St George's Hall was reopened this year on St Georges Day (April 23rd 2007) by HRH The Prince of Wales, after a £23m restoration.
It was very interesting so see how the show is filmed and how many people the experts see during the time we were there. The queues outside were very long indeed!
We were two of the lucky ones; we had a pass to 'jump-the-queue'! Chris had wanted to find out more about the 'dough chest' which we had acquired when Bessie (my grandmother) had moved in with my parents. We sent pictures to the BBC and were paid a visit last week (one of of 40 visits in and around Liverpool we were told), with the view of it being included in the show. As a result of the visit, we were given a pass!
The Chest was apparently from the early to mid-1500s. Wow that is much older than we thought!
Having had expert opinion about books, ceramics, and a number of other items we had taken, we headed off for a walk in Calderstones Park.
I've not included a map for this walk as it was nothing more than a "pleasant walk in the park". Liverpool is very lucky with their parks; they are looking so much better now that they are being given more TLC!
Calderstones Park in Allerton is named after the ancient megaliths situated in the park, which are said to be older than Stonehenge.
Calderstones incorporates the Harthill Botanical Gardens, founded in 1802. Almost 4000 species of plants are on show, brought from all over the world by merchants and other travellers.
We visited the Japanese Garden...
...and were impressed by the autumnal colours. From our experience of gardens in Japan we felt sure that the Japanese wouldn't have left so many leaves on the ground. They would have been cleared up very quickly. They wouldn't have had 'duck-weed' on the water either.
There is a lake in the park, where you can feed geese and ducks (if you ever remember to take any with you),
and there is also the Mansion House, which features a cafe and a child-friendly play area. Yes we did pop into the cafe! Toasted sausage and bacon sandwich went down very well!
Autumn seems strange to me this year. Many trees have completely lost all their leaves and others are still very green. This picture I think shows the uneven rate of leaf change.
Another enjoyable day but what a contrast; less than 12 months ago I was told I had the lungs of a 17 year old and today I was told I had a chest that was over 450 years old!
Blogged with Flock
No comments:
Post a Comment