Day two of my trip to the Peak District began early. I was out of the hotel before 8 a.m. as I had a sixty minute drive through the glorious Derbyshire Dales to reach High Peak country. My mission today was to find a plane wreck… macabre, I know, but Read More
Author: Jenny Blue
Eyam: The Original Lockdown Village
Whilst on my travels in the Peak District I made a quick detour via Eyam village a.k.a the ‘Plague Village’, which seemed rather apt a place to make a visit in 2020, annus Covidis. The story goes that, in 1665, the bubonic plague arrived in Eyam from London, via a Read More
Dovedale Stepping Stones & The Nine Ladies
It’s August. By now, we should be deep into the UK motor racing season – which we kind of are, but Covid has meant that meetings at which one can actually spectate are few and far between. ‘Hooray! Thank heavens for MSV and the British GT Championship’ shrieks the ardent Read More
The Devil’s Punchbowl
I was in Conan Doyle country today: the gorgeous Surrey heathland of Hindhead Commons and the intriguingly-monickered Devil’s Punchbowl. I arrived mid-morning and it was already busy with the lockdown-induced stir-crazy picnic crowd – indeed, they were already sprawled out on the grass scoffing pork pies (not that there’s anything Read More
Chatley Heath & Wisley Airfield
I’d been meaning to visit the old Admiralty semaphore tower at Chatley Heath for ages, but, little did I realise when I set off this morning, I’d be walking the length of a 1900m disused airstrip and lunching by a beautiful lake. Chatley Heath, near the village of Ockham in Read More
Les Grottes de Lacave
Easter Sunday. While the UK was basking in freak heatwave conditions, I was back in France and dodging rain showers. Perfect conditions, then, for a Jules Vernes-esque adventure… The Lot département is blessed with a great number of grottes (natural caves) and gouffres (chasms/abbysses), the most famous being the Gouffre Read More
The Devil’s Bridge & Other Tales from France…
I was back in France last weekend to visit Papa Blue, and, as is now the custom, went in search of a few more historical treasures of the Corrèze and Lot departments. My planned visits (to Argentat and Mercœur) were curtailed by le crachin – persistent mizzly rain that only cleared Read More
The Lady Vanishes
It’s no secret that I love, love, love theatre… and my penchant for mysteries is equally well known. So, ‘why?’ you may ask, was my excitement level ramped up from it’s usual level of fervour to unbridled frenzy for Bill Kenwright’s new production of the classic spy thriller ‘The Lady Read More
The Sign of Four
A week after The Mousetrap and I’m back at Guildford’s Yvonne Arnaud Theatre (less snowy – the daffs are out) for the second of an anticipated five weeks in a row of theatrical thrillers: The Sign of Four. Adapted by Nick Lane from the second of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Read More
The Mousetrap
There really is no better way to start a run of five plays in five weeks than the quintessential murder mystery, Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap. You may (or may not) know that, at the end of each performance, the audience takes an oath not to reveal ‘whodunnit’. I have seen the Read More