A lunchtime wander to West Brompton

Despite the grey skies, and menacing clouds, I braved the elements and ventured out. A round trip to West Brompton is just about possible within a lunch hour, and there are fortunately various routes to get there, so plenty of scope for wandering along new roads. I have previously visited West Brompton but I think only from the opposite direction.

London has plenty of Peabody housing, courtesy of social visionary George Peabody. As well as being architecturally striking, many have interesting signage. I'd like to have taken a few more pictures here but I felt I was intruding too much into people's personal space.

Signage on the Peabody houses, Lillie Road, London

Along the same stretch of road was a former school, with the segregated school entrance signs still visible. Just a few yards away from the Girls & Infants entrance was the Boys entrance.

Girls & Infants entrance to former school, Lillie Road, London

When I first saw this ghost sign, I had assumed that I'd seen it before, but then realised that the one I had seen was at the other end of Lillie Road. I can only assume I'd never spotted this massive one before as I had always walked in the opposite direction. Quite pleased with my find though.

Brymay safety matches ghost sign, Lillie Road, West Brompton, London

With the Empress State Building to the left, and the London Overground railway approaching West Brompton station to the right, this piece of open land is in the process of being redeveloped. I'm sure next time I visit it will look completely different.

Wasteland between Empress State Building and London Overground line, West Brompton

On my return route I spotted this ghost sign on Chesson Road. I am fairly sure I had walked this way before but never noticed it. On closer inspection though, the fact that the main part of the sign is a different colour to the rest of the walls suggests it has, until recently perhaps, been covered by a more modern billboard. Unfortunately I cannot make out what it says. Maybe the last word is Hall?

Ghost sign, Chesson Road, Fulham, London

As often seems to happen, when I'm out hunting for ghost signs, almost anything can look like one. I originally took this photo to showcase the boarded-up shop, but also noticed above the shop what could perhaps once have been a ghost sign. Having blown the picture up though, I now think I was imagining it.

Boarded-up shop, Turneville Road, London W14

    

A Weekend Break in Bideford, Devon (cycling the Tarka trail from Bideford to Meeth, and back)

As mentioned a few posts ago, I have a wealth of material from earlier in the year which I didn't have time (at the time) to process and post, but with a few days on my hands before going back to work, and still trying to fight off the man-flu, it's about time I put that right. The first of these retrospective posts will focus on a weekend break we had in Devon, Bideford to be precise, and the first of the Bideford posts will focus on a cycle ride we did along the magnificent Tarka Trail, a former railway now converted into a quite wonderful cycle path.

I must however first start with a small apology. We actually did two rides along the Tarka Trail from Bideford. The first was south from Bideford, which is covered by the majority of the photos, but we also cycled north which for some reason only seems to have a few photos where I'm sure I took more. The apology is that I fear I may have mixed some of these up and am not sure of the location of all of them - I think these are all from the ride between Bideford and Meeth. I'm very clear on the first one however, this is the old bridge carrying the former railway into Bideford station.

Former railway bridge, now home to the Tarka Trail cycle path, Bideford, Devon 

Tarka Trail cycle path, Bideford, Devon

Tarka Trail cycle path, Bideford, Devon

This next picture shows one of Bideford's two former railway stations. Although not very far from the main station, the Royal Hotel had its own station allowing guests easy access. Both platforms remain and are in reasonable condition, although the one opposite the hotel is a little overgrown.

The former Royal Hotel Station, Bideford, Devon 

The former Royal Hotel Station, Bideford, Devon

This is Bideford station proper, parts of which have now been restored (see pictures further down in this post).

The former railway station, Bideford, Devon

Where parts of the railway has been preserved, there is some wonderful railwayana (is that a word). This is a restored but disused signal just south of Bideford. You can also just see some re-laid tracks in the foreground, but these peter-out before long and I think are only there to allow the carriages which house the museum and tea rooms to have somewhere to sit.

Restored but disused signal, Bideford, Devon

This is where things begin to get a bit blurred. This is definitely on the route south from Bideford to Meeth, but not sure exactly where. Still, it's another fine example of a disused platform.

Disused railway platform, Tarka Trail, somewhere south of Bideford

Along the side of the former track bed there were some wonderful Gaudi-like sculptures, depicting animals from Tarka the Otter.

Sculpture along the Tarka Trail, somewhere south of Bideford

Sculpture along the Tarka Trail, somewhere south of Bideford

Cycling the Tarka Trail, somewhere south of Bideford

Disused railway platform, Tarka Trail, somewhere south of Bideford

I'm pretty sure this is just outside Meeth, which was as far as we cycled south along the Tarka Trail.

Cycling the Tarka Trail, former railway platform just outside Meeth, Devon

There's no mistaking this one though. This is the truly wonderful Puffing Billy café, situated at the former Great Torrington station. It was so good that we stopped for a bacon sandwich on the outward ride in the morning, and again for a cream tea on the return leg. Good for railwayana fans and cream tea connoisseurs alike.

Cycling the Tarka Trail, Puffing Billy Trading Station, Great Torrington, Devon

Of all the picture I took during our 40 mile round trip, this one is probably my favourite. Ok, so it's a bit staged with the milk churns there for historical purposes only, but I felt it captured the essence of a branch line railway quite well. Nice sky too.

Cycling the Tarka Trail, milk churns at the former Bideford station

I managed to take a picture of the restored signal box on the same evening.

Cycling the Tarka Trail, restored signal box, Bideford, Devon

I think these final two pictures must have been taken on a different day as the weather and light are both quite different. They both however show the restored railway carriages sitting on some re-laid track in the former Bideford station. Inside the carriages are a museum and tea-room.

Cycling the Tarka Trail, Bideford station, Devon

Cycling the Tarka Trail, Bideford station, Devon

 I do have some more pictures of Bideford off the Tarka Trail so to speak, so I may get around to sharing those in the next few days.,

Once again, thanks for taking the time to read my post, I hope you enjoyed it. As usual, comments are always welcome and appreciated.

A Weekend Wandering Around Kent (part 5, Margate to Broadstairs)

And so we come to the final Margate post, which covers a walk along the coast from Margate to  Broadstairs. Once again there is a mixture of different vistas, ranging from the sunny view from the Turner Gallery, through some of the run down seaside attractions, ending up with a sunset and some doorway mosaics in Broadstairs.

After a wonderful breakfast at The Curious Cupcake, we headed to the Turner Gallery for an hour. My wife is the arty one in the family, but as it was free I found it ok, and quite nice to get out of the bracing wind.

Margate bay from the Turner Gallery

For those of you with eagle-eyes, you can just make out the big wheel at Dreamland in the background.

Margate bay from the end of the harbour arm

Unsure of our plans after the gallery, but in the need to walk off the breakfast, we started a drift along the coast, not really having a destination in mind. As we headed east from the gallery the area became more run down. We walked through the boarded-up lido area, which I covered in a previous post and continued along the coast. I couldn't decide what this derelict building was. Perhaps either a bus shelter or simply somewhere to sit and take in the sea view.

Derelict shelter, Margate, Kent

Not far from the shelter was Club Caprice. Although it's now boarded up, it does seems to have had a bit of a hey day from what I've managed to find on the internet, and a sad day when it closed for some I suspect.

Boarded-up building, Margate, Kent

Unfortunately many of the ghost signs facing the actual sea front have been battered by the weather and some are almost all gone. This one is a bit more legible that the one further below. The words I can decipher say

??? 

REMOULDED

24 ETHELBERT Rd

ANTIQUE

FURNITURE

BRIC A BRAC

CURIOS ETC 

Ghost sign, Ethelbert Road, Margate, Kent

This next ghost sign however, whilst once I suspect looking quite magnificent as it covered the entire side of the building, is completely unreadable.

Ghost sign, Margate, Kent

The Little Oasis Crazy Golf course at Cliftonville, Margate, has seen better days.

Abandoned crazy golf course, Cliftonville, Margate, Kent

Again another abandoned building where I cannot determine the purpose. Possibly a shelter of some sort?

Derelict building, Cliftonville, Margate, Kent

Derelict building, Cliftonville, Margate, Kent

This lift takes people between the esplanade and the beach. I'm not sure if it's still in use, or maybe perhaps it's just closed for the off season.

Lift from the esplanade to the beach, Margate, Kent

Lift from the esplanade to the beach, Margate, Kent

Once we'd left the built up area of Margate, much of the walk was a bit barren if I'm honest, and it was blowing a gale so I didn't stop to take many pictures. By the time we'd arrived in Broadstairs however, the sun was out again and just in time to treat us to a wonderful sunset.

Sunset over Broadstairs, Kent

Sunset over Broadstairs, Kent

Unfortunately this meant that by the time we'd arrived in the town it was getting dark. I did manage to take a couple of doorway mosaic photos, but will have to return another day to do a proper visit of the town.

Doorway mosaic, Broadstairs, Kent

Doorway mosaic, Broadstairs, Kent

Well, that concludes the Margate section of the Kent wander. Previous instalments are available starting at a weekend wandering around Kent (part 2, Margate). I still have some photos from Whitstable and Canterbury to share, which hopefully I'll get around to doing later this week.

A Weekend Wandering Around Kent (part 4, in and around Margate station)

Hello everyone, thanks for returning. Today I'm back with the next instalment of my weekend wandering around Kent. I'm still working through the many pictures I have of Margate, so once again this post will cover Margate, specifically the area in and around the railway station. These pictures were taken on two different days as we made our way from Margate station to venture out to Whitstable on the sunny day, and Canterbury on the dreary day. Blog posts on those two day trips will follow.

First up we have a couple of wonderful ghost signs just outside the station car park. Both are for

ALBERT GARAGE
DOMINION MOTOR SPIRITS

with the one in the shade being in better condition as until relatively recently it would seem to have been protected from the weather as it was covered by a more modern advertising board.

Albert Garage, Dominion Motor Spirits, Ghost sign, Margate, Kent

The Shell sign on the front of the building was only partially complete. I now wished I had ventured up the alley to take a closer look and perhaps a clearer photo of it, but was worried about missing the train.

Albert Garage, Dominion Motor Spirits, Ghost sign, Margate, Kent

In compiling this latest blog post I now realise that I don't actually have any photos of the front of the station, which is a shame as it's quite a grand, grade II listed building. However what I do have are some pictures showing other aspects of the station's architecture.

The first couple of pictures show the former water tower at the east end of the station.

Water Tower, Margate Station, Kent

The square looking building to the left of the picture is the main entrance to the station, and once again apologies for not having any pictures of the front or the interior to share.

Water Tower, Margate Station, Kent

Platform Canopy, Margate Station, Kent

The Big Wheel at Dreamland from Margate Station, Kent

And so on to the second visit to the station, marred only by the dismal weather. When I first spotted this ghost sign I had not realised that the Albert Garage was in fact still an active operation just around the corner.

Albert Garage Ghost sign, Margate Station, Kent

During the previous day's trip out of Margate on the train, I noticed some abandoned looking platforms to the side of the station. With a bit more time to spare before the train left I ventured beyond the confines of the station to see what these were. A bit of internet research revealed these to be a former parcels depot and sidings, of which some parts were more derelict than others.

Abandoned parcel depot and sidings, Margate station, Kent

Abandoned parcel depot and sidings, Margate station, Kent

Abandoned parcel depot and sidings, Margate station, Kent

Abandoned parcel depot and sidings, Margate station, Kent

Abandoned parcel depot and sidings, Margate station, Kent

Abandoned parcel depot and sidings, Margate station, Kent

Thanks for reading ... and so we come to the end of another Margate post, with probably just about enough material for one more. In case you missed the previous posts on Margate these can be found at a weekend wandering around Kent (part 2, Margate) and Margate again (from abandonment to Dreamland).