Don't know if any of you have come across this lot, but worth checking out if you get the chance. They played a pub in Cheltenham last night, and I went with a mate, even though not nec my favourite type of rock. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
They have been called the country's leading ACDC tribute band. Others may beg to differ, but my mate endorsed that label. The lead singer is bald and looks late 40's to early 50's the other four look late teens to early 20's with long hair.
They also act as their own support band, doing the opening 40 minute set as Hell Razers playing cover versions of loads of classic rock tracks. Included Toto, Iron Maiden, Guns n Roses, Thunder, to name a few. Main ACDC set was just over an hour. Good night out and lots of fun.
Sunday 13 September 2009
Thursday 3 September 2009
Cornwall (III)
Now for the last instalment of our week in Cornwall.
Geevor Tin Mine is set on the northern tip of the peninsula, and face straight off the cliffs onto the Atlantic Ocean. It could be a bit wet and wind swept I'd imagine, but was reasonably ok when we were there. It is the country's largest preserved mining site, and has been preserved as it was at it's closure in 1986. It is a fascinating place to visit, and gives an insight into how tin was mined both historicaly, and up to the time it closed. The underground tour, is of a mine started about two hundred years ago, and going through the narrow and low tunnels gives a real impression of how hard it would have been working there. The shift managers room, I think it was called, really effected me in a way that I did not understand for a while. As I said earlier the preservation is based on 1986. This room showed plans and newspapers from the period on his desk. It was only a bit later that the penny dropped as to why I was feeling emotional. 1986 was the year my father died, he was a self employed quantity surveyor, and his office was so very similar to that of the shift managers! Whereas the plans were for mining tunnels, not the M25 intersection, they were on the same type of paper, and the desk and bookcases were laid out in a similar fashion.
Trengwainton Garden is a National Trust controlled garden just outside Penzance. The house itself, is privately owned and not open to the public. The gardens are narrow, but fairly extensive. The walled kitchen gardens were my highlight. The location of the gardens, and it's climate, enable tender exotic plants to be grown here, which will not survive elsewhere on the British mainland.
The Eden Project is a masterwork of recycling an old industrial site. A former quarry has been turned into a superb site of botanical beauty. The biodomes contain plants from all over the world, and are stunningly laid out. The information panels are some of the most user friendly I have come accross. There are features on recyling as a whole as well, which fit in nicely with the overall effect.
Overall we had a good week away, and would definately visit the far west of Cornwall again.
Links to some of the places visited:
Geevor Tin Mine www.geevor.com/
Trengwainton Gardens www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-trengwaintongarden
Eden Project www.edenproject.com/
Geevor Tin Mine is set on the northern tip of the peninsula, and face straight off the cliffs onto the Atlantic Ocean. It could be a bit wet and wind swept I'd imagine, but was reasonably ok when we were there. It is the country's largest preserved mining site, and has been preserved as it was at it's closure in 1986. It is a fascinating place to visit, and gives an insight into how tin was mined both historicaly, and up to the time it closed. The underground tour, is of a mine started about two hundred years ago, and going through the narrow and low tunnels gives a real impression of how hard it would have been working there. The shift managers room, I think it was called, really effected me in a way that I did not understand for a while. As I said earlier the preservation is based on 1986. This room showed plans and newspapers from the period on his desk. It was only a bit later that the penny dropped as to why I was feeling emotional. 1986 was the year my father died, he was a self employed quantity surveyor, and his office was so very similar to that of the shift managers! Whereas the plans were for mining tunnels, not the M25 intersection, they were on the same type of paper, and the desk and bookcases were laid out in a similar fashion.
Trengwainton Garden is a National Trust controlled garden just outside Penzance. The house itself, is privately owned and not open to the public. The gardens are narrow, but fairly extensive. The walled kitchen gardens were my highlight. The location of the gardens, and it's climate, enable tender exotic plants to be grown here, which will not survive elsewhere on the British mainland.
The Eden Project is a masterwork of recycling an old industrial site. A former quarry has been turned into a superb site of botanical beauty. The biodomes contain plants from all over the world, and are stunningly laid out. The information panels are some of the most user friendly I have come accross. There are features on recyling as a whole as well, which fit in nicely with the overall effect.
Overall we had a good week away, and would definately visit the far west of Cornwall again.
Links to some of the places visited:
Geevor Tin Mine www.geevor.com/
Trengwainton Gardens www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-trengwaintongarden
Eden Project www.edenproject.com/
Wednesday 2 September 2009
Cornwall (II)
Moving on with a summary of the places we visited. We went back to the National Seal Sanctuary in Gweek, nine years after our last visit. The place has been done up a bit over the years, with some added features including a woodland walk, and an otters enclosure. The sanctuary as the name suggests is a place where rescued seals are taken, with a view to releasing them back into the wild when strong enough. Those that are too badly hurt for release are usually kept there as well.
The west end of Cornwall is home to two of the UK's more historic communications sites. Future World @ Goonhilly is an inter active site exploring the history, the present, and the future of communications. Part of the site is still used by BT for communications work. It is home to loads of stelite aerials, including Arthur. Arthur was built in 1961 to track the Telstar satelite, and it is where the first transatlantic television pictures were received.
St.Michael's Mount is both a small harbour village, and a large house within the former monastry and castle. It is approached by causeway from Marazion, or by boat. We walked one way, and took the boat back. Before the advent of the railway from London to Penzance, the harbour was the main harbour in the area. Although now it is just a few cottages. The main building itself, at the top of a very steep climb, was built as a sister monastry to Mont Saint Michel in France. After the disolvement by King Henry VIII it becme a private residence for the St.Aubyn family. There are some stunning views from the top, and the house is definately worth a visit.
Slightly further down the coast from Goonhilly is Porthcurno Telegraph Museum. It was from the beach at Porthcurno that the under sea telegraph cables were laid from England to the rest of the world. The museum covers the local area in WWII, as the site was a target for bombing, stories of the cable ships which laid the cables under the oceans, and many artefacts from the industry which are housed in the tunnells built to protect the site in WWII.
The eldest boy and myself, did Porthcurno and Lands End by ourselves, as the youngest bboy was poorly for a day. Lands End was not as tacky and touristy as I was imagining. You pay for the car park, again cheaper than I expected, but the various attractions cost extra. If all you want to do is say you have been there, and look out to sea, then it is free, after parking. We decided to walk along the coast path to Sennen Cove in the light rain. Once we got there, we dropped into the village to look at the lifeboat house. This is whn I explained to him why I wanted to go there. Back in 1985 four boys from one of our local villages back home were drowned at Lands End whilst on a school trip. Although I did not know any of them personally, I had met one of them before. He was the nephew of one of my father's friends, and as such the cousin of two of my friends. Some of their friends and relatives in 1986 did a sponsored walk from the village to Lands End to raise money for a new lifeboat. This was named The Four Boys, and although it is no longer in service, I wanted to make the trip there. We were told that there was a small memorial garden to them at Lands End, so once we got back there we searched for it in the by now pouring rain. When looking at the memorial plaque, I found myself incredibaly moved.
Some more links to places visited:
National Seal Sanctuary www.sealsanctuary.co.uk
Future World @ Goonhilly wwww.goonhilly.bt.com/
St.Michael's Mount www.stmichaelsmount.co.uk
Porthcurno Telegraph Museum www.porthcurno.org.uk/
Lands End www.landsend-landmark.co.uk
The west end of Cornwall is home to two of the UK's more historic communications sites. Future World @ Goonhilly is an inter active site exploring the history, the present, and the future of communications. Part of the site is still used by BT for communications work. It is home to loads of stelite aerials, including Arthur. Arthur was built in 1961 to track the Telstar satelite, and it is where the first transatlantic television pictures were received.
St.Michael's Mount is both a small harbour village, and a large house within the former monastry and castle. It is approached by causeway from Marazion, or by boat. We walked one way, and took the boat back. Before the advent of the railway from London to Penzance, the harbour was the main harbour in the area. Although now it is just a few cottages. The main building itself, at the top of a very steep climb, was built as a sister monastry to Mont Saint Michel in France. After the disolvement by King Henry VIII it becme a private residence for the St.Aubyn family. There are some stunning views from the top, and the house is definately worth a visit.
Slightly further down the coast from Goonhilly is Porthcurno Telegraph Museum. It was from the beach at Porthcurno that the under sea telegraph cables were laid from England to the rest of the world. The museum covers the local area in WWII, as the site was a target for bombing, stories of the cable ships which laid the cables under the oceans, and many artefacts from the industry which are housed in the tunnells built to protect the site in WWII.
The eldest boy and myself, did Porthcurno and Lands End by ourselves, as the youngest bboy was poorly for a day. Lands End was not as tacky and touristy as I was imagining. You pay for the car park, again cheaper than I expected, but the various attractions cost extra. If all you want to do is say you have been there, and look out to sea, then it is free, after parking. We decided to walk along the coast path to Sennen Cove in the light rain. Once we got there, we dropped into the village to look at the lifeboat house. This is whn I explained to him why I wanted to go there. Back in 1985 four boys from one of our local villages back home were drowned at Lands End whilst on a school trip. Although I did not know any of them personally, I had met one of them before. He was the nephew of one of my father's friends, and as such the cousin of two of my friends. Some of their friends and relatives in 1986 did a sponsored walk from the village to Lands End to raise money for a new lifeboat. This was named The Four Boys, and although it is no longer in service, I wanted to make the trip there. We were told that there was a small memorial garden to them at Lands End, so once we got back there we searched for it in the by now pouring rain. When looking at the memorial plaque, I found myself incredibaly moved.
Some more links to places visited:
National Seal Sanctuary www.sealsanctuary.co.uk
Future World @ Goonhilly wwww.goonhilly.bt.com/
St.Michael's Mount www.stmichaelsmount.co.uk
Porthcurno Telegraph Museum www.porthcurno.org.uk/
Lands End www.landsend-landmark.co.uk
Tuesday 1 September 2009
Cornwall (I)
It now seems many moons ago, but we had an excellent family holiday on Cornwall in late July, early August. The drive down was horrendous though, with very heavy rain all the way. It stopped soon after we arrived at our hotel! The M5 was not the easiest place to be that day.
On the way down we called in at Dartmoor Zoological Park. We were unsure about visiting, as the rain was still pouring down, and gushing down in streams as the zoo is on a hill. Very glad we made the effort though, as given a free family pass to use within the next three months to make up for it! A nice gesture, which need not have been made. The zoo is fairly small, with good views of the surrounding countryside. The size of the zoo, did not mean, however, that the animal enclosures were shabby or small. Our highlights were being able to get closer to wolves, tigers, and lions than we have ever been able to be elsewhere.
We were based in Marazion in the west of Cornwall. It is home to St.Michael's Mount. We stayed in a small hotel, Chymorvah, which was once a Victorian family house. I found it a bit too basic for me, with a time restriction for the doors being locked, but apart from that it was very pleasant. A lot of the vegetables were grown in their own garden, and the eggs came from their own chickens.
Two minutes walk away from the hotel was, The Fire Engine. This became my evening haunt for the week. A very friendly "local" pub, as opposed to the very touristy pubs in the town centre. Not sure what this says, but by the third night, the barmaid was pulling my pint as I walked in!
About four miles away is the large town of Penzance, and it's neighbouring village of Newlyn. Newlyn is the largest fishing harbour in England. We spent an hour or so, just wondering around the harbour taking in the sights and smells, of this traditional way of life.
Our stay overlapped with that of some friends of ours by one day. So we met up at the cottage they were staying in, and went to a local cove for some beach time. Rinsey is a typical well hidden cove, at the bottom of a small lane, with parking in a field, followed by a fifteen minute walk down the cliff to the beach. Not touristy at all, with no facilities, but all the better for this. This was one of the very fine days, weather wise, and resulted in sea swimming, and sun burn!
The far west of Cornwall has quite a few ancient ruins dating back to Roman times and earlier. One of these is Chysauster, an ancient stone walled village, between Penzance and St.Ives. This settlement they think was built in the Roman time, though there has been some evidence of Iron Age activity in the form of pottery, no houses from that time have been discovered. I found the place to have a special atmosphere to it, though it is hard to work out why. It did not feel "religious" in any way, but just had something about it.
We then went from the peace and tranquility of Chysauster, to the hustle and bustle of St.Ives. No town centre parking, with all parking at the Leisure Centre, and a ten minute walk into town. The place was heaving both with people and sea gulls! Was not my cup of tea, which was a shame, as I had been looking forward to going there. The harbour is very pretty, which is why I suppose it was busy! We looked in a few art galleries, which I quite enjoyed.
Here are a few links to some of the places mentioned:
Dartmoor Zoological Park www.dartmoorzoo.com
Chymorvah Hotel www.chymorvah.co.uk
The Fire Engine www.fireengineinn.com
Marazion www.marazion.info
Chysauster www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.15238
On the way down we called in at Dartmoor Zoological Park. We were unsure about visiting, as the rain was still pouring down, and gushing down in streams as the zoo is on a hill. Very glad we made the effort though, as given a free family pass to use within the next three months to make up for it! A nice gesture, which need not have been made. The zoo is fairly small, with good views of the surrounding countryside. The size of the zoo, did not mean, however, that the animal enclosures were shabby or small. Our highlights were being able to get closer to wolves, tigers, and lions than we have ever been able to be elsewhere.
We were based in Marazion in the west of Cornwall. It is home to St.Michael's Mount. We stayed in a small hotel, Chymorvah, which was once a Victorian family house. I found it a bit too basic for me, with a time restriction for the doors being locked, but apart from that it was very pleasant. A lot of the vegetables were grown in their own garden, and the eggs came from their own chickens.
Two minutes walk away from the hotel was, The Fire Engine. This became my evening haunt for the week. A very friendly "local" pub, as opposed to the very touristy pubs in the town centre. Not sure what this says, but by the third night, the barmaid was pulling my pint as I walked in!
About four miles away is the large town of Penzance, and it's neighbouring village of Newlyn. Newlyn is the largest fishing harbour in England. We spent an hour or so, just wondering around the harbour taking in the sights and smells, of this traditional way of life.
Our stay overlapped with that of some friends of ours by one day. So we met up at the cottage they were staying in, and went to a local cove for some beach time. Rinsey is a typical well hidden cove, at the bottom of a small lane, with parking in a field, followed by a fifteen minute walk down the cliff to the beach. Not touristy at all, with no facilities, but all the better for this. This was one of the very fine days, weather wise, and resulted in sea swimming, and sun burn!
The far west of Cornwall has quite a few ancient ruins dating back to Roman times and earlier. One of these is Chysauster, an ancient stone walled village, between Penzance and St.Ives. This settlement they think was built in the Roman time, though there has been some evidence of Iron Age activity in the form of pottery, no houses from that time have been discovered. I found the place to have a special atmosphere to it, though it is hard to work out why. It did not feel "religious" in any way, but just had something about it.
We then went from the peace and tranquility of Chysauster, to the hustle and bustle of St.Ives. No town centre parking, with all parking at the Leisure Centre, and a ten minute walk into town. The place was heaving both with people and sea gulls! Was not my cup of tea, which was a shame, as I had been looking forward to going there. The harbour is very pretty, which is why I suppose it was busy! We looked in a few art galleries, which I quite enjoyed.
Here are a few links to some of the places mentioned:
Dartmoor Zoological Park www.dartmoorzoo.com
Chymorvah Hotel www.chymorvah.co.uk
The Fire Engine www.fireengineinn.com
Marazion www.marazion.info
Chysauster www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.15238
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