23rd March 2015 Richard Jefferies Old Town walk Part 1 Oh listeners, I do love a bit of urban discovery. As is evidenced with my travelogue on the West Swindon sculpture trail. And the subject of this post turned out to offer some nuggets of urban discovery.When I say...
Swindon Dance Steps Out
There are lots and lots of reasons why we can be proud of Swindon – many of which I’ve posted about on this blog as regular listeners will know. For a start there’s al the public art about which I’ve banged on ad nauseum. Plus the host of parks and green spaces and the bewildering range of artistic talent that Swindon hosts. And much, much more.
I absolutely LOVE a miniature train – of any description – they evoke something so visceral. Whether they’re the ones you sit astride or the ones you sit inside. In fact – extending the genre – wherever there’s a miniature train, a funicular, a monorail or even a cable car – I have to go on it.
So what is Lawn? Lawn Park is a 50 acre park that was once the house and estate of the Goddard family – the Lords of the Manor of Old Swindon. Their house is now long gone and the estate is now a public park though their name lives on in the nearby pub and hotel, The Goddards Arms. According to Swindon Web the 18th century house stood on the site of a Tudor Mansion. The Goddard family were Lords of the Manor from 1563 until 1927.
David Bent: choosing Swindon
Long time and regular listeners will know that when I first began this blog I conceived my personal list of ‘Ten things to celebrate about Swindon’.
I’m actually not at all sure I ever got that list finished – so much is there here in Swindon that is blog worthy.
Yesterday I paid my first visit to Christ Church Christ Church Old Town Swindon – known also as the Lady on the hill for the occasion of the Autumn fair. It was a really smashing event and, I have to admit, a notch or two up from the autumn/summer/Christmas fairs I used to attend back in little old Whitwell when my daughter was small.
 Well listeners, if we stretch that analogy a little further and consider the wealth of art – and even architecture -of all kinds that we have here in Swindon we can find ourselves washing the dust off our souls in a veritable ocean of creativity. Much of which has featured at various times on Born again Swindonian.
Hello listeners. Here we have the second instalment of posts featuring a few of Swindon’s roundabouts. And the reasoning behind their names.
Swindon, as we know, is famous – even infamous – for its roundabouts. Of course there’s the grand-daddy of them all, the Magic Roundabout. Such a rich vein of material is that particular jewel in Swindon’s roundabout crown that it has its own category on the blog.
Ralph Bates Civil War Chronicler
Some time ago, in the tourist information centre in Bristol, I saw an information sheet on a literary trail round the city. And that got me thinking that Swindon could surely have such a thing here what with Richard Jefferies and Alfred Williams – neither of whom I knew much about until recently. No sooner had I had this thought than, in one of those curious coincidences that punctuate our lives, what should appear on my social media stream than a piece from the Swindon Link magazine publicizing a forthcoming talk at the Museum and Art Gallery about Ralph Bates. No – I’d not heard of him either. And in his day he was rated as better than Hemingway. Who knew?
So what is the Western Flyer then? It’s an upgrade of an existing cycle and pedestrian route that goes from West Swindon to the town centre via Barnfield, Bruce Street Bridges and North Star, bringing you into town across from Holbrook House on Station Rd. It incorporates National Cycle Network Route 45 . The National cycle network is a ‘series of safe, traffic-free lanes and quiet on-road routes that connect to every major city and passes within a mile of 55 per cent of UK homes. It now stretches 14,500 miles across the length and breadth of the UK.Â
I’ve written about the West Swindon sculpture trail in several different ways in this blog. This West Swindon Sculpture Trail Travelogue though is a bit different. It’s a more literary piece that I wrote as a piece of coursework for a trave lwriting module I took as part of my degree level English studies.
