It is Helen's birthday and true to form I was a big disappointment to her. I never know what to buy as I don't want to get something that she doesn't want so leave her to buy things she really wants. We were hoping to get to the theatre of pictures but we are between shows at the moment and there is nothing that she wants to see at the cinema. We walked into town along the canal in good weather and lots of people out. We soon found the Market Square and from there we were straight into the Tourist Information Centre and finding a map etc. There is a Heritage walk so we did that to get our bearings.
As we approached the town it all looked modern and not that interesting but once we started on the Heritage Walk we soon found how wrong we were. We soon walked down Church Street and were soon in the free museum. I found it frustrating that many of the cases did not have any explanation and you had to find a very low book type affair to see what you are looking at. There were some good exhibits though and luckily whilst we were in there it was raining.
Church Street looking towards St Mary's Church. The museum is in building to the right and a variety of style on the left hand side.
No.1 Church Street chimney details.
No.1 Church Street has 16th Century origins and belonged to Thomas Hickman who in his will of 1695 left five houses and land for provision to the poor and elderly of Aylesbury. The charity now owns many houses in the area of the Old Town and manages aid of over £600,000.
St Mary's Square, behind the church, is a quiet and elegant area of the town, but it wasn't always so. The brick work of some of the buildings have parallel scratch marks that look like just plain vandalism but apparently were where pupils attending the local schools would sharpen their pencils that they used on slates!
Castle Street also has some nice old buildings. The road has been lowered to enable horse drawn vehicles to get up the hill more easily which is why the doors are so high up above the road.
By the time we had done this much we were thinking of lunch and where else than the Kings Head. It was owned as a hotel by the Rothschilds. It's oldest part dates from 1455. It started out as a family home and became a coaching in mid 17th Century. It was given to the National Trust in 1925. The Farmers Bar pub side is leased as the brewery tap of the Chiltern Brewery. I had a pint of their Gold.
Kings Head, Aylesbury.
We went round the rest of the walk and saw the old squares etc. We also did a comprehensive check of the the modern shops and market, (Well comprehensive for a man that is!). We had decided that we wouldn't go out again so stopped off and bought some nice birthday grub and a bottle of wine and so I was head chef tonight. I'm feeling full and we haven't had any cake yet.
3 comments:
Happy birthday, Helen!
Tony, here's how to buy the present Helen wants - listen, listen, listen and when she says 'wow, that's nice' make a note and go back and buy whatever it is, then hide it till her birthday. That's what David does and IT WORKS!!! Mxox
Hi Marilyn,
You are of course right but it would easy if the things she says she likes aren't dresses etc. It was easy when we had nowt, but now she has 'everything' it means bigger mistakes. Oh well I will carry a little notebook with me at all times.
Post a Comment