A Friday Five

 Five things for Friday

1. Artisan Bakers.  

Above and below The Dough Mother

Last week we visited friends in Beeston and we wandered down to meet Robert who once a week visits The Dough Mother which is just a ten minute walk from home.  Once there he sits in a corner facing the door and writes and people watches.  He produces what he calls his 'paperbag' stories as on one visit he forgot his notebook and the lovely owner of the bakery gave him white paper bags to write on.  Some of his stories have been made available in the shop.

We spotted another bakery in Ashbourne.   

This one specialises in sour dough bread.

I know our friend Robert who, like Paul, makes his own bread will like the sound of the rye and carraway loaf above.

2.  Water - or lack of it.

Not far from Ashbourne is Carsington Water.  It's a Severn Trent Water reservoir with lots of walks, a visitor centre and a few shops.

We were headed for the RSPB shop to buy suet sprinkles for our garden birds. These purchased we popped them back to the car and went for a walk.

As you can see from the photos the water level was low, worryingly low.  We've seen the reserves low before but never as bad as this.  Sheep have taken over the mound where we normally see Lapwings. 

 

 3.  In the conservatory

The Paperwhites are well and truly in flower now.  Their scent fills the air.

4.  Telephones 

I'm probably showing my age by calling them telephones and not 'land line' or 'mobile'.  I still call a radio a wireless but of course like lots of words it means something totally different now.  Anyway our land line cut out late on Sunday night after our service provider had updated the speed of our internet connection.  We didn't realise until I dialled 1471 on Monday to see if we had received any calls whilst we were out.    The next day it still wasn't working and it was difficult to find a way of contacting the provider as the mobile phone is a different service to the land line and internet.  In the early hours of Wednesday morning the land line phone started ringing at 4.a.m and continued to beep over the next two or three hours so we switched it off for a while.  An engineer was finally booked for today.  This morning the internet was down too.  By the time the engineer came both land line and internet services were back. A fault had been found in the system at the box round the corner.

5.  Armistice Day Today

I haven't taken any new photos but here are a couple from the travelling exhibition of  'Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red.'   This is 'Weeping Window' at Middleport Pottery in August 2018.

 

and below 'Wave' at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in September 2015

Such wonderful exhibitions to see and so poignant too. 

 

 

When we visited Ashbourne I purchased a copy of the Derbyshire Life Magazine and inside there is an article about Paul Cummins who had the vision to create the poppies and the first exhibition at the Tower of London.

 

A Hidden Gem

The sayings 'right under your nose' and 'hidden in plain sight' spring to mind when I think about the building we visited on Saturday which was open with free entry as part of the Heritage Open Days weekend.  How many times must I have walked past it over the years of both visiting and in the late 60s and early 70s working in the city of Nottingham? 

Hidden away on Angel Row, close to the Market Square is Bromley House.  Its front door nestles unobtrusively between a newsagents shop and a Barnardo's Charity shop.  It looks small from the outside but what we found inside was a feast for the senses and a delight for the eyes.

Bromley House is the home of the Nottingham Subscription Library which was founded in 1816.  It moved to Bromley House in 1820/22.  The first members paid five guineas to purchase a share in the library and then a further two guineas each year to subscribe. 

The house, built in 1752 was the 'town house' of George Smith who was the grandson of the founder of Smith's Bank which is, according to the notes, the oldest known provincial bank in the country.  The house is Grade II listed and is thought to have been designed by the architect Robert Taylor.

This painting at the top of the staircase is of the 1st Duke of Richmond and was moved to nearby Newstead Abbey to keep it safe during the second World War.

The main library room is the hub of the whole place, books are issued and returned here.  Members record the books they loan and return in a ledger.  Current fiction books are housed in this room.

Below is a better view of the spiral staircase which goes up to the gallery where earlier fiction and miscellaneous books are shelved.  Only one person at a time is allowed up or down on the staircase which was added to replace a light staircase in 1857.

The entrance you can see in the photo above by the grandfather clock leads to many other rooms all filled to the gunnels with book both old and new.  Many rooms have been adapted from their previous use and some are dedicated to former members or librarians, plus some associated with clubs and societies.  Through the door is the Standfast Library which is named after the Rev. Dr. Standfast of Clifton who left his library to the people of Nottingham in 1744.  In this room, on the floor, is a brass strip meridian line which was used to set clocks before either Greenwich Mean Time or Railway Time was used.  Upstairs are rooms named after Miss Ellen Harrington, who was librarian for thirty seven years and Dr Robert Thoroton, antiquarian.  This room was rented by the Thoroton Society for many years and is also home to The British Sundial Society. In the room next to this staff and volunteers were explaining and demonstrating the techniques of book binding and conservation.

Through more rooms, after a pleasant diversion to the map room which is light and airy, and you come to the studio.  This was the premises of  Nottingham's first photographer Alfred Barber who set up business in these premises in 1841.  Barber installed a skylight (no longer there), at his own expense and also a circular glass and wood structure which worked on a cog and wheel mechanism as it was turned to follow the passage of the sun.

From the studio you could climb further to the attics which were full of shelves housing history and biography books.  These attics were the servants quarters when the house was still used as a home.  Up in the attic is what used to be the developing room and which now contains the Pauline Heathcote Photographic Archive.

One of the things we wanted to see was the walled garden.  It is one of two walled gardens left in the city centre.  The other is behind fashion designer Sir Paul Smith's shop in Willoughby House on Low Pavement.

The long red brick walled garden is shaded in part by London Plane trees.  Six trees were planted  by the President and Librarian in 1875 but only three remain.  There are many shady seats where members can sit with their lunch.  the garden is a haven of peace and quiet just a minute or two from the busy street outside.

Apologies for the quality of the photo above as the sun was very bright but you can just see the back of the house.

The photos above and below show the height of the brick garden walls against the height of the modern city buildings on the other side.

The gardens were very busy and a photographer was at work taking photos

People were lining up to have their photos taken with the camera below.  Above you can see the unusual sundial which is just across from the back door of the house.

As we left the library there was a huge queue snaking right down Angel Row.  with only an hour left of opening time I wondered if they all got in to see the glories beyond the front door.  Apparently there are tours of the library every Wednesday at 2.30p.m. for a cost of £2 which is great value for all that can been seen.  If you are lucky enough to live in the city or not too far away yearly membership is £104.00 which includes any other adult family member at the same address too. The only downside is that there is no lift so access would be difficult for those who have problems with stairs.

There is lots of information and also links to specific things of interest like the photographic studio or the meridian line on the library's website.  Link above in the text.

Dinosaurs of China - Part Two

I covered part one of our visit to this exhibition in my Five on Friday post on 7th July - link here.  The main part of this exhibition is at Wollaton Hall in Nottingham but there is a second smaller exhibition at the Djanogly Centre which is part of Lakeside Arts on the University Campus.  We had booked tickets to hear a talk given by Pterosaur expert  Dr Mark Witton of Portsmouth University.  It was a free lunchtime talk called 'Not your Father's Pterosaurs: How Scientists are Reinterpreting Mesozoic Flying Reptiles' although it sounds rather specialist and dry and given that I'm not the Pterosaur expert of the two of us I actually found it quite fascinating and Mark Witton an excellent and engaging speaker.

We set out from home to drive to Beeston where we parked and caught the tram to the University.  The journey only took about ten minutes and I was able to use my bus pass by just registering it at a little swipe machine.  

  

The trams in Nottingham are each dedicated to a famous person from or who has deep connections with the County of Nottinghamshire.  Thus you will spot passing by trams with such names as  Brian Clough, D H Lawrence, Lord Byron, Torvil and Dean, Jesse Boot, William Booth, Alan Sillitoe, Ada Lovelace and many more not forgetting Robin Hood of course.  I didn't notice which tram we travelled down to the University on but we came back on Vicky McClure and spotted Rebecca Adlington going the opposite way at the tram stop.

The exhibition was in the smaller gallery at the Djanogly Centre.  We had a good look around.

Plenty of space to sit and wander around in this part of the exhibition which concentrated on Palaeo-art or bringing Dinosaurs to life.  It looked at the ways artist and scientists have illustrated and depicted the remains they have found.

Alxasaurus a feathered vegetarian descended from meat eaters.  Early Cretaceous it was found in Inner Mongolia, norther China. and could grow up to about 4 metres long.

Dilophosaurus sinensis - has hollow bones like birds.  A carnivore it is from the Early Jurassic and was found in Yunnan Province in China. Size 4 metres long or the size of a mini car.

After looking at this exhibition we moved on to the main Summer exhibition at the centre.  In complete contrast this exhibition was entitled Kaleidoscope: Colour and Sequence in 1960s British Art.   

Photos were not allowed in many areas of this exhibition so I've included a photo from the 'What's On' leaflet I picked up.  It was a fascinating display of bold shapes and bright colours.

After coffee and what was labelled a date and walnut scone but which after slicing in half and buttering appeared to contain only apricots we strolled out to the lake and walked a little way along the lakeside path watching new graduates with their proud families having their photos taken with the lake as a backdrop. 

It was time to take our seats in the small theatre at the back of the Lakeside building pictured below.

The talk started with screen shots of how artists and film directors had depicted Pterosaurs in the past and how different today's thoughts on both appearance and lifestyle had changed.  The talk lasted about 40 minutes and there were lots of questions afterwards.

We emerged from the cool dark theatre into hot, bright sunshine and made our way back to the nearby tram stop to catch a tram back to Beeston where we picked up our very hot car and began what proved to be a very uncomfortable and sticky drive home.

The Cassandra Room

Inside Wollaton Hall, just off the Great Hall you can find The Cassandra Room.

This room is dedicated to Cassandra Willougby who first came to Wollaton at the age of seventeen to help her brother Francis restore his family's inheritance.

Cassandra, her elder brother Francis and her younger brother Thomas were the children of Francis Willougby (then spelt Willughby) and his wife Emma Barnard of Middleton Hall near Tamworth in Staffordshire.  Francis was a noted naturalist and ornithologist and he worked with his children's tutor John Ray on the published works Ornithologia and Historia Piscium.  Francis died in 1672 and later his wife Emma married Josiah Child, Governor of the East India Company.  The three children moved away from Middleton Hall, Josiah Child became their step-father and guardian and benefited from their inheritance until they became of age.  The elder son Francis moved away to live with his aunt and then to the family property of Wollaton Hall.  When he was 19 he asked his sister to come and live with him there.  She arrived at Wollaton, aged 17,  with her pet magpie and great hopes for the future..

Sadly, Francis Willoughby died in 1688 aged only 20 and Cassandra's younger brother Thomas went to live with her at Wollaton and they set about restoring the old hall which had been damaged by fire in 1642, when Sir Percival Willoughby lived there.

 

As well as playing a great part in the restoration of Wollaton Hall, Cassandra also took on the organisation of her father's natural history collections and also wrote the history of her family.

The room, created jointly by  Nottingham City Museums and Galleries and the Dragon Breath Theatre, tells the story of  the first hundred years of Wollaton Hall. It is very much an interactive exhibition, with objects than can be handled, wearable costume and gorgeous paper sculptures by artist and set designer Trina Bramman.

Cabinets of Curiosities which can be explored.

Above Cassandra's father  Francis Willougby the Collector, the wording is...

'My father Francis, the Collector. Here are found some of my father's collections of nature, mathematics, games and curiosities, organised by my brothers and myself.'

Replica period costume

There is a table full of little  paper sculptures

which as well as telling  the story of Cassandra's family and its connections with the locality

 are also meant to engage the visitor in how they feel about their own family and how important family is.

Were you wondering what happened to Cassandra?   She stayed at Wollaton until she was about forty three years old when she married her cousin James Brydges, Baron Chandos. She became Lady Chandos on her marriage and later in 1717 the Duchess of Chandos.  She died in 1735 and is buried at St Lawrence's Church, Whitchurch in London.