Walked with Em on Friday 10th May. We went to a new place where I utterly failed to decide on a parking space. Dithering and changing spots not at all realising Em had gotten there first and had been watching all my car park space indecisiveness!
We tried a new place, Hylands Park near Chelmsford. Run by the local council it's rather a fabulous community asset and I am envious! Also has a decent cafe plus a refreshment hut by the car park so double tick.
It was not at all times the most relaxing of walks! Through the wooded area we were dodging or attempting to dodge the many, many caterpillars dangling from trees. Once through that and into clear spaces we were caterpillar free and it became enjoyable again :-)
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Clo and I headed to Luke's Patisserie after one of her Saturday runs. The route through town was solid with traffic so we decided to take the long way home, circling our town, which took us through a village where we used to enjoy a cafe. The cafe was sold by the folks that had started it and then got taken in a new direction by new owners into more of the fry up caff type of place and we stopped going. As did many other so customers dwindled and they were unreliable about opening. So I googled and found it had new owners, a mother and daughter team and was in its second week. So we gave it a go :-). And very nice it was too.
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We had booked tickets for Monday 13th's performance of "Opening Night" with Sheridan Smith months ago, long before negative reviews for it started emerging and it was decided to end its run 2 months early due to poor ticket sales. But I do like Sheridan Smith and many a time I like something that others do not so we were still going to head into London for it. We did think it was worth the trip in. Depicting a mental health crisis on stage must be really tricky and I thought it was really very well done. They had screens and during her breakdown the images on the screens were slightly behind the stage action, really was clever.
M&C had taken annual leave and Clo had the brilliant idea of going to the V&A Museum during the day as it has been many years since we last visited. She had done a google of exhibitions and there seemed to be an interesting photography exhibition at the V&A.
I was initially quite thrown as the Exhibition Road Courtyard and cafe was completely new to me. Didn't stay at that cafe long as the chairs need mufflers on their feet. Far too noisy every time someone moved a chair on the hard floor surface. Which is as you can expect, quite frequent. So relocated to which is, in a any event, my favourite cafe eating space for some lunch, quite pricey but sometimes it's worth it, the tiles on the walls and the ceilings are just gorgeous, spent a while just relaxing and enjoying being there. Food was good too :-).
Then we went on an explore. I hadn't realised how little of the V&A I have seen. It's huge! Largely I think due to them being closed off for refurbishment/building works on previous visits, and having a small child we would do their activity backpacks so limited exploration.
The Cast Courts took our breath away. Not just the exhibits but the spaces are incredible and I'm not sure how I have failed to see them before.
From the Cast Courts we walked further and found ourselves in an extraordinary space, the 'Daylit Gallery'. It opened in December 2009.
The V&A's Simon Sainsbury Gallery (Room 64b) is affectionately known as the 'Daylit Gallery' due to the wealth of natural light it receives from its translucent, wave-like roof. This space was originally an outdoor void between buildings, providing daylight and a utility area – but no means for displaying objects. The light-well was overlooked by the windows of the Secretariat block, once the home of the Government's Department of Science and Art and staff offices. During the V&A's FuturePlantransformation, this rarely used outdoor area was reconfigured into an exciting, practical gallery space.
In 1909, the galleries in the south-east corner of the South Kensington site were isolated and lacked cohesion with the rest of the Museum. Designed by Aston Webb, the buildings had been commissioned nearly 20 years before, but their construction was delayed. In the intervening years, Webb continued to alter his original plans, but the final product met with a mixed reception. The awkward level changes and vast courts provided difficult layouts for curators and staff to navigate. Over the years, rooms were sub-divided into offices and windows were blocked up to provide more wall space.
In 2002, as part of the V&A's ambitious FuturePlan programme, the Museum commissioned emerging architectural practice MUMA (McInnes Usher McKnight Architects) to redesign this space. Today the area has been transformed into ten new gallery spaces, which house the Museum's Medieval and Renaissance collections, and the Daylit Gallery. [V&A website]
Morlaix Staircase (1522-1530)
This staircase is recorded as having come from no 17 Grand' rue, Morlaix (Brittany, France), where it occupied a central, enclosed hall, and linked the rooms at the street front to those at the back, facing a yard. Only about ten of these timber-framed houses are still to be found in Morlaix. The distinctive, local form of this type of staircase with landings (pondalez from pont d'aller or 'bridge for going') gave such houses their name, maison à pondalez. It has been suggested that these town houses were built by local nobles, and that the house-plan recalled that of their rural manors.
The conspicuous offset newel post of this staircase is carved with a mix of late medieval ornament and with the figures of a bishop, St Clement, a king of France and St John the Baptist (at the top), perhaps the patron saint of the original owner. The balustrades enclose linenfold panels, popular all over northern europe 1460-1550, and are topped with post figures of St Catherine, along with peasants and beasts. Rich with carving, and lit dimly from below, such staircases must have created a magnificent effect within the tall, narrow space.
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O55930/staircase-unknown/
Finney's Post
About 1400-50
This corner post is named after a merchant called Finney. The plaque explains why. It says that Finney's wife had a reputation for being a scold. She fell into a trance and was thought dead. While her body was being carried to the churchyard, it hit against this post. She recovered consciousness and lived on for several years - much to the dismay of her husband.
'This Post, as Finney's Legend saith,
Awoke a Scolding Wife from Death;
But when at length she ceas'd to breathe,
And honest Finney ceased to grieve,
'oh shun' he said, as borne along,
With solemn dirge and funeral song.
'Oh shun, my friends, that cruel Stump
That gave my dear so hard a Bump.'
J.S.
From the Daylit Gallery we found the Photography Centre. Not a temporary exhibitions C had thought but a permanent set of galleries and exhibits. I don't seem to have taken many photos of photos! Did especially love the stereoscopic viewers.
and a gorgeous staircase at the top and bottom of which were extra photographic exhibits.
