The Mayflower in Rotherhithe

I thought that as we were discussing pubs in London I would carry on the theme with the Mayflower in Rotherhithe. Now this is a lovely little pub tucked out of the way in south east London. It is on the banks of the Thames and nestled in between wharfs that were at one time the life blood of London town. Oddly enough, the Mayflower is probably the only pub in the UK that is licensed to sell postage stamps!


The Pilgrim fathers set sail on the Mayflower, captained by Captain Christopher Jones from here in 1620 and ended up in America 2 months later.

The Clink!

The Clink!

This is another of Londons little places hidden away that you must go visit or at least walk round the area in is in. It is tucked away near to London Bridge and Southwark Cathederal and also near to Borough market. It is a small museum but it is on the site where there has been a prison of some kind or another since the year 860. At that time there would only have been one small cell. In 1076 punishements were listed and prisoners could expect to have solitary confinement, scourging with rods (sounds painful!) and only bread a water.

The prisoners had the most awful treatment but if they had relations or friends who were well off then they could expect a slightly better time. Jailers were poorly paid themselves and taking money for various things helped them and their families. Candles, bedding, beds etc were hired out to those who were rich enough to afford it. Lighter leg irons were fitted, brothels were allowed to be run from inside the prison to pay for improvements within the building.

Nowdays the prison site has been turned into a museum complete with models of the prisoners and sound effects. Very eerie indeed but well worth a visit but don't take anyone of a nervous disposition along!

Just for you G.S.

Borough Market

Borough Market is the most wonderful place!

From the outside it just looks like some other run down place in London. When you venture inside you are met with the most wonderful atmosphere and on market day the most wonderful smells and sights.

This market was probably the first food market in London. First used as a market as far back as the Roman occupation. The market still trades as a wholesale market every night (except Saturday) from 2am - 8am. Shoppers such as you and I are able to buy the most wonderful things there on Thursdays 11am - 5pm, Fridays 12pm - 6pm and Saturdays 9am - 4pm.

This is the inside of the market after everyone has shut up and gone home. It is full of little open shops all displaying boards offering for sale their wonderful, mostly organic and home grown goods.

Does that sound good or what?!! Cumberland bacon and hams....I really must try those.

As you can see it is a pretty eerie place at night and you can just imagine how it must have been 200 years ago. By day it takes on a competely different feel and is now very trendy and busy. There are now more markets that have sprung up in the streets joining the market and these too are very much worth a visit.

While visiting the market you can of course visit the river Thames as the market is on the rivers bank right at London bridge. Southwark cathedral is also within 5 minutes walk. This cathedral is the oldest Gothic building in London. Sir Francis Drake's Golden Hinde is also within 5 minutes walk along with the Tate Modern and Shakespheares Globe too! The Clink prison is also nearby (more of that later!) and again within walking distance.

A great place to visit for the day...there is so much you can do without travelling too far!

The London Eye

Valentines day fast approaches and I noticed this weekend that the London Eye had gone red! I have to say I was really pleased I had my trusty camera in my handbad so made a slight detour round to the river bank and snapped a few photos for you. The traffic was a nightmare as Stamford street was shut due to a burst watermain...such a joy on any London street but at rush hour on a Friday it was just awful. I don't know if someone has forgotten to take the blue Christmas type lights down from the trees near to the Eye but there they are, all twinkling and bright still and perhaps clashing a little with the red lights of the Eye?

If you have not been on a "flight" on the London Eye then you really should try to go. I wonder why the rides are called "flights"? Probably due to the fact that British Airways are something to do with it all eh! My first "flight" was when the Eye opened and it was such an unseasonally hot day. As the pods are like mini greenhouses we were met with the fact the airconditioning had failed and were told that we could use our tickets and go back another time. The children were so excited that we decided to go on. It was a worthwhile, if not hot, 30 mintues and we all enjoyed the views. We were blessed with the fact it was a very clear day and we could see for miles while we melted. We have since been back several times and have even taken a night "flight" and I have to say that is really, really lovely.

Unilever House, Blackfriars, London

Unilever house, Blackfriars, London

Now I have a real problem with this building! This is the most wonderful building on the embankment at Blackfriars and at the moment is under going a BIG refurbishment. It used to be the HQ of Unilever products but it seems the building was surplus to requirements and got sold off. I understand it will soon be yet another hotel.

The problem I have is a case of missing statues. There used to be on the front of the building some beautiful statues standing very proud looking out at London. Where are they now? Gone! I only hope that as this is a grade 2 listed building the statues are somewhere being restored and will soon be back in place looking wonderful!

A walk along the embankment

Here is a photo of the Millenium Bridge opened in June 2000. This bridge was designed by Sir Normal Foster of "The Gherkin" fame. The design of the bridge caused some concerns when it was first opened to the public.....it wobbled and it was shut more or less straight away. The bridge reopened nearly a year later after some remedial works to stop the wobbles.

At the North end of the bridge you can see St Pauls cathedral. A very imposing building indeed. Built between 1675 and 1710 and designed by Sir Christopher Wren after the church on the same site was destroyed by The Great Fire of London.

We also walked to the Globe theatre. This is where Shakespeare is said to have given shows of most of his works. The Globe was painstakinly rebuilt and today we are very lucky to able to take a step back in time.

London is so rich in it's history and it's just there for us to take the time to go and visit!!

Tower bridge and the river eastwards to the sea!

Thanks Miss Sunshade, London is a cool place to live most of the time. The decorations in town are just fab but do not come up to the New York shops standards....my friends blog has real great photos.

I think I should post some more photos of London!

This photo is of Tower bridge and taken from Butlers Wharf. You can see in the background to the right of the photo "The Gherkin", the newest most beautiful building in the City now days. It was designed by Sir Norman Foster who has designed many buildings around the world.

This next photo is taken from the same place but looking East towards Canary Wharf. The white building is the Design museum and that is a pretty cool place to go and see all kinds of wonderful things. To the left of the museum is a lovely place to eat but they don't allow dogs so we didn't go in, I just sniffed the air as we walked past.

Now here is the back of the above photo. What used to be the Wharfs where men used to unload all the boats from round the world with very interesting deliveries right up until the early 1960's. There are now lots of posh and fancy apartments. It has become very trendy to live here and there are lots of very nice doggies living in these places too.

This photo is taken facing Canary Wharf with all the new great big skyscrapers in the background. Canary Wharf used to be a derelect place with slums and very poor housing. 25 years ago this all started to change with these great big buildings being built and London City airport being opened. Now this is like a City in itself with several big companies based there and the introduction of a new rail line the Docklands railway too. Housing has also been built and it costs an arm and a leg to move out there but very trendy. The river goes out to sea from here and out to the Thames estuary and the English Channel.