AnglOrony

Sherwood Rise Community Fair Keeping up the community spirit is difficult in a society where moving homes is so common. When you are in your 30s and you moved more than three times, you are not likely to feel the community spirit of your locality.  The Tin Forest So, the true magic and a trick is to keep a community spirit in a truly medieval manner ( in a positive, enchanting way) in a place where most of the households are on the 'move' - in and out. And this is what one can experience in some parts of England. Truly amazing, fan loving fairs. A variety of things to see, touch, eat. On a one sunny September afternoon we heard a rumble from a nearby 'green' place. Curious, we stuck out our noses along with the rest to see what's the noise all about. We have lived on the street for only two months now (moving in and out is our speciality).  Human Fruit Machine Just round the corner is a very small Hedley Villas Park on the Sherwood Rise area in Nottingham. Small but...

Among the vast plain of Cheshire, on the A56 way, south-west of Warrington, lays Daresbury , a two-streets tiny village of around 250 inhabitants. It would be a countryside sleepy surround if not the unconventional things that have been happening there. The village seems to have a knack for multi-dimensional exploration . First - it is the birthplace of Lewis Carroll, author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There , one of the first enigma and fantasy novels, having a huge impact on generations of readers to this day. He had been inspired by some local legends . On the opposite side of the A56 is a large scientific facility, Daresbury Laboratory . It is the UK's forefront in world-class and cutting-edge research in nuclear physics , computing, AI , bio-medicine, chemistry. It could be named 'the Local CERN ' as it also deals with the tiniest particles in the Universe and is  partnering with the CER...

In the first day of August 2008, we had set off to Wiltshire to experience first-hand the strange phenomena of ' crop circles '. Hardly any simple 'circles' in recent decades - the pattern became more complex and ornamented. The term 'crop pictograms' or 'crop formations' are more suitable. Wiltshire is the world-capital of crop circles. Hundreds, if not thousands, appear there every year, and the debate continues - how, by whom and why they are being made. One interesting connection is that Wiltshire is home to Stonehenge and many other stone circles and ancient monuments - in a quantity, quality and antiquity - not met anywhere else in the world. Archaeologists have established that those monuments were built by the people who introduced farming in Britain. In the early morning hours, we started our stay in Avebury , home to the largest stone circle in the world. In the centre of the village, there is an idyllic rural pub next to some of the larg...

The most interesting areas in central London can be enjoyed by foot. Everything is in close proximity. Of course, you will need a few days to cover many other places of tourists interests but to get the real quick feel of London , this is what we recommend. The area covers a large part of London's West End : Covent Garden and Leicester Square, the historic sites of Trafalgar Square , Buckingham Palace , Downing Street , Palace of Westminster . Covent Garden is associated with sophisticated leisure time. There are theatres, numerous pubs and bars, an exclusive shopping area, a craft market, floral market and regular street performances. We popped in there in the early hours and in some parts it was already busy, in others still very quiet. Covent Garden For centuries, Covent Garden had been a market where Londoners had been buying fruits and vegetables. Before that, since around 1200's it served as a garden for the needs of Convent monks, hence the name.   Pu...

Southwell Minster,  a cathedral, in a small town-like-village? Yes, near Nottingham .  The building had survived the English Reformation - the dissolution of the monasteries and looting them down to the state of ruin - by the State. It was in 1530s. Some things has changed - the looting is less obvious now. Anyway, fully workable church from the Medieval times is quite uncommon in England. Here are some charming ruins additionally, too.  We have found ourselves in Southwell, knowing very little about, just that it is quite a posh surround in Nottinghamshire . We were not surprised. A few elegant streets with chic and sleek small business for the posh people. A shop that sells edible sweets   memorabilia in a lovely colonial style, for example (below, lower, right). You do not go for a Cadburry chocolate in Southwell (which is not very nice, anyway), you go for a colored sugar bubbles as they were seen by the poor and eaten by the posh in the 1920s. Still, it is qu...

  The arithmetical clipping of shrubs into hedges is present in many English front and back gardens. However, the idea is pure French . The notion of a proper English garden does not comply with the neat, geometrical outlines. The front gardens of so many English households often represent the true spirit of the 18th-century invention - to let nature simply 'be' - with the emphasis of a  least landscaping effort . The first purpose of a garden is to give peace of mind and joy, this is the English philosophy. Less is more.  Let the flower bloom in Spring in a wide and wild variety of colours - after the archetypal floral cottage gardens. As suddenly as they come to be, as quickly as they are gone later on.   And when the Spring bloom is gone, we are getting back to the roots of the garden design - let the man take control over nature - in the fashion of the French . The Spring can be indeed abundant with the contrast of colours in the English villages ....