The joy of Essex

This blog is about family travel around the world without leaving the UK. Impossible? No. Take a mini break to Colchester for culture, oysters, history and views that are often Italinate (even in a damp mid-winter). This post is by Nicola Baird 

Colchester is a market town with a big history. As Camulodunum (translation - fortress of Camulos [a Celtic god of war]) it was once the capital of Britain. It was a vast Roman colony and even now the materials used in the Norman castle give you the impression you are mid Mediterranean, maybe Florence with the warm terracotta tiles on the castle's narrow bricked towers and the strange white elephant watertower, known locally as Jumbo. It's the history that is exciting though: it was viciously destroyed by Boudica and her Celtic allies (who also destroyed London and St Albans); fought over in the Civil War, and has more traditions about oysters than you can serve up with Lee and Perrins....

Despite all these stories it’s not a traditional place to head for a wedding anniversary weekend. Strange because it surely compares with Lille or Bath or Winchester. Indeed the staggered reaction from a friend who used to live there, and my aunt who is based in Essex - but does her best to avoid Colchester - suggested I might regret letting Pete pick the venue. But that's the point of Aroundbritainnoplane, getting to know the UK better.

Turns out that Colchester offers an astonishing history trail (and thanks to the choice of B&B and restaurant Pete and I had a lot of fun too). The Norman castle is the biggest in Britain - because it was built on foundations made by the Romans. The foundations are 3,000 years old, and when the Normans arrived these were already 1,000 years old. When I think about the subsidence in the two Victorian homes I’ve lived in this seems puzzlingly brilliant engineering.

We took a taxi from the station to Trinity Street where we were staying in a house once owned by John Wilbye, the man who invented madrigals in the late 16th century. I always ask taxi drivers the three best things about the place where they work, often with interesting results. The woman we’d picked was an utter down.”There’s nothing good here. It’s just cold. There’s shopping, but I don’t like that, except in Williams & Griffin (a department store run by Fenwick).” When pushed she admitted there were some pubs, but these were occupied by squaddies and students so we wouldn’t want to go there… Well we did, the Purple Dog was fine, and most pubs seem to offer real ale.

Within 100 metres of exiting the taxi – she couldn’t drive to the front door because of the excellent pedestrianised shopping lanes (sort of like Brighton) off the High Street a lady in Tudor garments had invited us to watch a Tudor dance being performed in the CO1 community centre run by a charity that finds things for teenagers to do. Irresistible, and though Tudor dances are reasonably staid, it was fun watching a performance of Ding Dong Merrily on High (originally a dance) and the anachronistic doubletake of spotting a Tudor dancer sit out with mobile and a mug of latte. Could spots like this have inspired Damon Albarn from Blur?

Top 5 highlights of Colchester (other than the zoo)

1. Colchester Castle – stunning Roman collection which is labelled for maximum enjoyment for anyone who knows Essex or interested in Boudica. It costs £6 to enter but offers at least an hour of displays. You can also book a £2.50 tour of the Roman foundations of the Temple of Claudius which Boudica destroyed (along with 20,000 people) and go on to the castle ramparts for a 360 degree view across today's town. 
2. FREE A walk that takes in the old Roman wall by the Hole in the Wall pub and a vast red-brick retired Victorian water tower known as Jumbo. Then head the other way and find the Old Seige House which looks Tudor but has many red painted bullet marks on its inside and outside walls – marks from the conflict between Cromwell’s troops and the Royalists. Finish off with a patrol of the incredible new arts centre, Firstsite. In fact Firstsite might be a reason to go to Colchester - it's as good as The Baltic up in Newcastle upon Tyne.
3. There are some nice parks, including the castle gardens which also has the FREE toy museum beside it, all a few strides from the shopping streets. Look carefully between and in stores and you’ll see Roman memories everywhere. We ate a good dinner (with frighteningly speedy service) at the Lemon Tree which boasts a massive Roman wall between the dining rooms.
4. A place to get curious about: allegedly Humpty Dumpty was a canon parked at St Mary in the Wall during the Civil War conflict (find it near the Mercury theatre). And there's the Dutch Quarter where in 1806 Jane Taylor is claimed to have dreamt up Twinkle Twinkle Little Star... and it's old name, Camulodunum may have been the basis for the nursery rhyme Old King Cole. As for the TOWIE craze back in Brentwood (and the nation's sitting rooms), well I could see no evidence other than a canvas tote in a super tacky shop that boasted "I've been vajazzled".
5. Pick the right Sunday in December (11 Dec 2011) and then you can enjoy the Christmas market which has the high street closed to traffic. 

More info about things to do in Colchester here. More info about Colchester at wikipedia here (including references in two Dr Who episodes, Moll Flanders and 1984!)

Above the birds

Extraordinary moment just below Turret 43a on Hadrians Wall on the last day of July - and the sunniest day we've had over the past eight weeks. Lola, Nell and I had stopped for jaffa cakes at the top of Cockmount Hill as it gave us a bird's eye view of the valley to the south and let the sun sink into our limbs. We were nearly at the end of our longest walk on the wall - 6.6miles over endless ups and downs and a lot of chat about the antics of Harry Potter, and what the Romans have ever done for us...

As we relaxed Nell spotted a bird hovering below us, then diving down into the grass, then soaring back up again and repeating this. It's back was a golden brown and the markings on its tail were so clear it was easy to later look it up and find out that it was a female kite. She hovered close enough to us for us to see how her wings moved and because of the sheer drop off this hill we were always above her. It was spellbinding to watch not least because she seemed quite uninterested in our party, and for some time also ignored the train of nine young overloaded teenage backpackers snailing there way up the hill.

Our kite only flew off when one poor girl puffed at us "I'm going to die". She was revived enough by her friends launching into an irritating chorus of "If you're happy and you know it..." to set her draw into a look that suggested she might kill them first. But in our eerie we were uterly happy and all of us clapped our hands encouraging the teenagers to keep going with the tempting fact that there was some downhill soon, and only three miles away was a loo.

What have the Romans ever done for us?

Nicola, Pete, Lola and Nell want to travel the world with a difference. We hope to get a taste of many countries without adding to climate change (with needless emissions from aeroplanes) or having to waste hours of holiday time in airport terminals. We hope our adventures inspire you to take a Grand Tour of your neighbourhood whatever the weather. This post is from Pete


Being laid low with cellulitus (thankfully lessening with antibiotics) while the others walk Hadrian's Wall has given me the chance to take the bus to the magnificent Roman forts of Housesteads, Chesters and Vindolanda (so named because of the Romans' love for the native Brits' vindaloos). And I might have been better off with the Romans, having viewed the hospital at Housesteads. Firstly they wore sandals which encouraged air circulation and would have countered my athelete's foot. Plus they had proper hospitals with Greek surgeons, herb beds for alternative remedies and honey to stop infection seeping into wounds. It all sounds like Stoke Newington.

And who said Roman history was boring? Get this, they loved daubing great big willies wherever they went. There's a phallus carved into the Wall at Birdoswald (a comment on the Scots or a statement that a big man builds a big wall?), a pottery penis on display at the Vindolanda Museum and a willie carved into the floor of the headquarters at Chesters. Scholars tend to say these are fertility symbols or good luck charms; but having read the famous Vindolanda tablets where ordinary Romans request beer and the details of any good local inns, my conclusion is that they were simply early readers of Loaded.

Shoes in the mud

Nicola, Pete, Lola and Nell want to travel the world with a difference. We hope to get a taste of many countries without adding to climate change (with needless emissions from aeroplanes) or having to waste hours of holiday time in airport terminals. We hope our adventures inspire you to take a Grand Tour of your neighbourhood whatever the weather. This post is from Nicola

Good progress along the wall despite our depleted party. Lola, Nell and I have now spent three days in a row pounding westwards from Chesters and have today done a fabulous, albeit short stretch, from Housesteads to Vindolanda. This bit goes up and down so the mileage doubles, crosses a lough we feel sure inspired the King Arthur legend, and goes through wonderful Sycamore Gap (a spot every fan of the movie of Robin Hood the Prince of Thieves will know). I really enjoyed the turf-topped sections of the wall covered in waving grasses, mats of purple thyme and lady's bed straw and beyond that views to die for.

It was also the best bit though I grouchily found that there were rather too many walkers sharing the route with us (ie, about 50 in total walking in both directions, which I suppose is less than the number I see or push past on the way to school when we are back in London...)

And then we veered off the wall to Vindolanda, not sure of what we'd find, and found absolute treasure. Here an archaeological dig is ongoing and while we were there the team pulled out a leather sandal (about size six and therefore a man's). Pete saw it come out; we saw it popped into a plastic bag for recording.

This is also the place where the anaerobic soil conditions (ie, starved of oxygen) have led to the most amazing discoveries: the letters and notes of daily life. It was here that they dug up a birthday party invitation from a lady (not just an obvious sign that Roman women were at the forts - don't tell Hadrian - but also that this Roman woman could write very elegantly.

Vindolanda is a brilliant place, and if you don't want to be a tourist here you can always come as an archaeological volunteer. From our brief visit it is clear that both Pete and Lola are very tempted, with Lola actually begging to learn Latin (they have fabulous primers there including Minimous (aka Minny Mouse) and Harry Potter in Latin. Nell was content with just being an ice cream taster

Got maps and gladiatus

Nicola, Pete, Lola and Nell want to travel the world with a difference. We hope to get a taste of many countries without adding to climate change (with needless emissions from aeroplanes) or having to waste hours of holiday time in airport terminals. We hope our adventures inspire you to take a Grand Tour of your neighbourhood whatever the weather. This post is from Nicola

Thanks to the National Trail Guide of Hadrian’s Wall Path the fit members of the Baird-May legion (ie, not Pete) are walking east to west (keeps the sun and possibly wind behind you though the rain is intermittent) along Hadrian’s Wall. The girls picked up short swords known as gladiatus after being inspired by the amazing remains at Chesters – a cavalry fort which is now run by English Heritage but very appropriately hemmed in by a stud farm. To keep in the Roman mood Nell and I chose a Roman Adventure (one of the Oxford Reading Tree titles or for those more familiar with these books, the one where Chip and Biff take pizza and banner advertising to the Romans) for her to read out to me while waiting for the bus which is named as well as any pub quiz team – AD122 (ie, the year the wall was “born”).

At first we were studying our big walk route closely, but there’s no need. Hadrian’s Wall path runs beside this World Heritage site and whenever the wall remains disappear (at times you can see its course for miles in the distance), and the southern vallum (ditch) or northern ditch has collapsed there are well way-marked with finger posts. Now we look at the views, look out for Roman legions, runners, gladiators and the forts which pop up ruinously fast in this region – there’s Chesters, Housesteads, Once Brewed, Vindolanda, etc. Nell is in charge of choosing picnic spots as she needs refuelling on the half hour, but then again she is only six and we are expecting her to walk a long way. As I keep telling her “Vi et virtute”. This is the only Latin motto I can recall and I like to translate it as by “strength and courage”, but am happy to be corrected by anyone who studied Latin in preference, say, to geography.

Best Roman museum so far has been at Chesters, and not just because it celebrated Victorian finds by John Clayton, and was adorned with a bat (apparently there are at least 200 more under the eaves). Here we saw buckles and broaches, carvings, pillars, reliefs, a leather sandal, snaffles and horse-laming equipment. But the best story-telling took us to 383AD at Housesteads where the Roman administrator, and one day-to-be-Emperor, Magnus Maximus and a high-class Celtic woman, Valentia, (on the town council, running the inn, collecting the taxes etc) showed us around the infantrymen’s fort with enormous verve. Nell was shocked to be told she might be sold as a slave. In contrast Lola was intrigued by the idea that her “potential” made her surprisingly valuable and of course she already has the assets of being young, able to cook, sew, knit and has a decent set of teeth.

When we’ve had enough the girl gladiators hail the bus with a flourish of their gladiatus (I’m sure it should be gladiati) and we rattle back to Hexham. After learning to cope with the exorbitant Lake District bus fares the Hadrian’s Wall Bus (which also have guides on the 10am service) seems fabulously good value - #8 for returns for one adult and two children; and on Mondays if I spend seven quid on a rover the kids go free… http://www.hadrians-wall.org/ or see Hadrian’s Wall Info Line on 01434 322002. With such a tempting offer you can guess that we will be walking this Monday, whatever the weather.

romans

Feels like the Great Rift Valley

Nicola, Pete, Lola and Nell want to travel the world with a difference. We hope to get a taste of many countries without adding to climate change (with needless emissions from aeroplanes) or having to waste hours of holiday time in airport terminals. We hope our adventures inspire you to take a Grand Tour of your neighbourhood whatever the weather. This post is from Nicola

Picnicing on one of Hadrian's Walls most dramatic escarpments near Sewingshields Crag, looking at the northern part of Northumberland far below us, the landscape’s dramatic change in level had me dreaming of Kenya and the bits of Africa that the Great Rift Valley weaves across. And this got Lola and Nell thinking about lions, safari and the politics and morals of the Lion King film – and got us singing Akuna Matata (Swahili for don’t worry, be happy) which helped revive our weary feet.

Even on a good summer day, as it was today, up on the tops it is always windy at Milecastle 35, so I am sure it was also a place where many Roman legions dreamt of home. No one has suggested Kenyans served in the Roman army in Britain, but their soldiers were from all over the world – not just France, Belgium and Germany but Iraq, Morocco, Libya and at least 1,000 cavalry men from Sudan. So maybe there is a little hint of Africa on this 2,000 year old border between the barbarians and the “civilised” Roman world.

High Street is a hill

Nicola, Pete, Lola and Nell want to travel the world with a difference. We hope to get a taste of many countries without adding to climate change (with needless emissions from aeroplanes) or having to waste hours of holiday time in airport terminals. We hope our adventures inspire you to take a Grand Tour of your neighbourhood. This post is from Pete (pic shows High Street in the far distance, this is of Nell helping Pete warm up on Hallin Fell)



What have the Romans ever done for us? Well, as fans of Life of Brian will know, they did manage to build the original High Street at a height of more than 700 metres (or 2,500 feet), stretching for 30 kilometres across a set of huge mountains in the Lake District. These days a footpath follows the path of the old Roman road. Walking up from Pooley Bridge it’s fascinating to reflect that you are following the path of Roman Legions who used to trek between forts at Ambleside and Penrith, covering 20 miles every five hours across the mountains, before relaxing in a hot bath full of Roman Radox.

First there’s an intriguing detour to the Cockpit a Neolithic standing stone circle (or did the Romans put them there just to keep Time Team busy?) and then a yomp across boggy grass and sphagnum moss up to the mountain plateau. As my boots become saturated, even in July, you realize just how hard it must have been for Italian geezers in sandals longing for olive oil and sundried tomatoes. You can still see where the Romans used the gradient of the rock to facilitate their progress. As my boots sink in the peaty mulch once more you can see the attraction of a decent surface and camber.

Also in evidence is the Roman’s unsentimental approach to walking. The path skirts all the stunning views over Ullswater and sticks resolutely to the drab upland commons – although the views are much more spectacular near the High Street summit. It was a military road all about safe passage and concealment from hostile Scots, Cumbrians and Geordies; no time for Wainwright guidebooks here. After two and a half hours I make it across eroded peat and water pools to the summit of Loadpot Hill. The High Street path continues for another four miles to the summit of the mountain High Street (828 metres), a flat plateau where the locals held horse races 200 years ago. But for me it’s time to return for a pint at Pooley Bridge. Maybe it’s best the Romans left these shores some 1,600 years ago. Otherwise the M6 would be straight across Lakeland’s most loved peaks.

Make your own underfloor heating

Nicola, Pete, Lola and Nell want to travel the world with a difference. We hope to get a taste of many countries without adding to climate change (with needless emissions from aeroplanes) or having to waste hours of holiday time in airport terminals. We hope our adventures inspire you to take a Grand Tour of your neighbourhood. This post is from Lola and Nell

First get some sticklebricks, then you get two squares and one long, thin stick. Lock these together so there is a square at each end to make a column (see pic). We had eight altogether. Then you need to put your heating system in and flooring (but as Daddy said "that was more than his job's worth, or our's"...

Mummy told us to do this because we saw that the Romans used this method to make their underfloor heating. They called it hypocaust. In a cafe today we found a lady who really has underfloor heating. She said that she lay on the floor when she was really cold because with underfloor heating the floor stays really hot. That's because hot air rises.

Start of Hadrian's Wall

Nicola, Pete, Lola and Nell want to travel the world with a difference. We hope to get a taste of many countries without adding to climate change (with needless emissions from aeroplanes) or having to waste hours of holiday time in airport terminals. We hope our adventures inspire you to take a Grand Tour of your neighbourhood. This post is from Nicola


We're breaking ourselves in slowly to the challenge of walking 84 miles along Hadrian's Wall http://www.hadrians-wall.org/ by visiting the start (or the end) in Newcastle upon Tyne. You can get to Wallsend easily on the Metro (like the London tube) and that's where the surprises start: the signs are in Latin (see pic)!

I learnt Latin at school but really only remember the first lesson given by a grumpy teacher who resented telling us that:

"Latin is a language,
As dead as dead can be.
It killed the ancient Romans
And now it's killing me!"

But at Segedunum http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/ the Romans' life in the comforts of a fort is made very real. The bath house - with communal loos (lavatores) and an underfloor heating system (hypocaust) are there to see. You can also go up nine floors to an observation tower and see an overview of the Roman fort where the soldiers and their horses lived. The north side of the site is sliced through by a busy road but looking the other way you can see an original chunk of wall next to the cranes of the Swan Hunter shipyard.

Inside the museum there are loads of computer games including one where you make up a menu for a visiting Roman dignatories. Lola choose snails, then dove, followed by egg custard. I thought dormice, then suckling pig, then omelette with honey poured over the top might be more disgusting. But in the end Nell's choice of squid stuffed with calf brains made us say yuckus louder!

It just proves that school dinners aren't that bad.