Cheltenham

 

Known for GCHQ and for its steeplechase horse racing, Cheltenham is a beautiful town and has a lot to offer to visitors.  It has been a health and holiday spa town resort since the discovery of mineral springs in 1716. We visited the town on the last day of our visitors' stay.

 

 

 

 

The Promenade is a wonderful shopping street

 



 

it's pedestrianised and it's a real delight to walk in such an open space in the middle of a town

lots of shops on either side

and this sculpture is right in the middle

it looks particularly attractive around Christmas time when the trees are filled with small silver lights

 

Beautiful buildings

 

 

 

and lots of cafes and restaurants with outdoor seating which gives the town a cosmopolitan air

 

 

 

The town is famous for its Regency architecture and is said to be 'the most complete regency town in England'.

 

 

 

trees everywhere

 

 

And it's full of parks

 

so that the openness of The Promenade is continuously reproduced throughout





a Regency terrace in the distance

The Queens hotel with the monument to those who fell during the Crimean war in front

another park as we enter the Montpellier area

which is very interesting both in architectural terms

and because of the boutique shops that encourage browsing.

Each doorway of this terrace is flanked by these statues

 

 

 

 

it's my favourite area

 



 

 

and it includes this wonderful Regency terrace

 

 



 

Kiki Kogelnik - Fly Me to the Moon

  

 

Fly Me to the Moon, by Kiki Kogelnik at the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford.

 

 

 

 

 

Despite Kogelnik's early popularity and continued appreciation in her native Austria, her work was overlooked by international art institutions until recent years. Fly Me to the Moon is the first major solo exhibition in the UK offering the opportunity to experience the prophetic work of this artist.

 

Working in New York in the 1960s Kogelnik depicted the anxieties of the Cold War era, when the Space Race was at its height and fears of nuclear annihilation were growing.

 

Fly Me to the Moon includes works produced by Kogelnik during this time, such as a series of vivid paintings of lunar landscapes, in which human forms fly across a canvas criss-crossed by spots. Over time, she grew disenchanted with the volatile new inventions of her age. These anxieties are reflected in the works on paper, which are populated by rockets, robots and decapitated bodies, in addition to her sculptural 'hangings' - human-like forms cut in vinyl and hung on clothes rails.

 

 

 

 

Her work is very relevant today reflecting the way in which we live, work and communicate which are constantly changing with the development of new technologies. Since the rise of smartphones and social media, we spend more time connected to digital networks than ever before. In this time of particular and rapid change, it can be easy to forget that other generations also had to adapt to a world altered by new frontiers in technological and scientific progress.

 

 



 

Untitled (M), 1964 (oil and acrylic on canvas)

 

 

Untitled (A), 1963 (oil and acrylic on canvas)

Fly Me to the Moon, 1963, (oil and acrylic on canvas)

Machine, 1963 (oil and acrylic on canvas)

 

 

Bleiburg Skull, 1972, (sheet vinyl with mixed media)

 

 

George, 1966, (fibreglass, chromed steel and mixed media)

 

 

Vibrations on a Composite Circuit, 1965 (oil and acrylic on canvas with mixed media)

 

 

Ikarus, 1965 (oil and acrylic on canvas)

Untitled (Skull), 1963, (oil on board)

 

 

 

Bourton-on-the-Water

 

Bourton-on-the-Water is such a major tourist attraction that during the peak times of the tourist season it often has more visitors than residents.

An overcast autumn day is the time to visit and this is what we did.

The village does not look as glorious

but it was quiet and we were able to enjoy ourselves without the crowds.

Most buildings are of 17th century origin. The houses and shops are constructed of the yellow linestone characteristic of the Cotswolds and they have the embellishments that make Cotswold architecture so picturesque:

 

 

 

 

 

projecting gables, windows with stone mullions and stone hoodmoulds over the doors.

The main attraction of this village is the extremely shallow river, the Windrush, that runs through it

 

and which is crossed by several low, arched stone bridges.

 



 

 

Two bridges next to each other here, one for pedestrians and one for cars

 



 

 

narrow alleyways

lovingly tended gardens

weeping willows dipping in the water

lots of hotels and eateries to cater for the tourist trade

 

the motor museum

 



 

and it's all so picturesque

 

As you can see, pretty deserted at this time of year - perfect

except for the water birds

love the geese!

Having wandered around for quite a while

we ended up at the model village which is attached to this pub, the Old New Inn.

The model village first opened to the public in 1937

 

The scale is one to nine

 

 



 

 

and it's an exact replica

 



 

the miniature gardens are landscaped to be as realistic as possible: alpines, miniature roses, tiny conifers and mature shrubs and trees have been used.

A replica of the shallow river runs through

 

the church has tiny pews and one can hear organ  music being played

 



 

the stone buildings are delightful

the gardens have been reproduced as faithfully as possible

and no model village would be complete without the model within the model and of course, the model within that model.