January 2013 Wins

2^nd 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.

3^rd 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.