Posted by trev on February 15, 2011 – 3:24 pm
The Prince of Wales’ uncle Charles Spencer (9th Earl of Spencer) has announced an almost royal wedding date a little after his nephew.
The earl is to marry Karen Gordon, described by the BBC as a “charity worker”, at the Spencer family home on the 18th June. Unlike his nephew’s wedding however, this will be a private affair with close friends and family attending.
Karen Gordon was the founder of the Whole Child International charity in 2004 which according to its web site:
“…works in existing children’s institutions to improve the quality of care and help prevent the bleak outcomes that await most children raised in the world’s orphanages“.
Posted by trev on February 15, 2011 – 1:40 pm
As reported in January, the set of Coronation Street is to move coble by coble to a new location and this has now received council approval.
Granada TV who produce Coronation Street want to move production of the street to the new MediaCityUK complex at Salford Quays to allow the buildings and all important cobles, a makeover in readyness for high definition broadcasts.
The TV company were worried that the original buildings, many of which have been there since 1982, might be showing their age and this could impact on the quality of the production when high definition TVs will show every last little detail. Plus the current buildings are slightly smaller than real houses to allow for easier filming.
Now Trafford Council have approved the application to rebuild Coronation Street on the new site next to the Imperial War Museum North at Trafford Wharf, giving Granada TV the green light to bring Coronation Street into the 21st Century.
The new date for the move is now reported to be sometime in 2012 although exactly when viewers will see the switch-over hasn’t been revealed yet.
It isn’t just the buildings which will be getting a makeover – even the Rovers Arms food will be spruced up just in-case the viewers are more interested in the contents of the Lancashire Hot Pot than the gossip from the street.
Posted by trev on February 15, 2011 – 12:10 pm
Borrowdale is one of the slightly less well known gems of the English Lake District which gives some of the best views of any walk.
This full details of this walk are published by the Daily Mail and created by Steve Armstrong, a National Trust seasonal ranger, so you know you’re in expert hands.
For those unfamiliar with the area, Borrowdale is a valley in the Northern Lake District with Keswick & Derwent Water at one end and Honister Pass leading to Buttermere at the other.
Being slightly away from the central Lake District towns such as Windermere and Ambleside, Borrowdale has always enjoyed a more relaxing and less cluttered feel even in the middle of Summer, although that’s not to say Borrowdale is exactly quiet in June and July.
The area has been popular with walkers for generations, with more gentle slopes and rewarding views across the northern lakes plus there are several attractions on the way up the valley including the The Bowder Stone – a giant stone deposited as the the last Ice Age glaciers retreated and very popular with kids.
If you research Borrowdale you might discover that Seathwaite at the top of the valley is statistically the wettest place in Britain. However having spent a vast amount of time in the area, I can say I’ve never seen it rain in Borrowdale yet, so maybe it all falls only on the rain gauge?
For full details including maps of the walk – see the Daily Mail Borrowdale Walk web page.
More Borrowdale & Keswick Resources:
Visitor attractions around Keswick and Borrowdale
Hotels in Keswick
B&Bs in Keswick
Self-catering accommodation in Keswick
Campsites & caravan parks in Keswick
Posted by trev on February 15, 2011 – 10:23 am
Best selling author Bill Bryson, is using a little known law to force Network Rail to clean up the litter often seen around railway lines.
Bill Bryson is the author of A Short History of Almost Everything, amongst numerous other brilliant travel books, and also the president of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE).
It is in the latter role that he wants people to use a Litter Abatement Order to force Network Rail to clean up the railway tracks and bankings especially around stations, as this is often the first impression of a town or village which people get.
Apparently, all public bodies responsible for land have a responsibility to keep that land clear of rubbish and if they don’t then a Litter Abatement Order can be applied for which legally forces them to do something about the problem. More details on how it works in a short while.
The first such order is being served on Network Rail after they failed to clean up litter around various Cambridgeshire railway stations where Bill Bryson lives. He is encouraging other people to follow the same procedures to make sure people receive the best possible first impression of their towns.
The procedure:
1) The first requirement is to write to the relevant authority detailing the problem and asking them to remove said rubbish within a reasonable time frame.
2) If they don’t remove it, then a Litter Abatement Order can be applied for from a magistrates court, although the orders can cost from £80 to £200, so are only worth applying for if the rubbish level is serious.
Unfortunately we can’t use these orders to solve any other Network Rail problems, unless someone can find a judge with a very broad view of what a “clean up” is.
Bill Bryson Books
Posted by trev on February 14, 2011 – 3:22 pm
London Underground is selling off what used to be the Shoreditch Station part of the London Underground for around £180,000.
For your money you get a ticket office, lobby, store rooms, machine room and WC although before anyone gets too excited, this is pretty much a surface station rather than something akin to Piccadilly. The station is however close to Spitalfields in the E1 region of London, so handy for the market.
It also looks like the station could do with a lick of paint, although apparently “Griff” has attempted to rectify this by painting his name onto the side of the building. According to Wikipedia, the station was on the East London Line and was closed on the 9 June 2006, and was replaced by Shoreditch High Street on the Overground network.
Details can be found on the auctioneers web site.
As noted by the IanVisits Blog – they could try selling 23 & 24 Leinster Gardens, Paddington which are owned by London Underground….mostly because all you’d get is two fake frontages with the railway running behind and under the road.
Posted by trev on February 14, 2011 – 2:10 pm
The London Olympic Organising Committee have announced that the timetable for all the London 2012 Olympic events will be released tonight giving the public a first chance to plan their games.
The timetable will be available on the London Olympic web site at midnight and is likely to cause an increase in London hotel bookings around Stratford and other areas of London, along with the various other venues where events are taking place.
Tickets for the games won’t be available until March 15th for the main Olympics and 9th September for the Paralympics via the London Olympics tickets web site.
Posted by trev on February 14, 2011 – 1:09 pm
The RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) is entering the travel market with tours to some of its 200 bird reserves in conjunction with the Just Go! coach operator.
The society runs around 200 reserves with 130,000 hectares of protected nature reserves including many of the most popular bird watching sites in the country. Each site is designed to let the public watch the wildlife without disturbing the birds natural habitat.
With around 80% of all endangered species breeding and using the RSPB wildlife reserves during the year, the coach tours will give the public the chance to see some very rare birds.
RSPB web site.
Just go! coach holidays.
Posted by trev on February 14, 2011 – 12:35 pm
Prince Philip aka. The Duke of Edinburgh, will be 90 in June and to celebrate this, Windsor Castle is hosting an exhibition of photographs and other memorabilia of his life.
Prince Philip is possibly best known for his sometimes outspoken views and diplomatic “gaffs”, but this exhibition looks past all that and shows the princes’ life from a young child, through his marriage to Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth), right up to modern times.
The Prince was actually born into the Greek Royal family but after an uprising, his father (Prince Andrew) was accused of treason and the family were exiled to France. This is where Philip started his life and went to his first prep school. He would later move on to Cheam school in Surrey to continue his education and at 18 joined the Royal Navy which had played such a crucial role in saving his family from Greece.
Amongst items in the exhibition are the royal invitations for the wedding breakfast of Philip Mountbatten and Princess Elizabeth on the 20th November 1947. We even find out what the couple and their guests dined out on that day which included “Filit de Sole Mountbatten”, “Perdreau en Casserole” and “Bombe Glacee Princesse Elizabeth”.
Some of the artifacts from the exhibition are available on a BBC Royal family slideshow.
For details of the exhibition, see the Royal Collection web site.
More Windsor Resources:
More attractions to see around Windsor Castle
Hotels near Windsor Castle
More information about Prince Philip
Posted by trev on February 11, 2011 – 5:52 pm
Carmarthenshire tourism authorities are trying to become the dog friendly capital of Britain with an initiative to make dogs as welcome on holiday as their human counterparts.
Dogs and holidays aren’t always the easiest combination in Britain, but with the amount of open countryside and huge long sandy beaches, Carmarthenshire believes it has what it takes to encourage people to take their canine companions with them rather than using the various boarding kennels.
Situated in South West Wales, the coastal National Park in Pembrokeshire is just next door gives access to miles upon miles of clean beaches so you and your dog(s) can run, walk or just meander while enjoying some of the calmest seas and best weather in the country.
Just to the north are the lush woodlands of the Teifi Valley which open up into a wide region of grassy countryside, or to the east is the Black Mountain part of the Brecon Beacons National Park if you prefer a more mountainous walkies.
Critically in any holiday is the accommodation and food & drink. According to the Carmarthenshire visitors web site, there are lots of dog friendly places for you and your pooch to dine out, although according to a report in the Daily Mail, this might still need a little work.
One place the Mail does recommend is the The Black Lion Inn which have their own dogs and thus know exactly what a dogs dinner should be. Plus they run their own self-catering business.
A really good idea that one enterprising resident had was the Dial-a-Dogbath service whereby a man in a van comes round to where-ever you happen to be and gives the dog a bath – pure brilliance.
Another good place to look for pet friendly self-catering is Hoseasons pet friendly holidays.
The British Olympic Association has issued what it calls “guidelines” in a vein attempt to stop athletes using Twitter for perhaps not-exactly-on-message Tweets for the London 2012 Olympics.
