Deal Vintage Motor Show

A beautiful Rolls Royce

This is not my usual sort of blog, but I thought some of you would like to see some beautiful old cars and motorbikes, not to mention the vintage tractors and lifeboat models. The show was held on Walmer Green on Saturday, it was a beautiful day, there was a lovely atmosphere, and lots of people milling around admiring the gleaming machines.

The proceeds of the show went to the RNLI, which is a great cause, I hope they made lots of money

I think this is a Morgan??

I love this one it is a Rover

I am not a car person so only know the names of a few of the models, I hope you enjoy the photos

A Scooter, with rather a lot of lights, but it looks good.

Royal Enfield, this one looked really good.

An Ariel

After I had had a good look round I bumped into a friend who has a beach hut opposite the Lifeboat house, so I enjoyed a cup of tea with them and basked in the sun. I even got sunburnt, and have definitely gathered a few more freckles!!

A couple of the model lifeboats

The Walmer Inshore Lifeboat.

A Brocante and some bargains :)

Grand Canal, Venice (shame about the stain on this one!)

Every May Day bank holiday there is a Brocante on Walmer Green, the weather is usually pretty awful, if it is not raining there is usually a strong wind blowing off the sea, but it is usually worth a visit. There are probably about 100 stalls selling bric-a-brac of all descriptions from furniture, old jewellery, crockery to books, pictures and even army clothes.

Salisbury Cathedral

Ely Cathedral

We have had a few bargains over the years, my daughter bought all her willow pattern crockery that she took to University from there one year, and I bought a beautiful Chinese calligraphy set and a set of Chinese calligraphy another year.

Ripon Cathedral

Bristol Cathedral

This year the weather decided to be kinder to the stall holders, so I met my husband and son up there for a look round again this year. My husband is not really interested in this sort of thing, whereas my son is a bit more like me, he likes a good rummage! We had a look round, but I really wanted a good rummage on my own, so I suggested that my husband and son go home and leave me to it, which they did.

Trinity College Chapel

Rochester Cathedral

I then spent an enjoyable hour or so having a good look round, I bought a very pretty pair of earrings, then I found two local history books at a very good price (it is handy working in a Library at times!!) which we intend to sell on, we know they are worth more than I paid for them!

Carlisle Cathedral

Durham Cathedral

I was just about ready to head home when I spotted a photo album on another stall, so I had a look. The album was very tatty, and inside I could see a lot of loose pictures of the interiors of churches and cathedrals. I think a lot of you will know my interest in these kinds of buildings, so I asked the stallholder how much he wanted for the album. He asked me to give him an offer, which I did, a very low one! He upped the price just a bit but I played it a bit so he didn’t go any higher, and bought the album. The guy told me I had got the bargain of the day as the etchings would probably sell for way more than that!

Worcester Cathedral

Chichester Cathedral

I went home very pleased with my purchases, I took everything out of the album, disposed of the album in the bin and had a good look at the pictures. There are about 40 etchings and about half a dozen pictures all taken from old books, all of them of interiors and exteriors of churches with the exception of the Venice one shown at the top of the page. The guy was right they are etchings, original ones at that and hand coloured. A lot of them have ‘For Winkles Cathedrals’ written on them, so I did a bit of research on the internet. ‘Winkles Cathedrals’ is a set of three volumes printed in around 1833, and a number of the etchings are for sale on ebay, not coloured, each one selling for around twice the price I paid for the whole album, and none are coloured, all of mine have been trimmed, which is a shame, but I do have 21 of them! The man was right I think I did get the bargain of the day!! However, I bought them because I like them, so my intention is to mount them all up, enjoy them, and maybe get to some of the Cathedrals shown. I am still looking into the other 20 or so etchings, to find out where they have come from! I hope you enjoy looking at a few of my ‘treasures’  

York Cathedral

Dover Castle

Last week my friend and I went on a ‘photo shoot’ to Dover Castle, we are both interested in photography, so every now and then we take ourselves off on an outing, to improve our photography – well that is our excuse anyway! We had a lovely day taking photos, nattering, eating cake, taking photos, nattering….and for once the sun was shining! Readers of my old blog will probably remember my last visit to the Castle, it is great that we have so many castles in our area.

Looking over the town of Dover and the harbour.

The flags were flying for our visit….lol

Looking over the English Channel with St Mary-in-Castro Saxon Church and the Pharos lighthouse.

I am sure that most people will have heard of this massive fortress, which overlooks the English Channel. There have been fortifications on the site for over 2000 years, with the present castle being built by Henry II in the 1180’s. I think this is most peoples idea of what a ‘real castle’ should look like!

The throne room

The thrones

The Kings bed, which is very short, the reason for this is that in those days people slept sitting up not because they weren’t very tall!

I could go to sleep very happily with this fire burning in my bedroom

We started our tour by climbing to the top of the tower, the view from up there is just amazing, and from there we explored the inside of the tower, which a few years ago underwent a transformation into how the castle must have looked in 1180, when it was first completed. The top floor is the Kings quarters, with the guest floor below that, and the kitchens on the ground floor. The guide in the guest quarters was very informative, so we stood with him for a while in front of the roaring log fire. We had noticed the graffiti on lots of the walls, the graffiti dates back to the early 1700’s when the tower was used to hold French prisoners. I am sure in those days the tower must have been a very cold, uninviting place. It is thought that at one time the walls had panelling on them, which was probably used by the prisoners to build fires to attempt to keep themselves warm.

The Dining Hall on the Guest floor.

The guest quarters

Fireside chair

Another lovely fire on this floor.

The kitchen on the ground floor.

Examples of graffiti done by French prisoners of war in the early 1700’s

Le Roi (The King) can be clearly seen in this one

The guide showed us this one, it is hidden behind a curtain.

Dated 23rd July 1710

This one is dated 1708

Also situated on the Guest floor is the beautiful Chapel, there is no graffiti on the walls here, it is just a beautiful small, peaceful room.

 

We decided not to go down into the Secret Wartime Tunnels this time, but we did go into the Medieval tunnels, and visited St Mary-in-Castro church which stands alongside the Roman Pharos (lighthouse) all of which were very interesting.

The Medieval tunnels

The Roman Pharos

Inside the Roman Pharos, looking up!

I have used some photos taken at an earlier date, as well as those taken last week, I hope you enjoy the photos, my friend and I had a great day out, we are now plotting where to go next…..