The village of Heather is a pleasant place in North West Leicestershire, and dates back to the Doomsday Book on 1086, when it was recorded as Hadre, or The Heathland. These days, you might know it for its pubs and live music – very good considering a population of just under 1000 – or at…
For those not familiar with it, Chasewater is a reservoir in Staffordshire dating back to 1797, in the Cannock Chase area, and, as well as being home to water skiing and all sorts of aquatic activities, is also the location of the Chasewater Railway, a two mile heritage railway service, formerly used to transport coal.…
I wrote last year about the 2013 Heart of the Forest Festival in the village of Measham, Leicestershire, right in the middle of the National Forest, hence the name, that included motorbike stunts, wild west shows, and all sorts of exciting things. Today saw the Heart of the Forest Festival 2014, and as normal, I…
Last weekend saw the 2014 Moira Canal Festival, which celebrates and raises money for the restoration of the Ashby Canal, on the Derbyshire / Leicestershire border. I wrote about last year’s festival, which was a great show, and included a fly by from a Mark IX Spitfire. The 2014 event saw two air shows, one…
When you ask most people to tell you about Burnley, Lancashire, they might mention the town’s industrial past, its football team, or some of its many famous residents. What they are less likely to mention is the impressive green spaces and architecture of the town. Among these are Towneley Park and Towneley Hall, an impressive…
We found ourselves in North Yorkshire this weekend visiting some friends, and took the opportunity to return to Skipton, and to visit Skipton Castle. It was a relatively easy choice as, as well as being an interesting historical site which is easy to get to and has plenty to see, is suitable for both a…
I took a trip recently to the UK’s largest permanent Scalextric set, the Phoenix Scalextric Track near Studley in Warwickshire. For those not familiar with Scalextric, it is a remote control car racing system that is an institution in the UK. It first appeared at the Harrogate Toy Fair in 1957, and since then, has been…
It’s the 1st March, and whilst those in Wales will be celebrating St David’s Day, Londoners will have something else to be happy about today. London’s first “cat cafe”, Lady Dinah’s, opens today. The café will include eleven cats who will be “working” there, who you might meet if you pay them a visit. The…
As I got to the train station the morning for my daily commute, there were blue skies over Loughborough train station, and in that blue sky the moon could clearly be seen with Venus appearing to be quite near by. It was a pretty sight as I crossed over the bridge at the station, and…
It normally is not that unusual to have the first hints of the arrival of spring by mid February in the UK, but the apparently constant storms and rains that have marked the first couple of months of 2014 have meant that this has been a more unusual and noteworthy event. I took Berta for…
My car is being serviced at the moment, so I ended up getting to the train station later than normal. I know that sunrise at Loughborough train station is probably not something that would be expected to be particularly noteworthy. However, as the first light arrived in the sky at 0640 this morning, commuters were…
I spent a rather excellent evening yesterday (11th November 2013) at the ATP World Tour Finals, and in fact the final of the ATP World Tour Finals. The event takes place in the O2, what used to be called the Millennium Dome, and features the top eight singles players and doubles players of the ATP…