Places of Interest

There's 2 major venues right next to each other. Not counting pubs.

I enjoy having a mooch around music shops. I also look to see if there are any live music venues in the area (or even just a random cafe with a piano). Like the fine lady of Banbury Cross, I shall have music wherever I go!

Coffee in the morning (and last thing at night), tea throughout the day. 

Iceland, yes, indeed, B. For all the reasons you've mentioned, I have contemplated going to Iceland a few times over the past few years with family, but then we've always opted for some other place with guaranteed sunshine. When things get back to normal, it's on my list of places in the EU to visit. 

I know nothing about the Landmark Trust! Fascinating. This is something I'm going to enjoy finding out about. Thank you very much for this info. New ideas are the name of the game! I too get a thrill at the thought of staying in an old castle or WW2 bunker. I love live theatre and so if there is some theatrical enactment involved, it's right up my street. 

You're going to come here and purchase a Piano?  Or do you just like looking at music shops?  There's a good record shop.

It does look very quaint and very much the kind of town I'd enjoy. I avoid big cities. I'm going to see if there's a music shop anywhere or some place with a piano.

Hi Robert, to give just a broad outline, in my early twenties, I made a very rash decision to move in with a guy who I barely knew and he turned out to be unsavoury. We went to visit some of his friends in Chesterfield and they treated me very badly. That's the least traumatic way of describing it.  Since then, I have some PTSD around that part of the world. It's irrational, but it's not something I've been able to shake even after all these years. 

I visited Chesterfield once whilst campaigning. I also thought the people very friendly.  Nice market square.

I have been here most days for nearly 4 decades.  I'm a Yellerbelly. 

Glad you enjoyed visiting our part of the world.

The standup Stewart Lee visited us a few years back and described uphill as the thinking part of town and downhill as the fighting part.  A humorous generalisation.

What happened in Chesterfield?

I found Chesterfield to be a quiet, pleasant market town with it's twisted spire cathedral.

Lincoln is nice.  Cathedral city.  And many other old buildings.

Agreed, I've been to Lincoln once on a nice hot sunny day.  It is hilly so you need to be fit.  It made a nice change from York, which I've visited maybe fifty times.

☕Tassimo ☕ said:

large mug of very milky tea and a pile of coconut biscuits by my laptop

I like the way you plan. My own world runs on tea.

So, I don't actually have much in the way of good suggestions for what you're looking for, but I have two things that might lead to ideas who knows.

First off; Iceland! I know, it's a whole other country, but it is hands down my most favourite place to visit. I think some of it is to do with the calm and the quiet the place exudes, while being simultaneously friendly without being in your face about it. It's beautiful, and in the winter I spent so many nights watching the aurora borealis. I know that right now you won't be travelling internationally, but it's worth considering in the future. In the meantime though, perhaps somewhere in Scotland where the aurora borealis can occasionally be seen would provide a similar experience.

Second suggestion is the Landmark Trust. Now, I have yet to actually do one of these, but they are forever on my to-do list. You can sometimes find decent prices buying off-season and far enough in advance, and it also varies wildly with the different sites. The down side is, quite often you can't book anything decent at short notice and so there'll be a long wait. But I love the idea of going to stay in an old castle, or a WW2 bunker and such.

Thanks, O. I'm starting to get cabin fever, but I don't want to be made to get swabbed and tested just to get on a plane, so there have got to be lots of unusual places in the UK to discover until everyone forgets about coronavirus.

Love the idea I’ve always wanted to explore the UK I hope you get to do it

There's the issue with the Protocol, and a border imposed on the Irish Sea. But that's all Sinn Fein, the SDLP and Alliance making silk purses out of sows' ears. Most people get along, and transcend political division.

Belfast was a Tourist Mecca, until Covid hit. However, there was a Party Bike for those on tour - mostly Stag/Hen dos - which I thought were naff. Even back in 2018/19, I thought that Belfast was like Dawn of the Dead. Especially when the Christmas Market is running.

There's the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum at Cultra - North Down - and the Ulster American Folk Park - between Omagh and Newtonstewart in Tyrone. However you need to book tickets online with EventBrite.

Not sure about the Ferries. But I would guess that it's the same rhitmetik as Airport Security; only on a smaller scale.

Don't worry, M. I can do my own checking online. But thank you for the suggestion. It's somewhere very new to me and new is always exciting travel-wise. Get some rest.

They say that we are frozen in time.  I think it is true and that this is good thing.  The beauty of the cathedral quarter is reason most people visit.  There are many different sides to the people here.  If i was to go into great depth it would be paragraphs and i'm tired this evening.

I have a very unpleasant memory about being in Chesterfield and Mansfield. So Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire are regions I'd prefer to avoid, Desmond. It's a long time ago, but I still have a touch of PTSD about it. 

I've been to Anglesey a few times already, Desmond. It's a quaint little place. I know Manchester like the back of my hand having worked extensively around Greater Manchester, Tameside and Cheshire (and growing up only twenty miles form the city centre). 

I don't drink alcohol so probably not much of interest for me in a distillery other than pure curiosity.

Now, Cumbria is a place I know a little having been many times to the Lakes.

Curiously, I've never considered Northern Ireland as a place to visit. I think it's because I'm old enough to remember all the sectarian violence in the 70's and 80's. I know things have changed now, so maybe it's time to give NI another look. Where are the best places/attractions to visit? I'd still probably feel too self conscious with my English accent and would be totally paranoid about standing out. 

Do we have to get swabbed on order to cross the channel and enter NI form the mainland?

Chesterfield is in Derbyshire. Mansfield in on the Nottinghamshire side of the border; than end.

I looks like a lovely town. I've never been that far East.  I had a very bad experience in Nottinghamshire many years ago (Chesterfield) so I kind of dismissed the East of England after that. I have been past Grantham on the way to Cambridge.

What is the character of the people like, M? 

https://www.wanderlust.co.uk/content/reasons-to-visit-lincoln-england-cathedral-castle/