Author: bagpussjanet

Petersfield – Sunday 30th July 2017

Our final stop of the weekend saw us visiting Waterstones at Petersfield in Hampshire where we had decided to stop for a late lunch.  Petersfield is a very pretty town.  Sadly, being a Sunday we arrived shortly before closing time so we only had time to visit the shop and then find a pub for lunch.

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I have been forgetting to post what I was reading – on this occasion we were listening to Call for the Dead by John le Carré, the first of his books to feature the character George Smiley.  Despite it obviously being dated it was a good yarn!

Haywards Heath – Sunday 30th July 2017

After leaving Tunbridge Wells our route took us past Haywards Heath.  I haven’t visited this town before, but we didn’t stop to look round as we still had around 130 miles of non-motorway journey ahead of us and knew we’d need to stop to eat!  The store here is on a fairly busy main road.  If we’re ever in the area again we may stop to explore further.  I like to look round places when we’re on a Waterstones quest!

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Tunbridge Wells – Sunday 30th July 2017

The day after the wedding we decided to drive from Kent to Somerset without using motorways!  Our route saw us passing through Tunbridge Wells, so naturally we made a quick stop to visit the Waterstones.

It’s at the bottom of this lovely little town (we’ve visited before so didn’t stop on this occasion) but in rather a drab building. Still, it’s what’s inside that counts! 

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If you’re ever in Tunbridge Wells (technically Royal Tunbridge Wells!), do try to pop into the Wetherspoons there – it’s in an old opera house and they still hold an opera there once a year.  The building is beautiful, inside and out (these photos taken on a previous visit to the town in 2015).

Redhill – Saturday 29th July 2017

Next up was Redhill.   We didn’t have any time to explore the town – we just nipped into The Belfry Shopping Centre where Waterstones is based.  The shopping centre is pretty soulless, but the shop has a nice feel about it.  

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I don’t really have any more to say about Redhill.  We may visit again some time, but it seems unlikely.

Dorking – Saturday 29th July 2017

We were going to Kent for a wedding and so stopped at a couple of towns en route to break up the journey.   The first was in Dorking, which is a place we hadn’t been to before.  We were pleasantly surprised by Dorking which seems like a really nice town. The Waterstones is small and really cute – I think, especially looking from the back to the front, that it looks a little like a maze!

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There are a couple of large antiques emporiums in the town which we enjoyed wandering round!

Cirencester – Saturday 22nd July 2017

We went to Cirencester to meet up with friends.  Ironically we usually meet them in Waterstones, but today we decided to meet at a different venue.  There was time to pop in and take a few quick pictures.

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The loos in this branch used to have some gorgeous drawings of children’s book characters, but sadly, after a refurbishment, they have all gone.   Here’s one from an earlier visit.

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Chesterfield – Sunday 16th July 2017

The last leg of our wonderful trip to Yorkshire saw us stopping at Chesterfield on the way home. 

The Waterstones here is quite small and is situated in a rather soulless shopping centre – but there are some really pretty parts to the town too – we would definitely like to visit here when the market is open.

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Chesterfield is famous for the twisted spire on the church of St Mary and All Saints.  The church is pretty inside too!

There is a lovely modern stained glass window, installed in 1984 to commemorate the church’s 750th anniversary.

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Sheffield – Saturday 15th July 2017

The Waterstones in Sheffield is based in an open pedestrianised shopping centre and is set over two floors.  It has a nice feel inside – modern, light and airy.  

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I bought a book here – Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls, which is a collection of stories by and about inspirational women.  It’s gorgeous!

Sheffield was a bit of a revelation.  We had only been to Meadowhall before our stay here, and the only thing we knew about the city apart from the famous Sheffield Steel was that the film The Full Monty was set there.  It’s a great city and the area we stayed in which includes the Town Hall and Peace Gardens and also The Winter Garden is really lovely with lots of restaurants and bars and well worth a visit. 

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Sheffield Winter Garden
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The Town Hall and Peace Garden

Currently reading: Cowboy Song: The Authorised Biography of Philip Lynott by Graeme Thomson

 

 

Sheffield Meadowhall – Saturday 15th July 2017

I know this is probably a bit sad, but I had never been on a tram before, so I was excited to see them in Sheffield!  We therefore decided to have a trip out to Meadowhall just to go one one.  We hadn’t actually looked to see if there was a Waterstones there (although we thought there probably would be).  In fact, there are two – Park Lane and The Arcade.  Having been to Meadowhall before, and not really wanting to do shopping we just went and photographed them and then got back on the tram and went back to the city!

Park Lane

The Arcade

The tram was wonderful – I wish we had them in the South West!

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Buxton Pop-up Store – Friday 14th July 2017

On the next leg of our trip to Sheffield we planned to stop at Eyam, also known as the Plague Village.  We decided to stretch our legs at Buxton on the way.   We walked up to the Opera House and found a pop-up Waterstones which was there as part of the Buxton Festival.  As you can imagine it was very small… and rather cramped! 

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After leaving Buxton we did indeed stop at Eyam.   We visited the National Trust property and then went into the church.  We didn’t have time to explore the whole village and would like to go back.  The villagers, suffering from an outbreak of plague, took the decision to quarantine themselves to stop the plague from spreading.  Their selfless actions meant that they achieved their aim of containing the disease, but at the end of the outbreak the population had shrunk from 350 to 83.  More people died in Eyam than in the whole of London.