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Monthly Archives: February 2011

World’s longest tapestry needs a new Scottish home

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Posted by trev on February 17, 2011 – 4:37 pm
Filed under Attractions

Author Alexander McCall Smith has added her weight to a campaign for a permanent Battle of Prestonpans visitors centre to tell the story of the 1745 Jacobite rising.

Those who didn’t study Scottish history in school might not have heard of the Battle of Prestonpans, but it is one of the last battles between the English Parliament soldiers and the Scottish chieftens with the aim of bring back a Scottish king.

The battle featured Bonnie Prince Charlie who actually won over the forces of King George II, although the more famous Battle of Culloden to has rather overshadowed this victory.

The visitors centre would tell the story of this important rising and historic moment in Scottish history, but most importantly it would also give the new 104 metre (338 foot) long Battle of Prestonpans Tapestry a permanent home.

The tapestry which tells the story of the battle along with other events, is over 100 feet longer than the famous Bayeux Tapestry which tells the story of the Battle of Hastings, and is believed to be the longest in the world.

The fund needs around £5 million for the centre to be built somewhere in East Lothian.

The BBC has a video of the Battle of Prestonpans Tapestry.

More details on the appeal can be found on the Battle of Prestonpans Trust web site.

Antony Worrall Thompson’s guide to Henley

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Posted by trev on February 17, 2011 – 3:25 pm
Filed under Attractions

If you think Henley you perhaps think Regatta? It turns out, you should also think Antony Worrall Thompson as he guides us round his town.

Antony Worrall Thompson is one of the breed of chefs who seemed to spring to fame early this century and was suddenly everywhere on the TV, trying to assure us all that we really can cook something a little more than boiled eggs and beans on toast.

Since many of us haven’t yet bought Delia’s How to Cook book, perhaps this was a little ambitious?

One thing I always think he was missing was a nickname, and as it turns out his rather posh accent is genuine perhaps he should become the “Well spoken chef”, to follow Jamie Oliver’s “Naked Chef”…?

We digress – as Mr Thompson has been a resident of this very well spoken town most of his life, the Daily Mail thought it would be a good idea to interview him and find out where he thinks are the good, the bad and heaven forbid, the ugly parts of Henley-on-Thames.

Remarkably, there are quite a few good tips in the article including the holy grail of all towns, where to find a good bakers and butchers especially one where you can’t hear “Jonathan to checkout 12 please” across the loudspeaker.

You can read more on the Antony Worrall Thompson on Henley article.

Books and bits:

Antony Worrall Thompson Cookery Books

Delia Smith Cookery Books
Delia’s How to Cook

Have London’s bedbugs finally met their match?

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Posted by trev on February 17, 2011 – 2:10 pm
Filed under Miscellaneous

Bedbugs aren’t something most people want to think about, but the uncomfortable truth is there might be more of them on the London Tube, in aircraft, hotels and even homes than we’d like to imagine.

Many think of bedbugs as something from the past, but in New York last year there was almost a plague of them and according to leading Entomologists, they can sometimes be found in aircraft lockers meaning they spread around the world very easily.

Lola to the rescue: Luckily, there is a new adversary to the bedbug in the form of Lola – a Welsh born Jack Russell – which has become the first dog in Europe to be trained to sniff out these pests making removing much simpler and cheaper than traditional fumigation methods.

Lola simply enters a room and in seconds can detect their “smell”, then heads straight for the source. She is now working mostly in London sniffing out the bedbugs in all sorts of places, although most public places such as hotels prefer them to be referred to as “b’s” so as not to alarm their guests.

Why are they here? The slight misconception about bedbugs is they only breed in unclean places. In reality out nice clean, warm houses are rather nice for them especially with big fluffy mattresses. Infestations in public places such as hotels and the London Underground are more likely to be brought in by travellers who’s luggage carries the eggs and gets deposited in the rooms and on the seats.

If you’re staying in a hotel for example and are worried about bedbugs, a good way to check is look behind the mattress in dark places as they tend to hide there and are about the size of an apple pip. Although they are becoming more common in some places, it is still fairly rare for washed linen and well cleaned hotel rooms to have bedbugs as they tend to wash the linen at higher temperatures than conventional washing machines.

Signs of bedbugs: The usual signs are numerous little red itchy marks on your skin after you’ve been sleeping and possibly tiny red patches on the bedsheets.

Removing bedbugs: There are specialist companies who’ll remove them either with chemicals or more modern techniques such as heaters. Heating a room to 57′C will kill most bedbugs and eggs, and thus remove the problem quickly and effectively.

More details: There’s even more information about bedbugs and Lola on the Evening Standard bedbugs page.

Discover five of Britain’s secret underworld attractions

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Posted by trev on February 17, 2011 – 1:10 pm
Filed under Attractions

This isn’t the Kray Brothers kindof underworld, but more the numerous attractions often hidden just below our feet all around Britain.

Britain has some of the most diverse underground attractions in the world with everything from top secret war rooms and nuclear bunkers, to slightly better known ancient caves and even a power station.

1) Churchill War Rooms in London offer a glimpse into some of the most secretive rooms in Britain where Churchill and his generals planned out how to win World War II.

Today the war rooms and Churchill Museum are more welcoming of visitors from around the world with authentic reconstructions within the underground labyrinth of rooms. All that’s really missing is Churchill’s cigar smoke.

2) Tunnels of Dover Castle are a lot older than the London war rooms and according to legend, were used by many a smuggler. The rooms were also used to plan the Dunkirk evacuation although today their role is a little less fraught with secrecy.

3) The Caves of Nottingham sit below Nottingham Castle and have been used by various groups over the centuries. They were generally inhabited by those who were cast out by society such as the destitute’s, criminals and leather tanners.

The latter might seem a slightly odd group, but leather tanning was an extremely smelly process and thus the general towns folk of Nottingham wanted to keep it as far from their noses as possible.

4) Mersey Tunnel Tours offer a glimpse behind he scenes and under the road surface of one of the busiest traffic tunnels in the country. If you thought running a tunnel was simple, this tour will certainly enlighten especially considering it runs underneath the famous River Mersey.

5) Electric Mountain in Snowdonia (aka. Dinorwig Power Station) is a giant power hydro-electric power station hidden deep inside Elidir Mountain.

On the outside there are few clues as there being anything special, but inside vast tunnels and caverns have been cut out to house the pipes and turbine hall. Having visited this attraction as a kid, I can assure you, it is one magnificent piece of engineering, and a little bit noisy right inside. As one report described it – think of a Bond Villan’s hideout and you’ll know what the Electric Mountain looks like inside.

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For even more attractions around Britain, see the UK Attraction web site with over 10,000 tourist attractions right around the country.

Win £5000 with essay competition to decide future of Britain’s forests

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Posted by trev on February 17, 2011 – 12:40 pm
Filed under Miscellaneous

The Independent newspaper is running a £5000 competition to write an essay on what the government should do with the nations forests after the recent shelving of the plans to sell off Britain’s forests.

Earlier in the year, the government announced plans to sell off all the forests which were owned by the Forestry Commission to private ownerships, but following a petition signed by over half a million people, the plans were officially “put on hold”, although insiders suggest they plans are effectively shelved.

So with this in mind, the Independent wants its readers to write an essay between 1500 and 2000 words on the subject “The Future of England’s Forests”. There are more details of what the judges are looking for on the Independent competition web page.

The winning entry will be published in the Independent as well as receiving the £5000 prize.

Amazing digital design wall in London’s Design Museum

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Posted by trev on February 17, 2011 – 12:13 pm
Filed under Attractions

Opening today, the Design Museum in London has a rather amazing art installation from Nokia simply called the “digital wall”.

This is best explained by the video below, but in essence the wall takes a photo of your face and then this is reconstructed on the wall as you throw virtual paint.

The final result is something akin to a “modern artist”, but a lot more fun and interactive for the people trying it out. The video below from VisitLondon is a little short, but gives the overall idea.

Video of Digital Wall at the Design Museum:

Edinburgh to London in 4 hours on Flying Scotsman

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Posted by trev on February 17, 2011 – 11:15 am
Filed under Events, Transport

East Coast railways will offer a new 4 hour train journey from Edinburgh to London every weekday morning under the banner of the Flying Scotsman.

The railway company who took over from GNER last year, are undertaking the biggest shake-up of their timetables in 20 years which will include this new early morning service – setting off at 5.40am and arriving in London at 9.40am.

The service will be using the iconic banner of “Flying Scotsman”, although modern trains will be used rather than the original 4472 Flying Scotsman steam locomotive dating from 1923. We suspect despite its prestigious past, the modern locomotives might still be a little quicker.

Alongside this service will be numerous other changes including new services from Edinburgh to London which will stop at more stations and take 4 hours 20 minutes, and a train every 30 minutes between Leeds and London King’s Cross.

If you live in Harrogate, there’s even a new direct service from there to London for you.

The new East Coast Railway timetables will start from the 22nd May and the first tickets will go on sale on the 25th February.

See Blood Brothers in the West End for half price

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Posted by trev on February 17, 2011 – 10:02 am
Filed under Attractions

The Willy Russell play Blood Brothers has been running for an amazing nineteen years now in London’s West End, and using a special offer from Timeout you can watch this show for half price.

Willy Russell’s tale of Merseyside twins separated at birth has been winning fans for all those years, even though as Kieron Quirke from TimeOut London notes, it might seem a tad dated now in style. But with this level of success it must have something to recommend it and perhaps it could be that very fact which keeps the audiences coming back and back.

Of course, maybe the popularity is because there are no other plays with authentic Merseyside accents and those who’ve not ventured north of the Watford Gap this could be rather a novelty….or perhaps they’re simply missing Brookside?

You can now see Blood Brothers for just £23.50 vs the standard price of £55. More details on the TimeOut Blood Brothers page.

London Links:

Street photography in London

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Posted by admin on February 16, 2011 – 10:36 pm
Filed under Attractions, Events

There’s a new exhibition of street photography at the Museum of London. The images are from the 19th Century to the present, and you can get an insight here courtesy of the BBC website. The exhibition details the changing nature of life in London and the shifting role of photography in public places. It runs from 18th February 2011 to 4th September 2011 and entry is free.

Useful link:
London hotels
London tourist attractions

Discover the shining lights of Glasgow

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Posted by admin on February 16, 2011 – 10:17 pm
Filed under Attractions, Events

Glasgow is a city just bursting with attractions for the whole family to enjoy. A gleaming titanium crescent, the Glasgow Science Centre boasts three floors of interactive exhibits where you can get hands-on. Relax under a twinkling night sky at the Planetarium before exploring the cobbled backstreets of Ashton Lane to find some unique shops. Or why not see the stars at the comedy festival between 17th March and 10th April 2011?

Useful link:
Tourist attractions in Glasgow