2nd Jan: Great start to the New Year it’s only
the second and over £500 worth of F. Hinds jewellery courtesy of the Trafford
Centre. The Folded Heart Collection by
Sian Hughes – created in 9ct gold, a three layer heart pendant set with a
diamond and strung from a 18” fine chain plus matching 12mm earrings strung
from a hook wire, creating a drop of 22mm.
Each piece is numbered and signed.
Also the Fan Collection by Rosie Velk, also in 9ct gold – a 20mm fan set
with a diamond and strung from an 18” fine box chain plus matching 15mm fan earrings
also set with a diamond. Again each
piece is individually numbered and signed.
3rd Jan: I received an e-mail from Gfk surveys to
say I’d won a £2 high street voucher.
The small print kindly informed me that I need not spend it all in one
go – would have hated to blow it all at once.
Ironbridge Break
This is the second of the three breaks which we had
exchanged for a luxury London Theatre break.
We started our trip with a look around Shrewsbury. Lots of history and nice tea rooms.
Whilst poking around the backstreets I worked out that Butchers Row would have been the meat market, Fish St would have been the fishmongers. But what do you suppose went on here?
Our hotel was the Madeley Court Hotel near Telford, which is
a Grade 1 listed building. Even though
we had a nice room in a more modern extension it was still a lovely atmospheric
place.
We spent the first evening at the lovely ‘Restaurant Severn’
on the main road through Ironbridge.
Unfortunately movement around Ironbridge was restricted as the River
Severn was close to bursting it’s banks and flood barriers were in place. This did not spoil our enjoyment and the
‘Restaurant Severn’ provided one of the nicest meals I’ve had.
Day two was spent at some of the Ironbridge Gorge
Museums. Following a nice English
breakfast we drove the 10mins drive to the Blist Hill Victorian Village. A very enjoyable morning was spent looking
around the Victorian village, looking in the period shops and workplaces.
 |
| Good old days? |
The afternoon was spent at the Coalport museum. I found most of the pottery displays a bit
boring but walking in the huge kilns with interactive displays made up for
it. The glass blowing was also very
interesting.
We then walked along the river to the Jackman Tile
Museum. I know this sounds very boring
and much of it was.
On returning to the car we decided to drive back into
Ironbridge as we had not seen the famous old bridge in the daylight. Again we were prevented from driving into
Ironbridge because of the high water levels, but we managed to park across the
river and walk back across the bridge.
It was amazing to think that this was the first iron bridge in the world
and that this area because of its innovative ways of creating and using iron in
its various forms kick-started the Industrial Revolution.
We spent a lovely evening at the ‘Da Vinci’ restaurant a few
doors away from the previous nights ‘Restaurant Severn’. Hard to believe but the food was nearly as
good as the night before. Who’d have thought that Ironbridge would turn out to
be a gourmet’s delight.
The third and final day started with a trip to
Coalbrookdale. This brought to life the
area that I’d read about in my school history, many years ago. I came away with a sense of just how
unpleasant life would have been back then.
We returned home via Llangollen after another lovely break.
