Lotherton Hall During August, I recently spent an afternoon at Lotherton Hall, a stately home and estate, in the outer east Leeds and near the North Yorkshire border. I caught the irregular summer bus from the city centre that goes directly to the estate. I had a look round Lotherton Hall. It was the home of the Gascoigne family from the early 18th Century until 1968 where they gave it to Leeds City Council. It is worth looking around the Edwardian home for its unique collection of paintings and furniture. Look out for the Francis Wheatley Painting and furniture, 'The Irish House of Commons' in the dining room and the Shanks Independent Patent Spray Baoth in Colonel's Gascoigne's bedroom. There were objects in the house indicating that the Gascoignes were well travelled. At the entrance of ... read more

For a long time I always wanted to visit Brighton and recently more so when I studied about The Royal Pavilion in my last humanities course. So during my recent London stay, I decided to go down for the day and got the train to Brighton from London's Victoria Station. When I reached Brighton, an hour later, I did not have any maps on me so I had to rely on map signs dotted around the town centre that got me to the Pavilion. I thoroughly enjoyed touring The Royal Pavilion with its exotic theme throughout. We were given an audio guide where we learnt about the palace's rooms. The Oriental Palace was designed by George Nash in the early 19th Century and was the home of King George IV who was known as the Price ... read more

I had 3 days in Salisbury. I stayed at, Alabaré Guest House and ran by a Christian charity. My room was at the back and thoroughly enjoyed the peace and quiet of place. This was such a contrast to the hotel I stayed in at London. I got up to quite a bit in Salisbury. In contrast to York and Bath, Salisbury has not got that many attractions to the city's name but the Cathedral and Stonehenge pushes Salisbury in the top rankings for a city break. On one of the days, I purchased a ticket for The Stonehenge Tour where the bus took me to Stonehenge and Old Sarum. Stonehenge I spent an hour or so looking at the ancient monument and listening to the complimentary audio tour. I learnt how the monument were evolved ... read more

I spent a weekend up in Northumberland! Despite the uncomfortable coach ride, we stopped in Durham for a few hours. The chap, Phil, who sat next to me on the coach wanted me to explore Durham with him. I usually prefer to go and do my own thing and do not like to compromise with whenever I am travelling. I agreed that I am happy to walk together to the cathedral and castle and leave him to it and that we will meet up later on to have a drink. I was in Durham in April (See ) and already had seen the main sights. I was happy to relax and read by the River Wear where I had my lunch and had a coffee at one of the cafes nearby. I met up with Phil ... read more

Continued from the first blog The Roman Baths and The Pump Rooms I visited The Roman Baths last time round but I felt I rushed the tour because of being constrained to just having the afternoon in Bath. However, this time, I had more time on my hands so this gave me an opportunity to give the place more justice. It took me around 2.5 hours to look around the Baths itself and the exhibits. The Baths were known as Aquae Sulis, completed with temples and baths, in the Roman Times during the first and fifth centuries A.D, and were based on a natural hot spring. It is a place worth exploring and learning more about the history of the Baths. I tried the spring water in the Pump Room but it has an acquired taste ... read more