Station Hill Reading

I went over to Reading the other day and was rather shocked to see that all of Station hill had changed again. Now I admit it was a while since I had bee to the town and the last they were preparing to demolish some buildings . I'll fill you in a bit with some new and old photos.

This building I knew as the Foster Wheeler Building. I thought it was going to be demolished but it seems the cladding was removed and they added another four stories to it.

This part here used to have a Subway you could walk along to the Bus Station

The area behind the fencing used to be Reading Bus Station. I might add I remember the building that was there before that

All this are used to have an office block and shopping arcade

To give you an idea as to what used to be here, the office block, the Bus Station was the near the Office Tower taken a couple of years ago as they prepaired to demolish the building

The original Foster Wheeler building before it was changed.

All of Station hill was redeveloped back in the late 1960's where I remember all the work being done. It's not an area I liked very much so demolishing it can only improve the look

If you click the link you can see some photos I took of Station Hill and Reading Bus Station back in 2009 

Taking Part in Our world Tuesday

St Mary's Butts

I visited St Mary's Church in Reading the other day for my blog and while talking to the lady's selling charity Christmas Cards mentions the Butts and told them the story behid the name, I was supprised when they told me they never knew of it, told them the meaning behind the name. So just in case you are wondering if I am talking about another kind of butt here is what it really means. The  Information comes from Wikipedia
 "In the Middle Ages, Edward IV made it compulsory for all yeomen in England to learn archery. An archery butts was set up on the land in front of the Minster Church of St Mary the Virgin. It was used by the adult males of Reading to practice on Sundays. Some of the archers who fought at the Battle of Agincourt trained at St Mary's Butts. In 1631 the town paid £3 to have the archery grounds closed."

When I came out of the church I noticed a mural on the base of a  CCTV pole showing Archers

 Round the otherside were two more

And across the road on a communications box the Achery Butt 

So if you go to Reading and find yourself in St Mary's Butts you know the story behind the name 

Taking Part in Monday Mural

Halloween Moon

Ok I know it's few days away &  I took the photos a fewdays ago but I thought they would be OK for Halloween

 Rose thorns got in the way 

The Moon not quite full but the best I could do. Have a Happy Halloween 

Hinton Ampner Sky

This is my 1000th post and I 'm joining with my Favorite Linky SkyWatch Friday The photos are from a recent visit to Hinton Ampner

 Hinton Ampner House

 Turn rond the ther way and this is the view you see of the coutryside

 One of the lawns, this one is in the Walled Garden looking towards the church
Going to take a break from Blogging for a week or so

Butterfly's & Bees

Grand Opening

My wife & I along with my son headed to Newbury a few weeks ago to Camp Hopson where they were having a grand opening after weeks of refurbishing the department store. The entrance in off the carpark was lined with banners

 

Thought it looked very welcoming 

After a quick look round it was upstairs to the Terrace cafe which had gone through a transformation and a new name

I loved the decorations using crockery 

and had to take a couple of photos especially the teapots 

Out on the main stree the food market was back, these cupcakes looked really scrummy 

Along with dishes like this 

Or fresh baked bread

but you can never have enough cake

Taking Part in Our World Tuesday

Sky at Toot Baldwin

Taken from the Churchyard

Little Red Car

The Village of Collingbourne Ducis

I posted some photos of the church a couple of weeks ago so I thought I would show the village in this weeks Our World Tuesday

The view I got looking down from the road leading to the village hall

 Looking along the main road past one of the thatched cottages

The pub is called the Blue Lion and unusual name, most are called the Red Lion

The village sign 

An old Mile Stone

Another of the roads through the village towards some thatched cottages

Row of cottages

Another of the thatched cottages 

Topically  looking English  cottage

There is even a stream running through the village 

Bridges crossing them

A thatched owl on a cottage porch

This cottage was in the first photo and I'm sure it was a pub at one time now like many it's closed and converted into a house

Finally back to the village hall.
 

Hope you enjoyed the little tour