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Things to do in Swanage

We were on holiday in Swanage in Dorset last week, so I thought I'd just mention a few of the places we went. We stayed in a cottage we rented from Swanage Holiday Properties - nice little place, just up the hill a bit from the beach. The town itself is quite pretty - lots of Purbeck Stone buildings, and the beach is lovely (although we only managed to get on there one day because the weather was quite unpredictable). There's a pier, and a tiny museum, and just up the coast there are some fantastic cliff walks. We were hoping to walk up to Durlston Country Park but there doesn't seem to be a pushchair accessible route unless you go by road. So we just drove up instead. I mainly just wanted to see the Great Globe they have there.

Places we ate that were good included:

• Beavers (14 Institute Road, 01929 427292) - a nice cafe, very child friendly, and with fantastic cakes
• Cauldron Bistro (5 High Street, 01929 422671) - fantastic steaks. Only open Thursday to Sunday. Child friendly but they have no highchair.

Less good were the fish and chip place on the seafront - very soggy batter, and Antonio's Italian Restaurant - not that there was anything wrong with the food, but it was horrifyingly expensive.

There's quite a few places to go nearby, but the nearest and most obvious is to get the steam train to Corfe Castle. There's a model village of the village itself (and yes, it does have a model of the model village in it) with a very good cafe. If you go there first you get a two for one entry to the castle + you get a further discount for going on the steam train. The castle isn't really good for pushchairs, but they actually had some back pack baby carriers you could borrow, which I thought was pretty good. The only problem with the castle was that the top bit (ie where all the most interesting stuff is) was actually shut for some kind of conservation work when we went. Not sure how long that's going to last.

We also went to Dorchester, where we visited the dinosaur museum. Our 4 year old really liked it, especially the activity room upstairs. I'd say it's a bit overpriced for what it is - the interactive stuff is running on an old Commodore Amiga for instance. There are some more museums there too - one each for Tutankhamen, Mummies, and The Terracotta Army. Didn't try those. We did have a very good lunch at Potters Cafe Bistro.

Just outside Dorchester (we discovered, as we got slightly lost on the way out) is Maiden Castle. There's a good path up to the top - our 4 year old was fine on it, and it's not too arduous to get up there.

There's quite a lot of other stuff locally - Lulworth Cove, Portland and Chesil Beach, apparently Bournemouth now has an aquarium that looks quite good. We also kept seeing signs for Monkey World. Didn't get to check those out, but there's enough to make us come back again. Probably when the 1 year old is able to walk too, then it will be easier not having to worry about accessibility so much.

Watchet, Somerset

I'm not going to get round to the full journal thing, so I thought I should just do a few highlights of our holiday in case they are useful to anyone else planning to visit that area.

We stayed in a flat overlooking the harbour - beautiful view, and it was nice and quiet, which I always appreciate as I live near a busy road, and the noise is always there in the background. We booked through Welcome Cottages - we've used them before for self-catered accomodation, and this was up to the standard we had last time.

Watchet is a nice little town - the main disappointment was that it doesn't really have much beach - there's some shingly areas, but no good sand. You need to go down the coast to Blue Anchor or Minehead to find proper beach.

We didn't really eat out, but there are some nice cafes - the Corner House was good, and I recommend the Star Inn for beer. It has a little beer garden too. There's good fish and chips from the takeaway under the flat. There's not much in the way of food shops either - there's a little Co-op for the basics.

I should mention that all the roads in this area are quite narrow and twisty - it's quite fun to drive them, but it can be a bit hairy in some places when you suddenly round a bend to find a huge lorry trying to come towards you. Everyone drives alarmingly fast.

Things to do:

• West Somerset Steam Railway - we took the steam train from Watchet to Minehead which was fun. Minehead was nice for a look round + it has a beach (and there's a big Butlins, if your kids are that kind of age).
• Dunster Castle - looks really interesting, and Dunster village is nice. Beautiful grounds if you're an idiot and go when the castle is shut like we did :-(
• A bit further afield, we drove up to Lynton and Lynmouth. The drive includes some of the steepest hills and sharpest turns you're likely to find on any roads in the UK. You have been warned. Lynton and Lynmouth are beautiful - set at the top and bottom of dramatic cliffs on the coast. There's a cliff railway to carry you up and down. I last came here when I was a kid - we stayed in a terrible guest house, and went walking on Hollerday Hill in the evening. We got lost and probably would have fallen over a cliff if I hadn't been obsessed with carrying a huge black rubber torch everywhere at the time.
• We carried on from there to visit the Broomhill Sculpture Garden. To be honest, it wasn't worth it - not that there's anything wrong with the garden as such, but it wasn't nearly as big as I'd imagined, the price is pretty steep for what it is (we should have sneaked in - nobody would have noticed) and the roads mean it's a pretty long drive there and back.
• Heading out the other direction from Watchet, we visited Cheddar Caves and Gorge. Again, I'd say the official tour is pretty expensive for what's basically a quick spin up and down the gorge in a coach, and entrance to the cave. I don't think you can buy separate tickets for different bits, or I'd suggest you just drive up the gorge in your own car (which is pretty spectacular). If you don't have small kids, I would suggest skipping the caves and just doing a bit of walking round the area.
• We went on from there to Wells and saw the Cathedral, which is quite beautiful. You could also do Glastonbury which is nearby, but we skipped it this time.

Places to Go

I've just created a new category of Places to Go, which I'll be using for all excursions, holidays, and suchlike. There's a few pieces there already - Burghley House, Cromer, Wimpole Hall. More soon.

Wimpole Hall

We went to Wimpole Hall yesterday. Didn't see the Hall itself, but we saw some of the grounds, which are beautiful, and we visited Wimpole Hall Farm which was a big hit with eldest daughter (3). They have lots of animals to pet, and it was a really nice day out. It's about £15 for 2 adults + 1 child 3 or over to do the farm. You have to pay separately for the Hall itself, or I think you can get an inclusive ticket.

My only gripe: if the weather's nice, bring your own food - the restaurant was very overpriced and not much good at all. Apart from that, we'll definitely be coming back to do some of the walks, and probably see the farm again.

Nine Wells

I discovered this site the other day, which has a variety of walks around Cambridge. Since I'd recently been reading about Hobsons Conduit, I decided to do the Nine Wells walk as a run. I enjoyed it (although my right knee started playing up - probably a sign I need new trainers) and it looks like I can extend the run by going up the hill past Nine Wells towards Shelford.

St Ives

So, no post for a while - been busy with work and other stuff. Anyway, today we had a drive up to St Ives, which I've not seen before. To be honest, it's not that exciting, plus the weather was absolutely freezing. We had lunch at the Golden Lion in the High Street - kind of generic chain pub food, but it was cosy, and the food was fine.

Then we walked up to the Ouse and I saw the Dolphin Hotel (may be called something else now) and I realised I had been to St Ives before. When I was a student and secretary of the CU Humanist Workshop, I had lunch there with Gerd Sommerhoff. I remember the food being good (although since I was a student, I was hardly accustomed to eating in hotel restaurants) but I'd totally forgotten about the meal until I saw the hotel again. Quite a strange deja vu experience really - uncovering a little bit of lost past.

New York 97

Not sure why I feel moved to write about this. A lot of the details just kind of popped back into my head. Perhaps it's because I seem to have something of a continuing obsession with the place, even though I haven't been there for 4 years, and I'm not likely to go back for a few more years yet.

Anyway, I was single, and needed a holiday - i'd always wanted to go to New York and it seemed like a good opportunity. I grabbed the Rough Guide and found a cheapish hotel in Manhattan - the Westpark (308 W 58th Street, 246-6440) just off Columbus Circle (I partly picked it because it was near Central Park, and I thought I'd like to do a run round there).

Since it was late September and quite chilly in Blackheath where I was living, I dressed for autumn, so I got a bit of a shock when I got off the plane and walked into what seemed like a heatwave. The sultry weather only let up the day I was due to leave.

Anway, I did the usual tourist stuff - the Empire State Building, the Metropolitan Museum, MoMA and the ferry. I did some sketching of the skyline from Liberty Island - I'll see if I can scan that in.

[Update: pretty bad scan, but I did it with my webcam just to see how it would come out]

What else? I got a Big Apple Greeter tour from a guy called Larry - he walked me half way down the City from the Flatiron Building down to the World Trade Centre - and he was in his 70s. He showed me the big Barnes and Noble on Union Square - this was before every bookstore had a coffee bar - I was impressed. We also stopped by the Gourmet Garage and got sandwiches. I recommend Big Apple Greeter highly - it's free, and the people really know what they're talking about.

The main dilemma of the week came on Wednesday - I could either see Morrissey play in Central Park, or I could go to an SF reading downtown (Dixon Place, somewhere off the Bowery I think) where as luck would have it, Michael Swanwick was reading from Jack Faust which I'd just read on the plane over in proof form after my friend Tony gave me a copy. I chose downtown, and I met some interesting folks.

Then later in the week I went out to Long Island and met up with some people at the University of Stony Brook who I'd been talking to on the internet as they had a science fiction group out there. We had dinner and they put me up for the night. They had their own newsgroup, where I make a brief appearance.

I also had an interesting evening out with a guy from Japan - Keiji san, who I met by accident. I'd gone up to the Rainbow Room to have a drink and watch the sun go down (I know, very touristy but also quite spectacular) and I just met him at the bar. He was having a holiday in New York much like I was, so we had a few beers and it was a good evening.

The last day the weather cooled and I took in the annual Bookfair which closes off 5th Avenue (uh, I think it was 5th). I found a Japanese shop and got a terrific book on modular origami.

Anyway, it was a great holiday. I've been once again since then, which was even better (it was my honeymoon) but I'll write about that another time maybe.

Making the most of Summer

We managed to have a barbeque a week or so back - the week leading up to it the weather was bad, but miraculously it cleared on Saturday, and lots of nice folks showed up, so we had a good time.

Last weekend - the Bank Holiday - didn't manage to do all that much. We did go out to Shepreth Wildlife Park though. It's really close to Cambridge - 2 stops on the Kings Cross line, and right next to the station. Little bit expensive, considering that it's pretty small - I think it was £6.50 for adults and £4.50 for children of 2 and over. Yes you read that right - once you're past your second birthday, you have to pay. Extra also for the bug world display (which we skipped).

They do have quite a good selection of animals - tigers, monkeys, wolves, a snake, an iguana, etc. It's about the right amount for a young child, probably a bit boring for an older one. There's a good playground too, though again, aimed more at little kids than big ones.

We went in the afternoon, so we had lunch out at the Live and Let Live on Mawson Road in Cambridge - good food and good beer. Highly recommend.

What I did on my holidays, part two

Part One

We stayed in Cromer on Wednesday - went for a walk on the cliffs. Found a nice cafe called Breakers in the town.

Thursday we went to Houghton Hall, which was excellent. The hall was owned by Robert Walpole and it has some fantastic rooms - particularly the stone gallery, and the trompe l'oeil effects of the Hell staircase. Even better were the gardens (this was a nice day) which included a croquet lawn - first time I've been able to have a go at it since I was at college.

Lizzie surprised me twice in the afternoon - firstly by going on a huge (to her - maybe 10 feet tall) slide in the playground at Cromer, and also when I discovered she knows her left and right. I'm sure I didn't learn this till I was at school, and we've not consciously taught her, but she can consistently tell her right hand, foot etc.

Friday we went on the North Norfolk Railway from Sheringham to Holt. Bit expensive, but it was good fun to go on a steam train. Unfortunately the Holt end is not really in the town itself - you have to walk a mile or more to get there. We ate at the Kings Head which had good beer and food, and a nice garden to sit out in.

On Saturday we drove up to York to go to the wedding of Vicky, a friend of my wife's. The drive took longer than we thought, and we ended up arriving at our guest house at about 2.45, with the wedding starting at 3. Fortunately, we were quite near, and a helpful taxi driver got us to the church about 2 minutes before the bride.

I liked York a lot, we didn't do much more than potter round really - saw the Minster, some of the walls, and visited another of my wife's friends. One good place to eat we found (21, High Petergate, right near the Minster) was Cafe Concerto. Food was great, although a bit pricey (but then, it's in a tourist hotspot). I also liked the Three Legged Mare (named for a type of gallows), a bit further down Petergate - they have beer from the local York Brewery and a nice little conservatory and garden at the back.

I ought to also just mention our guesthouse, Warrens (30 Scarcroft Road, York, 01904 643139). Good location for getting into town, everything was clean and comfortable. My only gripes would be that our family room was very hot, and that the cooked breakfast was very bland - Wall's type sausage, plastic bacon, that sort of thing. Another thing on the plus side though is that it has a little carpark, which means you are guaranteed somewhere to park (if you can manoeuvre into it - access is a bit tight).

All in all, a very enjoyable trip. I hope some of this information is useful to anyone else travelling to Cromer or York.

What I did on my holidays, part one

I'm just back from a week in Cromer, and a week-end in York. Both very enjoyable, though the weather was a bit iffy at the start of the week. Anyway, I thought I would just record a few of the places we visited or ate at, in the vague hope that it might be useful to anyone going to those places. You can assume anywhere we ate takes children, because we were travelling as a family.

We set off for Cromer on Saturday 8th from Cambridge. We stopped for lunch on the way at a pub called The George & Dragon at Newton by Castle Acre, King's Lynn, Norfolk PE23 2BXTel/Fax: 01760 755046. Food was good, and they didn't quibble when I complained that the beer didn't taste right, just went off and changed the barrel. I'm not saying it deserves special praise, but it's a good sign.

In Cromer we stayed in a rented cottage at a place called The Grove (95 Overstrand Road, Cromer, NR27 0DJ. 01263 512412). There's a guest-house too which is fine, but we found that last year it was hard to have any evening to ourselves if we stayed there, so this time we self-catered, and it worked out much better. No complaints about either the guest-house or the cottage, and the setting is really nice - it's a little bit out of town, but you can walk there in less than 10 minutes, and there's also a footpath up to the cliffs, where I did a couple of good little runs.

As I said, the weather was not so good in the early part of the week: we stayed in Cromer on Sunday, and went to Norwich on Monday. Norwich was nice, I recommend the castle as a place to visit.

Tuesday we went to Sheringham, and stopped on the way at the Priory Maze and Gardens which is pretty much what you'd expect. Bit pricey for what it is, especially as the gardens aren't really in full bloom yet, but our daughter enjoyed running in the maze. We had lunch at The Lobster, which has a nice quiet back-room for families. I think there was a beer garden, but it was too cold that day. The grown-ups food was good, but the fish fingers were not so great. Not bad overall though.

More later when I can be bothered to write it.

Update 04.06.02: Part two is now up.

Burghley House

We drove up to Burghley House on Thursday - it's a magnificent Elizabethan house in Stamford, Lincolnshire (the town itself is also very handsome). It was a nice day out - the house is fantastic (more interesting if you have someone like my wife to tell you about the history of the Cecils, who built it). The grounds are also beautiful - landscaped by Capability Brown. There's also a modern sculpture garden.