Morcambe Shoes Scarisbrick
We went up to Morcambe yesterday to see this building- The Midland Hotel. It is being restored to it’s 1933 Art Deco glory as designed by Oliver Hill.
It appeared in a Poirot (Agatha Christie) episode in 1989 called “Double Sin”. Where I first saw it.
It’s heyday was 1933-1939 (until war was declared). People like Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson, Noel Coward, Gloria Vanderbuilt and Winston Churchill stayed here.
Seahorses at the top of the staircase tower designed by sculpter Eric Gill. He did some interior reliefs too which have survived. The artist Eric Ravilious did some interior paintings. Some textiles and mosaic floors were designed by Marion Dorn. The idea was that everything should go with everything else -a bit like on the Titanic where even the crockery went with the ship. In the case of the Midland Hotel it was a seahorse motif.
It was like a huge ship from the seaward side. I think it will look stunning when it has been finished in June. Here’s a few sights to tell you more with better photographs:
http://www.midlandhotel.org/index.html
http://www.citycoastcountryside.co.uk/site/morecambe-and-heysham/midland-hotel-p16217
http://www.lancasterguardian.co.uk/news-video-audio/Morecambe39s-Midland-Hotel–a.2994396.jp
For Valentines Day hubby and I went out to a brilliant restaurant that specialises in fish dishes. I got some new shoes from a places that was closing down. Don’t they remind you of Dorothy’s ruby slippers in Wizard of Oz? I do love new shoes even the less practical ones like these.
Today’s walk was in Scarisbrick. This is a misty picture of Scarisbrick Hall designed a fair bit by Pugin who did the Houses of Parliament in London. It’s currently a private school. Here’s a couple of sites with proper pictures:
http://www.pugin.com/pugscars.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarisbrick_Hall
This is a rare sight- canal boats having their coal delivered by a huge wide coal barge! The woods to the side are full of sprouting garlic smelling leaves. We’ll go back and take photos when they are flowering.
I have been crafting but nothing is finished. I’ve been a bit busy sorting out this shameful collection in the evenings. Galvanised into action by fellow craftersgorgeous neat habbits, I have started tackling my pile of embriodery threads. they have never been done before, as I didn’t know there was such an organiser available in England until I saw them in use at Patched Pumpkin.
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