070228.Bathwick, Train/Bat Boy-spotting

February 28, 2007 at 12:13 AM | Posted in Architecture, Bath, Bathwick, Bridges, cumulus clouds, Gardens & Parks, people, somerset, Trees | 6 Comments

…Or as dad would point out, is it Moby?
Taking a break from the info to inform everyone that spring is in the air. We had a rare sunny day on Monday so I went out to Sydney Pleasure Gardens (c. 1795 – the last surviving 18th C pleasure garden in the world) and walked along the Kennet and Avon Canal. The trees are flowering and the flowers are now in bloom — even in my own garden. (I know, I have a garden?!) But it’s true, I now have a circle of daffodils, which have been struggling to survive the on/off sleet and snow, coming up outside my window since early January cand now actually blooming. In front of the house there are other flowering bushes and trees. Designed by Harcourt Masters at the end of the 18th century, Sydney Gardens is interesting because it not only has the Kennet and Avon Canal running through it but also I.K. Brunnel’s Great Western Railway running parallel through the garden. The place has fine stonework around the railroad (probably a condition for going through a pleasure garden) and apparently also fine flowering trees. I’ll show some more later.