Bournemouth to Portsmouth

Sunday 2nd August 2015 – you awake and you’re still in Bournemouth and still in one piece, the possibility of late night stag and hen madness passed over without incident.

A quick look around town, then let’s get off to Pompey – where I was very proud to be a Polytechnic art student 1973/76, in good old Lion Terrace.

Last night’s late night drinking den with its fabulous faience frontage and doorstep mosaic.

Close by this tiled porch at The Branksome.

Built 1932 by Seal and Hardy as offices for the Bournemouth Echo, steel-framed, the main elevations faced in Monks Park Bath Stone.

Plans to redevelop the listed Daily Echo offices in Bournemouth were withdrawn shortly before they were due to be discussed by councillors.

That Group’s application to extend the Richmond Hill building to create more work space as well as a 30-bed hotel, café, gym and events space had been recommended for refusal before it was pulled from the agenda for Monday’s meeting.

Daily Echo

Vandale House appears to have been refurbished as flats, having lost its architectural type.

The property benefits from modern and contemporary décor throughout, large balcony and views over the Town Centre itself. 

This art deco cinema was built for ABC and designed by their regular architect William Glen, it opened in June 1937.

The ABC, originally the Westover Super Cinema, entertained audiences for almost 80 years before it was closed in 2017 – along with the nearby Odeon – to make way for a new Odeon multiplex at the BH2 complex.

In its rejected plans for the site, Libra Homes had pledged to restore the cinema’s original Art Deco frontage, if it survives under the cladding that was added in the 1960s.

Cinema Treasures

Boscombe Pier – is the perfect vantage point to watch volleyball, table tennis and mini golf. If you are feeling adventurous, try scaling the nearby, purpose built boulders next to the pier or have a go at slacklining!

There are nearby are cafés, takeaways and beach shops all within walking distance from Boscombe Pier. The pier is free to enter and has a plethora of activies that individuals and families can enjoy! 

Designed by Archibald Smith, the 600 foot pier opened on 28th July 1889. In 1924/5 and 1927, the head was renewed in high alumina concrete and, between 1958 and 1960, the neck was reconstructed using reinforced concrete.

The neck building is a design by the Borough Architects, demonstrating great verve and vivacity. The contemporary style associated with Frank Lloyd Wright’s Usonian houses and made popular with Californian homes in the 1940s was well suited to the requirements of an architecture that combined ‘sun and fun’. The contemporary style made a feature of expressing different elements or planes of a composition with different materials, and here the combination is honest and each element well detailed. The sweep of the cantilevered, boomerang-shaped roof is a particularly joyous feature. It is a building that would have been despised as being exactly of its date until recently; now it is a building that can be celebrated for that very reason, and a rare example of pier architecture from these years. 

Historic England Listing

San Remo Towers a block of 164 flats, with penthouse and office, over basement garage. 1935-8 by Hector O’Hamilton.

Facilities offered as inclusive in this price included centralised hot water and central heating, an auto vac’ cleaning system, centralised telephones, a resident manager, a porter, daily maid, boot cleaning and window cleaning services. There was a Residents’ club with a reading room card room, billiard room and library, and a children’s recreation and games room. There were kiosks in the ground-floor lobbies selling tobacco and convenience items, where the staff took orders for the local tradesmen. The fifth-floor restaurant offered a la carte meals, which could be taken at pension rates of 38s per week. A simpler dinner cost 2/6d. The use of an American architect, Hector O Hamilton, may be an explanation for the building’s large range of facilities, including the grand underground car park and sophisticated servicing

Two bed flat £183,000

Carlinford benefits from commanding views over Poole Bay looking to the Isle of Wight across to the Purbecks. Included in the annual service charge is a Caretaker, Gardener & the communal areas are kept in good order. A fabulous location and a great place to call home. 

Two bed flat £350,000

Crossing the New Forest and arriving in Hythe.

Running the length of the pier to catch the ferry across Southampton Water.

Where one is able to see many large ships.

St Patrick’s Catholic Church 1939

W.C. Mangan’s last church in the diocese, with a moderne Gothic character rather than the basilican style he favoured elsewhere. The design is not without character and is in the mainstream of brick church building around middle of the twentieth century.

Taking Stock

First siting of Stymie Bold Italic/Profil since Devon

Sadly the Hovercraft Museum was closed – Founded 1987 as a registered charity, the Museum Trust is the worlds greatest collection of Hovercraft archive, film, and historic craft, dating back to to John Thonycroft’s 1870 air lubricated boat models and the then Dr. Cockerell’s 1955 annular jet experiments.

So excited to be boarding yet another ferry.

Seeing Portsmouth for the first time in a long time.

Finding cheap digs at the Rydeview Hotel.

My partner and daughter stayed here recently and the warm reception we received was great, thought it was going to be real value for money however when getting into the family room, which was a decent size, the curtain was half hanging down, iron marks and stains on the carpet, dirty windows, mould on the bathroom ceiling, hole in the bathroom floor and a very random shower head coming from the toilet that was very unpleasant. When we checked in we asked about breakfast and we were told this was going to be an additional £3 – we thought this was great value for money for a full English only to be left hungry and out of pocket! My daughter had one slice of toast, we asked for the full English what we received was cold and hard beans, and un-cooked egg and a rank sausage, the eating area was dirty – cobwebs everywhere.

I too stayed in the Family room with a delightful mouse for company and enjoyed one of the worst meals I’ve ever not eaten.

I headed for the 5th Hants Volunteers where I formally kept company with Felim Egan, Norman Taylor and Ian Hunter way back when.

Drinking Gales HSB – formerly a local brew now owned by Fullers

Established in 1847 Gales Brewery (George Gale & Co. Ltd) was an old brewery situated in Horndean, on the edge of Waterlooville. It made the nutty HSB – Horndean Special Bitter and the newer Gales Bitter. It took its water from its own well situated under the brewery which is fed from the South Downs, and the yeast and liquor, coupled with the local brewing style, produced beers with a sparse head, quite dark in colour.

In late 2005 Fuller’s Brewery bought Gales for £92 million. In January 2006, Fuller’s began cutting jobs at the Horndean brewery, and it was announced on 27 February 2006 that the brewery would close at the end of March 2006, although distribution and warehousing would continue in the area.

It didn’t tater the same and the pub had been gutted – gutted.

I beat a retreat to the Barley Mow – where I fell in with a gang of former Poly students from the 70s – they had studied and never left.

Eventually we all left.

Night night.

Bridport to Bournemouth

Grub up at the Lord Nelson and saints preserve us, the first sighting of fried bread – not a single hash brownie to be seen. The square plate very much in keeping with the naval nomenclature.

This ‘square plate’ theory is one of the best-known examples of folk-etymology. The phrase exists, the square plates exist, and two and two make five. To be more precise, what we have here is a back-formation. Someone hears the phrase ‘square meal’ and then invents a plausible story to fit it.

Spoil sport!

Anyway it’s Saturday 1st August 2015 and time to make tracks another sunny day in prospect, so much to see and do in Dorset!

The White Horse is a Dorset country inn located in the picturesque village of Litton Cheney in the heart of the Bride Valley. A warm welcome awaits at this traditional rural pub with a roaring log fire, with honest home cooked food using seasonal, locally sourced, produce. Popular with walkers and cyclists, families alike. A perfect place to enjoy good food, great ales, wines and even better company.

My lamb was average but the vegetables were very, very poor, some of the peas were stuck together with ice.

Trip Advisor

Steady rolling hills, I’m a steady rolling man.

The Hardy Monument stands on an exposed location above the village of  Portesham in Dorset. It was built in 1844 in memory of Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy, Flag Captain of HMS Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar. Amongst other things, Hardy became famous as it was in his arms that Nelson died, saying the immortal words ‘Kiss me Hardy’.

Contemporary historians argue that this explanation is a Victorian invention, since the earliest recorded use of the term ‘Kismet’ in the English language does not appear until after 1805.

Others also claimed that Nelson had said “Kiss Emma, Hardy”, referring to his mistress and lover Lady Emma Hamilton.

Thomas Hardy was unavailable for comment.

There’s a long, long trail a-winding
Into the land of my dreams,
Where the nightingales are singing
And the white moon beams.

A song my dad would sing me to sleep with, one of my earliest and sweetest memories, his lullabies were often those songs he remembered from his army days.

Following a morning of historical and linguistic conjecture we enter a land of architectural and historical conjecture, right here in Poundbury.

Poundbury is an urban extension to the Dorset county town of Dorchester, built on the principles of architecture and urban planning as advocated by The Prince of Wales in ‘A Vision of Britain’.

Poundbury, the Prince of Wales’s traditionalist village in Dorset, has long been mocked as a feudal Disneyland. But a growing and diverse community suggests it’s getting a lot of things right.

Poundbury should be completed by 2025, by which time it will be home to an estimated 4,500 people, increasing Dorchester’s population by a quarter. Then the Duchy will leave it to run itself. Krier, who is writing a book on Le Corbusier, says he and Prince Charles will then embark on their ultimate project: “We are going to build a small modernist town and show them how to do it.”

Guardian

Fake, heartless, authoritarian and grimly cute.

I myself cycled through in stunned silence, there was nobody about and the overall feel was one of a living filmset, opinion is deeply divided, I remain impartial – ride on.

Dorchester ghost.

Tiny vernacular bus shelter awaits bus and the sheltered.

Woodsford Castle is the surviving range of a 14th-century fortified manor house. King Edward III granted William de Whitefield a licence to crenellate in 1335. The house has the largest thatched roof in the county and has been restored by the Landmark Trust. 

One of our favourite Landmarks, love the table-tennis, the new decor and carpet, spacious but warm.

The house is a Grade I listed building.

I passed by a delightful café – sorry to say that the name escapes me, and ate the most tasty cheese scone with chutney and cream and a brew, thank you ever so much nameless café.

Well let’s go to Wool via Giddy Green.

I live here

St Joseph’s RC Wool

An impressive 1960s church design, responding thoughtfully to the needs of the post-Vatican II liturgy. The function clearly dictates the form, resulting in a building that is visually memorable as well as fit for purpose. Little has been changed since 1971. The Triodetic spaceframe roof structure is not generally associated with churches but enables a large uninterrupted space for the celebration of the Mass. The interior furnishings and fittings are essential to the totality of the design.

Taking Stock

The Roman Catholic Church of St Joseph of 1969-71 designed by Anthony Jaggard of John Stark & Partners is listed at Grade II – a bold exterior employing exposed brickwork, a mineral render, vertical glazing and sparse ornamentation.

Historic England

I fell in love the very moment what I saw it, having climbed over a fence by the railway, as I remember.

Next ting you know I’m in an area of outstanding natural beauty.

Cycling down yet another leafy lane.

Catching the ferry with several other cyclists on our way to Poole.

Walked the bike along the crowded promenade into Bournemouth.

Passed the Grand Cinema.

Located in the Westbourne district of Bournemouth, the Grand Cinema Theatre opened on 18th December 1922 with a production of Anthony and Cleopatra performed on the stage. The following day it screened its first film A Prince of Lovers plus a Harold Lloyd short comedy.

It had a facade coverted with Carter’s Architectural Tiles, manufactured at the Carter pottery in Poole. There was a central bay over the entrance which was topped by a revolving globe, which was illuminated at night. The auditorium had a sliding roof which could be opened in hot summer weather. There was a lift which could be taken instead of the stairs to the balcony level and the cafe. The front of the orchestra pit barrier was also covered in Carter’s tiles.

It was taken over by an independent Snape Entertainments from 21st December 1953 and they operated it as a full time cinema until 8th October 1975 when the film They Love Sex was the last regular film shown. It went over to become a full time bingo club, until a mix of part week bingo and films were introduced from 27th March 1976.

The Grand Cinema is a Grade II Listed building.

Cinema Treasures

Finally found, following another find a room farrago – a less that grand tiny room in a big hotel, full of stag and hen parties – as was the whole town.

Seeking solace in the Goat and Tricycle – a beer house that boasts a huge range of hand pulled cask ales including Wadworth classics: Horizon, 6X, Swordfish and Wadworth IPA. The pub also has up to six Guest ales which change every few days, so there is always plenty of variety to choose from.

I would have chosen to keep the original names, the recent trend for the comic rebranding is quite literally ridiculous.

It was originally two separate pubs The Pembroke Arms to the left, it’s old Marston’s Dolphin Brewery tiles intact. The Pembroke Shades where the bar is now, was on the right. The Shades ran a boxing club where Freddie Mills, who lived opposite, is said to have trained, he went on to win the World Light Heavyweight belt.

I worked in the Shades on and off for 8 years. I still see a lot of the old crew, I am about to set up a Shades Re-union – we had one some years ago it was fab!

Do you remember John Bell, he was part time glass collector, full time alcoholic. Mary the Irish Landlady – she ‘s still going strong, unfortunately John Bell passed away.

Cheers Linda Jones

With a pint of beer.

I walked up the road aways for a pint elsewhere.

Finally returning to the Triangle.

Enough is enough it’s been another long day.

Night night.