August Crafty Cuppas... plus the Festival of Quilts

(Apologies to anyone who got a draft version of this in their inbox earlier - I hit the wrong button! Oops)

Oh my goodness how is it August already?? This summer is just zipping by...

A new month means more Crafty Cuppas, hurrah!

There's a Crafty Cuppa happening in London on the second Sunday and third Thursday of each month this summer. We're meeting at a different free museum or gallery each time, so we can have a cuppa (and a bit of cake!) in their cafe then wander round the exhibits and soak up a bit of inspiration.

If you're a crafty/creative blogger or a designer/maker/Etsy-seller and fancy a couple of hours chatting about making, blogging and business do come along!

Me, having tea

Sound like fun? Check out the details of this month's get-togethers below... and if you want to come along, please let me know so I know to expect you & so I can message you in case of cancellations, etc. You can send me an email, tweet me or message me on Facebook.

Sunday 10th August, 2pm. Tate Modern.

We'll be meeting at 2pm just outside the side entrance into the Turbine Hall (pictured above), then going for a cuppa in the main cafe at about ten past. The nearest Tube stations for the Tate Modern are Southwark, Blackfriars and St Pauls, click here for more travel info.


Thursday 21st August, 2pm. National Gallery.

The last Crafty Cuppa of the summer! We'll be meeting at 2pm just inside the entrance to the Sainsbury Wing (pictured above) then going for a cuppa in the cafe or the Espresso bar at about ten past. The nearest Tube stations for the National Gallery are Charing Cross, Embankment, Piccadilly and Leicester Square, click here for more travel info.


This month I'm also going to be going along to the Festival of Quilts. I'll be there on the Friday and Saturday - if you're going too and fancy meeting up, do give me a shout! :)

Apsley House and Another Crafty Cuppa

I have been loving my Nice Days Out (not least because of the positive effect they've been having on my stress levels!) but it can be tricky fitting in a weekly trip within my budget. I bought a railcard which helps me save a bit on my trainfares to London, and my Art Pass has helped a lot too.

I've been trying to squeeze in as many visits to free-with-my-Art-Pass places as I can to get the best value I can from my membership. As well as saving money, this makes planning my trips easier as instead of picking something to do from the whole of London and several neighbouring counties I can just pick something from the list of places in my Art Fund Guide instead!

Recently I've visited the Handel House Museum, the Guards Museum and then in early July - when I needed to pick somewhere to visit before a Crafty Cuppa - I decided to visit Apsley House.

Apsley was the home of the Duke of Wellington and overlooks Hyde Park Corner and the Wellington Arch (which celebrates his victory over Napoleon). Apparently the statue at the top of the arch depicts the angel of Peace riding the chariot of War (in its place originally was a massive statue of Wellington on his horse!) 

 

Dotted around the Arch are several other statues and war memorials - including the Royal Artillery Memorial, a Statue of Wellington on his horse (looking towards Apsley House), the Machine Gun Corps Memorial, and the New Zealand War Memorial. 

 

I found the Australian War Memorial particularly moving - it's covered in the names of the thousands of towns where the soldiers were born, and some of the small letters are picked out in a bolder typeface so together they spell out the names of several of the battle sites they fought in.

 

Wellington Arch is usually open to the public (for a fee) but was closed when I visited, so I just had a look at the outside. The gates are pretty spectacular...
 

... and there are more fancy gates at the entrance to Hyde Park (love that shade of green!)...

... and at the front of Apsley House (which is just next door).

 

This was an interesting house to visit! Only half of the house is open to the public - the private half is occupied by the current Duke of Wellington and his family. The rooms you can look round feel like a cross between visiting a stately home and visiting a slightly old-fashioned military museum.

There are lots of paintings, and a whole room filled with gifts given to Wellington by assorted heads of State (porcelain dinner services seem to have been a popular choice). There's not a lot of information on display in each room, but there's an audio guide that takes you on a tour around the house. There are introductions to each room, optional guides to some of the objects in them, and background information about the life of the Duke of Wellington (his marriage, his military campaigns and so on).

Rather a nice touch is that the audio guide includes the current Duke's reminiscences of visiting the house as a boy (sliding down the bannisters, etc!). Apparently there's also a collection of the first Duke's personal memorabilia in the basement but I managed to miss that (oops).

Then it was time to head to the V&A for a Crafty Cuppa. I'd planned on hopping on the Tube but decided to walk as it had turned into such a lovely day.

 

It's funny when you walk in London how your mental map of the city changes. I'd not realised that Harrods was quite so close to the V&A as it actually is! I must remember to pop in for a look round next time I'm nearby, as I've never been to Harrods before (or to Harvey Nicks!).

At the V&A I met up with Jo. We had a lovely cuppa and cake in the spectacular cafe then pottered about the museum, chatting about sewing and blogging and lots of other crafty things.

It was lovely to meet Jo after chatting with her on Twitter, and to have some company exploring the museum and some of its treasures. Seeing the awesome patchwork bag she made to showcase some of her recent stitchy projects has made me very tempted to sew something similar, and our chat about the &Stitches picnic inspired me to start sewing my mini moss stitch squares into a picnic blanket.

Which reminds me, I have some more squares to stitch together!

The Handel House Museum... and a Crafty Cuppa

Man, I am so far behind with blogging about my Nice Days Out! I have been taking days off and going to fun places, just not getting round to editing all my photos and blogging about my trips.

Waaaay back in June, it was time for the second Crafty Cuppa of the month so I headed up to London for the day. My plan was to do a whole bunch of tourist-y stuff before lunch, then head over to the Natural History Museum where we were meeting at 2pm. Unfortunately I had a bit of a slow start that day - I can't remember if this was due to laziness or me needing to get something done before I left, but whatever the reason the end result was the same: I got into London much later than expected and didn't have a lot of time to spare before I'd have to hop on the Tube and head NHM-wards.

Only having time to squeeze in one thing from my planned list, I picked visiting the Handel House Museum. I'm not at all interested in classical music so you'd think visiting the home of a famous composer wouldn't be my cup of tea... but I was really looking forward to it after after visiting the Foundling Museum earlier this year and learning a bit about Handel's life and philanthropic work. Plus, like the Foundling Museum, the Handel House Museum is another place I can get in free with my Art Pass. Hurrah!

The house is just off super-fancy New Bond Street, with the entrance tucked round the back of the building.

You go down a little side street...

... turn right, and there it is.

 

When you arrive at the house, there's an introductory video to watch but I skipped this because I knew I was going to be short of time. Once you've been introduced to Handel and his work, you can explore his house and then look round the exhibitions in the adjoining building (where Jimi Hendrix once rented a flat!).

The rooms have been restored and furnished with pieces that are similar to ones known to have been owned by Handel, with lots of portraits and other pictures on the walls relating to his life and work. In each of the four rooms, you learn about a different period of Handel's life - there are detailed information sheets that tell you about the composer's life and about all the objects and art in the rooms. 

Now, sitting and reading lots of facts about a long-dead composer and his life in Georgian London is not for everyone but I loved it and I got so absorbed reading the interesting sheets in each room (and making notes, because I am that much of a nerd) that I totally forgot to check the time... and all of a sudden I had to rush to catch the Tube! So, no time to look round the exhibition but maybe I'll pop back in another day? 

I got to the Natural History Museum just in time (phew) for the Crafty Cuppa.

I was joined by Julie, Carina and Fiona and it wasn't long before we were nattering away about making and blogging while enjoying a cuppa and some very yummy cake in the museum's cafe. The plan had been to wander round the museum but unfortunately it turns out the the NHM is very stuffy on a hot day, so we decided to go for a walk instead.

We checked out a photography exhibition at the Royal Geographical Society...

... then walked through Hyde Park...

 

 

 

... and visited the Sackler Serpentine Gallery.

 

Finally, after much walking and chatting we headed to Kensington High Street...

 

(I held everyone up so I could cross the road to take a photo of this building - typical blogger behaviour - isn't it delightfully bonkers?)

... then said our goodbyes at the Tube station and headed homewards.

Such a lovely afternoon.

PS There will be two more Crafty Cuppas happening in August! You can see the dates & some more details here and I'll be blogging the full meet-up info at the start of the month. Carina & Julie (as part of the &Stitches team) are also hosting a stitch-y picnic on the first weekend of August which looks like a lot of fun.

July Crafty Cuppas

Remember the Crafty Cuppas I'm organising this summer?

If you're a crafty/creative blogger or a designer/maker/Etsy-seller and fancy a couple of hours chatting about making, blogging and business do come along!

There's a Crafty Cuppa happening in London on the second Sunday and third Thursday of each month this summer... we're meeting at a different free museum or gallery each time, so we can have a cuppa (and a bit of cake!) in their cafe then wander round the exhibits and soak up a bit of inspiration.

Me, having tea

Sound like fun? Check out the details of this month's get-togethers below... and if you want to come along, please let me know so I know to expect you & so I can message you in case of cancellations, etc. You can send me an email, tweet me or message me on Facebook.


Sunday 13th July, 2pm. Victoria & Albert Museum.

 

(I know this one is very short notice, sorry!) We'll be meeting at 2pm just outside the main entrance on Cromwell Road (pictured above), then going for a cuppa in the main cafe at about ten past. The nearest Tube station for the V&A is South Kensington, click here for more travel info.


Thursday 17th July, 2pm. Museum of London.
 

We'll be meeting at 2pm just outside the museum's main entrance, then going for a cuppa at about ten past (probably in the Entrance Hall cafe, unless it's too busy in which case we'll go downstairs to the one in the Sackler Hall). The nearest Tube stations for the Museum of London are St Paul's & Barbican, click here for more travel info.


Can't make either of these dates or just want to plan ahead? Here are more dates for your diary - I'll post more details at the start of August  :)

Sunday 10th August, 2pm. Tate Modern.
Thursday 21st August, 2pm. National Gallery.

Back to Kensington Palace... Plus: the First Crafty Cuppa

A couple of weekends ago I had a Nice Day Out in London and the weather couldn't have been more perfect: beautifully sunny!

I started the day at Kensington Gardens, which is conveniently located near Paddington - the station I usually arrive at when coming into the city. The park is so peaceful, walking through it is a wonderful way to begin a day out and it's been really interesting revisiting it at different times of the year and seeing the landscape change. Unsurprisingly, it was a lot busier on a sunny morning in June than it was back in frosty January!

 

I gradually made my way towards the Palace side of the park, walking via the famous Peter Pan statue which was surrounded by thrilled tourists.

 

I'd decided to make a return visit to Kensington Palace, as the King's State Apartments had been closed when I visited in April and I wanted to see them. Luckily for me the Palace is one of the places I can get into free with my Art Pass so going back for a second visit = no problem.

(The Queen's State Apartments were closed this time round, so I think my top tip for visiting Kensington Palace would be check to see what's open before you visit!)

I'm really glad I went back because the King's State Apartments are definitely the loveliest bit of the building and there were some fun things to experience. For example: the pair of actors walking through the space in period costume gossiping about court scandals, and the "Smell Map of the Georgian Court" (a scratch and sniff map of the apartments, with a specially chosen scent for each room).

I was also nerdily delighted by the large dial above the fireplace in the Kings Gallery which connects to the Palace's weathervane, so you can see the direction the wind is blowing without having to go outside and look... like a big weather clock, I guess.

I have to admit though that my favourite bit of Kensington Palace is actually the (free-to-visit) sunken garden at the front.

 

 

The garden was looking quite different to when I last visited - not least because the covered walkways were now looking lush and leafy! I'd thought this a lovely spot before, but sitting on a bench in this peaceful, dappled shade was quite wonderful.

 

 

Definitely one of my favourite places in London to sit and eat an icecream! (The icecream was pretty tasty, too).

 

Once I'd finished my icecream I walked on down through the park towards Exhibition Road, via the Flower Walk which I'd not explored before. Slightly surprisingly, this had very few flowers in it but it was a lovely quiet place to stroll through...

... and full of very friendly squirrels!

 

I'd planned on walking straight to the Tube station, but took a slight detour as I passed a sign for the London Map Fair and thought "oooh, that sounds interesting!"

There was an amazing selection of old maps on display and (added bonus) it was really nice to be able to get a peek inside the Royal Geographical Society, where the fair was being held. Sadly I didn't have time to stop and have tea in the little tearoom as I had to head onwards...

 

... to catch the Tube to Leicester Square, walk up the Charing Cross Road and visit the newly opened flagship branch of Foyles to return a book that had unfortunately arrived damaged after I ordered it from their online store. 

After a quick nose around the new (huge!) store (mmm... books...) ... I walked the short way to the British Museum for a late lunch. 

After lunch I visited a few of my favourite galleries then headed to the entrance to see if anyone would show up for a Crafty Cuppa. I'd been so busy that I'd not really had a chance to promote it or to follow up with people to see if they were coming (I am so terrible at organising this stuff), but luckily I wasn't left to have tea on my own as the lovely Berta of Piparapip showed up to say hello! Hurrah! :)

It was so nice to meet Berta, to hear all about her blog and how she fell in love with crochet, and to have a good old natter about the ups and downs and ins and outs of blogging. Two and a bit hours zipped by pretty darn fast and I headed home feeling really enthused about blogging and really looking forward to the next Crafty Cuppa (I will of course keep you guys updated about these - see this post for the July & August dates!).

Come for a Crafty Cuppa!

As you may remember, I'm organising some Crafty Cuppas - times for some of us designer/makers and/or creative bloggers to meet up, drink tea, eat cake and chat about making and business and blogging and other fun stuff.

This summer there'll be a Crafty Cuppa happening in London on the second Sunday and third Thursday of each month... we'll be meeting at a different free museum or gallery each time, so we can have a cuppa in their cafe then wander round the exhibits and soak up a bit of inspiration.

Fancy coming along? Here are the details of this month's get-togethers...  

Sunday 8th June, 2pm. British Museum.

We'll be meeting at 2pm just inside the main entrance on Great Russell Street, then going for a cuppa in one of the Court Cafes at about a quarter past (n.b. there are two of these, in different corners of the Great Court so if you arrive late and can't spot us at one, try the other). Thinking of coming along? Let me know so I can look out for you! The nearest Tube stations for the British Museum are Tottenham Court Road, Holborn, Russell Square and Goodge Street (click here for a map). 

Thursday 19th June, 2pm. Natural History Museum.

We'll be meeting at 2pm next to the dinosaur in the Central Hall, then going for a cuppa in the Central Hall cafe at about a quarter past. Thinking of coming along? Let me know so I can look out for you! The nearest Tube station for the Natural History Museum is South Kensington (click here for a map). N.B. there can often be a queue to get into the Natural History Museum, so try and arrive early!


Can't make either of those dates or just want to plan ahead? Here are more dates for your diary (I'll post more details on the 1st of each month).

Sunday 13th July, 2pm. Victoria & Albert Museum.
Thursday 17th July, 2pm. Museum of London.
Sunday 10th August, 2pm. Tate Modern.
Thursday 21st August, 2pm. National Gallery.

P.S. Like sewing? Check out the fab stitchy picnics &Stitches are organising this summer.

P.P.S. Love blogging? Come to Blognix!