enjoy a meal out with friends. The visit ended up being one of the rare days where we did not get much rain, and the sun makes all the difference! I went to university in Poole but I never visited this restaurant.  

The restaurant seems to be popular, and it does serve good drinks and food. The interior is minimal but trendy.

I started with a spicy margarita, which is one of my favourite cocktails.

To start, I had the Beetroot Carpaccio - goat's cheese, beetroot, orange segments, toasted bread, and pine nuts. This was tasty.

I had a glass of white wine with the meal.

For the main, I had the chicken, leek, and cheddar pie. I asked for vegetarian gravy (as a lot of places do use beef or pork for gravy), and it was served with mash and broccoli.

I had a passionfruit martini as well.

For the dssert, I had the chocolate bomb. Cherry, brownie, ice cream, and chocolate with a hot chocolate sauce to melt the chocolate bomb. The dessert was too rich and sweet for my taste with real sweetness overload. 

I enjoyed the food and drinks, and this is a good stop to visit in the area.

One of the most popular attractions in Krakow, Poland, is Wawal Royal Castle. Visitors can easily spend a day at the castle to visit the art collection and other exhibits. The complex also contains the cathedral and several smaller museums. Dating from the 13th and 14th centuries, the castle is located on a hill above the Vistula river. It is a UNESCO World Heritage attraction. I visited the castle and cathedral on my visit to Krakow at the beginning of the month.

The castle is part of the old town of Krakow and a short walk from the main square. 

At the top of the hill, the castle opens into an internal courtyard. There is also a post office up on top of the hill, which is convenient for stamps and postcards. There is a restaurant and a smaller outdoor cafe too.

There are views over the river valley.

The most iconic building in the courtyard is Wawal Cathedral.

The castle itself opens into a courtyard.

I purchased the ticket to see all of the exhibitions. The first was the underground castle. This exposed the earliest foundations of the castle and how the land was formed millions of years ago. The underground exhibtion showed some of the former walls and brickwork, which is now underneath the existing complex.

Some items were found amongst the structure. This included glass and pottery bottles and metalwork for clothing.

After the look around at the old walls, I went into the main castle complex.

The next exhibition was the treasury and crown jewels. There were so many beautiful items to see. They belonged to former kings of Poland. The tour I paid for came with an audio guide, which pointed out some of the more interesting items and allowed free time to see as much or as little as you wanted.

The next part of the tour was the armoury, which was also exhibited.

After this, there were two floors of the state rooms to visit. These had many different items on display - paintings and furniture.

Another part of the museum focused on ceramics. This became a popular product to manufacture in Poland.

The ceramic religious Jesus on cross figure looked complex and fragile.

After visiting those rooms, it was time for a late lunch and a glass of wine on the castle grounds in front of the cathedral.

Additional state rooms and displays were visited in the second part of the tour.

At the end was an exhibition on the Ottoman (now known as Turkey) tents. 

Next, I visited the catedral. The cathedral has tombs of some of the kings who lived in the castle and ruled Poland, a bell tower to climb to see the bells, and the main part of the cathedral itself. Also, a museum dedicated to the former pope John Paul, is across from the castle and is included in the cost.

Photographs inside the cathedral were not permitted.

I climbed the bell tower for some nice views and to see the bells.

After the cathedral, the final exhibition was about the reconstruction and conservative work of the castle.

A couple of the exhibtion rooms were closed due to the time of year. I enjoyed the visit, and I would take the time and enjoy the castle and have a nice lunch and take longer to explore the different rooms.

After visiting the death camp at Auschwitz in the morning, I spent the afternoon visiting Schindler's Factory and museum. The story was made famous in the film "Schindler's List", which I have yet to see but told myself that I would. The former location of the enamel factory is now a museum, and the museum covers the Nazi occupation of Krakow and the fate of the Jewish population, who were forced into a ghetto made outside the city before many were sent away to camps. Some of the population worked at the factory. 

When Germany invaded and occupied Poland, German Nazi party industrialist Oskar Schindler took over the enamel factory. When he discovered the treatment of the Jewish people in Krakow, he risked his life to protect the lives of over 1,200 Jewish workers and evade the Nazis.

The museum starts with a series of short videos that visitors can watch that depict ordinary life and the rise of the Nazi occupation in Krakow. 

There was a lot of information in the museum to read. The floor tiles in a couple of the large rooms actually had the swastika design.

Street names and other public buildings had their names changed to German spellings and to glorify the leader of the party.

A large part of the musum was for the fate of the Jewish population. There was a little room with items from a Jewish household, and the items became abandoned when the families were forced to live in the ghettos. Many families would have to share a house.

Schindler's desk was on display in one room, and there was information on how the pots and pans were created from metal before being coated in enamel. One video shown in the museum featured workers who told their stories working for Schindler's factory. 

There was a section of the museum to appar as a Jewish home in the ghetto with Jewish places of business.

Outside the museum are the gates of the old factory. The factory was taken over when the Soviets invaded.

Entrance to the museum also included entrance to a pharmacy inside the area that was formerly the Jewish ghetto. (This area of Krakow is not walled off, but a part of the ghetto wall can still be seen, and this area is known as Kazimierz.) The pharmacy includes information about some of the people who lived in the ghetto and their lives. 

The square outside the museum contained a lot of empty chairs, and these symbolise the families crammed inside a small area. This square is called Ghetto Heroes Square.

The pharmacy had exhibitions mainly about real people and other information about the Jewish population of Krakow.

The museum was interesting to understand the occupation years of Krakow and the fate of the Jewish population, including the enamel factory and Schindler, the man who helped save the lives of over 1,200 Jewish people. Schindler's motto was "Whoever saves the life of one, saves the world entire." This is displayed on the front of the museum.

On my visit to Poland this month, the former Nazi concentration death camp (Auschwitz-Birkenau) was on my list to visit. This is a dark period in history, but I believe it was an essential place to visit. The former camp functions as a museum and memorial today. The scale of th place is huge, and over a million people lost their lives at this camp. It was the largest one, and it was in use from 1940, a year after Germany invaded Poland. The people who died here were not only Jewish (who made up the largest group) but included Polish, homosexuals, and other groups disliked or considered anti-social by the Nazi party.

I visited as a tour group, and as we walked through the tunnel into the camp, it felt a harrowing experience with the names of some of those who were murdered being spoken via the speakers.

The entrance to the camp translates to "work will set you free".

The guide led us through into the different buildings, which were set up as museums detailing the conditions, punishments, and life in the camp for those unfortunate to be put inside. People were not treated as people in the camp, and they were punished and murdered and had experiments done on them. Daily, they had to roll call everyone's name. If someone was missing, everyone got into trouble. Collectively, many gave up and prevented others from enforcing punishments on the whole. Death was so common that people did not grieve nor react. 

The Nazis used chaos and threat to control. Auschwitz I is the name given to the part of the camp that was older and comprised of brick buildings. This was originally constructed as a fort before the Nazi invasion but used to house and punish prisoners who were kept alive. After arrival at the camp, many people were sent straight to gas chambers to be murdered. These included people unable to work, children, and pregnant women. Those who could work were also murdered through overwork.

The fort, named Auschwitz, was a Polish community. The Polish that lived here were expelled so that the tortures of the death camp could remain hidden, although some people did know what was happening and were able to smuggle photography equipment in to capture some of the horrors.

One of the rooms held human hair that was cut from the prisoners. The hair was also sold into Europe to make textile. A lot of th hair remained. The Jewish and other people who were forced here had brought their belongings, and the Nazi party stole the items and sold it or had it melted down. They could only carry a few items with them. Below is a room filled with dishes.

Shoes from the victims covers several rooms. Seeing the shoes from men, women, and children who were the victims was sad. There were thousands of shoes, and this photograph shows only a small segment.

There was another large area with luggage. Some of the luggage contains names.

We were also shown a lot of cans (Zyklon B). These were opened and contained poison, which was used to suffocate the prisoners in the gas chambers.

One of the blocks was for the death doctor Carl Clauberg. He did horrible experiments on people. In Block 10-11, accommodation was here for some of the resistance prisoners and also a courtroom. The prisoners were always found guilty and punished and killed in the courtyard outside. There were cells in the basement of the building.

People were housed here before death.

Below is the courtyard where many were shot.

A memorial remains in the courtyard.

The place where they did the daily roll calls is photographed above.

On the outside area, we walked to one of the gas chambers. 

Below is the gas chamber entrance (maybe an exit).

The gas chamber was where many died.

On one part of the gas chamber, the furnaces were used to cremate bodies.

The exterior of the gas chamber is shown below.

After the visit, we had a short bus trip to the other part of the camp. This included make-shift wooden buildings that were only made to be temporary. Many of them no longer exist.

The railway went straight into the camp.

The train carriage below, which was used for animals, was used to transport many people.

Today, there is a memorial at one end of this camp.

The Nazis knew their tim was up, so they tried to destroy evidence of their crimes by burning and demolishing some of the buildings, such as the building below. This was one of the gas chambers.

Many of the buildings did not last time, but you can see where the chimneys and foundations were.

We went inside one of the buildings and saw the places where there were beds. I cannot remember how many prisoners would have been in one building, but at least ten would share a bed. The bottom beds were the worst as they were on the ground. There were only two small furnaces, and they were not given coal. There was no insulation of the walls nor roof. This would have been unbearable in the winter.

Each building had toilets and wash facilities.

The tour was informative, and seeing where the crimes happened and the scale of it was depressing. However, I believe that everyone should visit this place and understand what happened here.

I came across Puffy in Soho, London recently. The cookie cafe started in Paris in 2023 and is inspired by the thick cookies in New York City. After success in Paris, they opened the branch in London. The different flavours of cookie are baked fresh daily, and they have the traditional chocolate chip, a triple chocolate, double chocolate peanut butter, hazlenut, white chocolate macadamia, cornflake, matcha, and coconut.

I tried the traditional chocolate chip. The cookie definitely reminded me of the ones I had in New York City.  

Puffy is located in Soho at Old Compton Street.

Street artist Paul Don Smith would often paint his stencil work across east London, but for the past several years, he seems to have concentrated his efforts only in and around Soho. I discovered a few new pieces, and they feature characters from action and science fiction films and comics. 

One other work I discovered near Primrose Hill was of Captain Tom Moore who was one hundred years old and passed away in 2021. He raised a lot of money for the NHS during the Covid Pandemic.

Previous work by Paul Don Smith on this blog:

<p><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2021/04/paul-don-smith-paints-the-joke.html">Paul Don Smith "The Joker" in Soho</a><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2019/08/new-street-art-by-paul-don-smi.html"><br />New Sreet Art by Paul Don Smith in Soho</a><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2015/09/paul-don-smith-hanbury-street.html"><br />Paul Don Smith Paints 'Legend' Mural on Hanbury Street &amp; Other Work from the Summer<br /></a><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2015/04/don-paul-smiths-new-street-art.html">Paul 'Don' Smith's New Street Art: Spock, Heath Ledger, Loki, and More</a><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2015/09/paul-don-smith-hanbury-street.html"><br /></a><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2015/03/don-paul-smith-2014-end.html">Don "Paul" Smith's New Street Art: Elvis, Mad Max, Hulk, Bob Marley, and more<br /></a><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2014/10/2014-paul-don-smith.html">New Summer 2014 Street Art by Paul 'Don' Smith (the Banker)<br /></a><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2014/08/whitecross-street-party-2014.html">Whitecross Street Party 2014</a><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2014/10/2014-paul-don-smith.html"><br /></a><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2014/07/street-art-on-whitecross-stree.html">Street Art on Whitecross Street</a><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2014/10/2014-paul-don-smith.html"><br /></a><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2014/04/new-street-art-by-c215-and-pau.html">New Street Art by C215 and Paul 'Don' Smith</a><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2014/10/2014-paul-don-smith.html"><br /></a><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2014/03/recent-street-art-2014.html">Recent Street Art in Early 2014</a><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2014/10/2014-paul-don-smith.html"><br /></a><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2013/11/new-street-art-from-don-paul-s.html">New Street Art from Don 'Paul' Smith, including pieces from Whitecross Street</a><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2014/10/2014-paul-don-smith.html"><br /></a><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2013/08/new-street-art-and-a-meeting-w.html">New Street Art and a Meeting with Paul Don Smith (the Banker)</a><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2014/10/2014-paul-don-smith.html"><br /></a><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2013/04/don-smith.html">Street Art: Don Smith</a></p>

Schnitzel Heaven is a restaurant specialising in serving schnitzel based in Hoxton, London, but they also have another branch at Victoria Park in east London. I was in the area and went to try it out. Schnitzel is a German-Austrian dish with flattened meat (such as chicken) and fried in breadcrumbs and served with a slice of lemon.

I had mozzarella sticks to start with, and this was served with fig relish and chili jam.

I ordered the chicken schnitzel main, and this tasted fresh and with a crispy breadcrumb coating. There are also vegetarian alternatives to choose from.

The food was good, and having had chicken schnitzel a few times on my travels to central Europe, I would say that this is true to the central European cuisine and very tasty.

At the end of last year, Louis Masai painted street art of a turkey on Hanbury Street (just off of Brick Lane). The turkey is painted using his patchwork style with different patterns. The street art promotes vegetarianism / veganism and comes just before the Christmas holidays where turkey makes most of the dinners for the day in the United Kingdom. The street art reads that "a turkey is not just for Christmas".

I captured a couple of other older artworks from the artist using his older style around east London.

Other posts on this blog that feature Louis Masai are included below:

<p><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2023/02/louis-masai-paints-cavendish-b.html">Louis Masai "Cavndish Banana" in Penge</a><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2018/08/louis-masai-paints-for-upfest-.html"><br />Louis Masai Paints for Upfest 2018</a><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2017/05/tower-hamlets-cemetery-park-en.html"><br />Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park Environmental Street Art </a><br /><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2016/09/louis-masai-and-birdo-collabor.html">Louis Masai and Birdo Collaboration @ Bethnal Green<br /></a><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2016/06/louis-masai-and-fanakapan-coll.html">Louis Masai and Fanakapan Collaborate on 'Freedom?' Street Art</a><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2016/09/louis-masai-and-birdo-collabor.html"><br /></a><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2016/04/humannature-endangered13-stree.html">HumanNature Endangered13 Street Art Paint Jam, Day 2</a><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2016/09/louis-masai-and-birdo-collabor.html"><br /></a><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2016/04/street-art-endangered13.html">HumanNature Endangered13 Street Art Paint Jam<br /></a><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2015/11/masai-londonlovescorals.html">Masai's #LondonLovesCorals SynchronicityEarth Mural</a></p>

The last weekend in March, I visited Kingston Maurward near Dorchester to take part in the Dragon Egg Quest, which was an Easter event targeted to families. The weather has not been great with a lot of rain, but I was lucky to have a clear day with some sun, despite a cold breeze. The spring blossoms and flowers were in bloom, and the trail itself to locate the egg sculptures is 2.5 kilometres. The estate contains a petting zoo with animals, gardens, and playgrounds for children to enjoy. In addition to the cafe, there were also a couple of food trucks selling waffles and pizzas.

Spring is lambing season, so on the entrance to the estate, a lot of newborn and slightly-older lambs greeted me.

I had a dragon-themed cupcake before walking the trail to locate the giant eggs.

The trail started off into the animal park, where I discovered rabbits, guinea pigs, alpacas, donkeys, pigs, goats, and other animals.

Next to the giant egg sculptures were letters in a frame to locate (sometimes they were on the ground and others up inside trees). These were used to complete the dragon's name, and successful completion meant that visitors (children) could claim a plastic egg with a small dragon hidden inside.

The trail led through the gardens, which were starting to come out into blossom.

The magnolia trees were particularly beautiful.

I also saw some beautiful purple and white flowers on the embankment under the house.

The trail also led around the lake.

Along the way, there were interesting sculptures: a sword in the lake (lady of the lake), a fairy toadstool, a unicorn, and dragon.

Along the way, two golden eggs could be found for an additional prize. I went through the trail twice, but I was not able to locate the remaining egg.

At the formal gardens area, some tents had been set up with a small cafe and picnic tables. There were several games and a "bouncy castle" for children to play on.

I did manage to get an egg. I selected a white "glow in the dark" egg, and it has a small dragon toy inside. There were other colours and multi-colour rainbow ones as well.

I enjoyed the visit to Kingston Maurward to walk around the estate and find the eggs. It was good fun!

Cold Stone Creamery is an ice cream cafe located in two locations in central London - Leicester Square and Tottenham Court Road. It is a brand from America serving up ice cream creations using a cold stone granite slab. Visitors can select the ice cream flavour and ingredients they want, which are then mashed up and placed in a waffle cup, waffle cone, or in a simple cup.

I had the peach ice cream, which was delicious, and I had this with red raspberries.

I really enjoyed the ice cream and found it creamy.

"Chicken Shop" is a simple name for a restaurant that serves chicken, but it is easy to remember. Last month, I visited Chicken Shop in Putney. There are a few of the restaurants across London. I had three chicken tenders with gunpowder spice and spicy fries. The restaurant started in London at Latitude festival in 2010 and then as a pop-up. The restaurants use ethically-sourced chicken and ensure that packaging and frying oil is also recyclable.

The Putney restaurant is located on the main High Street.

The chicken was tender, but it was not spicy. I would opt to go for a spicier one next time, and I would have liked to have tried a chicken burger too.

I would recommend as I enjoyed the chicken, and it was tender inside.

Mr. Cenz is a London-based street artist who paints in futuristic style using bright colours and geometric shapes and designs. His subjects usually feature female portraits, and he uses the bright colours to bring them to life, and the design patterns appear futuristic in his use of colour and shape. The artist has been painting across London for many years now, and this post features some of his most recent work across east London.

For more street art by Mr. Cenz, see the below posts:

<li><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2023/03/street-art-by-mr-cenz-across-l.html">Mr. Cenz Street Art in Penge, Camden, and East London</a></li>
<li><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2022/12/bankside-frost-fair.html">Mr. Cenz - Frost Fair</a></li>
<li><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2022/05/mr-cenzs-recent-street-art-acr.html">Mr. Cenz Recent Street Art in London</a></li>
<li><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2019/02/mr-cenz-paints-hanbury-street-.html">Mr. Cenz Paints Hanbury Street Wall</a></li>
<li><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2018/10/mr-cenz-paints-connectivity-ma.html">Mr. Cenz Paints "Connectivity Matters" Wall</a></li>
<li><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2018/02/mr-cenz-winter-2018.html">Recent Street Art By Mr. Cenz in Winter 2018</a></li>
<li><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2017/08/mr-cenz-paints-tribute-to-usai.html">Mr. Cenz Paints Tribute to Usain Bolt</a></li>
<li><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2017/03/mr-cenz-fashion.html">Mr. Cenz Refreshes Fashion Street Mural</a></li>
<li><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2016/09/mr-cenz-paints-hanbury-street.html">Mr. Cenz Paints Hanbury Street</a></li>
<li><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2016/02/mr-cenz-2015-2016.html">New Street Art by Mr. Cenz</a></li>
<li><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2015/05/mr-cenz.html">Street Art: Mr. Cenz</a></li>

Street artist Jelly is a grafitti artist who paints portraits with an inspiration on fashion and strong/carefree characters. She paints in London and focuses on themes of positivity, love, and humanity. Many of the portraits feature women. I captured a few of the artist's work across east London.