The gardens at Beeleigh Abbey

Beeleigh Abbey dates from the 12th century.  Once an abbey for the Premonstratensian Order (don’t try to say that with a mouthful of cake), it was later owned by one unfortunate individual who was beheaded for supporting Lady Jane Grey.

The house you see in the picture dates from the 17th century but the timbers and some of the other features of the original abbey have been retained.  These days, the place is privately owned and not accessible to visitors.

However, for a few days each year, the gardens are open and make a pleasant afternoon out if you’re in the Maldon area.  What follows are some of the highlights of the garden.  If you’d like to see for yourself, the last opening of the year is on September 8th and then it will close until the 2018 season.

Adjacent to the house is an area laid to lawn surrounding several ornamental features.  There’s plenty of bench seating which was being well used at the time of my visit, as was the marquee serving refreshments.  The garden makes the most of its watery setting, with paths alongside the adjacent River Chelmer.

Beeleigh’s pond was very shady and on such a hot day, offered welcome relief from the sun.  This area felt less like a formal garden and more like a slice of the beautiful Essex countryside, but again had plenty of benches allowing you to sit and take in the view.

For me, the most impressive part of the gardens were the floral displays, but that’s probably to be expected given the timing of my visit in August when the roses were a riot of colour.  As well as the dedicated rose garden, there were a plethora of fragrant specimens in the cottage garden and in the beds lining the many gravel paths.

It’s easy to forget how much deadheading and pruning goes into displays such as this.

Other areas open to visitors included the orchard, kitchen garden, wild flower meadow and wisteria walk.  Depending on the time of year, some are past their best or yet to take centre stage.  If you can only come once, and at £6 a ticket, that’s probably the case for many people, then think about the time of year which will give you the most pleasure.

To reach Beeleigh, go to the top of Maldon High Street and follow London Road until you pass the cemetery on your left.  Make a right turn into Abbey Turning and follow the signs for Beeleigh Abbey.

http://www.visitmaldon.co.uk/beeleigh-abbey/

East Anglian Railway Museum

“Time flies by when I’m the driver of a train, and I ride on the footplate, there and back again.”  Chances are, if you’ve just sung this rather than read those words, you grew up on a diet of Chigley and you remember as fondly as I do Lord Belborough and his steam engine Bessie.

But until yesterday, though I’d been on many a steam train, I’d never experienced what it’s like to ride on the footplate.  Thanks to train driver Michael and his sidekick Kim, whose role is that of fireman, I got to tick it off my bucket list.  Stood between Michael and Kim, I tried to keep my balance and time my barrage of questions to avoid interfering with their safety checks and operational duties.  With a carriage-load of passengers on board, even on such a short demonstration trip, it was important that things were done properly.

Teamwork was key, with both volunteers working together to ensure everything ran smoothly.  It was hot work.  As Kim stoked the firebox with coal, the blast of heat coming from inside was palpable.  Kim wiped a smear of coal dust from his nose and grinned as I wiped the sweat from my own forehead.  I was glad this was the museum’s 1905 vintage engine when Michael mentioned that had I ridden on the footplate of one of the other two working engines I’d have been much hotter, as the furnace would have been level with our faces instead of by our feet.

While it’s a special treat to ride on the footplate, the museum’s regular exhibits are well worth exploring.  I began at the signal box where a series of colour-coded levers ensured a train couldn’t enter a stretch of track while another was in the way.  The blue one shown in use here is pulled to activate a points lock, making sure the points don’t move as the train’s wheels pass over the top.  Young kids will love pulling the levers so much it will be hard to drag them away.

Across the footbridge, the restoration shed gives you the chance to see some of the museum’s many engines and carriages being brought back to their former glory.  Many of the volunteers work on these projects on Wednesdays, making this a good day to find out about what’s going on.  There’s plenty of restored rolling stock to have a look at, including some vintage wooden carriages and recreations of station buildings and platforms.

The exhibitions in the on-site heritage centre explain the impact of Beeching’s cuts on the Gainsborough Line, which once would have continued on to Cambridge.  Sudbury’s population grew sufficiently to save the Marks Tey to Sudbury stretch from the same fate.  But other long-lost lines are covered too, including the Crab and Winkle Line which ran from nearby Kelvedon to the coast at Tollesbury.  Take a walk around Tollesbury Wick and at low tide, you can still see the railway’s wooden sleepers  disappearing into the mud.

EARM staff say that visitors often remark on how much there is to see at the museum and I’d have to agree.  I made it through the level crossing gates back to the regular platform just in time to catch my train.  You’re sure to have a rewarding and enjoyable day out.  The volunteers were without exception keen to share their knowledge and enthusiasm.

LV18, Harwich

In Harwich, there is one vessel on the quayside that you just can’t ignore, not least because of its scarlet livery.  Built in 1958, LV18 was Trinity House’s last manned light vessel before it was retired from service in 1994.  But as with the Harbour Ferry, this was a boat that wasn’t going to go quietly, thanks to one man – the ebullient and utterly charming Tony O’Neil.  He bought the vessel for a nominal £1 and the Pharos Trust was set up to oversee its restoration.  It opened in 2011 as Harwich’s quirkiest visitor attraction.

A musician by trade, Tony has a passion for radio. Visitors to the ship can see some of his extensive collection of antique and vintage radios on board, but with an estimated 1600 in his collection, some remain in storage in the hold.  That passion for radio also manifests itself in broadcasting.  Tony once worked for Radio Caroline and his enthusiasm for pirate radio is undimmed.  The likes of John Peel, Tony Blackburn, Emperor Rosko and Johnnie Walker all broadcast from radio ships anchored just outside UK territorial waters and the tenders that facilitated their commute came from Harwich.

Even the beautiful garden that you see on deck has a musical connection.  The scented plants that form part of it are there in homage to John Peel.  His 1967 show for pirate station Radio London was named “The Perfumed Garden.”  Johnnie Walker is still involved.  He’s a patron of the Pharos Trust and will broadcast from LV18 this August.

For anyone keen on maritime history, Tony has preserved some of the cabins on board just as they would have been when the vessel was in use as a lightship.  There’s also a chance to see what a pirate radio station would have been like.  There’s so much in the way of nautical and radio memorabilia that some have dubbed it a “floating prop shop”.  Unsurprisingly, it caught the eye of the production team working on the 2008 movie “The Boat that Rocked” and with a splash of yellow paint for the occasion, doubled as Radio Sunshine.

It is individuals like Tony that are breathing life into a town that once lay forgotten at the end of the line.  His energy and commitment to this corner of Essex is helping to make Harwich the town that rocks.

http://www.lv18.org

By juliamhammondin Historic buildings, Industrial heritage, Seaside resortsAugust 2, 2017398 WordsLeave a comment