Aylesbury, England
 

Okay. Third of my location threads. I do move around, don't I?

I've always been interested in what my fellow Dwellars see every day anyway - I just happened to live somewhere tourists visited last time.

No longer. So at least the title of the thread should stop anyone not interested in becoming intimately acquainted with a market town (County Town!) in Buckinghamshire from wandering in. FTR, any Dwellars are welcome to a tour of Bucks if you happen to visit here. In fact I'd offer a tour of London if the existing walking tours weren't so damned good.

Right. We start with two pics of the clock in the Market Square. I'm afraid I am of the point and shoot school of photography, but when I saw how the first shot came I thought it was suitably gothic, so I kept it. The second is so you can see it properly. It is draped in lights at present, which gives the lighter picture a blurry appearance - they're not on, but they are hung in strands in the middle third.

Taken from two slightly different locations, but both Market Square.

Again, two pictures of essentially the same place.
The first is taken with the (sinking) sun behind the County Offices - of which more later - the second from the long shadows.

In the first you see the clock as before. The cobbled square is Market Square, there are markets four days a week - I just caught it on an off day. The building on the lower left is the County Court. Gorgeous building. The thing looming in the right is the County Offices - evidence that Aylesbury fully embraced the style of brutalism in the 60s. I love it because it was always there in my childhood, because I think we should learn from our mistakes and frankly, because other people hate it.

The second simply shows the view up Market Square if you stand in front of the Court.

A better view of the County Court. We have it because Buckingham (the obvious choice for County Town) refused to have a railway station back in the Victorian era of industrialisation. So we're County Town, and we have the County things - courts, museum, library etc. Like State Capital, but smaller.... way smaller.

Again, first pic is from the entrance of the main shopping centre. If you swing round 45 degrees (ish) you'd have the view of the clock in the lighter picture above. You can also see - barely - the arch through which you go to get to the next picture. And if that gingery fellow in the glasses wasn't there, you'd be able to see the lion which I will show in another photo.

The second pic is through the arch (built to honour the visit of Queen Victoria). It's the back of the County Court and used to be part of Aylesbury Gaol. Again, the concrete of the County Offices loom brutally over the soft red brick. I love them.

Beautiful. I always perceive your towns as quaint and homey. Can't wait to visit. ;)

I should do something like that, since you said I've always been interested in what my fellow Dwellars see every day anyway - I just happened to live somewhere tourists visited last time.

There might be some interesting things to show you!

And finally...

The arch mentioned above from the outside (with my back to the clock). And one of the lions at the bottom of the Square. This is the lion of peace - note how he lolls. The lion on the other side of the Square is the lion of war - he roars. Same sculptor who made the lions in Trafalgar Square.

The second pic is a statue of Disraeli. I meant to couple it with the picture of John Hampden opposite, but got caught up in other things. The Victorians were big on statues. Anyway, when I was twelve, the legend, "I [heart] CR" (my initials at the time) were spray painted onto Disraeli's statue. Yup, the school badboy fancied me. Sadly, it was the summer holidays by then, and we went to different schools after that. I still dream about him - literally. Still, Mark did less damamge over the years than the pigeons, who make the Jewish firebrand look like Francis of Assissi.

Please do! Honestly, just your local supermarket would be strange and foreign to me! And just seeing something you see every day would be interesting.

They finally remodeled an old turn of the century hotel and it is now our public library. There are a lot of backstories there so I will try to get some pics this weekend and will explain my love of the place.

I need to get off my butt and get home internet...it's hard to do those kinds of things here.

Beautiful.

Beautiful. Now if you could just make it sunny there I would pick up and move immediately. No I'm not kidding.

Hey, they left out the town of Hampden, Massachusetts. My Mommy lives there. :D

Ha!
Well there you go.

My first ever job was washing up and prepping at The John Hampden Restaurant on Aylesbury High Street. That's when I learned that Hampden is pronounced Ham-den. Unlike Hampton Court which is pronounced as it is written.

Yeah, in Hampden you have to p silently. ;)

neato, SG

The pics in the first two posts look a lot like Ponteland, near Newcastle upon Tyne.

I may have asked this before, and it may be none of my goddamn business, but...why the new relocation, SG?

Sorry Els, I missed your question.
As I'm sure you know by now I lost my job in London. Came back here because I was knocked off my feet by the news and terrified of getting into debt and a new spiral of despair if I couldn't find a job to pay my rent. I've been allowed a wonderful breathing space by my parents and am ready to face the challenges of the new year now.

Okay.

I don't know if you have carveries in the States. I would assume you do, so I won't explain. If you don't, please ask and I'll enlighten you.

They are rare here now, having reached their eminence in the '80s and '90s.
But they work.
We went to an estate pub (a pub on a council estate aka the projects) at a time when smoking in pubs is banned, tax on alcohol is high, just after Christmas/ New Year and people are uncertain in their jobs.

The place was packed.
And with a mixture of people, but I would say the majority were families. Some older children treating parents (some "children" the age of my parents!) some parents younger than me. Most had the air of a regular treat.

It was good value for the food - £7.95. The surroundings were clean and comfortable. It's not an attractive venue from the outside, but we (and by the carpark, everyone else) could walk there. It's a convenient place with decent food.

First pic the Carvery table
Second pic my meal.
I had venison.

Clockwise from top on my plate: stuffing balls, peas and sweetcorn, mashed potato, yorkshire pudding, venison, roast potatoes. The yorkshire was pre-cooked and probably frozen, it's not a classic of its kind. But the roast potatoes were divine. I was light on the veg as I had a fruit shake for breakfast - also I didn't fancy the other veg on offer (I hate brussels and the beans were boiled to buggery).

First pic is Dads' dinner.
He had roast beef and it was more or less the same as Mum, so as she had started before I got back to the table I didn't take a pic. Greedy mare.

You should be able to recognise everything from the above, except they had brussels and roast parsnips, which I didn't.

Second pic is the usual suspects.

Heh, your dad looks like he could be from any of the male persons of my family.

That's a handsome family you have. How lucky you are to have them.

Aw Man I Missed Lunch !!???

Sunday !! I thought you were going to call when you guys headed out so I could Meet you guys at the Pub !!! ;)

Looks Good !!!

Oh my Goddess, that looks YUMMY! How I LOVE the gravy! Sundae, your mom and dad look so wonderful and happy - no doubt you are their daughter!!!!!

Some more town shots for you today.
There is an older part of town than I have previously shown.
The whole town centre was originally small lanes with small shops (except the High Street, natch).
The majority was bulldozed in the 60s for the new wave of brutalist architecture, which consisted of concrete, concrete and a bit more concrete. And when it rains (not a rare occurrence here) it goes the colour of sadness. They've since tried to repair the damage with revamps and facades and enclosing the shopping centre, but of course you can't replace history.

Anyway, here are some of the bits the planners managed to miss.
The Kings Head pub - was a coaching in as I'm sure you can tell be the entrance.

Sorry bout the wheely bin, no way to keep it out of the shot.
As you can see from the second pic, the pub is well and truly hidden. It has its own courtyard too.

Temple Square (where my Mum's dentist is actually)
The lovely Temple Street, Castle Street and Church Street all meet here, and the not so lovely Rickfords Hill. Although The Saracen's Head (our only gay pub) is there, so it has its uses.

The second photo is looking up Church Street with Temple Square behind me. I'm sure you can guess where the name comes from.

St Mary's Church and environs.

Old pub in St Mary's Square, now converted into flats (shame!)
I remember going there once and sitting on the wall with a soft drink and a packet of crisps because children weren't allowed inside.

It was converted into flats in the early nineties and I always wanted to live there. Maybe one day :)

The Masonic Hall just round the corner.

Yay! I love Sundae Girl picture threads. These are great pictures.

I love the history of the UK.

Cheers!

A bit of old and old/ new.
The Wesleyan Church on Buckingham Street. Looks like the God business is booming as they are having an extension built - hence all the vans and solitary lazy workman.

The second is further up the same street, showing the old and new side by side. The Emperor's Lounge used to be The Buckingham Arms - quite an old pub. Very rough though. As you can see it's been tarted up, but unless the clientele has changed it will probably still be rough!

Kingsbury. A mixture of old and new.

Currently noteworthy because when the town planners decided to give it a revamp and more relaxed feel, they spent a lot of money on a water clock and fountains. I mean it's okay, but in a country that only gets over 20 degrees in one month of the year they do give a bit of a bleak effect. Personally I'd have grassed it over with benches and a small fountain in the middle.

Still, what do I know?

John Hampden, missing from the previous set of photos.
And Lloyds bank just behind him.

Wow that bank looks old.

And you are right, all that slate in the square seems to give it a certain bleakness.

... and finally.
Old but modern - the now defunct 3 screen Odeon cinema.
Which has been treated with great respect as you can see :eyebrow:

And The Odd Fellows Arms - modern but old.
They took a whole corner out to put a new traffic system in. Gone was The Windmill (the other gay pub, where Sir John Gielgud used to drink) and the Nags Head that still had an outside toilet. But I have a feeling the Odd Fellows was listed. Lord knows it couldn't have survived otherwise!

Another coaching inn, as was The Buckingham Arms - there were still stables at the back of it (disused) even in my memory. It was a cute little place - stiflingly hot in winter and packed with old giffers. Well, about 5 people was enough to pack it, as it was still divided into two bars - the Saloon and the Snug.

Excellent thread, SG. Lunch looks tasty.

yes...very awesome!

Post some more SG!

I had been saving this thread for a lazy morning with a hot cup of coffee. Looks just wonderful. How much ambiance and character there is to see & experience there. When I think of the cities I visit here, they just don't seem to have that same type of feel. I know, I know - its the age and all. They are just wonderful, SG. I wanna go to Europe badly, its in my 5 year plan. Has been for about 10 years :shrug:

:D

I hope this might be interesting to you just for its foreign-ness.
For me its exciting just because it's SNOW!!! We just so rarely get it here. This mostly follows my walk into town with a detour round the older area.

- Front garden
- Path we live on

The main road.
- looking down the hill
- looking up

- Walking past the prison - this is a main road
- Cambridge Street, home of takeaways and restaurants. The barn-like building in the distance, mid right - in the picture it's underneath the bus stop - is the closed Odeon.

- Top of Cambridge Street - cafes and bakers and small clothes shops now. Dinky little street that is usually hard to cross because the cars are constant, but not slow enough for you to weave between

- Top of Market Square. Bollards have been deactivated due to the weather.

- Market Square all snowy. County Offices loom in the background
- Rickfords Hill - I was unfair to it before. As long as you position yourself not to see the garish red/brown bricked '80s buildings, it is a lovely place.

- Top of Rickfords Hill, looking towards Temple Square
- Castle Street from Temple Square

360 degree view of Temple Square.
I was trying to capture the snow (big fat flakes at that point) but it was obviously shy.

Absolutely beautiful. And so quaint.

Spoil sports.

Great pictures. Thanks for sharing!

No plowing or salting in sight!

Gorgeous pics Sundae:)

Here's one from Northowram: The village church

In front of it, not so much the village green as...

I want to see the inside of that church!

I guess you'll have to repent then, won't you?

I was working in Charolotte, NC and awoke to 3 or 4 inches of snow. When I got to the plant the place was deserted, so I asked the plant super how they handle the rare snowfalls.

He said, "We wait".

Which reminds me of a jazz club in New York. In the early evenings they offered free soft drinks. These were set out in jugs on the bar.
I wanted to be polite and asked someone how this thing with the free drinks worked. He said "You drink 'em"

Couple more for ya's.

- Even a council estate looks good in teh snow.
- No Ball Games. Doesn't say anything about Snowball Games.

Is that snow on the wall? It reminds me of the ceiling full of spit wads in Jr year chemistry. :p

It's snowballs, honest.

So is the snow gone?

It was snowing again today..

WOW! that picture of the pub takes me back well over 40 years. my mum and dad were landlords there in the 60s . i have a few memories but was only about 3 years old.
what i do remember though is the place was definately haunted. there were rooms above this spiral staircase we would never ever use and the celler was worse. only my dad would go down there to change the barrels etc. but our alsation dog would go no where near it but if the flap was up he would wimper . very odd.
there used to be a cemmetary next to the pub , not sure if it still is. and there was also a school and many many years ago - there was a fire and many children died there.
there is two or three ghostly stories i will tell you about this pub later. got to log off now .

thanks sundae girl, lovely pics has broght back some nice memories for me . my mum and dad were landlords of the oddfellows pub for a few years in the mid sixties . i was about 2 or three and have some very vivid memories myself . one thing i will say about that pub is as much as it is pretty ii was most definately haunted . the very upstairs to the property had this spiral staircase which lead to other bedrroms . none of us would ever go up there . realy had a cold cold atmosphere about it .
thejn there was the celler itself . my mum would never ever go down there , only my dad. but the odd thing was our big alsation dog would wimper like cray if the cleler door was open and he never went down there or near there ever.
from stories i remember , there was a school next /close to the pub ( early 1900s) and a huge fire which killed many children . also ther was a cemmetary next or close to the pub . not sure if still there as i havnt been there for over 40 years. but 1 thing i will never forget was, i was asleep in my bed above the pub i awoke for one reason or another . i looked at my curtains and could see many silhoettes of small people climbing outside my window .
i told my mum the next day and she said nothing . but when i was older she told me of the stories of the children in the school fire and that was there ghost trying to escape the fire.
another story i remember , my sister and i with my mum were staying with my gran for a little break. my father was running the pub alone . one evening a local said "bill" your kids are noisy upstairs tonight running around . there was no one up there ... we were at my grans .
theres a few more little things but my mum will have to remind me as i was so young back then . i do remember playing in its big yard that had horse stables . had alot of fun too.
realy nice to see a picture of it now as i only had very vague images of it from years ago . thanks sundae girl .