Open Cambridge 2014

Open Cambridge is an annual event when normally private buildings and gardens are open to the public.
This is the Senior Combination Room at Sidney Sussex College, where the tour was given by the Head Porter.

The kitchen garden in the Fellows' Garden, Trinity College

The dining hall in Westminster College, one of Cambridge's less well-known Colleges and well worth a visit

A corner of what was the private dining room for the College President

View from the College of the junction of Queens' Road and Madingley Road.  When the College was built in 1899 it was on a leafy lane on the outskirts of the city; very different now!  The windows may be old but they made a very effective sound barrier.

The library

You don't get plumbing like this nowadays!

One of a series of 12 stained glass windows in the Chapel.  My photo doesn't do it justice.

Our garden in September

Giant tomato - 37cm circumference, weight 570g - and all very edible!

A mixed bunch of tomatoes, and more to come

Man at work!
The timber sides of our raised beds are rotting so I decided to replace them with some made of recycled plastic.

One down and 6 to go.  I think we'll need several cubic meters of topsoil!

The grapes are doing well this year

London, 30 June 2014

Ben and I went to London for the fascinating Matisse exhibition at Tate Modern.  We walked from Liverpool Street, past St Paul's and over the Millennium Bridge.  Spot the remains of the medieval wharves revealed by the low tide.

From one extreme to the other - Southwark Cathedral and the Shard

The Herb Garret of St Thomas's Church was part of the old St Thomas's Hospital

The Old Operating Theatre in the hospital is the oldest in Europe.  The operating table is the wooden bench in the middle.  The tray to the left is full of sawdust to catch the blood, and the space under the floor was also packed with sawdust to stop the blood dripping into the church below!

Window cleaning on the Shard

Our garden in July

Grapes coming along nicely

Part of the cherry harvest - we had about a kilo from two very small trees and they were delicious!

Honorary Degrees, 18 June 2014

Name the Honorary Graduand - Gandalf isn't the right answer!

The Chancellor, David Sainsbury, gives his Address while Sir Ian McKellen waits in the wings

Sir Ian replies on behalf of the Graduands

The Official Photo

Our garden in June

Poppies pop up in a variety of shapes and shades, different every year

I netted the cherry tree before the blackbirds got to it so we actually have a crop this year!

Salisbury, May 2014

To spend some time with Tony and Paula, we stayed for a few days at the Old Mill in Harnham on the outskirts of Salisbury.  Our room was the third window up on the left so we had a lovely view of the river.  It was interesting to see the tide marks on the trees from the floods earlier in the year, level with the top of the arches over the mill race.  there's an awful lot of water around Salisbury even at this time of the year.

The Church of St Thomas of Canterbury in Salisbury.  Well worth a visit to see the Doom painting, the Angel roof
 and lots else.

The tomb of Jane Eyre

One of three medieval paintings of the life of the Virgin Mary

View of the Cathedral from the Town Path, our daily route from the hotel to the city centre

The town end of the Town Path

View from the bridge on the Town Path

A man in a strange hat outside the Cathedral

Ralph Brideoak's symbolic pew.  He was Dean of the Cathedral in 1718

Memorial to Rex Whistler.  The carved prism rotates to show different images of the Cathedral and of their family home in the Cathedral Close.

Traces of the original paint are still visible

Ceiling of the Audley Chapel (1524)

The Mompesson Tomb

The tomb of William Longespee (1226).  He was the first person to be buried in the existing Cathedral.  He was half-brother to King John and was present at the 1215 Magna Carta negotiations.

There is a huge font situated in the centre of the nave, reflecting the arches and roof in the surface of the water.  It is quite spectacular and not a little spooky!

Recently-shorn sheep grazing in the meadows, but where is the boy who looks after the sheep?

The Old Mill

View from our window