Nordon was our start point for the Heritage railway. the Station was a small branch line station with skeleton ticket office and short platform which got very crowded as the train arrived – although we had reserved seats, we had to chuck some interlopers out. Such interest in vintage railways! even in mid-September!! We looked … Read more

On the way to Norwich we stopped at Lavenham, in Suffolk. This ancient woollen town still has its original Medieval timber framed buildings, dating from around 1500. Over time the timber frames of many buildings have warped to the extent that one can only look and marvel that they are still standing. We stopped there … Read more

The day dawned dull(ish), but dry. Our coach had the fastest ever run into West London, arriving early. So we had to “talk among ourselves” for 10 minutes before being allowed in for a coffee and a day exploring. The highlights were the new Treetop Walk, and the “Hive”. The Walk was reached by spiral … Read more

As we search further afield for new attractions, we do more mileage and although we try to avoid rush hours, it was inevitable that one day we would fall foul of a major traffic jam. We battled against the widespread traffic jams (M3, M25, M4, M40, A30, A322) and although adopting a cross country route … Read more

For the nautically-inclined, we ventured to Chatham Historic dockyard with a wide choice of attractions in the 80 acres–The most visited exhibits were the three boats in dry dock – from the ancient sailing frigate HMS Gannet, through the WW2 destroyer HMS Cavalier. Those who investigated ‘the Silent Service’ and clambered down into the submarine … Read more

Several of the rooms at the National Trust site at Osterley Park had unique matching floor, ceiling and furniture designs. The history of the banker owners (the Childs) – their hospitality, entertaining and their moneyed existence were fascinating. Most members liked the new Design Museum and were surprised at the content and scope and intriguing … Read more

Eltham Palace was once one of Henry VIII’s favourite palaces. Over the centuries it fell into disrepair, until it was taken over by the Courtalds in the early 20th century. They restored the Great Hall and built a mansion as a kind of “annex”. The interiors of the mansion  were decorated and furnished in beatiful … Read more

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, under the direction of Grzegorz Nowak,  attacked the challenging scores from a wide range of Russian composers (Borodin, Rachmaninov, Mussorgsky, Rimsky–Korsakov, Khachaturian and Tchaiokovsky), with enthusiasm and gusto, and the soloist (Alexander Ullman) was very talented. The cherry on the Russian cake was the pre-concert briefing from a very professional and … Read more

These two outings really were crackers. Firstly we learned the history of how the Ministry of Defence decided to abandon the long-established base of experimental military flying and move to Boscombe Down – followed by the bidding process, then the initial modifications and then the environmental hoops that TAG had to jump through, to establish … Read more

To start, we enjoyed a coach tour of Kent, involving a twisting and winding drive from Ashford, through small side roads, showing off the varied hamlets, and villages with farming and local trades, ending at Tenterden  –familiar to many of us from a previous outing.  Onto the fascinating St Augustine’s church with its unique separate … Read more