Tag: Outside

Hatchards, Cheltenham – Wednesday 26th November 2025

After a lovely few days in Harrogate it was time to head home, and on the say we stopped in Cheltenham.  Hatchards in Cheltenham opened in 2022 and is the first and only store located outside of London.  It’s an absolutely beautiful shop. We arrived here quite late and had to get back as Peter had a rehearsal, so we didn’t have time to look at anything else, but we’ve been to Cheltenham a few times, and it’s a lovely town which is well worth a visit.

Currently reading: Homeward Bound by Hamza Yassin

York Monks Cross – Monday 24th November 2025

Monks Cross is an out-of-town shopping centre located to the north east of York.  It opened in 1998 and was refurbished in 2019.  We only had this branch and one of Hatchards to do to complete all the mainland GB shops, so we decided to have a few days in Harrogate so we could visit, as Waterstones opened a branch here in October of this year.  

After we left here we stopped in Ripon for a quick drink on the way back to our hotel.  It looked very festive in the late afternoon light. 

Harlow – Friday 21st November 2025

Harlow was founded as a New Town in west Essex in 1947, being built up around the original village.  It was the location of Britain’s first pedestrian precinct and currently has a population of around 93,000 people. It is well-known for its sculptures, of which there are over 100, some of which are by some very famous artists.  It was also the birthplace of fibre optic communications.  The Waterstones is located in a modern unit in the Water Gardens Shopping Precinct.

The Water Gardens

The Water Gardens were created between 1958 and 1963 by Sir Frederick Gibberd and Gerry Perrin. They are Grade II listed, and Historic England describes them as “a series of concrete-lined pools set behind brick and mosaic-clad terraces, with stone steps and pool surrounds.”

Some of the sculptures in the town

Wild Boar by Elisabeth Frinks.  Originally concrete, it was recast in bronze after being vandalised.  I really liked this sculpture. Upright Motive No.2 (1955) by Henry Moore – a bronze cast of Moore’s original sculpture. Eve by Auguste Rodin – this sculpture depicts Eve’s shame after eating the apple in the Garden of Eden. Bird by Hebe Comerford, a representation of freedom and movement.

Currently reading: The Square of Sevens by Laura Shepherd-Robinson and Every Christmas Eve by Emma Heatherington

Basildon – Tuesday 11th November 2025

Basildon in south Essex had a population of just 1,159 in 1931. It became a designated New Town under the 1946 New Towns Act, which aimed to rehouse people from poor or bomb-damaged homes after WW2 and to create new jobs. The first residents arrived in 1951, and rapid growth followed as nearby settlements were absorbed. By 1961, the population had risen to over 87,000.  The town was just 50 minutes by train from the Foyles in Stratford that I had just visited, so I decided to go to the Waterstones, which is located in the Eastgate Shopping Centre.  The centre opened in 1985 and at the time was the largest covered shopping centre in Europe.  The centre had a refresh in 2007 and the Waterstones felt light and modern.

The Mother and Child Fountain

This Grade II listed bronze sculpture by Maurice Lambert was unveiled in 1962.  It portrays a woman and child bathing in a large stone pool and symbolises the birth and growth of Basildon.

I didn’t have time to explore further as I wanted to go back to my hotel to read for a while before dinner.  

London – Foyles – Stratford City – Tuesday 11th November 2025

Westfield Stratford City, often described as the gateway to London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, opened on 13 September 2011 and remains the largest urban shopping centre in Europe. Foyles opened its Stratford branch on the same day the shopping centre launched.

The ArcelorMittal Orbit

We visited the area in 2017 to try out the nearby ArcelorMittal Orbit slide – at 76 metres tall, it’s the world’s highest and also the longest tunnel slide, stretching an impressive 178 metres. It was great fun!

London – Foyles – Waterloo Station – Tuesday 11th November 2025

I had an extra day in London on my own, so I thought I’d do a couple of Foyles. Foyles was founded in 1903 by two brothers, William and Gilbert Foyle, who started off selling second hand books. Waterstones bought them in 2018 and I decide to include them. First off, I headed to the one at Waterloo Station, which I have walked past on many occasions, but have never actually been inside!  The Waterstones here opened in 2014.  It’s very attractive inside and retains some of the station’s original features, including a rather marvellous cash desk.

The famous Waterloo Clock 

The famous clock, made by Gents of Leicester, was installed at the station in 1919.  I forgot to take a photo, but I’ve found a couple from previous visits.

The National Windrush Monument

This bronze sculpture by Basil Watson commemorates the Windrush Generation, the British African-Caribbean migrants who came to the UK in 1948 after the British Government encouraged people to come to help fill jobs in essential public services such as the NHS, transport and postal workers.   Beside the memorial is a poem by Professor Laura Serrant OBE called You Called… and we Came. 

You called…and we came.
In ships bigger than anything we had seen,
dwarfing our islands and covering them
in the shadows of smoke and noise.
Crowded, excited voices filled the air,
traveling to the ‘motherland’
– over weeks, over oceans that threatened to engulf us.
Driven by a wish, a call to save, to rebuild
and support efforts to establish ‘health for all’
in the aftermath of war.

You can read the entire poem here.

Streatham – Monday 10th November 2025

Next up was Streatham in south London. Streatham’s main shopping street, High Road, is nearly two miles long and offers an eclectic mix of places to eat along with a good variety of shops. The Waterstones is housed in a red-brick, Neo-Georgian–style building. I’m not sure exactly when it was built – one source suggests 1874, while another claims 1909 (based on the date on the hopper at the top of the drainpipes). Whenever it was built, it’s certainly very attractive. The building was most recently a Barclays Bank, having previously served as a post office. The Waterstones opened in November 2024.

By the time we had been in the Waterstones it was raining very heavily, so we didn’t stick around to explore the area. 

Lewisham – Monday 10th November 2025

We were spending a few days in Ealing before Peter flew to San Diego, so we decided to do some more Waterstones.  The first was in Lewisham, which is in the southeast of London.  The Waterstones is located in the imaginatively named Lewisham Shopping Centre!  

We didn’t spend a long time here, but there are some great murals in one of the entrances to the centre, some of which, painted by an artist called Gary Phillips were unveiled by the late, great Spike Milligan.

Currently reading:  Time of the Child by Niall Williams and The Cold Blooded Killer by Alex Pine

 

Newark – Saturday 12th September 2025

Newark-on-Trent – often simply called Newark – is a really pretty Georgian market town set along the River Trent in Nottinghamshire. The town has a 12th-century castle, famously the place where King John died in 1216. Centuries later the town became a key Royalist stronghold during the English Civil War, enduring multiple sieges that left their mark on its surviving architecture and layout.  We discovered that a new Waterstones had opened in Newark just a few days before we were due to head home from our holiday to Scotland, so we diverted our trip so that we could visit.  Over the years the building has housed many different shops, some of which include a menswear shop, Dorothy Perkins and Woolworths.

The Georgian Square
Buildings include (as numbered bottom right of photos).  1. The Governor’s House – constructed in 1474, this is a Grade I listed building, and is one of Newark’s oldest structures. The former 18th Century 2. Saracen’s Head Hotel.  3. The Old White Hart Inn – Grade II listed 15th Century.  The former 4. Moot Hall, built in 1708. It stopped being a municipal building when the new Town Hall was completed in 1776.  Used as shops for many years, it was bought by the electrical retailer Curry’s in 1963 but found to be structurally unsound, and so was restored around a new steel frame, retaining the original frontage.  It is currently a Starbucks. 5. Newark Town Hall, constructed between 1774-76.  The building also houses a museum and art gallery.

Newark Castle

We really liked Newark which we hadn’t visited before.  We’d like to spend more time here, as we only had a short time here on our way home.

Glasgow – Byres Road – Saturday 6th September 2025

Glasgow is Scotland’s biggest city, known for its friendly people, vibrant music and arts scene, and mix of historic and modern architecture. We visited on a day trip back in 2019, but only really scratched a very small surface, so we decided to spend five nights here after leaving Edinburgh.  We had a great time and really loved the city.  There are three Waterstones in the city of Glasgow – we did the one in Sauchiehall Street and Argyle Street ones during our earlier visit.  This time we visited the one at Byres Road, which opened in 2015.  We walked there from our hotel and loved the area. The Waterstones is in an attractive red sandstone building, part of Grosvenor Mansions, built in 1931.  I am going to share lots of pictures covering the time we were in Glasgow, so there will be plenty of pictures – do take a look if you have time!

Glasgow Botanic Gardens

The Botanic Gardens opened in their present location in 1842 and feature several glasshouses, included the one pictured below, Kibble Palace, which was erected in 1873.  It houses a great number of different plant species, and includes koi carp pond and a section devoted to carnivorous plants!

Riverside Museum

The Riverside Museum is Glasgow’s award-winning transport museum, free to visit and home to a fascinating collection of cars, bicycles, trams, trains, model ships, and much more. Opened in 2011, it’s a must-see for visitors of all ages.  We spent a couple of hours here.

Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery

The Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum opened in 1901 and features around 800 exhibits spread across 22 galleries. The star of the collection is arguably Salvador Dalí’s Christ of Saint John of the Cross, acquired in 1952 for £8,200 – a controversial purchase at the time, which even faced a public petition against it. Since then, it has been vandalised twice, but still draws a crowd. There was quite a queue to see it when I visited, but it was well worth the wait. Entry to the museum is free, and the building itself is a masterpiece – never mind the many treasures inside. Peter left me to explore at my own pace, and I happily lost several hours there.

Glasgow Tenement

Cared for by the National Trust for Scotland, 145 Buccleuch Street is a preserved tenement flat that once belonged to Miss Agnes Toward, a dressmaker who lived and worked there from 1911 to 1965. Known for her frugality and reluctance to throw anything away, Agnes left behind a remarkable time capsule of mid-20th-century life. Visitors can explore four original rooms – the kitchen, parlour, bedroom, and bathroom – all faithfully preserved. There’s also an exhibition space on the ground floor, spread across two additional rooms. We found it to be very interesting. 

Glasgow City Chambers

Designed by William Young and completed in 1888, the City Chambers is one of Glasgow’s most ornate buildings, known for its opulent interiors. Highlights include grand marble staircases, intricate mosaics, a stunning Banqueting Hall, and the richly decorated Council Chamber, lined with Spanish mahogany. Free guided tours run on weekdays (unless the building is in use), with tickets available on a first-come, first-served basis half an hour before each tour. We were lucky to get spots on a morning tour. Although we were warned that access might be limited due to meetings, we were delighted to be shown into the Council Chamber after all, just before a session began. The building is absolutely breathtaking — well worth a visit.

Glasgow Cathedral

St Mungo’s Cathedral is the oldest cathedral in mainland Scotland and was consecrated in 1197. The pews or chairs have been taken out of the main nave (the section before the quire screen) – presumably for use as some sort of performance space, but the section behind the quire has pews, and I imagine this is where the services now take place. 

The Hill House

The Hill House, located about 30 miles northwest of Glasgow, was designed by the renowned Scottish architect and artist Charles Rennie Mackintosh, in collaboration with artist Margaret Macdonald. Commissioned by Glasgow-based publisher Walter Blackie, the house was both designed and decorated by the pair to reflect their distinctive style. Now managed by the National Trust for Scotland, who took over in 1984, the interior is beautifully preserved and truly stunning. The exterior, however, has suffered some weather-related damage and is currently undergoing restoration. As part of the conservation effort, a protective structure – complete with a viewing platform – has been built over the entire house, allowing visitors to walk above it. We were lucky enough to visit while it was in place and got a fantastic bird’s-eye view!

Glasgow Shots

Various views from the Central Lowlands of Scotland