A-Z Challenge - Houses, some real, some not - 'P'

P - Preston Hall

Preston Hall and Park overlooks the River Tees at Eaglescliffe. The Preston Hall Museum and its surroundings in 100 acres of beautiful park land which has undergone a make-over as the result of a Heritage Lottery Grant.

In addition to the winter gardens at the right, the museum houses displays of art, which normally includes Georges de la Tour’s famous Dice Players, armour and social history. 

Exhibitions show visitors what life was like in the 1800s with craft workers in a typical local street of the1890s. The street includes the shop of John Walker from Stockton; Walker was the inventor of the safety match.

Permanent attractions include an aviary, riverside and woodland paths. The Butterfly World  contains hundreds of butterflies from around the world and even some meerkats.

You may ride on the Teesside Small Gauge Railway or take a trip on the river to Yarm and Stockton aboard the pleasure boat, the Teesside Princess.

The park is an ideal place to walk a dog. Other facilities include safe surface play area for children, crazy golf and a café.

The walks by the river and the Quarry Wood Nature reserve are havens for wild life. 

Grassy areas are perfect for picnics and if you have a piscatorial bent the banks of the Tees provide pleasant spots for plumbing its depths.

[This is an edited post from the first A-Z Challenge I entered in 2011]

Sepia Saturday Takes The Biscuit

I thought it would be a piece of cake to meet the theme this week. Then I found I had no photos of corner shops nor could I find any from years ago on the web. I had to settle for this in the end.

Jewelry - Corner Shop

 

Next I searched for aprons, registered milk vendors and even Mothers Choice (that was a mistake.) Finally I latched on to the Biscuits sold in Alan’s shop and found something much closer to home.

Wright's Biscuits in South Shields

 (Turners Photographic of Newcastle)

 By TWAM - Tyne & Wear Archives and Museums@Flickr Commons

Wright’s Biscuits was a well known company in South Shields. Set up as a maker of biscuits, they started out by supplying ships in 1790. After a fall in demand, Wright's turned to making more up-market biscuits. The factory closed in 1973.

There is a shop in the corner of Preston Hall's Victorian Museum which I have shown before.

John Walker's Chemist Shop - Preston Hall Museum

 John Walker was the inventor of the first safety match. Other shops in the Victorian street include this one next to Walker's.

Shop - established 1783

The only 'modern' shop among my photos is one from St Mawgan in Cornwall - Roger, the owner, makes an excellent marmalade.

St Mawgan Village Store & Post Office

 Don't forget to visit other shops at Sepia Saturday 89

If you want a prize for this I suggest you take a biscuit - but what's on offer is this:

Dog biscuit

(By Five Rings - Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 unported license)

Preston Park

A-Z Challenge – ‘P’

Preston Hall and Park overlooks the River Tees at Eaglescliffe. The Preston Hall Museum and its surroundings in 100 acres of beautiful park land are currently undergoing a make-over as the result of winning a Heritage Lottery Grant.

 In addition to the winter gardens at the right, the museum houses displays of art, which normally includes Georges de la Tour’s famous Dice Players, armour and social history. (The Dice Players are on loan to the Shipley Art Gallery until 2012).

Exhibitions show visitors what life was like in the 1800s with craft workers in a typical local street of the1890s. The street includes the shop of John Walker from Stockton; Walker was the inventor of the safety match.

 Permanent attractions include and aviary, a wild fowl pond, riverside and woodland paths. The Butterfly World  contains hundreds of butterflies from around the world. When we visited this week many of the attractions were empty due to the make-over work. Meerkats are said to be recent arrivals.

You may ride on the Teesside Small Gauge Railway or take a trip on the river to Yarm and Stockton aboard the pleasure boat, the Teesside Princess.

The park is an ideal place to walk a dog. Other facilities include safe surface play area for children, crazy golf and a café.

There's also a safe surface play area for children and a cafe.

The walks by the river and the Quarry Wood Nature reserve are havens for wild life. [More about the quarry will follow under ‘Q’.]

 Grassy areas are perfect for picnics and if you have a piscatorial bent the banks of the Tees provide pleasant spots for plumbing its depths.