Life's about experiences. These are mine.
Another day, another Heritage Open Day visit! Today was another building that I had walked past so many times wondering just exactly what was the story behind it. Watlington House is the oldest occupied house in Reading having stood here, on what is now Watlington Street, since 1688. Now surrounded by houses and only a …
Continue reading “Watlington House, Heritage Open Days 2023”
Now here’s somewhere I HAVE been before, although sometimes I wish I hadn’t. At the Royal Berkshire Hospital (RBH) our family has had children born, major and minor operations and various appointments attended. The people there have been great and the building, well, it looks like a hospital. Except that is for what is now …
Continue reading “The Royal Berkshire Hospital “Building on its Heritage”, Heritage Open Days 2023”
It is time once again for one of my favourite events of the year – Heritage Open Days when places that would normally be shut to the public throw open their doors. I have been to some great places over the years (you can read about those here) and have an interesting few lined up …
Continue reading “Rediscovering Our Forgotten Heritage, Heritage Open Days 2023”
Generally, Reading does a pretty good job of putting on a wide variety of events in the town. Not music and theatre as The Hexagon is too small a venue for many acts and it’s too close to London to attract many who would naturally gravitate there. However, occasionally something out of the ordinary comes …
We’ve attended a couple of events recently that have taken place locally. One, the National Garden Scheme, which, as the name suggests, is a national event that takes place locally; the other, Whiteknights Studio Trail, is locally organised and run. Both are the height of voyeurism if you like to nose around other people’s homes …
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I’ve lived in Reading for over 35 years now and have seen the much maligned town (Her Maj has refused on several occasions to grant it city status) go from strength to strength. This has been helped in part but a much more cohesive offering around the cultural aspects of the town such as the …
Today I knocked a visit to the Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) off my to-do list. While I have been in the MERL building before I have never actually been in the museum itself having only previously had a tour of the house that abuts it. The entrance to the museum itself is really …
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I’ve seen on social media a few times recently some interesting and unusual places to visit in Reading. One of those is the Cole Museum of Zoology in the University of Reading so I decided to pay it a visit. I’d seen photographs of the museum, well basically the same photo which is also similar …
This morning’s Heritage Open Day visit almost didn’t happen for me when my bus in to town was late (unusually very late. Most Reading Buses are incredibly punctual). I emailed to say that I was going to be delayed and ran from the bus stop to the Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) where we …
Continue reading “East Thorpe House, Heritage Open Days 2022”
There is a shop in Reading that I regularly frequent and takes plenty of money off me and that’s the Oxfam Music Shop on Duke Street. It is a tiny place, not much bigger than my front room but it packs a lot in such a small space. They always have a great selection of …