Although the cherry blossom trees were not playing the game, there were other bits of coloured flora and the like, so we took photo’s of what we found. All these are taken with my Contax Aria and Cinestil 400 film.
purpley bluebells
These are called Glory-of-the-snow in English apparently, but in this case it was glory-of-the-rain
Scilla luciliae (Boiss,) Speta.
Daffodils were abundant, especially on this bank on the edge of the park where they were joined by bluebells
Daffs
The white blossom trees were not being so tardy
Spring Cherry tree
Sour Cherry tree
I love the wiggles of this tree
Corkscrew Hazel
We had a wander over the road where there’s a large cemetery
Oak Tree I think
When I was a little girl I won a competition for growing a Hyacinth and had my picture in the local paper, the Huddersfield Examiner. Nothing to do with the outing here except this grave full of them reminded me of my moments of Warholian fame.
Hyacinthical Grave.
I like Grape Hyacinths too and there were some!
Grape Hyacinthical Grave
I do like this statue of the Madonna, which seems unusual to me. All the graves here are of the Crolla family, but try as I might I can’t find out much about these particular ones, but they are obviously of Italian origin and I did find out the following ~
Italians came to the Uk to escape poverty and starvation in Italy when their farming communities were tore apart by war and famine. Their journey was supposed to take them to America but they liked it just fine here so quite a few families stayed in the UK. The first wave of arrivals was in the early 1800’s the second wave around the early 1870’s. Upon arriving in London they worked their way up north using two trades usually selling ice cream in the summer and musicians in the winter when the ice cream trade was at a low.
Madonna and the Crollas
And that’s the end of our revisit, stay tooned for wherever we go next.
Salty Towers is only 10 mins drive away for me, so I’ve been a few times, either with Sophie, or Phil & grandkids. I last did a post on it in 2017, 6 years ago now, and back then it was a gorgeous sunny day, spring blossoms were everywhere and Sophie and I took a lot of pictures. This time we were not so lucky with the weathery bits, it was cloudy and rained a couple of times, and the blossom hadn’t yet blossomed, nor all the flowers flowered, still, we are rarely thwarted from our mission of shooting stuff, so here is the stuff.
Firstly of course, a small history bit ☕️ 🍪
Saltwell Park is a Victorian park in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England. Opened in 1876, the park was designed by Edward Kemp and incorporates the mansion and associated grounds of the Saltwellgate estate owner, William Wailes, who sold his estate to Gateshead Council for £35,000. Upon opening, it became known as “The People’s Park”. It was expanded to 55 acres during the 1920’s but by the end of the 20th century, the park had fallen into disrepair. Between 1999 and 2005, it was subject to a £9.6 million restoration project, funded collaboratively by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Gateshead Council and is now host to around 2 million visitors per year.
Saltwell Towers, is the former home of the above mentioned William Wailes (1808–1881) or Willy of course to this blog, who grew up in Newcastle. He started out as a grocer and tea merchant. However, his artistic talent and practical skills led him to set up a small kiln in the backyard of his premises. He made and fired small decorative enamels which were sold in his shop. In 1830 he went to Germany to study stained glass design and production. Back in the North East in 1838 he set up his own stained glass studio to design and manufacture windows and made a name for himself through the provision of windows for local churches. As his enterprise prospered, he employed more men until there were 76 employees, including in their number several designers who were to go on to establish their own factories. Willy was one of the twenty-five stained glass manufacturers that exhibited in the Crystal Palace Exhibition in 1851. In 1860 Willy bought the Saltwell Estate at Gateshead and set about improving it, building himself a decorative mansion and landscaping the grounds. Unfortunately, he ran into debt and 16 years later is when he sold up, which is quite sad really.
You can find his stained glass in many churches in England, and also Scotland, Mumbai, Sydney, and Philadelphia. The five high chancel windows in the First Presbyterian Church in Philly are apparently just glorious, but I can’t find a picture of them anywhere, though here is one from the Afghan Church in Mumbai that he did.
Anyways, enough of William, lets get on with my pictures. All were taken with my Contax Aria, Cinestill 400 and Portra 400 film.
As you enter the park from the carpark, the Towers are nicely framed by the wall arch, I must have taken this composition every time I visit!
(Portra 400)
The first thing you come across is a Boer War memorial in the central section of the park around 100 metres south of Saltwell Towers. This consists of a bronze angel perched on a granite plinth and is dated 1905.
(Portra 400)
I took a few views of the Towers along the way, this is the back, the picture at the very top is the entrance side. .
(cinestill 400)
The Charlton Memorial Drinking Fountain, a stone and granite fountain inscribed in memory of George Charlton, the mayor of Gateshead between 1874–75.
(cinestill 400)
Komatsu City Friendship Garden in Saltwell Park. “The garden is a gift from the people of Komatsu City to the people of Gateshead. It was constructed by gardeners from the Komatsu gardening association in 2009 in preparation for the celebration in 2011 of Komatsu City’s 20 years of friendship.”
(cinestill 400)
We visited the lake in the grounds, and came across a Pigeon Company on a route march led by Captain Duck.
(cinestill 400)
Around the back of the Towers is a pond and gardeny bit
(cinestill 400)
During the restoration of the park the maze was restored to its original design by William Wailes circa 1860, using 1,200 yew trees.
(portra 400)
There are a couple of bonkers artworks in the park, the first is called ‘Chrysalis’ by Sam Brewster who hails from Australia and lives and works in Hobart, Tasmania. According to Sam the artwork “alludes to the concepts of safe passage, transition, coupled with the emergence of wonder and beauty”. Lookos like a twizzle stick to me. 🤷♀️
(portra 400)
This one is called ‘Rise’ by Stephen Newby. Apparently people think it’s a dog bone, but I think it looks a bit like being on tip-toes.
(portra 400)
There were a couple of squirrels running up and down a big tree, I managed a shot.
(cinestill 400)
And that’s a wrap for this week, I have a few more photos from that outing so we’ll have a look at them next time, in the meantime,
Saltwell Park is a Victorian park in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England. Opened in 1876, the park was designed by Edward Kemp and incorporates the mansion and associated grounds of the Saltwellgate estate owner, William Wailes, who sold his estate to Gateshead Council for £35,000. Upon opening, it became known as “The People’s Park”. The park was expanded in 1920 when the council purchased the adjacent gardens to the Saltwell Grove estate and added these to the park. This extended the park’s total size to 55 acres. Towards the end of the 20th century, the park had fallen into disrepair, but between 1999 and 2005, it was subject to a £9.6 million restoration project, funded collaboratively by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Gateshead Council and is now host to around 2 million visitors per year.
The park is split broadly into three sections. Saltwell Grove, the southern section, is an area of grassed open space with a bandstand to the western corner. The central area contains the centrepiece of the park – Wailes’s former home, the Grade II listed Saltwell Towers and its surrounding belvedere walls. These have been fully restored and are now a visitor centre. There are also three war memorials, a yew-tree maze, a dene and an area containing several species of caged animals known as Pet’s Corner. The largest section of the park is the Northern Fields section which contains a four-acre boating lake with a wooded island at its centre, as well as three bowling greens and two pavilions.
Sophie and I have visited Saltwell before though I haven’t done a report on it before that I can find, so I am combining photo’s from the two outings, but Sophie and I went this weekend specifically to photograph the wonderful path of cherry blossom trees that appears at this time of year. But other stuff first!
Saltwell Towers
Saltwell Towers, former home of William Wailes and later to lawyer Joseph Shipley (founder of the nearby Shipley Art Gallery), was the seat of the former Saltwellgate estate and has been described by a BBC report as a “fairytale mansion”. The building is a dark red and yellow brick construction with asymmetrical towers, tall chimney stacks and corner turrets. It has been used for a number of purposes, including as a hospital during the First World War and as a museum from 1933 to 1969, but was then abandoned and fell into considerable disrepair. However,after a £3 million,five-year refurbishment programme the restoration was completed in 2004.
There is a Boer War memorial in the central section of the park around 100 metres south of Saltwell Towers. This consists of a bronze angel perched on a granite plinth and is dated 1905.
The Charlton Memorial Drinking Fountain, a stone and granite fountain inscribed in memory of George Charlton, the mayor of Gateshead between 1874–75.
The ‘Salte Well’ at the west entrance to the central section of the park is dated 1872 and is a sandstone construction with a basin in the central alcove.
There have been animals kept in Saltwell Park since June 1877 – initially, these included monkeys, deer and a raccoon. Caged animals are still kept in the north-east of the park in an area called “Pets Corner”, where there are a peacock and peahen, pheasants, rabbits and guinea pigs kept in a pair of aviaries built in 1880 and paid for by John Elliot, then chief constable of Gateshead. The aviaries are stone and wrought iron, octagonal constructions which were listed at Grade II by English Heritage in 1973.
I don’t like to see caged birds in such a small enclosure. Plus the spaces between the bars make for impossible photography!
The principal feature of the northern section of the park is a boating lake. This has been in situ since a tender to install a 4 acres lake with an island in the centre was accepted in August 1880.
Didn’t take any shots much during the week, and what I did take is on the yawn side of boring, so lets skip right to the good stuff. I worked Monday – Thursday and so on to Friday and my day off. 🙂 I went into South Shields town as they have a junk market on to see if I could find anything photogenic and cheap.
South Shields Market Place
I bought a little wooden inlaid box for £2.50 and 3 glassware candleholders for £1. The best bit was it was full of mature couples looking for things they can take to an Antiques Roadshow at some point, and I heard a market stall holder telling a lady the little pots she was looking at were made in the 1920’s, and she bought them straight away. Also there seemed to be lots of people on mobility scooters. Now these things drive me batshit. Nearly everyone I see on them is capable of getting off and walking, and everyone of them is at best overweight and at worse really really overweight, and I’m like duh?? I am sure there are genuinely immobile people who really need these things, but no-one I’ve seen as yet. Rant over.
South Shields high street was surprisingly full of people (Bargain Hunters!) because when I go on a weekday it’s normally quiet empty. The recession has taken it’s toll on high street shops in lots of places, and empty spaces where shops used to be is a sad sight to see but hey!! good news……..
good news?
A shop full of trainers and tracksuits. Yay. Just the regeneration it needs. Sigh. That lady was rocking her scooter 🙂
I love the old architecture in Shields, the Lloyds Bank Building is quite impressive..
Lloyds Bank
There was also a really nice young chap busking with his guitar, he had a great voice and sang really well, I was going to take a shot of him but this silly old lady person in a bright green dress and pink cardigan started dancing right next to him and in front of him, I was quite annoyed on his behalf, they were romantic songs and not dancy anyway. I mean, how rude! I didn’t want to then encourage her by letting her think she was being photographed, but I suppose if I was more journalistic I should have taken the shot.
On Saturday we had Cal come to stay over, and he is a ball of energy (which we are not haha). We decided to take him out to Saltwell Park for the afternoon and he had a great time, and I took some nice pictures of him and Grandad. Cal can’t say Grandad, so calls Phil ‘Dawdaw’ which amuses me greatly.
First stop play area,
Slide
then bouncy castles, £2 for 10 mins across 3 castles, not bad value, Cal loved it.
Bounce
happyness is a bouncy castle
Then onto the lake and a trip in a dinosaur peddle boat, £5 for 30 minutes, best bit of the day for me, love being in boats 🙂
to infinity…
next up a trip on Thomas The Tank engine
and beyond
then we went home
homeward bound
and after tea we baked cakes.
alien cakes
today we entertained his Lordship til Mum and Dad came to get him, and then have just been toodling around preparing for work tomorrow and cooking a sunday lunch. I was supposed to take a shot for the sunday challenge group, but am too worn out! There’s a reason we have kids in our 20’s and not in our 50’s 🙂
Here is the round up of some pictures I took this week, and what they’re all about. Because I was late last week and posted on the Bank Holiday, this week started properly on Tuesday. As usual, a work day didn’t bring about many photo ops, but I got to sit in my fave place and take a couple of quickies whilst I had a coffee break.
Peace & Tranquility
view from the car
serenity
all taken with my samsung phone with the VSCO app and different filters applied. I could sit here all day really! Wednesday I forgot to take one, but was a pretty meh kind of day anyhow. Thursday was a better day as I did a couple of sales, but I still didn’t take a shot, must try harder. 😀
So Friday came, and my hub says do you fancy a trip into Newcastle ( our nearest town) as he had to take his car in for brake fixing and stuff and had a couple of hours to kill. So off we went, and I took my iphone to show the blog all around Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. I don’t go th ere often enough and it’s my main town. It has some beautiful architecture and statues, and is about the coolest city I’ve ever been to. So here we go, welcome to The Toon!
Firstly the very tall statue of Charles Grey, Earl Grey 2nd, who was a big deal up here.
Grey’s Monument
the inscription reads as follows-
“THIS COLUMN WAS ERECTED IN 1838
TO COMMEMORATE
THE SERVICES RENDERED TO HIS COUNTRY BY CHARLES EARL GREY K.G.
WHO, DURING AN ACTIVE POLITICAL CAREER OF
NEARLY HALF A CENTURY
WAS THE CONSTANT ADVOCATE OF PEACE
AND THE FEARLESS AND CONSISTENT CHAMPION OF
CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.
HE FIRST DIRECTED HIS EFFORTS TO THE AMENDMENT
OF THE REPRESENTATION OF THE PEOPLE IN 1792,
AND WAS THE MINISTER
BY WHOSE ADVICE, AND UNDER WHOSE GUIDANCE,
THE GREAT MEASURE OF PARLIAMENTARY REFORM
WAS AFTER AN ARDUOUS AND PROTRACTED STRUGGLE
SAFELY AND TRIUMPHANTLY ACHIEVED
IN THE YEAR 1832.”
which just about tells you what a great guy he was, and wish they still made them like that!
Eldon Square Shopping centre
nothing much to say about this except this is where you can shop indoors, like a USA mall I guess. But that geometric rooftop bit in the distance is St James Park, the home of Newcastle United Football team, which is a very big deal up here.
text break
This is where people sit to text, call, have a cuppa, reorganise their shopping bags etc, at the foot of the Greys Monument. In term time lunchtimes it’s heaving with students from the Uni.
The Golden Lady Clock
The Gold Lady Clock is on the corner of Pilgrim Street and Blackett Street, and is the symbol of the Northern Goldsmiths. Naked Lady statues are quite often found in Tyne & Wear, I’ll have to make a collection of them and do a post about them. Needless to say Northern chaps are a lusty lot. 😀
back alley
this is where my new clinic next week resides, it’s off to the right here, and I’ll no doubt take a pic of it on Tuesday when I go, but I like this little alley leading up to it, Newcastle has a lot of back alleys to explore.
strange guy
not sure what his game was! In Nirthumberland Street now which is a big shopping are up from the Monument, and where you also find people busking and doing weird stuff.
paint pot drummer
this guy was doing a great job of drumming on upside down paint pots, presumably empty. There’s been a youtube video of someone doing the same thing I think in America, so he’s obviously ‘borrowed’ the idea. He was really good though!
Phones 4u
I like the incongruous juxtaposition of old and new that happens in citys like this.
heads up
These heads and carvings were salvaged when the old library was demolished to make way for a new street. These are 7 gods and goddesses with Neptune in the centre (the chap gods look more like clergymen to me but hey ho, art is in the eye of the believer and all that) but I think it’s cool they kept the carvings and added them to the new retaining wall.
guitar man
Phil always likes to check out the guitar shop when he’s in town, and he needed a set of strings, so we got them and had a look around. While we were in the shop the call came through from the garage that the car was ready and we hotfooted it to the metro station, where we found 2 of the 3 potential men statues.
Potential 1
potential 2
didn’t have time to find the 3rd potential man but apparently it’s 3 views of the same man, I haven’t a bliddy clue what it’s all about but they were sculptured by Sean Henry who is (apparently) UK No.1 sculptor, so they must mean something. Hmmmm. 😀
So that’s Friday day, and at night my lovely hubby made a party for my birthday last weekend, as he’d missed it, and we had a lovely time,lots of wine & whisky and music and just the 2 of us.
Saturday we were ill.
Saturday night we had to go to a family bash as Phil’s neice’s daughter was 21 and had a party by the sea front, so we pulled ourselves together and made a good effort at being at the party. I took my polaroid so took some family pics to put on the wall when I finally get my photo board up!
View from the balcony of the Sundial.
Paul & Phil
Shelly & Karly
Phil’s daughter & daughter-in-law
Jan & Barry
Phils nephew and Mrs.
Carl,Karly,Steve,Shelley
Da Kidz.
Other Paul,Neil & Carl
Cousins and son-in-law
Carl,Neil & Karly
Neils face makes me laugh!
Today I went out taking pictures with my friend Sophie. We meet up a fair few times in the year and go off exploring somewhere, and I catalogue our adventures in my smugmug galleries so here is a selection from today. We went to Saltwell Park and Cemetery today ( we do like graves!) Saltwell park is a beautiful oasis in the middle of urban Gateshead, and has won many awards for it’s loveliness. It has a long & interesting history, which can be found on wiki .
As we left the car park, we got the first hint that summer is just about over and autumn is nearly upon us.
autumn to be
Salty Towers
Yes it’s called Saltwell Towers really.
Salty Towers side on.
The guy who had this built was a stained glass maker, not a single one in the building though.
on the lake
I love these bonkers peddle boats, must have a go on one next time.
duckletts
bottoms up
nothing more funny than a supposedly graceful swan upending to look for food.
Mr.Bolshy
This guy was in a really bad mood, chasing geese and generally swanning around being bolshy.
Mr.Bolshy, Tony’s edition
I remember Tony Single saying he didn’t have swans where he lives, and I was thinking he might like this dark contrast version.
ship ahoy cap’n
Love that this guy wears a Captains hat when playing with his model boat. 🙂 We soon found out he was in a model boat club competition just past the lake, so we went in and took pictures of course. We also had to vote on which ship we liked best.
Sophie shooting boats
Sophie shooting more boats
birdy
Saltwell also has a small wildlife section, with a few budgies and peacocks, but they are in cages, which saddens me always. Birds should be in the sky.
However hens can’t fly, and this one was ginormous!!This is his rear end 😀
fluffy bum
simbiosis
still some flowers left but not many left in the rose garden, which is quite stunning in bloom time.
Sophie Bomb
these are the flowers in the Tyne Bridge sculpture, and I took the shot just as Sophie walked past. We have a rule that we don’t take each other’s photo, but now and again we sneak one, and sometimes it’s accidental, but we also have a rule not to publish them. I don’t think we’re too good at sticking to the rules. Well I’m not anyway. 😀
Saltwell Dene
The Dene is a walk next to a rivulette with lush foliage and little waterfalls,and there’s a lovely twinkling silvery water sound while you walk around.
chocks away
So off to the cemetary over the road, and I managed to catch the magpie just as he took off.
baby graves
Saltwell Cemetary is HUGE! And quite modern, one of the most poignant sights was this section dedicated to little ones.
DIY or Robbing Graves??
This is such a crap shot but I only got the one chance before the lady saw me, and we could NOT work out what the heck they were doing. Speculation on burying their dog or digging for treasure.
Overseers
So thats it for this week, another long one, and now to get ready for work tomorrow. Phil’s on night shift boo hoo. Never mind, soon be the weekend 😀
fraggle ~ rocking a camera across the Universe 
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