Rowley Gallery Blog
Benabbio is a hilltop village above Bagni di Lucca in Tuscany. I found this photo (c.1920) in a book in the house we rented there this summer. The house was just below the church tower. Continue reading “A Walk Around The Village”
Driving to work the other day I was diverted from my normal course and led to discover the Isokon building. I’d never seen it before but instantly it seemed familiar and true, as if it were an archetype, elegant and beautiful, the epitome of 1930s utopian modernism. Continue reading “A Short Diversion”
An aerial view of Lucca and its magnificent walls planted with trees, a green belt around the city, a circular park punctuated by six gates and eleven bastions. In the foreground is Baluardo San Paolino. Continue reading “A Walk Along The Walls”
According to The Rough Guide to Tuscany & Umbria – The best town on the coast, Viareggio is also one of Tuscany’s biggest seaside resorts, graced with an air of elegance lent mainly by the long avenue of palms that runs the length of its seafront promenade. We walked the promenade but we didn’t see the sea. It is separated from the town by a series of gated private bathing beaches. Continue reading “A Walk Along The Promenade”
Southend pier is the longest in the world. It was built in 1830 to allow access across the mudflats for the boatloads of visitors arriving at the seaside resort from London. They came in search of its health giving waters and sea breezes. We came for fish & chips but Jamie and Jimmy’s Café was closed. Continue reading “A Walk Along The Pier”
Manningtree was another daytrip destination in the early 1980s. We came on the train with our bikes from Liverpool Street to explore the country lanes around Dedham and Flatford, but we didn’t see much of Manningtree apart from the station. It was the gateway to Constable country. Continue reading “Manningtree”
We left the main road at Cross in Hand then down the back lanes to Chiddingly, an enchanting drive through the woods, alternately dappled with jewelled light sparkling through the leaves or dark and gloomy in sunken, narrow holloways, and always the threat of encountering oncoming traffic around the next bend of the single track road. It was an adventure even before we arrived. Continue reading “Farley Farm House”
It must be at least 30 years since we first came here. We took our bikes on the train from Victoria then cycled from Eastbourne. Beachy Head and Birling Gap, East Dean and West Dean, Litlington and Lullington and Wilmington. Continue reading “The Long Man Of Wilmington”
Nunney Castle near Frome, Somerset comes close to perfection. Here water laps a small rectangular island, out of which rises a tall, ruined castle with four cylindrical towers. Continue reading “Nunney”
The Ship at Levington last April, newly refurbished and reopened just a couple of months earlier, it was a good place for lunch before a walk along the north shore of the River Orwell. Continue reading “Levington”