Pot Dogs

At the moment, in the city centre there is an art trail you can follow through what is known as the Cultural Quarter.  The displays are mostly along Piccaddily and stretch from the library and museum at the bottom of the street, past the Regent Theatre to the town hall.  The map below was created by local artist and designer Chloe Breeze.

 The art project has been organised by 104 Projects with the well known Victorian era ornamental Staffordshire Pot Dogs as their inspiration.  Artist Alice Thatcher has worked with many groups across the city using original 19th century pottery moulds to create pairs of dogs which they hope will  

'challenge misconceptions, negative narratives and sterotypes surrounding the lives of disabled people.'

 

There are also two eight foot high dogs outside the town hall.

We popped up into the city centre early on Saturday morning and had a great time taking photos.

The rest of the dogs are the size of the originals.

We spotted most of the pot dogs on display along Piccadilly in the windows of various shops but they were very hard to take photos of because of the glass and angles of the sun. 

The dogs in the library window were particularly hard to capture.

Two of the eight dogs in the window of Drop City Books.

Above and below 

Two pairs of dogs from the window of the Air Space Gallery. 

Above the dispay in Vellichor Books.

In Music Mania opposite Vellichor books in the Piccadilly Arcade.  

Two from the display in the Library.

Pot Dogs in the Museum.

The history of the Staffordshire Pot Dogs starts in 19th century.  They and the also well known Staffordshire flat backs were made in large numbers to appeal to working class folk who wanted to have decorative pottery in their home.  Two breeds of dog were generally depicted the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel influenced by Queen Victoria's dog Dash - or Eos, Prince Albert's Greyhound.  They were produced by smaller less well known pottery factories for mass marketing.

 

I've added links in bold to the various people involved.

I don't have any pot dogs but I do have cats.

All for now.

 

Hopton Hall Gardens

On Friday we'd arranged to meet a couple of friends at Hopton Hall, Carsington, Derbyshire.  The hall is open through July specifically for the rose gardens.  We've been several times when they open in February for their Snowdrop walks but never at this time of year. 

It was certainly much warmer than our February visits.  I think we chose the hottest day of July so far.  We had coffee from the 'pop-up' cafe before we followed the trail into the gardens.

We sheltered under the cover of this lovely summer house a couple of times during our visit.

 

The rose gardens were looking good although some of the roses were going over.  Others were looking gorgeous in the sunshine.

Above a small section of the 'crinkle crankle' wall. Some of it was hidden by scaffolding.  It is best viewed from outside as you pass by in the car towards the entrance.  No photos as it was a narrow road and quite busy as people arrived to view the gardens.

I liked the raised beds on one of the terraces.  These looked new.

The back of the hall.  Holiday accommodation is offered here.  

There are two ponds, this is the smaller one.  Damselflies and Dragonflies were hovering over the surface of the water.  The Damselflies an iridescent blue.

It was a lovely afternoon full of chatter but the heat was getting to all of us.  We moved on for a late lunch at The Miners Arms in Carsington village where most people were sitting outside in the sunshine, inside it was cool.  As we left children were coming out of school, excitedly rushing to the nearby play area on the village green.  I guess it was the last day of the summer term and they were filled with the thoughts of days of freedom stretching ahead of them.   I remember that feeling.  Do you?

The Home Front Museum

Back to our visit to Wales in June.

The Home Front Museum in Llandudno is housed in an old garage which, during the second world war, was the town's auxiliary fire station.  All the artefacts in the museum are from one man's collection.

You can find it in a little back street just a stone's throw from the main thoroughfayre of Gloddaeth Avenue.  It is also quite close to the main town museum.

It was quite dark inside but a welcome relief from the midday heat.   The dark made it hard to take photos but I've added a few here.  

I think I was most fascinated with the shop and the types of food products available.  Dreadnought Household flour and Marmite cubes.

 

'I make good soup says potato Pete.  Save the fleet.  Eat less wheat.'

We were left alone to wander around as we chose, sometimes doubling back to see something we'd missed or wanted to look at again.  As you walk round you also hear the sound of radio announcements, musical entertainment, comedy shows,  commentry from newsreels and also the sound of air raids, especially in the Anderson shelter.  For some reason I only took a photo of the outside of it.

 

We did sit inside though, for a while.

 

We then moved on to the Llandudno Museum.  We'd visited the museum a few years ago and it had changed quite a lot since our last visit.  I'll sort out some photos for a post at some point.  In the meantime here is a collage of the little Welsh dragons which were dotted here and there around the museum.  

I assume as a trail for children to follow.

 

Take care.

Five for Friday

June passed by so swiftly and it looks as if July is going to do the same.  Most of the days have been dull, grey and sometimes cold. Damp too with the occasional gleam of sunshine through the cloud.  Yesterday it just rained and rained.  Consequently garden produce hasn't done very well at all.  Strawberries are still hard and green.  A few tomatoes have ripened and so have the gooseberries.

Above the first two tomatoes from the greenhouse. 

 

A few more picked today.

Above the pickings from the only two gooseberry bushes that have produced fruit this year.

 

We've been pottering around locally except for one visit to a friend who lives in Derbyshire. 

We had a quick stop in Bakewell on the way.  We took a couple of bags of clothes to a charity shop, had a cup of coffee and visited a couple of shops before we moved on.  We bought a Bakewell pudding from one of the pudding shops to give as a treat for lunch.

The love locks are still on the bridge over the river from the car park and cattle market.  I wonder if they will have to be removed if they make the bridge unsafe?  I was lucky to catch the bridge with nobody on it.

The flowers at Trentham Gardens have been lovely and we've managed a couple of walks in between showers.

The foxes have been very active in the garden.  I took a photo of this one as it had it's nose in a pot of Lupins.

Paul took the one below of a couple of cubs.

Books.  Three from the library and one I treated myself to.

I couldn't resist 'The Book of Wildflowers' with words by Christopher Stocks and illustations by Angie Lewin. It's delightful.  'Hands of Time' is by local watchmaker Rebecca Struthers and is her personal history of watches and time.  The 'Geometry of Holding Hands' is an Isabel Dalhousie novel from Alexander McCall Smith.  It's a while since I read one of these and I'd forgotten how soothing they are.  It's a gentle antidote to some of the gruesome crime novels I've been reading recently.  'The Man in Black' is a book of short stories by Elly Griffiths.  I picked it up from the library today and I see it has a Ruth and Nelson story in it as well as others including her characters Harbinder Kaur, Max Mephisto and Flint (Ruth's cat).  I'm looking forward to this.

 

All for now.