Dulwich Farmers Market at Dulwich College

Today we took a walk down to the beautiful Dulwich College to the farmers market.

On the way there we went through Dulwich Park and enjoyed the lovely flowers still blooming, lots of white & pink blossoms in the trees.

Ying and the blossoms at Queen Mary's Gate Dulwich Park.

Dulwich College Main Building 

I wasn't that fussed about the farmers market to be honest, I just wanted an excuse to be able to walk around the college which is made up of these absolutely gorgeous buildings with amazing ornate finishings and details. In the above pic, each window archway for example has a stone carved head, probably of a former head master. The buildings were lovely. 

Dulwich College is set on quite large grounds firmly butting up against Dulwich Wood, and Dulwich and Sydenham Hill Golf Course - check it out on the map here. It is a boarding school for boys from age 7 - 18.

It has large sports grounds which gives it a really sense of grandeur and of being in the country.

This is the cricket pitch and club house at the college.

They have a small farmers market at the school (we aren't sure of the frequency - probably monthly). Not too much there, but some nice breads, olives and meats.

Stalls under the school clock tower.

Sun shining on the college and the market.

Looked like a little chapel with a wedding going on.

On the way home we ducked back through Dulwich Park and found a section where there are 4 ping pong tables available to be used. They are made of concrete with steel nets, very sturdy.

We'll be looking to get some ping pong paddles & balls now for a bit of a friendly game (any challengers?).

And a spring walk wouldn't be complete with some pics of lovely flowers in the park - so here are my 2 choice ones.

In front of an old gate keepers cottage.

 

Posted via email from The World of Brad and Ying

Look! Up in the Sky - it's Empty

The weather this week has been amazing - nice long sunny days, clear blue skies and spectacular red sunsets.

One noticeable difference for the later part of this week to other blue sky days is the total absence of the usually criss crosses of vapour trails (contrails) left by jet air craft ferrying people across Europe.

We aren't seeing any of this for a while.

But courtesy of the Icelandic volcanic eruption of Eyjafjallajokull Volcano (nope I can't pronounce it either - but you can hear it here) no aircraft can fly in pretty much most of the UK. Airports have been closed for 3 days and it looks like the volcano is still erupting and spilling ash & gas out into the UK airspace - insert Iceland joke here (at least they are back to exporting something, they didn't cripple the UK with their dodgy banks but they'll get us this time etc).

The ash is also causing spectacular sunsets bursting with red & orange and really setting the evenings on fire. We are seeing colours that could be similar to those immortalised by JMW Turner back in 1815 when he painted many scenes with amazingly vivid colours attributed to the ash that was in the sky from a volcanic eruption of that year.

Chichester Canal by JWM Turner.

I love this painting and I think that it captures a magically sunset to a greater degree that a photograph.

So enjoy the crystal blue skies - you may never see them again (unless you are back in Oz in the outback!).

Posted via email from The World of Brad and Ying

Daffodils in Spring

A lovely part of London in the early spring is the sudden awakening of millions of daffodils. They literally pop up everywhere, some (like the photo) are planted, but many just seem to appear in random places providing a lovely splash of colour after the drab winter.

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Driving on Tower Bridge

I recently had to drive across London and unwittingly ended up driving over Tower Bridge (at the royal speed of 20MPH) and couldn't resist snapping a few pics as I was rather excited.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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We are now officially Londoners!

So we made the move from Guildford to East Dulwich over the Easter long weekend and can now officially say we are Londoners!!

The move was pretty easy - as you expect when you have virtually nothing to move, we did a trip on Thursday with the little Peugot full of clothes, then again on Friday when we went to clean the house at Guildford. We have to go back this Thursday to do the `check out'. One of Ying's friends is going to come around and pick up my desk, luckily he has a big 4WD and will be in Guildford and lives in Forest Hill ( next door suburb to East Dulwich).

We are loving the new flat as it is much more homely that Guildford with proper rooms, a lounge, a nice big kitchen, a good sized bedroom and an office for me. Also a sofa bed for those of you wishing to come visit.

We did a trip to Ikea today and got some chairs, an office chair and a bookshelf (no bits left over - good as gold!).

So now we are at home and looking happy to be settled for some time (believe it or not :)

If you haven't got our address or phone number, then shoot us an e-mail.

I'll post some pics soon.