The Blue House, next to the town bridge, is Grade 1 listed; it was formerly the Bluecoat School and Almshouses, named after the colour of the school uniforms. Built in 1726 at a cost of £1,401 8s 9d, it replaced an almshouse dating from 1461 and rebuilt in 1621. The Blue House provided a home for twenty widows and schooling for twenty boys.
The front of the building is adorned by two statues, of a man and a woman, indicating the building’s dual purpose. The building’s role as a school came to an end in 1921 and it now provides studio and one-bedroom flats for seventeen elderly residents. Wikipedia
The Italianate building was built as a Literary and Scientific Institute in 1865 for John Sinkins. The architect was J Hine and it was built by the company Carr and Pickford. It is a Grade II listed building. It houses a collection of local history and has a particular important collection of artefacts from the bronze foundry of J.W.Singer. A Cockey lamp is on show, with its art nouveau style; more than 60 can still be seen around the town. (Edward Cockey (1781–1860) was an industrial entrepreneur in Frome, Somerset, England, descended from a local family of metalworkers.) Wikipedia
In the twenty years since I met the OH there have been a few significant birthdays within the family, including the births of seven new grandchildren. We don’t make a big fuss of celebrating our own. We used to like having a short spring break and an autumn break which often coincided with one of our birthdays. Mostly in the UK, but my most memorable overseas one was on Vancouver Island in 2010 when I got to have a lovely birthday meal in Tofino.
Tofino – Vancouver Island
Bear Cubs
The first one we celebrated together though was in the Algarve back in 2002 when we stayed in a hotel near to Carvoeiro. I was presented with a cup cake and a sparkler when we went for breakfast, but I ended up having a pizza on my own in the evening as the OH became very ill during the day and had taken to his bed!
My birthday in 2003 was by far the most special as it was the day we got married. As I was on a PGCE course and couldn’t take time off we had a brief honeymoon in the eclectic enchanting Italianate style village of Portmeirion in north Wales. Famous for the cult TV show ‘The Prisoner’ in the 1960s and also for Portmeirion pottery.
I don’t have digital photos from either of those years.
New Forest
Other trips include a weekend in Oxford, a week in the New Forest (where we attended the wedding of my youngest son), a fortnight in Penzance to house hunt, a week in Bridport and a few wonderful days in Montreux tagged on at the end of a trip to Geneva back in 2009.
Pub near Oxford with a telephone kiosk in the pond!
My birthday is at the beginning of October so during the period I was teaching that was term time so holidays were restricted to the school holidays. It was a relief when I stopped teaching and could travel whenever I liked.
Oxford college
The OH on the other hand has a birthday that is normally during the spring half-term so we were able to get away even though it is a more expensive time. His most glamorous getaways have been a day visiting the island of Ithaca during our week in Cephalonia in 2003, and another island trip in 2006, that time a day trip from Malta to Sicily.
His UK birthday holiday breaks have taken us to the Cotswolds,
Cotswolds – Lower Slaughter
North Devon, Aberaeron in west Wales, Keswick in the Lake District and Penzance in 2015 before our move to Cornwall.
Habourmaster Hotel – Aberaeron, Ceredigion Coast.
I would have said that the best thing about birthdays was travelling to a new place to explore, but since moving to Cornwall in 2016 we have rarely left the county and certainly not to celebrate a birthday. We usually find a nice local bar or restaurant where we can clink a couple of glasses together and have a wander around a beautiful beach or garden.
NZ Sav Blanc
We do however have a very clever granddaughter who makes excellent birthday cakes. This one was for her sister’s 15th birthday. A shame we weren’t there to help eat it!
This month Becky’s Squares has been focusing on odd things – you can interpret this any way you want so I took you all to the zoo this month. San Diego Zoo to be precise and the photos featured were either odd looking animals, animals with odd names, odd facts or slightly odd photos. I hope you enjoyed my selection.
I shall say goodbye with one of the “Meeters and Greeters” at San Diego zoo. An odd figure who is a lot less scary than some of the unusual, different, unique, strange, peculiar, and extraordinary creatures that we have met this month, featured once again below.
A warm thank you to Becky for hosting yet another hectic month of squares. How does she do it!
This month Becky’s Squares are focusing on odd things – you can interpret this any way you want so I am going to take you all to the zoo this month. San Diego Zoo to be precise and the photos featured will be either odd looking animals, animals with odd names, odd facts or slightly odd photos. I hope you’ll enjoy my selection.
Not the prettiest of my zoo animals, this wild pig is native to the Philippines, but not much is known about Visayan warty pigs in the wilderness. The boars grow stiff, spiky “hairdos” as mating season approaches. The piglets are quite cute and striped, but lose their side stripes as they get older. The Visayan Warty Pig retains one white stripe across its nose. I wouldn’t want to bump into this particular beast in the woods!
One thing you might not know about pigs/hogs: If a porcine individual’s tail is curly, then he or she is domesticated; wild pigs have straight tails.
We have reached the penultimate day of the ODD SQUARES month with Becky and the Square gang, so hurry up and get your post(s) in; the only rule is that the main photo MUST be a square – that is four equal sides! You have been warned 😉
The Blue House, next to the town bridge, is Grade 1 listed; it was formerly the Bluecoat School and Almshouses, named after the colour of the school uniforms. Built in 1726 at a cost of £1,401 8s 9d, it replaced an almshouse dating from 1461 and rebuilt in 1621. The Blue House provided a home for twenty widows and schooling for twenty boys.
The front of the building is adorned by two statues, of a man and a woman, indicating the building’s dual purpose. The building’s role as a school came to an end in 1921 and it now provides studio and one-bedroom flats for seventeen elderly residents. Wikipedia
TRAVEL WORDS 