CHERTSEY

BOATS, BRIDGES, BOILERS ... IF IT'S GOT RIVETS, I'M RIVETTED
... feminist, atheist, autistic academic and historic narrowboater ...
Likes snooker, beer, tea, rivets and solitude, and is strangely fascinated by the cinema organ.
And there might be something about railways.
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Wednesday 27 March 2013

A glassy day out

Having decided to stay put here rather than brave the weather, we have been looking for ways to spend our Easter holiday (I having booked time off work for the purpose).

Today we decided to revisit Stourbridge, where we had such a success in the charity shops last time, and this time to pay a visit to the various museums and studios commemorating and continuing the town's glassmaking heritage.

The charity shops were a disappointment this time, yielding me only a nice little pair of red (Clarks) shoes - a good find, as it's a style I admired when they were in the shops last year. In an unheard of turn of events, Jim actually bought more than me, with some trousers and a new guest tent (so don't buy one, Dr Duct!) for the hold, plus a joint purchase, one of those devices for making logettes out of old newspaper. I've always wondered whether they worked, and now I can find out, for a fraction of the price of a new one.

And then to the Red House Glass Cone, which as well as hosting a small museum and demonstrations of glassmaking, is home to a number of artists and craftspeople working in glass and ceramics and producing some really beautiful stuff.

I particularly liked this cameo glass vase, although unlike many of the pieces for sale, it was somewhat out of my price range.

The museum part featured the obligatory odd narrow boat exhibit:


And these rather lovely glass curtains, forever blowing in a stiff vitreous breeze:


We rounded the visit off with hot chocolate in the Red House coffee shop, which was also very nice, if somewhat empty on a day like today.

We had intended to visit the Broadfield House glass museum on the way home, but as it was well past lunchtime, decided to leave that for another day.

Tomorrow, some vaguely boat-related action is promised!

2 comments:

  1. Thanks..for the post and for the tent. That cameo glass is lovely.

    The vitreous curtains are interesting, but the narrow boat exhibit is appalling. As a boater, how do you avoid inauthentic, soft-headed, Daily-Maily nostalgia?

    I know you do, but it must be a risk for boaters that they get sucked in to that sort of bo**ocks.

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  2. I think I am going to compile a gallery of weird, inaccurate and anachronistic narrow boat representations. There is a mural/mosaic at Stoke on Trent station featuring a lovely example when I can get the photo off my phone.

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