A Rural Wander along the Kennet and Avon Canal

One of the last rural wanders I managed before I started my new job was out to the west of where we live, along the Kennet and Avon canal. I'd cycled this route many times but generally veered off from the canal beyond Great Bedwyn, so this was all new territory for me. The weather was perfect, we had no time constraints, so all we had to do was enjoy ourselves.

Kennet and Avon Canal, near Crofton

As with many of my rural wanders, I'm constantly on the lookout for disused railways. I knew there were a couple in this area but was surprised in how much was still evident after all the years. This is the former Midland and South Western Junction Railway, built as a north-south link between the Midland Railway and the London and South West Railway. There's not much of the track bed remaining south of Marlborough (north of Marlborough it's a cycle path extending to Swindon), but plenty of parts of former bridges to see.

Remains of a bridge carrying the Midland and South Western Junction Railway over the Kennet and Avon Canal

Remains of a bridge carrying the Midland and South Western Junction Railway over the Kennet and Avon Canal

Remains of a bridge carrying the Midland and South Western Junction Railway over the Kennet and Avon Canal

Track bed of the Midland and South Western Junction Railway

Shame about the focus in this next picture, but this happy little chaffinch was singing his heart out in the trees alongside the canal towpath.

Chaffinch

Remains of a bridge carrying the Midland and South Western Junction Railway over the Kennet and Avon Canal

Remains of a bridge carrying the Midland and South Western Junction Railway over the Kennet and Avon Canal

Remains of a bridge carrying the Midland and South Western Junction Railway over the Kennet and Avon Canal

Remains of a bridge carrying the Midland and South Western Junction Railway over the Kennet and Avon Canal

Not a railway bridge this time, but a small bridge carrying a farm track across the canal. There are plenty of these along the Kennet and Avon Canal, but I never tire of seeing them.

Bridge over the Kennet and Avon Canal, near Burbage

I'm not sure what building these ornate tiles were on. They have definitely seen better days but it just amazed me at how much intricate detail went into what is essentially the outside corner of a garden wall.

Ornate tiles on a wall near Burbage

East Grafton village green

Old street lamp, somewhere between East Grafton and Wilton

We finished the walk in Wilton where we stopped for a wonderful pub lunch and a well deserved pint.

    

Ghost signs in Marlborough, Wiltshire

I have been to Marlborough countless times as it's one of my favourite, local places to visit. I always felt it should be the place to have at least one ghost sign, but it wasn't until today that I spotted one. In fact I spotted two, but they were quite elusive.

The first ghost sign is for a POST OFFICE, which is now an Italian restaurant. The post office sign is a little hard to spot, but it's just above the canopies.

Ghost sign for Post Office in Marlborough, Wiltshire

This next one is even less obvious than the one before. It's for the IVY HOUSE HOTEL and the writing is on the wall just below the top set of windows. I found some older photographs of this on the internet and it appears that this ghost sign was left behind by white lettering which was fixed to the wall. The wall was also, appropriately, covered in ivy. It would seem that after some protest, the hotel was closed in 2011 to become a boarding house for Marlborough College.

Ghost sign for the Ivy House Hotel, Marlborough, Wiltshire

For anyone reading this who has never visited Marlborough, I simply cannot recommend it enough. The picture below, which I took on a much brighter day last year from the top of the former church tower, gives a good view of the main road, which quite often has a market running along the middle if the street.

Marlborough from the old church tower

Urban Wandering: an afternoon in Salisbury, Wiltshire

With a forecast for rather mixed weather over the weekend, we decided to go somewhere not too far from home, and also somewhere where we could seek shelter if it did start chucking it down with rain again. Our town of choice was Salisbury, Wiltshire. I used to visit Salisbury quite regularly as a young child as my grand parents has a house overlooking the railway station and yard, where my grand father used to work. Despite only visiting there until I was about 5 or 6, I can still remember where their house was, although it's barely recognisable today.

Anyway, on to the urban wander itself. Our first stop was to get some lunch but I managed to get side-tracked by this ghost sign. It's quite hard to make out but it's between the two rows of windows and reads

BENNETT WHOLESALE WAREHOUSE ...

Ghost sign in Salisbury, Wiltshire

Although not strictly a ghost sign, I did particularly like this one, which reads

STEAM PRINTING WORKS

WILTS COUNTY MIRROR

SOUTH WILTS EXPRESS 

Old sign in Salisbury, Wiltshire

And again this one is also not a proper ghost sign, but is most definitely a sign of the past

MENS WEAR

 As we moved away from the main town centre and headed out to where my grand parents used to live near the station, I spent a few minutes wandering around what I thought was an old goods yard, most of which is now a car park. However, a bit of research though has shown that in fact these platforms were probably part of the old Salisbury GWR station.

Goods Yard at Salisbury Station, Wiltshire

 

Platforms from the former Salisbury GWR Station, Wiltshire

Platforms from the former Salisbury GWR Station, Wiltshir

Platforms from the former Salisbury GWR Station, Wiltshire

As we wandered back into the city centre, I came across this ghost sign, well in fact it's two adjacent ghost signs, or even three ghost signs as the one on the right looks like it may be one sign written on top of an earlier one. It's situated high up on the side of a building next to the railway bridge. This was the closest I could get, but the gap between the building and the bridge was so small, that I doubt a better photo opportunity is available. Initially I thought this was a curious place to display and advert but then it dawned upon me that it was probably intended to be seen by passengers on the trains which crossed the railway bridge. Unfortunately I'm a bit lost to even suggest what these two signs might say.

 Ghost sign in Salisbury, Wiltshire

And as we finished our wander for the day, we came across this impressive old shop facade. It's now the home of Foxtrot Vintage Clothing, but was formerly

Knight & Company Poultry & Fish Game Market

I particularly liked the green, ceramic tiles and can almost imagine the various wares that were displayed in the windows.

 

Knight & Company Poultry & Fish Game Market

Oh yes, and there's a huge cathedral in Salisbury too ... but I'm guessing you all knew that.

Ghost signs, abandonment and semi-abandonment in Wiltshire and Somerset

Last weekend I embarked on an epic, well epic for me anyway, bike ride from Newbury to Frome, a total of 57.5 miles. I had no idea where I was heading other than the fact that I decided to head west, and my wife kindly agreed to pick me up from wherever I ended up. The purpose of the ride was to reach the 250km challenge I'd set myself for May, and I'd not planned to look for anything to blog about here, so was pleasantly surprised to find a few ghost signs and other interesting places along the way.

This was a rather sad looking, former petrol station. As with many rural petrol stations and garages, they have closed down now, presumably unable to compete with the out of town supermarkets.

Abandoned petrol station, Milton Lilbourne, Wiltshire

I caught this ghost sign out of the corner of my eye as I cycled past, so looped back on myself to get a shot of J.R.FELLOWS. Looking at the white paint behind the name, I do wonder whether there was ever more to this sign than can be seen today.

Ghost sign for J.R.Fellows, Pewsey, Wiltshire

This next ghost sign is actually a collection of ghost signs. The clearest word, in white, would appear to be DRAPER, underneath which in black is

GODFREY'S

CASH STORE

REFRESHMENTS

but if that wasn't confusing enough, the Market Lavington Museum blog has old pictures with even more words which are not visible at all today but say 

WALTON

BAKERY &

SUPPLY STORES

M-LAVINGTON

Multiple ghost signs in Easterton, Wiltshire

This is another multiple ghost sign, this time in Lavington, or possibly West Lavington. Not very easy to read at all, but I can see the words HOUSE, VALUE and BOOKS.

Ghost sign in West Lavington, Wiltshire

My last picture is from Somerset and is of Frome railway station. Despite looking abandoned, and having just one platform remaining operational, and just one actual track, it is still in use and sits on a loop just off the main GWR line. Although there was not a single person on the station when I arrived early on a Saturday evening, the annual passenger numbers is close on 150,000, and in fact when I get the 07:08 from Newbury to London Paddington, it's a train which actually starts its journey at Frome.

Frome railway station, Somerset

    

Autumn

A strange few days and weeks since my last post. I've been to India with work, managed a few, on-road bike rides, completed a couple of autumn walks, and been out both nights on two consecutive weekends ... so the latter may not sound like much, but it's reminding me of how old I am feeling. But let's stick with the positive things, and celebrate Autumn.On Saturday we visited a National Trust property and grounds called The Vyne hust to the north of Basingstoke, Hampshire. Despite being ,e,bers of the National Trust and despite the property being about 30 minutes from where we live, this was the first time we'd ever visited. As we approached the entrance we were "greeted" by 3 deer running across thr road in front of us. After parking up, we chose the brown walk which took us about 2.5 miles through the woods.

Autumn walk through The Vyne, near Basingstoke, Hampshire

 Knarled tree, the Vyne

On Sunday we headed out towards Calne, which is in Wiltshire between Marlborough and Chippenham. It's a place we have driven through on several occasions but we'd never managed to stop there. A strange town, although perhaps no more strange than many towns, in that it had a striking contrast between the old village green, the old castle, the disused canal and railway, and the modern supermarkets with their enormous car parks. We wandered around the old streets and bridleways, looking (in vein) for signs of the old railway station, but we did find traces of where the old railway went on it's way from Calne to Chippenham.

Autumn walk, just outside Calne, Wiltshire

    

In other news, I wnet CD shopping after work last week and picked up a veritable bevvy of new (well old) and exciting music. A 49 track double CD compilation by The Seeds is high on the playlist at the moment. I also picked up the first two Human League albums, Reproduction and Travelogue before Martyn Ware and Ian Craig left to form Heaven 17. Some great tracks on these two, and in my opinion far better than anything they did when they became famous.