Buildings of Bute Street in Cardiff Bay

In The Balance – a bronze by J A Stevenson on the front of the Old NatWest Building in Bute Street, Cardiff Bay

I try to post about subjects other than nature occasionally, but I am finding I have so little spare time these days! However, I have no excuse for ignoring the architecture when I pass so many interesting buildings most days as I walk over to Cardiff Bay for my lunchtime sandwich.

My walk usually takes me along the southern end of Bute Street, now rather run-down but with hopes of regeneration.

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Bute East Dock and the old crane

The old crane beside the Wharf, which was once Cardiff’s Bute East Dock

For the last year my regular walk has been around the Wharf in Cardiff Bay, alongside County Hall, where I now work. The Wharf was formerly the Bute East Dock and a crane from those days stands near the middle of the far side.

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Cracking mystery of the stone head

A mysterious crack has appeared in this stone head in the lounge

I have been meaning to compile a blog post about my favourite “ancient stone heads of the world” for a while – and now I have an excuse. The small stone head I bought at the Ideal Home Exhibition in the 1980s has suddenly developed a crack.

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A dolphin and three scallop shells

If you know Poole in Dorset, can you identify where you will find these two versions of the town coat of arms?

I love Poole in Dorset (where my mother was born) and have always been intrigued by the place’s coat of arms, with its heraldic dolphin and three shells – I thought they were cockles, as the town history trail is called the cockleshell trail, but Wikipedia says they are scallop shells. So I thought I would write a post about it, and share my images of three “sightings” of the arms.

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Four scientists remembered in stone

Pasteur, Lister, Hunter and Jenner feature on the Queen’s Buildings of Cardiff University

I have often passed Cardiff University’s Queen’s Buildings in Newport Road, usually when I am on the bus and stuck in traffic. And the stone faces above the door always intrigued me. So much so that I went there on a day off a while back to take some pictures and find out more. This post explores what I discovered about the building and the scientists over the door…

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Beautiful streets of Sherborne

Traditional architecture in Sherborne, Dorset

I like Sherborne a lot – and hopefully will return there next summer for another visit, to catch up on the parts I missed this time. I have already written about Sherborne Abbey here, but the town itself is also worth a wander. It struck me as very clean and bright and traditional. The Sherborne Town website calls it “without doubt, one of the most beautiful towns in England” and it is probably not wrong.

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Sherborne Abbey, the cathedral of Dorset

Sherborne Abbey, Dorset

We hadn’t planned to visit Sherborne during our time in Dorset back in the summer, but went there on impulse when we found ourselves in the vicinity. So annoyingly I hadn’t researched it in advance and didn’t read the guide book until weeks later. So I find I missed quite a few features I will have to seek out next time.

The first thing I noticed was that it is made of the same golden Hamstone as Minterne House, the place that brought us to the area and which I blogged about here.

The people of Sherborne seemed very friendly and as I was buying a guide book a man was looking heavenward and said, portentously: “The swifts have gone”. It sounded like the ravens leaving the Tower of London, but he explained that the migratory swifts of the abbey always head south to Africa around this time of year, within a day or two. This was August 16 and we had just missed them.

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Minterne House and its people

Minterne House in Dorset

How old do you reckon this building is? Looks a bit Elizabethan, doesn’t it? Well read on and you may be as surprised as I was.

Minterne House (and especially the gardens, which I write about here) was my destination when I stopped off to have a look at the Cerne Abbas Giant during my few days in Dorset recently (see my previous post about the giant).

The house itself is not open to the public, except as a wedding venue, so I had to consult various sources to find out more about it. Most interesting seem to be the stories of a couple of rather scandalous women who lived at Minterne in different eras, although of course it has always been the men who have had all the titles and honours.

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Cerne Abbas Giant is a little disappointing

View from Cerne Abbas viewing point in Dorset

I’m just back from my annual trip to Dorset, so my next few posts will probably feature a few new things I saw for the first time.

One day, while heading somewhere else, I looked at the map and realised we were going to pass by the famous Cerne Abbas Giant, one of those old chalk figures that brighten the area – and this one is famous for being a bit “rude”.

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Threads of thought: Paisley prints

A typical modern paisley design

One of my minor “hobbies” is paisley spotting. The distinctive design has never really gone away, but it does have its moments and I think one of them is right now.

I say this because as I walked along Cardiff’s main shopping street yesterday I spotted five examples of paisley-patterned clothing – one of them a dress on sale in a boutique window. And there was one more on the bus, another in a random magazine advert last weekend and another in a TV drama I was catching up with last night.

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