Janet's Adventures in Waterstones

Folkestone – Tuesday 5th December 2023

Folkestone is a port town which used to have one of the main ferry routes between England and France, until the Channel Tunnel meant ferry crossings in this area went into decline and were no longer cost-effective. We stopped in the town for breakfast and then headed to the Waterstones, which is located in the main shopping area.

Folkestone 5th Dec 2023 (1)

Folkestone map

Folkestone Harbour Arm

After breakfast, we walked down to the harbour area to visit another of Antony Gormley’s sculptures, Another Time XVIII. This one is located on the Harbour Arm, the former port area and site of the now closed Folkestone Harbour train station, which has been regenerated as a site for recreation, with bars and restaurants. It’s a great use of the old site.

Another Time XVIII

Thanet – Monday 4th December 2023

Thanet is an area of Kent which was once an island before the Wantsum Channel was reclaimed in the Middle Ages. The three main towns in this district are Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate. Waterstones Thanet is located in an out-of-town shopping centre called Westwood Cross, which was built on the site of an old Edwardian hospital.

PXL_20231204_131407822

Thanet map

Another Time

In the morning, before arriving at the Waterstones we had been to Margate to look at the Antony Gormley artwork Another Time. Gormley is one of my favourite artists, and Another Time is one of a series of sculptures in various locations, based on Gormley himself. The figure reveals itself three hours before low tide.

original_4c6137da-bdcb-48ab-828a-1ad46fbda228_PXL_20231204_121820969

original_ae32b038-16b5-4afa-876f-8b26e63d904d_PXL_20231204_121843844

Broadstairs

Later that day, we visited Broadstairs for lunch. The town has strong connections to the author Charles Dickens, who owned a house there. The character of Betsey Trotwood from David Copperfield was based on a friend of his who lived in the town. The animator and writer Oliver Postgate, who created some famous children’s TV shows for the BBC from the 1950s to the 80s, including Bagpuss, Ivor the Engine and The Clangers also lived in Broadstairs for many years before his death in 2008. His former home has a blue plaque and a Clangers mosaic on the front.

PXL_20231204_144635507

Below, clockwise from top left (all photos of Broadstairs). 1. Viking Bay. 2. A decorative street lamp. 3, 4 & 5. York Gate.

Croydon – Sunday 3rd December 2023

Croydon is a large commuter town in south London. It was home to London Croydon Airport – the UK’s first purpose-built airport terminal. We were staying overnight in Leatherhead in order to visit the Airport Visitor Centre the following morning. After our visit, and before heading to Canterbury for a few nights, we had time to quickly pop into the town to visit the Waterstones, which is located in a large indoor shopping centre, and is set over two floors. We had to get on the road quite swiftly after our visit, so sadly didn’t have time to explore the town.

Croydon map

Historic Croydon Airport Visitor Centre

Croydon Airport opened in 1928 and was operational until 1959. It had the UK’s first control tower and is where Air Traffic Control first started. It also had the first British airline called Imperial Airways. As well as that, the distress call “Mayday” was conceived here when a radio controller was asked to come up with a word as a distress signal. Mayday is the phonetic equivalent of the French term m’aidez, which means help me.

The centre, which opened in 2000 is run by volunteers and opens on the first Sunday of every month. At a recommended minimum donation of just £6.00, is definitely worth a visit.

Sutton – Saturday 2nd December 2023

We stopped for a quick visit to the town of Sutton on our way to an overnight stay in Leatherhead, so didn’t have time to have a proper look round the town. Sutton is the main town in the London borough of Sutton. Originally a village, it grew in population with the arrival of the railway in 1847. The Waterstones is located in a modern building in the High Street.

PXL_20231202_131820853

Sutton map

Murals

The first is the Twin Towns Mural, which celebrates the town’s links to their twin towns of Gagny in Paris, Gladsaxe in Copenhagen, Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf in Berlinand Minden in Germany. The artists are Rob Turner and Gary Drostle.

The second, by the same artists and called Sutton Heritage Mosaic is located opposite the Waterstones and measuring 9 x 5 metres, this was unveiled in 1994 and, as the name suggests, reflects the town’s heritage. At the centre is Nonsuch Palace, a Tudor building built for Henry VIII in 1538, and the outside edges depict coats of arms and local buildings.

The Millennium Dial armillary

This artwork was funded and presented to the town by the Rotary Club. It functions as a timepiece (we didn’t know this until we’d left, so we didn’t see if we could actually tell the time by using it!). The inscription on the piece reads:

Sutton 2 Dec 23 (12)

“Service Above Self” *

Rotary Armillary

This Armillary was presented to the people of the London Borough of Sutton in grateful thanks for their generosity in supporting Rotary Charities and to mark the new Millennium. The Rotary Club of Cheam has joined with the Rotary Clubs of Carshalton, Carshalton Beeches, Sutton, Sutton Nonsuch and Wallington. December 2000

The Project was made possible by the following Sponsors: Securicor plc. Holiday Inn Sutton London. The Crown Agents. South Sutton Neighbourhood Association. Sutton & Cheam Society.

The London Borough of Sutton.

*Service Above Self is the Rotary Club’s motto.

Currently reading: The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman and The Winter Spirits: Ghostly Tales for Frosty Nights – short stories by various authors

High Holborn – Sunday 12th November 2023

Holborn sits in the middle of central London and is synonymous with the legal profession. The area includes Hatton Garden – the jewellery quarter and centre of the country’s diamond trade – and is home to around 300 businesses and 90 jewellery shops. We walked up Hatton Garden on our way to visit the Postal Museum, but this being a Sunday nothing was open and it was very quiet. After our visit we headed back to Holborn for the tube, stopping at the Waterstones, which is housed in a modernist building that was designed by architect Frederick Etchells for Crawford’s Advertising in 1930.

High Holborn 12.11 (1)

High Holborn map

The Postal Museum and Rail Mail Train

The Museum was very interesting and included a trip on the Post Office Railway, also known as the Mail Rail Train, with amusing commentary and stops for informative videos. This train carried post underground from Paddington in the west to Whitechapel in the east from 1927 until its closure in 2003.

UK Parliament

The day before our visit to Holborn we spent the day at the UK Parliament. In the morning we did a tour of the Elizabeth Tower, arriving next to the famous bell, Big Ben, just before midday, in time to hear the quarter chimes and twelve ‘bongs’, which are famous across the world. We were not allowed to take photographs on this tour for security reasons. In the afternoon we did a tour of the Houses of Commons and Lords. Again, no photography was allowed on the tour, although we were able to take pictures in Westminster Hall (where the Queen lay in state in September 2022 following her death) and the outer room of the House. Both tours were excellent, and well worth doing.

Foyles Birmingham New Street – Friday 15th September 2023

Birmingham New Street is one of the busiest railway stations in the UK. It has undergone major renovation in recent years, and the Foyles’ bookshop is bright and airy and a perfect place to grab a book before catching a train!

Foyles Birmingham 15th Sept 2023 (1)

Foyles Birmingham map

Ozzy the Bull

Ozzy was created for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. He was named after Ozzy Osbourne, the singer for Black Sabbath, after a public vote. The mechanical bull is huge, and he comes alive on the quarter hour between 8.15am to 20.15 when he moves his head and swishes his tail!

Crewe – Thursday 14th September 2023

Crewe is a town in Cheshire which is probably most famous for its connection to the railway industry. The Grand Junction Railway arrived in Crewe in the late 1830s. Before this time, it was just a small village, but by the 1871 census it had grown into a town with a population of approximately 40,000 people. For a long time, the Crewe Works were one of the biggest locomotive building works in the country employing thousands. This number declined over the years and some of the land now houses a heritage centre, but it only opens at weekends, so sadly we weren’t able to visit. The Waterstones is in a red-brick building in the main shopping area and is set over two floors. It was previously an Ottakar’s book shop.

PXL_20230914_101717325

Crewe map

Lyceum Theatre

A theatre known as the Lyceum opened in Crewe in 1887, the building having previously been a church. The building burnt down in 1910 and was rebuilt, opening the following year – it is Grade II listed. We popped our heads in the door to take a look, expecting to just see the lobby, but a staff member took us into the auditorium. The building is just stunning as you can see from the photos.

Crewe Market Hall

A cheese hall was built in Crewe in 1854 for the storage of Cheshire cheese. Later a Corn Exchange and a butter and bacon warehouse were added to form what is now Crewe Market Hall. Today the market offers food and goods for sale, and also hosts events.

The photo below shows the weathervane on top of the Municipal Council Building in Crewe in the shape of a train, echoing that town’s railway heritage.

PXL_20230914_100905273

Wilmslow – Monday 11th September 2023

Wilmslow is an affluent market town in Cheshire full of chain shops and independent stores, and is known for being a popular place to live for footballers and actors. Alan Turing OBE lived in the town from 1950 to 1954 and it was here that he lost his life to suicide following his conviction for gross indecency and subsequent chemical castration. We had spent most of the day at the National Trust’s Quarry Bank industrial heritage site a few miles away so we didn’t have time to explore the town. The Waterstones is located in the main shopping street, but as you can see from the photo, the building is being worked on at the moment, so was covered with scaffolding and polyethene sheeting.

PXL_20230911_123101317

Wilmslow map

Quarry Bank

Built in 1784 by entrepreneur Samuel Greg, the cotton mill at Quarry Bank at Styal in Cheshire is now a Grade II listed building. Greg built houses in Styal for his staff to rent and provided health care and education for them, and at one point this was the largest mill in the UK. Samuel’s ancestor Alexander Carlton Greg left Quarry Bank to the National Trust in 1939, and they later purchased the Greg’s family home which was next door to the mill. The mill’s equipment and the machinery that drove it is still in situ and we very much enjoyed our visit to it, and to Quarry Bank House.

PXL_20230911_113735099

Grove Street

PXL_20230911_123801984

Altrincham – Sunday 10th September 2023

Altrincham is a market town in Greater Manchester. It was given a market charter in 1290, and permitted to hold a market on a Tuesday. When the Bridgewater Canal arrived in Altrincham in 1765 it encouraged a growth of market gardening in the town, and the later arrival of the railway made the area popular with the middle-classes. Altrincham is frequently voted one of the best places to live in the North East of England and is said to have the highest proportion of millionaires as residents outside of London. The Waterstones is located in a modern shopping centre.

Altrincham 10.09 (1)

Altrincham map

Altrincham Market

Altrincham Market (or Alty Market as the locals call it) has seen a revival in recent years, and the indoor market is now home to various eateries with communal tables seating nearly 200 people, whilst the outdoor covered section has various stalls from clothing and pottery to cheese, and opens on Tuesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. It’s a very attractive building in a pretty area of the town.

The Eudaemonium

This is a living sculpture in the form of a book and made from metal and wood intended to promote well-being. It has a locked cupboard behind the metal panel with the wording on, which contains recipes and tips for health. It’s a nice idea, although I’m not sure how this helps people as they can’t access the items, as far as I can tell. It’s an attractive statue though.

The wording in the centre reads:

Altrincham Eudaemonium

Note the spelling of Altrincham with a ‘g’ instead of a c. This is the spelling of the town as it would have ben in the year 1290.

Knutsford – Sunday 10th September 2023

Knutsford is an affluent market town in Cheshire with a mix of upmarket independent shops and larger national stores, and there are more than 100 listed buildings in the town. We arrived by train, and the first thing we saw was a man riding a Penny Farthing bike! Shortly afterwards we saw another, and it turned out that we’d timed our visit well, as “The Knutsford Great Race” was taking place, and it is only held every 10 years – in total 102 Penny Farthings took part! Local legend has it that the town was named Knutsford after the English King Canute, who is said to have forded the river there, although this is disputed. After coffee and a spot of bike watching we went for a stroll around the town, visiting the Waterstones, which is located in a red brick building in the middle of the main shopping street.

Knutsford 10.09 (1)

Knutsford map

Elizabeth Gaskell

Knutsford’s most famous resident is the Victorian author Elizabeth Gaskell and the titular town in her novel Cranford is based on Knutsford. Many of the locations in the book are here and have blue plaques on them. There are lots of references to Mrs Gaskell in Knutsford including a Gaskell Avenue in the town, a Cranford Drive just outside, and even a café bearing her name. She married unitarian minister William Gaskell in the chapel here in 1832 and the pair are buried in the chapel’s graveyard along with two of their daughters.

Gaskell Memorial Tower

Opened in 1907, this was originally council offices, a coffee shop and a ballroom and was designed by Richard Harding Watt as a memorial to Elizabeth Gaskell. Titles of some of her novels are carved into the building, and there is also a bust and a carving of her on the outer walls.