Souvenirs: Postcard, The Castle Hotel, 103 Castlegate, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Date Unknown.

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Berwick, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Castlegate Berwick-upon-Tweed, East Coast Mainline, hotels, Postcard, Souvenirs, Ted, The Castle Hotel, Tweed

I can’t remember how my mother came to book a room at The Castle in Berwick-upon-Tweed, in fact I have a distinct feeling that we just turned up on the day and took the last rooms available, definitely more than six years ago, probably more than ten years ago! I recall having a view of Castlegate from my room and my mother or possibly my sister having views of the train station and the East Coast mainline from their windows. I must have been over eighteen years old at the time, because I remember how busy the public bar was in the evening. I stood at the bar, I remember distinctly, because that was the only space available in the crowded room. I remember breakfast in the restaurant being a lot quieter than the bar had been the night before and all the other guests being birdwatchers who were heading down the Northumberland coast to somewhere of special ornithological interest. I wonder what The Castle is like now? I wonder why we were there at all!

Years later, in March 2014, I was travelling South, from Edinburgh along the East Coast mainline. I had my camera ready, because the Royal Border Bridge, which carries the railway over the River Tweed at Berwick-upon-Tweed, offers a view of the river mouth and the town and I wanted to try and photograph it whilst we were in motion. Then, from the station, before the bridge, I noticed “The Castle“; looking as if I checked out of it yesterday.

Souvenirs: Postcard, “La Parisienne” by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, National Museum Cardiff, 2013.

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Art, Cardiff, Impressionism, La Parisienne, Museums and Galleries, National Museum Cardiff, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Post-Impressionism, Postcard, Souvenirs, Ted

It’s not the best reproduction of the work in question, but I had to take something away as a souvenir; “Le Parisienne” being one of my favourites [you can get a better view of it on the National Museum’s website, where the blue is described as “heavenly“]. I fell The Parisian Girl on my first visit to the National Museum back in 2012 [when I bought the souvenir mug featured previously in this section of my blog] and I would recommend the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Galleries to any art lover. The National Museum Cardiff does not charge an admissions fee, so on all my subsequent visits to the city I have made time, however busy my schedule is [and what ever the weather], to sit down in front of this Renoir. I recommend that you look at some of the other paintings to, if you’ve got the time, because the gallery attendants might well raise an eyebrow if you rush in, ignoring all the other works, sit down in front of one and then walk away! The painting forms part of The Davies Sisters Collection, which includes, “Renoir’s famous Blue Lady, La Parisienne, Monet’s Rouen Cathedral, three of his Venetian views, Rodin’s The Kiss and other works by Manet and Pissarro“, so there is plenty to see.

Souvenirs: Postcard, “Terence Donovan: The Eye That Never Sleeps”, Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield, 2002.

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Art, Art Galleries., black and white, exhibition, fashion photography, photographers, Photography, Postcard, Sheffield, Souvenirs, Ted, Terence Donovan, Terence Donovan: The Eye That Never Sleeps, The Graves Art Gallery Sheffield, Thermodynamic

I can’t recall if I read about this exhibition in BBC History Magazine, set my heart on going and then went to Sheffield to see it or if I visited in my free time during a college outing to Sheffield Hallam University, which is only a short walk from the Graves. Perhaps I read about it and then used the college trip as a pretext to get to Sheffield and see it [I certainly had no intention of enrolling at Sheffield Hallam or any other university at that time of my life]. Either way, it was the first exhibition I ever planned to visit and subsequently visited.

The post card features one of Terence Donovan’s iconic photographs, “Thermodynamic“, which is one of my favourites.

Souvenirs: Postcard, The Tent Room, Kingston Lacy, Wimborne Minster, 2012.

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Country Houses, Dorset, house and garden, interior design, Kingston Lacy, National Trust, Postcard, Souvenirs, The Tent Room, Wimborne Minster

“Upstairs you can see one of the last surviving ‘tent rooms’ in Europe, painted to resemble the military campaign tents that Napoleon lived in as he waged his wars across Europe” …and there are other rooms to, but this is my favourite! If you can’t see resemblance to a tent you might want to have a look at the National Trust’s website: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/kingston-lacy/things-to-see-and-do/house/. I don’t won’t say too much, because I’ll spoil it for you if you are now inspired to go and see it for yourself. It would have been a lovely day out anyway, but The Tent Room was like the cherry on top of the cake.

Kingston Lacy.

“The world’s a cucumber?”, South Eastern Hotel, Redhill, 23/05/61.

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1960s, 9 Chesterfield Hill Mayfair London W1, Catering Houses Ltd, Cucumbers, Ephemera, hotels, London W1, Mayfair, Parker Esq, Period interiors, Postcard, Redhill, Reigate, South Eastern Hotel Redhill, Surrey, The world's a cucumber?, Vintage interiors

5 star accommodation.

I failed to find out anything about this postcard, so any comments about the photograph or the message would be much appreciated. The message is what intrigues me the most:

“…and now, what’s to be the phrase of the week? The world’s a cucumber?”

I wonder what Mr. Parker Esq thought of this message? Presumably it’s a joke between old friends! I also wonder where Mr. Parker Esq returned to Albion from.

Cybele.

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Anatolia, Cybele, Ephemera, Manisa, Mount Sipylus, Mountains, old photographs, Postcard, Turkey

Cybele.

This postcard intrigued me and a certain on-line encyclopaedia informs me that the relief is thought to be of Cybele, an Anatolian Mother goddess, and that it is carved into the Side of Mount Sipylus, overlooking the city of Manisa in Turkey. Have you seen it? It looks quite something, despite it being faceless; almost headless! I also like the gentlemen photographed either side of the relief, an incredibly relaxed looking mountaineer (a Frenchman? The postcard is French) and a bearded, cassock wearing, priest (possibly of the Orthodox tradition). The reverse of the postcard is blank.

H M Queen Elizabeth II.

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British Monarchy, Coronation, Dorothy Wilding, HM Queen Elizabeth II, Postcard, Queen Elizabeth II, Royal Family

Today is the anniversary of H M The Queen’s Coronation and this is my 100th blog entry, so it seemed only right to dig out a portrait of Her Majesty from my postcard collection.
The portrait is by Dorothy Wilding.

“Chiffon Evening Dress 1927”, Castle Howard Costume Museum postcard.

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1920s, 1927, Castle Howard, Castle Howard Costume Museum, Fashion, Postcard, vintage fashion

When I found this postcard I couldn’t recall seeing a Costume Museum at Castle Howard when I visited in 2004 and this afternoon “The Telegraph” on-line informs me that the costume collection was sold off in 2003 to help fund the restoration of the house, so I wouldn’t have seen it. What a shame! If this postcard is anything to go by, the collection must have been quite something.

“Love Cyril”.

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allotment gardening, Ephemera, gardening, King Edward VII, Postcard, Scarborough., Sheffield, Stamps

Another postcard from “Grannies Parlour” in Hull. What a lovely garden or is it an allotment? It’s rather narrow, but it looks like this gardener and his young assistant are making the most of all the available space. The young lad appears to be in his Sunday best, but the flat caps suggest a family connection with the more sensibly dressed man in front of the greenhouse. The postmark is smudged (and upside down), but I think I can make out a 10 and the stamp is a Edward VII green half-penny, so its definitely Edwardian, all-be-it very late Edwardian. It is addressed to a Mr. Robinson of Scarborough. The address looks like “Saudside”, but its more likely “Sandside”, right by the harbour in Scarborough, assuming there is a 29 Sandside. The message is addressed to “F & M” (father and mother?) and describes a trip to Sheffield; “We had a good day in Sheffield. Went home on the 6.25. Tired & worn out”.    The last line makes reference to “going in the chair next week”; a wheel chair do you think? If so that can’t be Cyril in the photograph, can it? He looks fighting fit to me.

“Stalheim Turisthotell” (interior).

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Ephemera, Fruit Market Hull, Hull, interior decorating., interior design, Modernism, Norway, Postcard, Scandinavian design, Stalheim Hotel

I bought this postcard from a chap setting up an antiques and collectables shop in the Fruit Market area of Hull (Humber Street to be exact). The internet informs me that Stalheim is in a very picturesque corner of Norway. I love the Modernist, Scandinavian, look of the interior. I wonder if anything in this photograph is still around; perhaps languishing in a dusty storeroom somewhere.