Grosvenor Park Rediscovered

One of the things I had never noticed before it was pointed out to me, was the beautiful wishbone railing around the area overlooking the River Dee and Meadows. Amazing how much attention they paid to detail when first designing and laying out the park.

 

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

Voir notre appartement meublé avec cuisine situé à Black Diamond Park

Cathedral Details

Wandering round the Cathedral with my camera, various small details caught my eye. They were glowing in the afternoon sun, and looked pleasingly polished and cared-for. The top two are from memorials for bishops.

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

Voir notre appartement meublé avec cuisine situé à Black Diamond Park

J J O'Shea

Out at Kelsall Equestrian Centre is a local owner and trainer of racehorses - J. J. O'Shea. A lovely man, and very friendly and helpful, he has had recent successes over the jumps. Just the person to know if you are looking for somewhere local to stable your racehorse.

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

Voir notre appartement meublé avec cuisine situé à Black Diamond Park

Chester Races - 4th Aug 2013

We went to Chester Races last Sunday - tickets were two-for-one for the County Concourse, and they are also two-for-one on Tattersalls for the 30th August, so get booking. Everyone had a good time, and even some of the jockeys managed a smile. Bizarrely, there were Christmas Elves wandering around, advertising the Racecourse Winter Wonderland - www.winterwonderlandchester.co.uk

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

Voir notre appartement meublé avec cuisine situé à Black Diamond Park

Canoe Clubs

There are at least two canoe clubs in Chester, and plenty of places to practise on the River Dee, and, for beginners, in Northgate Arena. More about them here:
www.chestercanoeclub.org.uk and www.devacanoeclub.org.uk

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

Voir notre appartement meublé avec cuisine situé à Black Diamond Park

Moonlight Flicks

Moonlight Flicks have been taking place for the last few weeks in the Roman Gardens, and have been enjoying the recent spell of good weather. They continue every Thursday, Friday and Saturday until the end of August. More here: http://www.moonlightflicks.co.uk

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

Voir notre appartement meublé avec cuisine situé à Black Diamond Park

Chester - County Palatine

A county palatine or palatinate was an area ruled by an hereditary nobleman possessing special authority and autonomy from the rest of a kingdom or empire. Counties palatine were established in the 11th century to defend the northern (Scottish) and western (Welsh) frontiers of the kingdom of England. In order to allow them to do so in the best way they could, their earls were granted palatine ("from the palace", i.e. royal) powers within their territories, making these territories nearly sovereign jurisdictions with their own administrations and courts, largely independent of the king, though they owed allegiance to him.

The County Palatine of Chester was ruled by the Earls of Chester. Chester had its own parliament, consisting of barons of the county, and was not represented in the parliament of England until 1543, while it retained some of its special privileges until 1830. The earldom of Chester has since 1301 been associated with the title of Prince of Wales which is reserved for the heir apparent to the throne or crown of the UK (or the throne of England, as it was then).

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

Voir notre appartement meublé avec cuisine situé à Black Diamond Park

St John's Repairs

St John's parishioners have managed to raise the money to repair the leaky roof, and the inside of the church is now covered in scaffolding. I was told that many of the beams were added later, for decorative purposes, and are now having to be removed so that the underlying fabric can be inspected.

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

Voir notre appartement meublé avec cuisine situé à Black Diamond Park

Mediaeval Housekeeping

Also on display at the Mediaeval Day were some household wares. Shown below are a mediaeval shower set, used for damping down rushes on floors, or anywhere else dust needed to be kept down; a jug; a cover for fire embers, so that you could keep a fire in overnight and didn't have to re-light; and a rodent trap - the blocks drop to squash the rat or mouse.

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

Voir notre appartement meublé avec cuisine situé à Black Diamond Park