Chester Races - Race Day Tours

Today we went on a Race Day Tour, where you go behind the scenes at Chester Races. Very interesting and informative, I highly recommend it. We were shown the stables, how horses get checked by vets, the trophy room, the weighing room. the jockeys room and had a talk from the stewards.

 See our Chester self-catering serviced apartment at Black Diamond Park

Voir notre appartement meublé avec cuisine situé à Black Diamond Park

Along the Canal V

On slopes and under bridges along the canal you can see raised ridges in the bricks, as in the photo below. These were so that the horses that pulled the narrow boats could have something for their hooves to grip when they were pulling on the most difficult surfaces.

See our Chester self-catering serviced apartment at Black Diamond Park

Voir notre appartement meublé avec cuisine situé à Black Diamond Park

Llyn Padarn

Yesterday we went down to Llyn Padarn, in Snowdonia. It is a disused Slate Quarry, and the waters are clear and deep, and usually very cold, but we love to go swimming there. We discovered a side pool that we had never seen before, complete with water lilies and late ducklings.

See our Chester self-catering serviced apartment at Black Diamond Park

Voir notre appartement meublé avec cuisine situé à Black Diamond Park

St Werburgh St

On the east side of St Werburgh St there is a carving of Queen Victoria, placed there to commemorate her Diamond Jubilee in 1897.

See our Chester self-catering serviced apartment at Black Diamond Park

Voir notre appartement meublé avec cuisine situé à Black Diamond Park

Old Harkers Arms

Old Harkers Arms, or Harkers, as it is more often known, is a pub along the side of the Shropshire Union Canal. It is a pretty typical english pub, with good food and a convivial atmosphere. You can read more about it here: http://www.harkersarms-chester.co.uk/

See our Chester self-catering serviced apartment at Black Diamond Park

Voir notre appartement meublé avec cuisine situé à Black Diamond Park

St Deiniol's Church, Hawarden - Inside

Inside the church are the most magnificent stained glass windows, the colours more vibrant than usual in churches of this age (I guess because they were done later the pigmentation is better), carved marble sarcophagi, wooden carvings of a very high standard, and a brass cross on one of the pews, where the Archbishop died during a service.

See our Chester self-catering serviced apartment at Black Diamond Park

Voir notre appartement meublé avec cuisine situé à Black Diamond Park

St Deiniol's Church, Hawarden - Outside

St Deiniol's Church, Hawarden is a real find. The outside has an atmospheric graveyard, looking like something straight out of Great Expectations, and the inside has the most beautiful stained glass windows, one of them by Burne Jones (of which more later).

See our Chester self-catering serviced apartment at Black Diamond Park

Voir notre appartement meublé avec cuisine situé à Black Diamond Park

St Thomas's Pathway

In the city centre, just off Foregate St, is St Thomas's Pathway, a little row of terraced houses with no road leading to them, and leading only to a dead end. Unless you know someone who lives in one of the houses, there is no real reason to go there. At this time of year it looks beautiful, and full of flowers.

See our Chester self-catering serviced apartment at Black Diamond Park

Voir notre appartement meublé avec cuisine situé à Black Diamond Park

Chester Races - Half price tickets

Chester Race Course have a special offer on Tattersalls and County Concourse tickets, two for the price of one for the Family Funday on Sunday, so we have taken advantage of it to book for a special behind-the-scenes racecourse tour as well. We're looking forward to it!

See our Chester self-catering serviced apartment at Black Diamond Park

Voir notre appartement meublé avec cuisine situé à Black Diamond Park

Tour Buses

You can go round Chester on an open top tour bus, but I prefer the walking tours - Chester has too many interesting nooks and crannies that a bus just can't get anywhere near.

See our Chester self-catering serviced apartment at Black Diamond Park

Voir notre appartement meublé avec cuisine situé à Black Diamond Park

Parker's Buildings

At the end of Foregate St are Parker's Buildings, now Grade II listed. They were commissioned as part of a housing program for the poor, and designed by the architect John Douglas.They were supposed to house local artisans and their families, and originally had a separate wash house, and no internal bathrooms or toilets, but they have now been renovated to modern standards and are rented out to over 55's.

See our Chester self-catering serviced apartment at Black Diamond Park

Voir notre appartement meublé avec cuisine situé à Black Diamond Park

Queen's Place

Next to the Canal is Queen's Place, a row of Grade II listed Georgian houses - very nice. But at the end of the street is a wall, the front of which looks like a mansion, but the back of which is, well, just a wall. I have found no explanation of why this is so, it just looks very strange.

Front of the wall...

...and the back

See our Chester self-catering serviced apartment at Black Diamond Park

Voir notre appartement meublé avec cuisine situé à Black Diamond Park