Weston-super-Mare is a traditional seaside town located in the Bristol Channel in Somerset. It is a popular holiday destination. The Waterstones is located in the Sovereign Shopping Centre which was built in the early 90s.
Weston is best known for its Grand Pier which opened in 1904 and has burnt down twice – most recently in 2008 – and for the fact that the tide goes out for miles – giving rise to the local nickname Weston-super-Mud!
We had been to Hampshire to visit ‘Uncle John’ and on our way home we stopped in Ringwood.
Ringwood is a market town that has held a market for over 750 years – today the market takes place on a Wednesday. The Waterstones here is in a small, fairly modern open-air shopping complex. The shop has a contemporary feel.
The shopping centre contains a bronze horse sculpture by Priscilla Hann which signifies Ringwood’s links to the New Forest.
After leaving Hereford we decided to head home via Wales, specifically Abergavenny, which is somewhere else we have never visited (this challenge is making us go to many, many towns we haven’t been to before!). It’s a market town and considered a “Gateway to Wales”. The Waterstones is a small, bright store in the High Street in the centre of the town. As you would expect, the shelves are labeled in Welsh as well as English.
The Market Hall hosts several different types of market throughout the week. On a Saturday it is what is known as the ‘Retail’ market, which was a mixed market containing second-hand stalls, food stalls and clothing and textiles.
We didn’t have long in Abergavenny as we had to head back home for an evening out, but from what we saw it seemed a nice town.
We have driven around Hereford on numerous occasions, but have never actually visited the town so today seemed like a good opportunity for a visit, especially as we have wanted to visit the Cathedral there. Hereford cathedral featured in the 1984 BBC adaptation of The Box of Delights by John Masefield under the name of Tatchester Cathedral. It’s something I watch in the run-up to Christmas each year!
The town itself, as the name suggests, is the County Town of Herefordshire and has some really pretty buildings. There is a large bronze sculpture of a Hereford bull by British Sculptor Brian Alabaster in the town centre not far from Waterstones.
As for the cathedral? Well, it’s definitely worth a visit. We spent ages here. They have lots to look at, with plenty of beautiful stained glass including Tom Denny’s stunning Thomas Traherne windows and Ascension by John Maine, dedicated to the S.A.S (Special Air Service), and installed in 2016 to celebrate their 75th anniversary.
Chippenham is a small market town in Wiltshire. This was just a quick visit and we didn’t spend much time in the town but we did manage to pop into the Waterstones to take some photos.
This store, like the one in Salisbury (yet to be visited as part of this quest, but one I frequently visit with my Mum) has a fish tank in the children’s department!
Near to Chippenham is the village of Lacock which is mostly owned by the National Trust. It is very picturesque and has been the set of many films and TV productions including the 1995 BBC adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice, several of the Harry Potter films, Elizabeth Gaskell’s Cranford and The Woman in Black, based on the book by Susan Hill. It is very worth a visit, although it does get rather busy at weekends.
We spent a few days in the wonderful, if touristy, city of Brugges in Belgium and then headed for our hotel in Brussels – it was on the Boulevard Adolphe Max. We didn’t realise when we booked the hotel, but that was the same street as Waterstones!
According to the website, “The bookshop first opened in the 1920s as a W.H.Smith, famous for its tea-room, trading books, magazines and stationery. In the 1940s, it was taken over by the Germans, soon to become an officer’s mess when the Allied Forces liberated Brussels.”
It even has a section of British food for ex-pats!!
Brussels is a great city. It’s probably best known for the Brussels Boy (aka Manneken Pis – the statue of the urinating boy. It is often dressed up and has lots of outfits. Personally I think it’s pretty horrible!), the Atomium sculpture and the European Parliament building.
There are far too many landmarks and attractions in Brussels to name them all. One of our favourites was the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, where you can pay a few Euros to go up the tower to see fantastic views of the city.
Despite the crowds, we also liked the Grote Markt (central square) and Egmont Park which contains one of Frampton’s statues of Peter Pan (the same as the one he was commissioned to make for Kensington Gardens). I could go on and on…!
We stayed overnight in Thurrock (an impromptu extra night on our way to Kent) and so popped into the Intu shopping centre just to visit the Waterstones, therefore this is only going to be a short entry!
Lakeside opened in 1990 and, according to their Twitter account, the store opened there in 2006. Like the branch in Tottenham Court Road, the store has an industrial feel.
After leaving here, we headed across the Thames Crossing to Kent for a night there before our trip to Belgium.
After a fab weekend in London it was time to head home. We got the tube back to Ealing Broadway and made a quick visit to the store there. It’s quite a small store in a modern shopping centre.
Ealing is a lovely part of West London, with a great mix of shops, bars and restaurants of every imaginable type of cuisine. We have eaten in the @ Thai Canteen, and had a lovely meal there.
Ealing – we look forward to seeing you again!
Inside the store at Piccadilly is The Russian Book Shop, which stocks around 5,000 Russian language titles, and books about Russia. Although not in a separate building, I thought it deserved its own (albeit very short) entry!
This was our last day in London on this trip before heading back to Ealing for our journey home, and we had booked to go down the huge slide at the ArcelorMittal Orbit at the Olympic Park. It was awesome! There was a fairly long queue (we had booked) and the slide only takes about 40 seconds, but it was great fun!
We then headed to Piccadilly to visit Waterstones flagship store and, according to their website, Europe’s largest book shop. The Art Deco building, which was built in 1936, was originally a gents’ clothing store called Simpsons and is Grade I Listed. It was thought to be the inspiration for the Grace Brothers store in Are You Being Served? The store is set over six floors.
Janet's Adventures in Waterstones 