L'Occitane

Yesterday I went to an open evening at L'Occitane (pronounced lock-sitann), on Bridge St. I bought some hand cream for our holiday apartments, and got a goody bag for myself for free. Oh, and I drank some wine (well, they were giving it away, and it would have been churlish not to).

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Autumn Turns Into Winter

The photo on the left was taken 7 days ago, the photo on the right yesterday. Same time of day, same camera, and see how trees have gone from autumn into winter.

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Mama K's

Krista (I hope that's how she spells her name) is an American living in Chester who has decided to launch her own business making and selling salsa and tortilla chips. I have bumped into her at various local farmer's markets and sampled extensively, and I can pronounce them delicious. Alas, she doesn't yet have a website.

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Nantwich Farmer's Market

Nantwich holds a Farmer's Market on the last Saturday of every month, and I occasionally go over to it. Yesterday there were plenty of interesting stalls including local honey and some beautiful pork pies.

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Helter Skelter

A few days ago I paused in Northgate St to watch a helter skelter being built, and last night it was all lit up and in full swing.

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Coats of Arms

Near the Eastgate Clock are two coats of arms. One is the Grosvenor family coat of arms, surrounded with hunting dogs (talbots, now extinct), and the other is the arms of cheshire, with wheatsheaves. You can read more about them here:
http://cheshire-heraldry.org.uk/cheshire_arms.pdf
and here: http://www.houseofnames.com/grosvenor-coat-of-arms

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Chester By Night II

Harkers is always a popular place on a Saturday night, and the location is very atmospheric. Food and drink are good, too.

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Santa Comes To Chester

Every year the Mill Hotel puts a Santa on its' chimney, and I know that Christmas is really coming.

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The Lion Brewery

On top of an extremely ugly multi-storey car park, right next to the Newgate, is the statue of a lion, shown below. It commemorates the original site of the Lion Brewery, and you can see a photo and read a little more about it here: http://www.chesterwalls.info/lionbrewery.html

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Chester Castle - the Agricola Tower II

The Chapel in the Agricola Tower was once used to store munitions, and had to have any metal that might cause a spark removed, hence the copper door to the entrance.

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Chester - Monte Carlo Rally

There is a rally leaving Chester for Monte Carlo tomorrow morning, and the cars taking part were lined up outside the Queen Hotel this evening.

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Chester By Night I

During winter Chester has many evening events, and the city is lit up in various ways, and this year the trees are hanging onto their last few leaves a little later than usual.

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The Little Roodee

The Little Roodee is the car park between the castle and the river. It used to have a Victorian toilet block in one corner, but a few years ago it was knocked down and a new cafe was built, complete with an environmentally friendly 'green' roof.

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The Other Clock

Down at the end of Foregate St, where it joins the City Rd roundabout, is the other clock. It stands forlorn, overshadowed by the Eastgate Clock, and largely unnoticed. Despite my best efforts, I have been totally unable to find out anything about it - why is it there? who put it there? when was it built? Answers, please.

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Remembrance Day VI - the Band

No Remembrance Day parade would be complete without a band, and the playing of The Last Post, during which many were moved to tears.

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Remembrance Day V - Standard Bearers

The standards are hugely important to the regiments, and when too tattered to be used any more, go into the Cathedral to be hung up to die.

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Remembrance Day IV - Dogs

Even the dogs wore their poppies with pride and looked sombre.

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Remembrance Day III - Watchers

Crowds have increased during recent years and there was a good turnout to watch the parade. There were some military faces in the crowd, preferring to be with their families, I guess.

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Remembrance Day II - Marchers

The marchers ranged from the very young to the very old, with one or two in wheelchairs. This is the first year that Britain has had no survivors of World War I - the last one has died. I was told, but don't know whether it is true, that historically Cheshire supplied 70% of the men of the British Army.

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Remembrance Day I - Poppies

Today, Sunday, was the day of the Remembrance Day parade. and laying of wreaths at the war memorial in the grounds of the Cathedral. The older I get the more moving it all becomes, and I found myself taking a huge number of photos.

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Walking Round The Walls

Walking the walls is a popular occupation - most visitors to Chester do it at some point. There are often runners, running round, too. This photo shows a local group who meet once a week to walk, chat, and socialise.

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Fancy Dress

Going to a fancy dress party? In a play? Or just want to be someone else for the day? Then the place for you is the fancy dress hire shop on Brook St, which is bursting (almost literally!) with ideas and clothes for the occasion.

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Hypocausts

As well as the in situ hypocausts, a section of one has been taken to the Roman Garden and reconstructed to show how it actually works as underfloor heating. The furnace was positioned below floor level. It consisted of a small tunnel leading to an arched opening in the basement wall. The heat from the furnacepassed through the arch into the basement (hypocausis), warming the room above. The hot air was then drawn up into flues set into the walls and finally through vents in the roof. It was these flues that provided the through draught which made the system work.

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Recorder (or Wishing) Steps

Down by the river are two flights of steps leading from the Walls down to the Groves. They are known as Recorder Steps, or, more popularly, as the Wishing Steps. Local lore says that if you start at the top, take a single breath, then run down to the bottom and all the way back up without drawing another, you can make a wish and it will come true.

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Harriet & Dee

Harriet & Dee is a shop, originally in God's Providence House, and now expanded to a further jewellery boutique down on street level in Watergate St. They sell mainly gifts and cards, and are an ideal place for buying presents.

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Down on the River Dee

Down on the river, the boats are getting ready to be packed away for the winter.

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Bonfire Night

As Bonfire Night fell on the 5th it was extra spectacular this year. There were many local bonfires, but the biggest and best display is usually at the race course.

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Marlbororough Arms

The Marlbororough (yes, you read it right!) Arms is in St John St. There are many versions of what is the same story about how it got its' name, but the essence of them is that a sign writer was employed to repaint the sign of the Marlborough Arms, and after a hot day and a liquid lunch, he realised that he had painted the extra letters. The landlord was annoyed until he discovered that people kept popping in to point out the spelling mistake, and then stayed for a pint or two...

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Bramley Apples

This year there has been a glut of Bramley cooking apples, and we were given as many as we could pick from a friend's tree. Apple Crumble, Eve's Pudding, Apple and Ginger Cake, Baked Apples in Cider... Is your mouth watering yet?

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Chester Literature Festival

Chester Literature Festival has just finished, and I went to three of their events this year - John Hegarty (of Bartle Bogle Hegarty) talking about advertising, Bill Turnbull, the breakfast TV presenter who has written a very funny book about Bad Bee-Keeping, and lastly, but not least, Rina Tillinger, who lives locally and who has written a book about interesting Cheshire tombstones. An excellent program overall this year, and I am hoping for even better next year.

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