An Urban Wander around Hampstead, London NW3 (part 2)

Reasonably hot on the heals of part one of my Urban Wander around Hampstead is, as you might expect, part two. This part of the wander features the landscape as I drifted in a south westerly direction in a loose attempt to get back to Paddington. I could easily have spent hours here, looking at each street, alleyway, lane, yard, house and doorway in more detail. The selection below is by no means exhaustive and has whetted my appetite for a return visit, hopefully with a more striking sky.

Ginsberg Yard, Hampstead, London NW3

Golden Yard, Hampstead, London NW3

 Golden Yard, Hampstead, London NW3

I'm always a bit of a sucker for outdoor stairways. Shame about the over exposure on this one but I was taking the picture in to the weak sun. Somehow the view from the top of the stairs didn't look so appealing.

Flight of Stairs, Hampstead, London NW3

Narrow passageway, Hampstead, London NW3

  

A cheeky peak into someone's garden, from the road of course.

View into garden, Hampstead, London NW3

Narrow street, Hampstead, London NW3

Alleyway, Hampstead, London NW3

Holly Berry Lane, Hampstead, London NW3

My favourite of this part of my drift. I'm not sure whether these doors had all been recently painted, or just well looked after, but they were a striking sight on this rather dull day.

Brightly coloured doors, Holly Walk, Hampstead, London NW3

 Holly Walk, Hampstead, London NW3

Holly Walk, Hampstead, London NW3

    

An Urban Wander around Hampstead, London NW3 (part 1)

I've not made the trek out from Central London to Hampstead for quite a while now, so with a few hours to spare last week, and still inspired by two of my recent reads, Psychogeography and Edgelands, I hopped on the number 46 bus from Paddington to start my drift. This really was a drift as I had no plans at all as to which way I would wander when I alighted the bus, and I simply walked down whichever street, alley or lane took my fancy. I was also not really sure what I was looking for. Would I see abandonment and ghost signs? Unlikely I thought but as you'll see I stumbled across quite a magnificent ghost sign. And later in the wander as I made my way back to Paddington I found a couple more, but you'll have to wait to a subsequent installment of this post for that. Other than the ghost sign, there's doorways, narrow alleyways and streets, stairways, street lamps and wells, although not all necessarily in the first part.

First up we have a pair of brightly coloured doors. When I started my wander, it was raining slightly and these doors stood out beautifully against the wet, brown brickwork.

Brightly coloured doors, Flask Walk, Hampstead, London NW3

Not as bright as the previous doors but there was something I can't quite put my finger on about this one that caught my eye.

Doorway, Hampstead, London NW3

I saw the reverse side of the well first as I approached it from the alleyway behind it. It was not until I was on the return leg that I actually realised it had a front to it as well, and was more than a simple drinking trough.

The back of the Chalybeate Well, Well Walk, Hampstead, London NW3

The Chalybeate Well, Well Walk, Hampstead, London NW3

Well, I promised a ghost sign, and this is it. Don't get me wrong, I love trees, but this one was in the wrong place and somewhat spoils the photo. Still, I guess it's only going to get bigger each year, meaning that getting a photo of the complete sign will become harder and harder as the years go by.

THE WELLS AND CAMPDEN BATHS AND WASH HOUSES 1888

No longer a bath house, but apartments I think.

Wells and Campden Bath Houses, Hampstead, London NW3

I have to admit that I am always a bit self-conscious when taking pictures in residential areas and often do not take time to note down the name of the road, so unfortunately this is just a narrow lane in Hampstead.

Narrow street, Hampstead, London NW3

Brightly coloured door, Flask Walk, Hampstead, London NW3

I think I have enough pictures for 3 installments, so I'm going to end part one with a shot looking back along Flask Walk towards Hampstead High Street.

Flask Walk, Hampstead, London NW3

Hopefully I'll get the next part of this drift posted later this weekend or early next week.

Ghost signs of Woolhampton, Berkshire

Only a few miles from where I live is the village of Woolhampton, on the A4 between Newbury and Reading. I must have driven through Woolhampton tens, if not hundreds, of times, but it was only very recently that I noticed the ghost signs. So, with an hour on my hands between drop-off and pick-up of one of the kids at one of their various after school activities, I managed to have a wander around and get some pictures. For such a small village I was quite astonished to find four separate ghost signs. I assume there are so many as, at the time, the A4 would have been the main road between London and the west of England, so would have attracted a reasonable amount of passers by.

This first ghost sign looks like a double. The words

HOVIS

TEAS

are clear and bold, so I assume these are one of the signs, but behind these words I can just make out

EST 1975

GOLDEN

BROWN

Ghost sign, Woolhampton, Berkshire

Continuing on the bakery theme, we have

H.S.WARNER

BAKER & CONFECTIONER

 Ghost sign, Woolhampton, Berkshire

 Ghost sign, Woolhampton, Berkshire

Not sure how old this next ghost sign is. I would imagine it'd more recent that other in this post, but a ghost sign nevertheless.

NEWS

 Ghost sign, Woolhampton, Berkshire

And finally, my favourite of the batch

THE OLD

WOOLHAMPTON BAKERY

EST 1875

FOR

HOVIS

Ghost sign, Woolhampton, Berkshire

An Urban Wander around Axminster, Devon

On the way back from a very brief weekend break on the Devon coast, we stopped off at Axminster. I'd never been there before so not quite sure what to expect. Obviously I was hoping for some interesting ghost signs but unfortunately I did not spot any, so had to settle for the next best thing, urban decay and abandonment.  I have to say this was not typical of the town, which had some more conventionally attractive architecture too, but of course that doesn't interest me anywhere near as much.

The first two pictures were taken just off the main high street and feature a former motor cycle and cycle specialist shop, which has sadly seen much better days.

Abandoned bike shop, Axminster, Devon

Derelict cycle shop, Axminster, Devon

No clues what the buildings in the next two pictures could have been. The first one could possibly have been a shop of some sort.

Abandoned building, Axminster, Devon

Abandoned building, Axminster, Devon

The final picture is a bit more obvious and is the former George Hotel. Various internet articles suggest it's undergoing a renovation but there was no sign of that when we walked past.

Abandoned hotel, Axminster, Devon

An Urban Wander around Maida Vale and Warwick Avenue, London

Since moving offices, I don't very often find a chance to wander around the Paddington area much anymore, so was pleased last when when an opportunity arose which presented me with a lunch hour where this became possible once again. Typically there is only so far I can get in a lunch hour. I can go further if one way I used the tube, but today was a walk both ways wander.

First up we have a former police station on the Harrow Road, complete with ghost sign above the doorway. The doorway itself looks recently renovated, so slightly curious why this station is now no longer used and boarded up.

Ghost sign over former police station, Harrow Road, London

Just around the corner I came across a ghost sign being revealed. I ought to try and return next week to see if any other letters have been revealed, or whether, as perhaps seems more likely, it will have been covered up again. So, unfortunately not much to go on to suggest what it once said.

Ghost sign, off the Harrow Road, London

I don't usually take pictures of ghost signs of street names, normally because the new sign has been placed on top of the old sign, but in this case they were sufficiently apart to make the picture worthwhile. Also of interest was that Shirland Mews would seem to have moved from the W8 to W9 district over the years.

Ghost sign, Shirland Mews, London

Immediately opposite the ghost sign were these doorways.

Doors, Shirland Mews, London

On the return leg of my wander, I came across this doorway mosaic on, I think, Shirland Road, but can't be sure. What struck me as curious about this is the fact that it's not centred. There's nothing to suggest that there were ever any more letters at one time. 

Doorway mosaic, Shirland Road, London

I've seen these former green, cabman's shelters in various places around London but never really stopped to look at them before today. This one in Warwick Avenue, is one of 13 remaining out of the original 61 that were built in the Victorian era.

Cabman's shelter, Warwick Avenue, London

And finally, needing no real introduction, we have the entrance to Warwick Avenue underground station.

Entrance to Warwick Avenue tube station, London

Come back often to read about my latest urban, rural and coastal wanders, inspired by my recent interest in Psychogeography.

    

A return visit to Lymington and another coastal wander

For those of you who read my blog regularly, you may recall my first coastal wander around Lymington. With time on my hands last weekend, and the rest of the family occupied in other activities, I stole away for the day for a return visit. But before you read on, I first need to give an apology in that I seem to have managed to accidentally switched on a setting on my phone camera which made the pictures render in a strange colour. Fortunately my teenage son was on hand afterwards to fix the issue, but alas I cannot change the pictures below.

For this trip I parked just outside of the town and started my wander through a couple of streets I missed out last time. I was rewarded almost immediately with two ghost signs that I didn't find during my previous visit. First up we have

THE
BRITANNIA
COMMERCIAL
HOTEL

Ghost sign, Lymington, Hampshire

And almost opposite another one. Unfortunately I can't make out any of the words on this one, other than that perhaps the last word is

ALE

which would seem reasonable as this is a pub.

 Ghost sign, Lymington, Hampshire

This next ghost sign is a bit easier to read but does tail off towards the end.

STRONGS RO...

 Ghost sign, Lymington, Hampshire

And finally, no trip to Lymington would have been complete without a wander around the coast. I quite liked the remains of what I assume to be some kind of pier or jetty, with the Isle of Wight in the far distance.

Abandoned jetty, Lymington, Hampshire

Abandoned jetty, Lymington, Hampshire

A wander around the narrow streets of Appledore, Devon

A change of scenery is in order for this blog post. You'll find no ghost signs, urban decay or disused railways today, but instead pictures from a recent week away in Devon, and in particular the narrow paths and roads of Appledore in Devon.

Little to say about the first few. I think the pictures speak for themselves, showing what a trult beautiful place it is.

Narrow streets, Appledore, Devon

Narrow streets, Appledore, Devon

Narrow streets, Appledore, Devon

Narrow streets, Appledore, Devon

Narrow streets, Appledore, Devon

A bit of variation now as we deviate fleetingly to look at some of the wonderful doors in Appledore (no pun intended).

Painted door, Appledore, Devon

Gate and door, Appledore, Devon

This next picture is probably my favourite of the lot, with the quirky display of brass instruments decorating the window ledge.

Brass instruments, Appledore, Devon

Narrow streets, Appledore, Devon

Okay, so I did start off my saying there would be no ghost signs, but this is a very different sort of ghost sign to those I normally post about. This is a mosaic in a doorway, presumably of an old shop. I did a quick search but could find nothing about what this used to be.

Doorway mosaic, Appledore, Devon

Narrow streets, Appledore, Devon

Narrow streets, Appledore, Devon

So once again, apologies for the lack of commentary in this post, but I really do think the pictures tell the story.