London 23rd July 2010

Margaret and I went down in London for a few days on the 23rd July ... We stayed one night in the Sloane Square hotel (so Margaret could have breakfast at The Botanist (see http://uk.opentable.com/the-botanist). We met with Alison and Peter first, at a restaurant John Phillpotts had recommended ... La Poule au Pot in Pimlico. Everyone enjoyed the meal, then it was off to Lambeth Palace for a rare treat ... a visit to the Library (next open in 2110 - that is not a misprint!).

In the library there is …
* The MacDurnan Gospels, from the 9th century, Ireland.
* The Lambeth Bible, masterpiece of Romanesque art
* 13th century Lambeth Apocalypse
* A Gutenberg Bible printed in 1455, the first great book printed in Western Europe from movable metal type (only the New Testament I think).


* Books owned and used by King Richard III, King Henry VIII, Queen Katherine of Aragon, Queen Elizabeth I and King Charles I as well as landmark texts in the history of the Church of England
* An exceptionally rare edition of the Babylonian Talmud which survived a 1553 Papal Bull ordering all copies to be burnt, which was rediscovered in 1992
* The warrant for the execution of Mary Queen of Scots
* Papers of archbishops, bishops and leaders of church and state, ranging from the 13th century to the modern day, including papers relating to the rebuilding of St Paul's Cathedral after the Great Fire, as well as physicians' reports on the illness of King George III.

Then it was back to the hotel and onto Covent Garden for tea & a snack before watching War Horse at the New London Theatre in Drury Lane.

It was brilliant ... the puppets were manipulated in such a brilliant way that it captured the very essence of a horse. Super!

Next morning unravelled a bit as the Botanist didn't open until 9am ... Margaret is fated not to eat here! We breakfasted in the hotel's Chelsea Brasserie, then set off for the British Museum where we caught the last day of the Museum's major spring/summer 2010 exhibition

Fra Angelico to Leonardo: Italian Renaissance drawings

After a privileged quick entrance and tour we set off to catch the The Royal Academy of Arts’ exhibition 'Sargent and the Sea,' which I thought spell binding. I like Sargent anyway but to see what this really young man (as he was then), could do ... well, it was stunning. Just look at En Route Pour la Pêche (Setting Out to Fish) painted in 1878, when he was 22 years of age. See http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-reviews/7885831/Sargent-and-the-Sea-at-the-Royal-Academy-review.html



We got to Stan & Jane's at around 3pm, after lunch at Fortnum & Masons, in Piccadilly, where we were very disciplined and only had something light.
cThen we wandered around, looking at tins of bisuits(!), of which there were many ... all delightful to Margaret's eye!




For dinner Dave, Jill, Stan, Jane, Margaret & I went to Rivington Grill in Greenwich ...

Next day was a London walk, planned by Stan, taking in the Cutty Sark part of Greenwich; catching the Thames up to Tower Bridge Pier, then out towards Limehouse Basin (formerly Regents Canal Docks!) and to The Prospect of Whitby pub, where we had lunch.


Then we followed the towpath up past the new Olympic Stadium site, marvelling at the relatively weak security? We passed the Three Mills Wall River Weir

- created to lock out the tide, just north of the House Mill, which means that this section of the Bow Back Rivers have ceased to be tidal- the lock having been constructed so that barges from two large building projects (the London 2012 Olympics and Stratford City build) may pass through the lock, taking spoil out and delivering building materials on to the sites.
The next day we drove out to west Kent, to walk around Penshurst Place and Chiddingstone. Walked through the Penshurst estate and onto Chiddingstone. Had a picnic under the lee of some trees and then a pint in The Castle Inn. The village reputedly takes its name from a large sandstone rock formation, situated on its outskirts, named the Chiding Stone. Chidingstone was a previous spelling used for the village. Its unique in that the whole village, (except the church and the castle), is NT property. Tradition asserts that the stone was used as a seat of judgement, mainly to remonstrate overbearing local wives. Now we remember it as a rare Tudor village and as a film set! It was used
- as a setting in the 1985 Merchant Ivory film "A Room with a View";
- Michael Winner used Chiddingstone in his production of 'The Wicked Lady';
- Part of the Monty Python team filmed here for 'Wind in the Willows';
- 'Elizabeth R', starring Glenda Jackson was largely made here;
- Gerald Scarfe's 'Life of Hogarth' was filmed here too.