5 October 2018

Chelmsford

We are having some absolutely beautiful autumn weather here in the UK. Today's high was a balmy 20 deg.
I went to the Cathedral this morning to take some photos, but didn't stay for the concert. I wanted to do a bit of shopping, visit the market then get home. 

We are officially a city now but in all honesty the services and amenities aren't really up to city status, they are improving though. As well as the usual high street shops the town has had a major makeover with the development of Bond Street where we now have an Everyman cinema, John Lewis, The White Stuff, Kath Kidson, London Grace, The Cotswold Company, and many more. New eateries include, amongst others, Ask, Byron, Jamaica Blue.

Chelmsford was first built by the Romans. It prospered as a market town partly due to its position on a main road half way between London and Colchester. A leather industry, tanners and a wool industry also added to its prosperity. Probably its most famous claim to fame is as the birthplace of radio. The Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company opened the world's first radio factory here in 1898 and was responsible for some of the most important advances in radio and television.

We have a very nice museum that holds lots of interesting events. It has an impressive display of  military artefacts.


Our medieval Cathedral is very pretty inside

the ceiling is beautiful

Hylands House, built in 1730 is a beautiful Grade II listed property, restored to its former glory and situated in 574 acres of historic landscaped parkland. It has beautiful gardens, two restaurants, a lovely shop and a book shop and a great children's play area with a cafe. It's a lovely place to visit for dog walking, strolling round the lake and gardens, enjoying a meal or just a cup of coffee. They also have lots of events; food fairs, garden shows, dog shows, and it's a beautiful wedding venue.


This is a very pretty area along the river. 
It has been smartened up a bit, it wasn't in a bad way before but it looks very nice now. 

The entrance from the road has been opened up with stone cubes for seating, new trees, including dawn redwoods with uplighting to illuminate them, and new paths for pedestrians and cyclists. The children's play area looks the same. With lovely colourful plant schemes, meandering paths, picnic tables and benches it's very popular with office workers, families, and anyone who wants a nice quiet oasis to have lunch or just sit and watch the world go by.

The railway station is looking much better after a make over, and our very dated and tired ice and leisure centre is currently being rebuilt, it is due to be completed by January 2019. It's looking good so far, I'm looking forward to seeing the new build. 

People moan about the bus services but those that live in built up areas have regular buses into town, to the doctors and dentist surgeries, and to the hospital. And some tiny hamlets have regular buses en route to and from Harlow. It's only the outlying areas and villages where I live that are restricted to every couple of hours, but I manage with that on the occasions I use the bus.

We have two markets. The larger under cover one is open from Tuesday to Saturday with stalls selling fruit and veg, plants, cheeses, picture frames, material, handbags, greeting cards, gardening equipment and much more. On Fridays and Saturdays we have the market in the High Street, where shoppers are treated to a variety of local and international fare and gourmet produce. Breads, fish, pastries, olives, fruit and veg, hand-made sausages, award winning pies. And of course a well stocked gardening stall.

We also have a few individual shops selling international and Asian foods.

We still have the Odeon cinema for those, like me who prefer not to pay outrageous prices
to sit on a sofa hoping the guy next to me doesn't spill his beer!!

~Be well ~
Polly x

13 comments:

  1. I've only been to Chelmsford to go to the cricket ground. It seems I've missed a lot of interesting places in the town. The Cathedral looks beautiful.

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  2. You took us on a wonderful tour of your charming City. The Cathedral was a delight with its beautiful domed ceiling and I see the produce there from a harvest festival service. I love to stroll around a market.

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    1. The harvest festival display was lovely. They always put on good displays.

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  3. Ooh, those loaves look so tempting! And the cathedral ceiling is amazing.

    I've never been to Chelmsford. It's odd how towns are suddenly redesignated as cities, although as you say they're not really city status, either in population size or local amenities. Newry in Northern Ireland is a city, even though it only has 27,000 residents, just one sixth of Chelmsford!

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    1. The bread is very good, but also very expensive.

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  4. Chelmsford sounds slightly more up market than Swansea! Where you have Cath Kidston and the White Stuff we have Poundstretcher and Poundland.
    But what a beautiful ceiling. It always amazes me that people took so much trouble over something that could almost be ignored - though maybe they were thinking that people will look up to see God? Who knows? Beautiful anyway.

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    1. ha, ha, good one Liz, we have the shops but I rarely go in them, even the sale prices are high! Poundland has gone but we still have Home Bargains, B&M and the Poundshop. My friend M and I say we have John Lewis tastes but New Look money!!

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  5. You have a lovely, clean city, Polly.
    Cop Car

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  6. Hi Polly, I've just found your blog and am enjoying reading it. I've never been to Chelmsford (or Essex, for that matter), but it looks a very nice city. I too enjoy markets, and the cathedral is beautiful. I'm just about to read about your kitchen transformation, as I really enjoy home decor.:)

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    1. Thank you Jacqui. Hope you like the kitchen post. Your blog looks good, I will have a good look round when I have more time :-)

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