I'm beginning to feel just a wee bit limited by my reluctance of learning to drive here. I have a number of gardens I'd like to visit that are only open during the week. I checked out public transportation, but they all seem to be places that involve train transfers, waiting for buses and long walks, turning a one and a half hour drive into a six-plus hour expedition. I might have to break down and learn, although I'm going to wait until Mike is available to come with me. The problem with just getting behind the wheel and going for it is that we live in the central part of the city. I'm not excited about starting out my driving in city traffic, narrow roads, turning left against heavy traffic and entering busy, two-lane round-abouts. My plan is to have Mike do that part and start out in the country until I get more comfortable. So anyway, limiting myself to places I could get to and back by the time the girls got home from school by public transportation, I decided to visit Saffron Walden last week.
Saffron Walden was a medieval market town, and it has preserved many of those buildings and homes. It makes it a cute place to walk around, shop, eat and take pictures. Which is exactly what I did.
Just a little outing to tide me over until I widen my horizons by learning to drive.
I am intrigued by the red house with the basket-weave pattern; is it tile, or is the pattern scraped into stucco? Or something else entirely?
ReplyDeleteAnd I love the photo peering through the gate at the garden and church spire beyond. What a pretty park!
p.s. driving sounds terrifying, haha
The pattern on the house is called pargeting (or pargetting UK spelling). It was popular in the middle ages. They'd decorate buildings with a simple pattern, like the house in the picture, or more intricate work in a lime plaster. You see it quite a bit in Saffron Walden. I'm not sure if it's all original, or was added back later for effect. I'll have to stop by the tourist office sometime and see if they know.
ReplyDeletethanks :)
ReplyDeleteI googled for more info, and found this:
ReplyDelete"Pargeting is the traditional art of decorative or ornamental plastering . Pargeting is a form of bas relief (low relief) or wall sculpture. Written records suggest that the craft has been practised since the time of Henry V111 in the 15th century, and reached its zenith in the 17th century. Unfortunately, no pargeting exists from pre-Elizabethan times. Later examples can still be found throughout the country; most frequently, but not exclusively, on timber framed buildings. Today it is mainly found in the Eastern counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire, although isolated examples can be seen elsewhere
Famous examples are ‘The Ancient House’, Ipswich, Suffolk; ‘Bishop Bonner’s Cottage’, Dereham, Norfolk; ‘The Ancient House’, Clare, Suffolk; 'The Sun Inn’, Saffron Walden, Essex."
(source: http://www.fjpdesigns.co.uk/pargeting.html)
You are in the perfect place! ;)
Thanks Shannon. I should have done my research and made a point of checking out The Sun Inn while I was there.
ReplyDelete