August 2008 Archives
REM @ MANCHESTER
Posted by Debbie Atkinson on August 25, 2008 7:37 AM
We saw REM at the Old Trafford cricket ground yesterday. That's the fourth time I've seen them live and it was the best. They bashed out one fantastic hit after another for over two hours. Because I'm in the fan club (naturally) we had early-entry wrist bands so managed - we thought- to secure a prime position on the front row of the cricket-style seating. This was fine for the first six hours but by the time night was falling I'd lost count of the number of drunks who'd tried to climb or sit on the small metal rail in front of us, and overbalanced. Then one woman did her party piece and bent over the rail to vomit - nice.
Editors were on too - I thought they were very good and will now listen to more to see if it was just the live performance that I liked or if it was really their music.
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YORK
Posted by Debbie Atkinson on August 22, 2008 8:05 AM
We go to the Ebor meeting at York every summer - sometimes we sunbathe while watching the races, sometimes we shiver. This year we didn't see a single race. The whole meeting was cancelled because of the rain.
What a disaster. I have to admit I prefer sightseeing and shopping anyway but our hotel was full of people who had travelled from all over the place to be there just for the racing element. Instead of losing money to the bookies we managed to find Wilfred Owen's cottage in Ripon;
had an enthusiastic tour of Shandy Hall in Coxwold where Laurence Sterne wrote Tristram Shandy
and saw Roman artefacts in Malton Museum so we've come home a lot wiser and probably richer.
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THE COURTYARD
Posted by Debbie Atkinson on August 14, 2008 5:18 PM
The Courtyard at Littler Crosby is a lovely place for lunch or just for a coffee. It was a real treat today sitting outside in the sunshine over a pot of coffee and a delicious toasted teacake. The black goat was sunbathing while we were there.
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THE FENCE GATE INN
Posted by Debbie Atkinson on August 12, 2008 7:06 PM
Because it was such a foul day and because there was a sale on, we went to Boundary Mill today - it takes around an hour to get there - along the M65 and off at Colne. There were some fantastic bargains to be had and we came home with stacks of bedding and towels.
When we left, we were just in time for lunch at a favourite haunt - The Fence Gate Inn. It's in the middle of some glorious Lancashire countryside
This late 17th-century inn is where local farmers drop in with their produce and for a glass of Theakstons, or the micro-brewed seasonal beers. You'll find Huntley's Lancashire ice cream; Salmesbury organic pork; organic Lancashire cheese from the dairy at Chipping; duck from Goosnargh; beef from the Trough of Bowland; Pendle Forest lamb; leeks from Formby; tiny sweet brown shrimps from Morecambe Bay and late damsons from Westmorland. The inn has won awards for its Cumberland sausages. We just had an open poached salmon sandwich and a glass dish of delicious fat chips (absolutely not cooked from frozen).
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HADRIAN'S WALL
Posted by Debbie Atkinson on August 12, 2008 6:59 AM
Northumberland has entered my "favourite places" list. And I'm ashamed of the fact that I'd written it off as a wilderness without ever having visited the place. We enjoyed a mini-break at Slaley Hall (above) on the outskirts of Hexham. Beautiful weather, fantastic surroundings and delicious food. When I couldn't sleep one night last winter I watched an Open University programme all about Vindolanda - the Roman settlement next to Hadrian's Wall where the oldest surviving writing tablets had been discovered, buried beneath mud and clay. The originals are now in the British Museum but facsimiles are in the museum at Vindolanda - and touchingly, one is a birthday invitation from the wife of a Roman soldier, to her friend.
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Cy Twombly
Posted by Debbie Atkinson on August 12, 2008 6:49 AM
I appreciate the fact that London is only two and a half hours away and if you set off early enough, a trip to the capital makes a great (if somewhat expensive) day out.
The artist son is, as I write this, en-route for London to see Cy Twombly's work at The Tate.
It's lashing down and there's just been an announcement on the local news that trains between Lime Street and Runcorn are affected by a signalling failure. I HATE TRAINS.
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HELLO AGAIN
Posted by Debbie Atkinson on August 11, 2008 6:49 PM
DUE TO A TECHNICAL ERROR ON MY PART (I COULDN'T REMEMBER MY PASSWORD!) I HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO KEEP UP TO DATE ON THIS BLOG. IT'S A PITY BECAUSE A LOT HAS HAPPENED IN THE INTERIM. HOWEVER WE'RE STILL DOING A FAIR BIT OF TRAVELLING AROUND THE AREA SO I'LL LOOK FORWARD TO PASSING ON ANY GOOD FINDS AND PLEASE, IF YOU'VE FOUND SOMEWHERE WORTH A MENTION, DO LET ME KNOW..
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TOO GOOD FARM SHOP
Posted by Debbie Atkinson on August 11, 2008 4:56 PM
We went for a run around the Parbold and Mawdsley area the other day and had a drink at the Brook House pub at Heskin. Then we stumbled across a delightful farm shop on Too Good Lane. The free range eggs are delicious and they were selling lilies at £1.50 a bunch and beautiful big bunches of freesia for £2.50. There's plenty of organic meat and chickens in the chilled area too.
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CERI HAND GALLERY
Posted by Debbie Atkinson on August 11, 2008 4:34 PM
We all went along last month to Liverpool's newest commercial art gallery - for the opening night and to see the artist son's work of course. It was a fantastic champagne event with hundreds of people there, spilling out on the pavement in the summer evening sunshine. It's on Cotton Street, on the way into Liverpool and is well worth a visit - but check opening times first.
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KLIMT EXHIBITION
Posted by Debbie Atkinson on August 11, 2008 4:11 PM
It was good to see queues forming at the Klimt Exhibition, and not just because we had pre-booked tickets. The Albert Docks is a bleak, dark and gloomy place and even with temperatures in the high 70s and the sun blazing in an azure sky, the Tate can be bathed in darkness so the queues brought a little much-needed life to the place. And Klimt brought some colour and some gold. I hadn't realised how similar some of his work is to that of Charles Rennie Mackintosh. As well as the paintings there are a number of interesting artefacts and I'm now determined to find some cutlery just like the 106-piece set in the exhibition. I bought a beautiful dainty little bracelet that's linked in colour to the exhibition.
After our allotted hour in the Tate we crossed the road to see Liverpool 1 - the new commercial section of the city. The new John Lewis is terrific but I was permitted only a 15 minute runaround because my other half was sitting on a step outside. So on a golf day I'll return for a proper look.
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This page contains an archive of all entries posted to Deb's Days Out in the August 2008. They are listed from oldest to newest.
May 2008 is the previous archive.September 2008 is the next archive.
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