Shuttleworth Collection and Henry Moore Foundation

1924 A.N.E.C. II

    

Yakovlev - YAK 11

    

1948 Hawker Sea Fury T20         1941 Hawker Sea Hurricane 1b

         1918 - Avro 504K                      1916 - Sopwith Triplane

    

1918 Royal Aircraft Factory SE5a biplane F904

   1916 – Sopwith Triplane

1911 – Avro Triplane (replica)

1910 Boxkite (replica)

    

1910 – Deperdussin

    

1909 - Bleriot XI

The Bleriot is restricted to straight hops across the aerodrome. However it is the world's oldest aeroplane with the earliest aero-engine in flying condition.

Please note that if there are any errors in any of the aircrafts’ descriptions then it is entirely my fault. Please let me know so I can correct them.

More details of the aircraft can be found at the Shuttleworth Collection website.
             http://www.shuttleworth.org/shuttleworth-collection/aircraft.asp

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Henry Moore Foundation  -  Perry Green, Hertfordshire

The Henry Moore Foundation was founded by the artist in 1977 to encourage public appreciation of the visual arts, and in particular the works of Henry Moore.

Sue in the garden with Henry Moore’s house in the background

At the time of our visit there were quite a few of Auguste Rodin’s sculptures on display – here is the
Monument to the Burghers of Calais

All the following sculptures are by Henry Moore.

Three Piece Sculpture

      

The Arch

Large upright Internal/External

    

Double Oval

  

Moore’s signature – notice the number 0/2 the zero indicates that this is the artists own sculpture

Large Figure in a Shelter

Large Totem Head

     

Hertfordshire - Ashwell

 After WGS we travelled all the way to Ashwell, 20 miles away.

We stayed on the Ashridge Farm Caravan Club site 10 minutes walk from the centre of Ashwell. This was a really good centre for our activities of biking (Stuart), geocaching, visiting places and even for friends to drop in.

Ashridge Farm Caravan Club site reception

   

Ashwell dates back to about 1350, but it wasn’t until the 19th century that it saw any real growth with straw plaiting, coprolite extraction and brewing. The first two industries declined in the late 1800’s and then the breweries closed in the early 1900’s. Ashwell is now a dormitory town and we could see that many of the old properties had been renovated or were in the process of.

The Guild House – built in 1681
The fancy plaster work is know as ‘pargetting’

Foresters’ Cottages

   

Houses in Springhead

The Lychgate – Mill Street One of the few double lychgates in the country.

 

St. Mary’s Church, Ashwell

We visited Carol, who lives in Letchworth, 10 minutes away. We were pleased to see both her children and two grandchildren. On arrival we walked into a water fight – it was very hot.

 

Clare in the garden

Shopping in Letchworth

 

Water features in Letchworth

   

David and Carol visited us for a day. We managed a geocaching walk in the countryside which was very nice because it was cooler than around the village. This was followed by an al fresco meal.

    

Close to the site was this wonderful field of poppies.

On one of my cycle rides I saw these two vehicles which were a little out of place. One is a New York Taxi cab and the other a Renault 4 from France with ‘Gendarmarie’ down the side.

   

Former dovecote in Guilden Morden 17th century – now a dwelling.

From Ashwell we visited the Shuttleworth Collection of planes plus air show and the Henry Moore Sculpture park. I have rather a lot of photos of both these visits so I will put them in a separate blog.

Notice seen in an Ashwell shop window

          

Hertfordshire – Welwyn Garden City

This was to be a two centre trip. The first 7 days in Welwyn Garden City (WGS) and the rest of the time in Ashwell close to Letchworth.
’Welwyn Garden City was founded by Sir Ebenezer Howard in the 1920s following his previous experiment in Letchworth Garden City. Howard had called for the creation of planned towns that were to combine the benefits of the city and the countryside and to avoid the disadvantages of both.’ Although the centre was not that large, it had all the usual shops, I managed to zip around in no time at all Sue took a little longer. The gardens close by were were very well kept and a pleasure to amble around.

The Gardens

    

From 1969 – 72 we lived in Hemel Hempstead and as it wasn’t too far away we had to visit.

Hemel Old Town

The newer part of The Marlowes shopping street

 

This is where we used to live – in the upper maisonette.

We were staying at Commons Wood Caravan Club site, which is situated next to the main hospital in WGC. Many of the local buses came passed the hospital so we had plenty of choice of places to go. One day we went to St. Albans and had a good walk around.

St Albans Cathedral

The present church, begun in 1077 and the largest building in the land at the time, replaced an earlier Benedictine abbey founded by King Offa in ad 793. Within the abbey's boundary walls a small town existed with almost every daily necessity on site or brought in from the town or outlying farms owned by the monastery. Senior monks ran the various "departments": guest house, refectory, infirmary, etc. aided by numerous lay servants and craftspeople.

West Façade

The Nave

      

Adjoining ceilings – quite a contrast

The 14th century Abbey Gateway

Fishpool Street – parts date back to 1290

     

Another day, another visit (in the rain) to Hertford.
How much liquorice did you buy?

This was originally the Verger's house, today Hertford's oldest surviving building is an antique shop. It dates back to 1470.

 

The Ashwell blog is coming soon.