please empty your brain below
Colchester, Cambridge and Oxford must top that list. Good luck finding anything half so interesting if you go to St Neots...

Andrew | 03.04.15 - 7:38 a.m. | #

Colchester - the "Hole in the Wall" to be precise - is also the start of the rather lovely Colne Valley Path to Halstead and Great Yeldham. Essex countryside at its finest.

THC | 03.04.15 - 7:50 a.m. | #

A couple of things that have been baffling me for a while have come up in today's welcome piece...

DG - we are about the same age, so you too may have been taught the name of the female warrior was Boadicea ... when did it officially become Boudica?

I had wondered why there had been no major Lottery-funded new civic buildings - has their been some decree announcing that lottery funding can no longer be used for this purpose?

anyway, have a lovely Easter break

PJS | 03.04.15 - 9:26 a.m. | #

Somewhat annoyingly, I've just discovered that the site of Colchester's Roman Circus opened as a free visitor attraction this week, and I missed visiting because there was no information about it anywhere else in town. Next time.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 03.04.15 - 9:57 a.m. | #

Thank you DG for your excellent post, as always. I have yet to look into the Castle after its internal re-make. Also didn't know about the secret Circus centre - shall have a look. The town is good for browsing and digging except, sadly, Castle Bookshop has closed down after decades of secondhand book-browsing pleasure.

Enjoy a Good Easter. Oh, that's only 35 miles for you; but you can alight from Lodge's No.18 on your way, have a pint and meal at the Pig & Whistle at Chignall Smealy. It's Essex, but not as they tell it.

Now I'm 70 I can go further of course.

Herbof | 03.04.15 - 11:16 a.m. | #

Worth noting that adjacent to Firstsite is The Minories (http://www.colchester.ac.uk/art/minories - the back gate is adjacent to Firstsite's entrance) another art gallery and one which I prefer (the cafe is also good, though I haven't tried the new one at Firstsite).

Firstsite's location was actually the old bus station (there had been a car park above it, but this closed and was demolished in the early 90s or late 80s, IIRC). Perhaps the best feature is the Roman mosaic (also the only permanent exhibit?), returned to the site it was found at from the Castle Museum.

I'm also going to mention St Botolph's Priory, for the simple reason that it is not immediately apparent to the visitor that it actually exists: http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/colchester-st-botolphs-priory/. A few years ago it had a bit of a bad reputation, but the problem drinkers etc. have now moved on (probably aided by encouragement to shoppers to use it as a through route to the Britannia car park!). Don't expect too much of it - but it is still fairly impressive, not least through the surprise factor.

TAS | 03.04.15 - 11:24 a.m. | #

I liked The Minories, and its current Karen Densham exhibition, and its garden would certainly be my preferred spot for a tea (if I ever stopped for that sort of thing).

diamond geezer | Homepage | 03.04.15 - 11:29 a.m. | #

Interesting article here on lottery funded civic architecture
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/nov/02/national-lottery-funding-buildings-won-jackpot-architecture-hits-and-misses

There seems to have been a change of emphasis away from big vanity projects around 2002
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2002/may/16/lottery.arts

timbo | 03.04.15 - 11:30 a.m. | #

Talking of second-hand bookshops, worth noting that although Castle have closed, Greyfriars have just relocated to Trinity Street (in front of Tymperleys, next to the splendid Artcafe) and renamed themselves GfB: the Colchester Bookshop.

TAS | 03.04.15 - 11:31 a.m. | #

Thanks for the heads-up re Bourne Mill ;)

Andy | Homepage | 03.04.15 - 12:37 p.m. | #

I think I first discovered Colchester as a good place to visit while en route to Clacton, about 20 years ago, at which time there was a really nice American style diner called the Sad Sack Café, which seemed to be a bit of a nod to all the American airmen who had been stationed in Essex during WW2.
Although the café later closed, there were - as you say - plenty of other attractions in and around the town to keep one going back.
For those into nature and with the means to get there, the Abberton Reservoir (which really does look guitar shaped, if you see it from a plane in or out of Stansted) isn't too far away and is a good place to go.

RogerW | 03.04.15 - 12:40 p.m. | #

Hey, that was my suggestion! I'm famous!!!

Antipodean | 03.04.15 - 12:56 p.m. | #

Hey, and if you do more - and I've a hunch it's likely you will - you'll be able to see the similarities / differences between individual places that make each region a little 'unique.'
I'm guessing one place that's about the right distance to be on the list could be Basingstoke, which, at first sight, seems a long way farther from London than a town like Colchester.

RogerW | 03.04.15 - 2:18 p.m. | #

I went to Colchester Castle a couple of years ago for the first time since I went on a school trip from junior school.

It must have been the Natural History Museum we went to as well on that same school trip as I remember buying a poster of a golden eagle from there.

Barry | 03.04.15 - 7:22 p.m. | #

@Roger W
"Basingstoke, which, at first sight, seems a long way farther from London than a town like Colchester"

Not from this side of London it doesn't. From here, I can get to Basingstoke quicker than Liverpool Street, let alone Colchester!

timbo | 04.04.15 - 1:16 a.m. | #

Cheers, timbo, but I wasn't meaning solely in terms of distance! :)

RogerW | 04.04.15 - 4:28 p.m. | #

I worked at Firstsite at the time of this visit! That wasn't an especially inspiring exhibition, I agree.

James | 16.08.18 - 1:54 p.m. | #











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