This is the second in a series of short reflections on places in north Cornwall. There will be few words, and mainly images. Early evening is a lovely time to be on a quiet beach. But today, we visit a beach in early morning. Watergate Bay on the north Cornish coast is a highly-favoured destinationContinue reading “Cornwall mini series Part 2: Watergate Bay”
Category Archives: travel
Book Review: the Girl with Seven Names: Escape From North Korea by Hyeonseo Lee
A powerful, emotionally engaging and sometimes shocking account by a very courageous woman. Through her own shrewdness, presence of mind and intelligence, Hyeonseo managed to transform her life and that of her family by escaping from North Korea at the age of 17, undergoing a long and hazardous journey through China, and ultimately gaining SouthContinue reading “Book Review: the Girl with Seven Names: Escape From North Korea by Hyeonseo Lee”
I’m pleased to announce that I have signed a contract
I’m pleased to announced that I have signed a contract with history publishers Amberley Publishing for a book about Warwickshire to be published in June 2020. This will be a highly illustrated book full of stories arranged under themes from Shakespeare’s ghosts and spirits. The book will explore some of the supernatural and spiritual storiesContinue reading “I’m pleased to announce that I have signed a contract”
A Visit to Bletchley Park, Now Famous for the Codebreakers Whose Genius Saved Us During World War 2 – and Was Kept Secret for 30 Years
On a recent visit to Bletchley Park I learned many new things about exactly how an elite group of mathematicians, chess- playing and crossword puzzle solving experts, numbering ten thousand in all, came together here during the Second World War to break seemingly impenetrable codes and ciphers – all under the veil of great secrecy.Continue reading “A Visit to Bletchley Park, Now Famous for the Codebreakers Whose Genius Saved Us During World War 2 – and Was Kept Secret for 30 Years”
London Scenes Through Different Eyes
I visited London one day recently and whilst there took the opportunity to do a bus tour of the city. London was my home in the past (in the Bayswater area) for eight years. Also I was a regular visitor from Orpington during my childhood and teens, since I lived twenty five minutes train rideContinue reading “London Scenes Through Different Eyes”
Glass Sculpture Transforming Kew Gardens
I recently made another visit to Kew Gardens, where we were enchanted by several glass sculptures by artist Dale Chihuly. Placed in the most surprising areas – at the top of the Sion Vista, just outside the Temperate House, hovering over the pond in the water Lily House, or cunningly nested in amongst the tropicalContinue reading “Glass Sculpture Transforming Kew Gardens”
Book Review: “The Making of Us” by Sheridan Voysey
Here’s a book which should appeal to those of you who feel as if you’ve reached a point in your lives where all that you hoped for has not been achieved; maybe it seems you have to let go of your dreams; and perhaps you simply don’t know where to go from here. The MakingContinue reading “Book Review: “The Making of Us” by Sheridan Voysey”
Great Gardens of England: Hidcote Manor Gardens, near Chipping Campden
A great garden is an image of paradise, in more than one religious outlook. Perhaps this is because within such a garden, all the very best of the natural world is taken by human ingenuity, and then gifted and skilled gardeners weave their own design and creativity into it. Our dreams become realised through aContinue reading “Great Gardens of England: Hidcote Manor Gardens, near Chipping Campden”
The Foundling Museum, London: Poignant History of Those Working to Overcome Eighteenth Century Social Injustice
Few things in this world can be more heartbreaking than a lost, abandoned or mortally-endangered child, in a world where there is precious little compassion or social justice. Some of our most well-known archetypal stories play into this fear: Babes in the Wood is one, and Little Red Riding Hood or Hansel and Gretel or TheContinue reading “The Foundling Museum, London: Poignant History of Those Working to Overcome Eighteenth Century Social Injustice”
The Royal Naval College Hospital, Greenwich – Place of Refuge for Sick and Disabled Ex-Sailors between the Seventeenth and Nineteenth Centuries
As you disembark from the Thames clipper at Greenwich you will enter a grand building in which is housed the excellent Visitor Centre for the Royal Naval College – built above the foundations of King Henry VIII’s favourite palace, Greenwich Palace. Magnificent and imposing as the college buildings are, they were used as a hospital toContinue reading “The Royal Naval College Hospital, Greenwich – Place of Refuge for Sick and Disabled Ex-Sailors between the Seventeenth and Nineteenth Centuries”
scskillman.com 