The Eton Rifles (and Windsor)

Sup up your beer and collect your fags,

There's a row going on down near Slough.

Get out your mat and pray to the west,

I'll get out mine and pray for myself.

Thought you were smart when you took them on

But you didn't take a peep in their artillery room;

All that rugby puts hairs on your chest -

What chance have you got against a tie and a crest?

Hello-hurrah, what a nice day, for the Eton rifles

Hello-hurrah, I hope rain stops play, with the Eton rifles

     - from 'The Eton Rifles' by The Jam, 1979 (music & lyrics - Paul Weller)

One of the gates allowing entry to Eton College

Those of you d'un certain âge will likely now have a familiar, pumping baseline and thrashing guitars swirling around in your head, as you remember with fondness the song quoted above. If the lyrics are not familiar to you, do take a listen and enjoy the raw energy of this highly influential band that would cease to exist just three years after The Eton Rifles was released.

This will be a fairly short post, because I'm determined to get this published before the world sinks any lower into royal wedding hysteria.

Eton High Street - cafés, tailors and men's grooming services in abundance

Ballards - this Grade II listed cottage sits next-door to one of the Eton College residential buildings

The impressive front entrance to Ballards

The reason for this little meander down memory lane to the heady days of late-punk-mod-revivalism, is that we took a drive to Eton and Windsor last weekend. God forbid my readers should even entertain the notion that my interest stemmed from the impending nuptials of a certain chap who's sixth in line to the throne. To us, this royal wedding is a shameful waste of public funds, and I've made my feelings clear about the monarchy in previous posts, of course.

No, I've been meaning to take a poke around this area for some time. It is indeed lovely.

Some of the many buildings associated with Eton College

The Christopher Hotel

Gorgeous art nouveau tiling on The Christopher Hotel's exterior

Gilbey's restaurant - this place looked lovely

The town of Eton, just across the river from Windsor Castle, actually has a village-y feel to it until you get close to the college itself, and the only thing to detract from this is the ceaseless flow of privileged youths in their expensive uniforms and sporting kit, all sounding like they just emerged from some 1960s class war film. Haw haw haw. 

Do they have any inkling of the immense imbalance between them and the rest of the population, I wonder? Probably not.

The Windsor Bridge, with Windsor Castle towering in the background

Windsor was frenetically gearing up for this weekend's big event, of course - and I confess to enjoying the sight of streets festooned with bunting, bringing an air of post-war nostalgia. 

Part of the castle - it is immense, in fact the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world

I swooned over Windsor's antique stores and gracious hotels. There's a general air of elegance without the over-the-top intimidation of, say, Bond Street.

Promenade along the Thames

After trudging around for a good couple of hours, we enjoyed a late and leisurely lunch at Carluccio's. 

Since moving away from Epsom we no longer have one close by, so we took advantage of the Windsor restaurant - and for the first time EVER, I did not order the Penne Giardiniera! I'm talking at least 25 visits over a ten-year period, and until now I have always ordered the same main course. This is not really representative of my usual dining habits - I like to order different things when I return to a venue. However Carluccio's Penne Giardiniera is one of my all-time favourite dishes and I just could never resist. 

The reason for this bold departure? New vegan options, which Kevin and I both very much enjoyed (we chose different dishes). 

Seriously good double espresso at Carluccio's

Despite constant rain (which of course I never mind - except for the slight inconvenience factor when gadding about the streets), it was nice little day out and we plan to return later in the year to explore the castle itself - apparently you do need the whole day.

Until next time,
- Maree  xo

Spring? No, we've skipped that

Greetings from my beloved Surrey, and the UK generally, where most folk are practically giddy with joy over the fact that (a) it's a bank holiday weekend, and (b) by some miracle it's also warm and sunny. And I mean summer-heat-warm-and-sunny. Five weeks ago we had snow. In terms of temperature, spring has been bypassed and full summer has arrived in Blighty.

The beginnings of spring in late April - Farnham Maltings and the River Wey

Yours truly in front of St Mary's Church in Apsley, on a recent jaunt to Hertfordshire

Even without abnormally high temperatures, spring is always a mixed bag for me. Whilst I fully appreciate the splendour of nature waking up from what has been a pleasingly long and cold winter, I don't like the sun and anything above 18 or 19 degrees celsius is too warm for the nordic blood in my veins!

Then there's the hayfever.

I'm not a chronic sufferer, and I've found it very difficult to identify exactly what sets me off since I first developed hayfever in my thirties - though I'm now fairly certain the main culprit is tree pollen (and specifically birch).

Some years I barely get a couple of days of sneezing, or else I get it in weird seasons - like at the start of winter. And other years... well, there have been some times when the symptoms have been completely debilitating for weeks, even months. At my worst, I have been known to sneeze all night in my sleep, and to have such terrible itchiness of eyes, nose and skin that I've nearly been driven mad.

Years ago I did have allergy testing with the world's most incompetent 'specialist' in Canberra, having waited nearly six months for an appointment. That test revealed a mild reaction to white birch and pine, as well as the inadequacy and total lack of empathy of the doctor in question. Thus I turned to natural therapies, which have proven so very effective for me, and done very nicely for the human race generally over the past few thousand years, thanks very much. Far from being 'alternative' medicine, natural therapies have seen our species survive plagues, famines and a myriad of diseases. 

About eight years ago I was lucky to have a friend recommend an acupuncturist, whom I saw periodically as needed - and with great success. If you're prone to hayfever I heartily recommend you give acupuncture a try.

And so on to our springtime adventures. You'll see from the variety of pictures below just how much the landscape can change in the course of a couple of weeks.

Mottisfont - originally an Augustine priory founded in 1201, 
it became a family country estate in the 18th century

This first series of photos shows our visit to National Trust property Mottisfont, near Romsey which is about an hour's drive away from Farnham in the neighbouring county of Hampshire. As you see, many of the trees are still bare or only just coming into flower or leaf, and there are still lots of early spring bulbs in evidence.

I particularly enjoyed this house because it lovingly portrays the life of its most recent owners, Maud and Gilbert Russell, who arrived in 1934. I am absolutely fascinated by the between-wars years; it was such an exciting period for art, architecture, fashion, social freedom and of course female emancipation. Maud frequently entertained artists and writers including artist Ben Nicholson and novelist Ian Fleming, and the stamp of her designer friends is everywhere.

Kevin admiring the 'font' - ie spring - that runs through the property

The parterre garden at Mottisfont

We were the only hardy souls to brave afternoon tea on the lawn
- everybody else was huddled inside on this very chilly day, which was more like winter

The lime walk - pollarded trees just about to burst into new growth

The rear of the house

The walled garden

Two weeks later, and below you'll see what a few days of temperatures in the mid-to-high 20s will do in this neck of the woods. Most of the trees have their leaves, the spring bulbs are just about finished, and it's Bluebell Central.

This weekend we drove about an hour north-west to Oxfordshire, visiting two National Trust properties within a few minutes of each other.

Nuffield Place was our first stop, an Arts & Crafts home not far from Henley, where Lord and Lady Nuffield lived in modest style, despite their incredible wealth. Lord Nuffield was William R Morris, who founded Morris Motors from humble beginnings. For some years Morris was the world's wealthiest man, but he was stupendously generous - in today's terms, during his life he and his wife gave away £700 million to charities, businesses, and ordinary people. His philanthropy is still in evidence today throughout the country.

The front entrance to Nuffield Place, with some of Morris's
famous motor cars on display

The property has far-reaching views over Oxfordshire

The rear lawn of the house

Mint green shutters

Bluebell woods behind Nuffield Place - glorious!

Kevin capturing the bluebell spectacle

A blaze of copper beech against the spring blue sky

Our second property was the more grand Greys Court, a Tudor era mansion beautifully situated in the rolling hills of the Chilterns.

The house itself didn't fill me with joy, other than the intact art deco bathrooms with their fabulous colour schemes - each room entirely in one colour representative of that era (mint green, pink) - and their shiny chrome fittings... though at some point in the past fifty years an unnamed philistine had *shudder* installed CARPET in those rooms. Oh, the horror. I've never seen carpet in bathrooms anywhere but the UK - I mean, who in their right mind would want to trap all those skin cells, hair and urine droplets in the fibres of carpeting?!

Greys Court

This ruin, directly opposite the house, dates from the 14th century

The gardens at Greys Court, however, are beautiful. There's a large walled area with espaliered fruit trees, tiny gates in stone walls lead into garden 'rooms', some with multiple arbors covered in wisteria, climbing rose and clematis. Plus a lovely orchard and meadow. 

It was too hot for me to fully appreciate my environment - despite being clad with sunscreen, hat, and long linen sleeves - but we stoically made the full tour.

The Parterre Garden with the tulips in their final stages of bloom

Bluebells beneath the wisteria arbor
- the 125 year old wisteria was just starting to flower;
it would be fantastic in a couple of weeks' time

The glorious, rolling green of the Chilterns

Socially it's been an enjoyable and busy couple of months.

While Kevin was in Australia I had the opportunity to see a Kate Bush tribute band in nearby Guildford. We have seen Cloudbusting (named after one of Kate's most famous songs) perform a couple of times, at the annual Kate Bush night at the Vauxhall Tavern in London. To see them do a full set was fantastic, and this tour coincided with the 40th anniversary of Kate's first album The Kick Inside. It was the next best thing to the genuine article.

Kate Bush tribute band, Cloudbusting, performing at the Electric Theatre in Guildford

There have been the usual visits to pub and local eateries, and we've also hosted our first Aussie visitor for the year, an old university friend of Kevin's who stayed for a few nights in April. 

Kevin at one of our favourite pubs, The Mill House

A real highlight of my year so far was a superb vegan meal at a special pop-up restaurant in London's oh-so-hip Shoreditch. This was a gift to me - a five-course tasting menu with matched wines, for two people. With Kevin being in Adelaide I had no hesitation in inviting my friend and former colleague from the Australian High Commission, Keirra, who has been vegan for some years.

Well, what an experience! We tasted combinations of things that we'd never eaten before - things that, if we'd been asked to identify the ingredients, for the most part we would have struggled. But all of it completely delicious, to the point where every time the very attentive staff served a new dish and we popped a morsel into our mouths, we'd simultaneously stop chewing, look up at each other and gasp. The phrases Oh my god! and That's amazing! were uttered with tedious repetition.

Plates is making waves in the culinary scene, with some suggesting it could be the first plant-based restaurant to win a Michelin star. It's only open on Saturday nights and you can't just turn up or call to make a reservation - you have to purchase tickets for specific dates well in advance (it's usually booked out at least six weeks ahead). Such an exclusive and innovative eatery is well beyond our budget, so to be treated to this experience was really special. Kevin was a tad miffed to have missed out!

The menu at the Plates special tasting evening

Lastly, please enjoy the fabulous mid-century styling of our latest furniture acquisition. This little beauty pictured below is courtesy of Facebook Marketplace (a community online trading facility - a bit like Gumtree), where I saw this armchair advertised by a home-based upholsterer up in Hertfordshire. We managed to fit it into our car, despite being unable to remove the original Dansette legs, and Vickie subsequently offered to design and make a matching footstool, delivery of which I am now eagerly awaiting. Trés cool!

Mid-century fabulousness, now installed in our apartment

In a couple of weeks our next visitor arrives - this time our friend Kate, a Canberra gal whom we met when she was doing a gap year at Frensham back in 2009 and who now lives in New York, doing all sorts of exciting things in the advertising world.

As usual, throughout the UK summer we are expecting a steady stream of visitors from Australia, all of whom we will be very pleased to see.

Cottage across the street from our apartment
- draped in spring finery

In the meantime I can't wait for this hot spell to end (nearly 29ºC today - the hottest early spring bank holiday on record), which it is forecast to do in the next couple of days. Hopefully we'll be granted a few weeks of more temperate spring weather before summer kicks in properly.

Until next time,
- Maree  xo