The Vikings have landed... again

A few weeks ago, late one Sunday morning, we became aware of a strange ringing, clanging sound from not too far away. Intrigued, we walked up to Bincleaves Green to find... Vikings! Well, pretend ones, anyway. They are, I think, from Vikings Online and were no doubt practising for one of their many events that they hold around the country.

We've seen and/or heard them a few times since and they were there again today. That's one way to keep warm on a chilly day.

Portland House - an Art Deco delight

Back in October (2012) our neighbour told us that a nearby house and gardens was open to the public. Portland House – just five minutes' walk from our house, but in another world entirely – is owned by the National Trust and is let out as a holiday cottage, so chances to visit this unusual property are rare.

It wasn't publicised as an event on the Trust's website as the last time they did this they were overwhelmed by visitors and this time it was just advertised locally on posters.

We have walked past the grounds of the house along a former part of the South West Coast Path (the path has been diverted near here as a little further along the cliff had collapsed, taking the old path with it) not realising what the property was and wondered who would be lucky enough to live there with such a lovely view over Portland harbour.

Click on picture for link to BBC article

The house was built in 1935 by the architect Lord Gerald Wellesley, who later became the 7th Duke of Wellington. It was damaged by bombing in World War II and then donated to the Trust in the 1970s. It was renovated by the Trust in 2011.

Portland House sits within large gardens laid out by Hillier's Nurseries including a rock garden, large lawned area and sloping grounds down towards the sea. The foreshore below is within the Portland Harbour Shore Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), now included within the Jurassic Coast.

The villa is furnished in Art Deco style and contains some beautiful original features and period furniture.The clock above and the furniture to the left can be found in the sitting room.

It has two broad terraces, one above the other, and most rooms in the house have large French windows opening onto them. At each end of the front, wrapping around each corner of the building, are arcaded loggias, perfect for shade on hot summer days.

It makes excellent use of the natural slope maximising exposure to the fine south-facing views.

The house sleeps twelve and each of the bedrooms is furnished with the most stylish 1930s furniture. At just over £3,000 for a week in the high season it might seem a lot for a holiday cottage but, as it sleeps twelve, with seven bedrooms, that's only £35 per person per day.

From the Twentieth Century Society: "It is an excellent and very complete example of the Hollywood Spanish style in Britain. There are very few remaining examples of this style in Britain, certainly none with such a wealth of original fixtures and fittings. 

Portland House is a particularly valuable part of inter-war architectural history as a fine example of the eclectic fantasy architecture of the period. It brilliantly reflects popular imagery of the day: a combination of the glamour of the cinema with the exoticism of the sunshine holiday."

It reminded me of a setting in one of Agatha Christie's novels and I could just imagine sitting on the terrace in the late afternoon/early evening summer sun sipping champagne cocktails before dinner, but without the murders, of course!

New Year's Day walk

The beach near Lodmoor looking towards Bowleaze

New Year's Day just isn't New Year's Day without a good walk to clear the fug from New Year's Eve.

So, after lunch we wrapped up and hopped in the car down to the car park at Lodmoor Country Park.

The weather, as you can see, was stunning; what a lovely day to start the year.

There were dozens of people strolling along the sea wall - or riding on their shiny new bicycles and scooters - and a few, like us, on the beach. This is actually an artificial beach created with shingle dredged up from the seabed near the Isle of Wight and constantly being scraped back to keep it in place. The wall behind with the walkway on top helps keep the beach in place and protects the road and houses beyond from being showered with shingle thrown up by the waves.

After a stop for a coffee at the very busy beachside Café Oasis in Overcombe we thought we'd walk back through the country park. Big mistake! Being a wetland area with several small lakes and having had loads of rain recently, the ground is, of course, absolutely sodden. We just managed to squelch along the path until we were able to escape and cross back over the road onto the sea wall again.

Weymouth, 4pm on New Year's Day 2013

By 4pm the sun was setting and it was getting decidedly chilly. Not too chilly, however, for two horses and their riders we could see in the distance to go for a swim! We weren't close enough to get a picture and by the time we got near they had emerged from the water and were on their way home.

Time for us to turn back, too, and wend our way home.

Happy New Year!

It's 2013 and the sun is shining, hurrah! From my window I can see lots of people out for their New Year's Day walk on Weymouth's seafront.

New Year's Eve in Weymouth is not like any other I've known. For a start, it has the biggest public fancy dress party in the UK with an estimated 20,000 people dressing up and partying around the harbour and seafront. Our neighbours, were dressed up as tigers, complete with stripey faces and whiskers attached!

Being newbies and somewhat cautious, we opted for the special New Year's Eve dinner at the excellent Mallams Restaurant on the harbourside which had a 'speakeasy' theme for the evening, including a quiz (we didn't win).

We had a lovely cocktail on arrival, made with - if I remember correctly - champagne, gin, lemonade and a brandy topper; very nice, then a small selection of canapés. Next were some stuffed mushrooms and then our chosen main course of duck breast (nicely pink) with a subtle Chinese-flavoured sauce, rice and mange tout. To follow, Ian had a trio of desserts (no wonder he's looking so happy!) and I had a delicious selection of cheese and biscuits.

As we dined we could see a variety of people walking past the restaurant variously costumed as Roman soldiers, pirates, a line of 'prisoners' in orange overalls chained together, the tin man, dinosaurs, cowboys, a group of Worzel Gummidge lookalikes, various animals, fairies, ghouls and much more.

Sadly, my camera was playing up and refused to flash, even with the correct setting, so this is the only picture I managed to get of passing revellers.

Just before midnight we went outside onto the harbour and counted down the last five seconds with everyone else. Fortunately for everyone, the incessant rain and rain we'd been having in December had finally stopped earlier in the evening and the New Year started dry and not too cold. Let's hope it stays that way for a while, at least.

At around 12.30am (way past our bedtime!) we made our excuses and left to walk home. Hope Square was filled with people - mostly young - obviously intending to continue celebrating for a good while yet.

So, what will 2013 bring us? 2012 is certainly a hard act to follow, what with the Diamond Jubilee, the Olympics and Paralympics and moving house. We will be getting on with improvements and updates to our house and hopefully will find some time for a decent holiday this year.

Wishing you every blessing for 2013.