This weekend I had a fabulous excuse to leave London for a few days, it was my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary (awwww true love). Inspired by the fabulous response to my last little walking tour, I remembered to pack the camera and get snapping as I spent some time in one of my favourite British cities.

Chester is in the North of England and is most famous for it's fantastic history. Chester is one of our fantastic Roman cities and is nearly 2000 years old (blimey!) and the original Roman walls that encased the city are still intact...there's even an amphitheater, so no need to go to Rome! Many historians argue that Chester was intended to be the capital of Great Britain, once upon a time it was much more important than London, or Londinium as it was then known :) But it's not just the Roman ruins that make Chester a historical marvel, as you will see in the pics there are plenty of original Tudor and Victorian buildings. So sit back and enjoy!

This is the view of the local shops from one of the Roman walls, isn't it pretty?

In the above photo, you may be able to see that there are shops on top of shops. I've never seen this anywhere else in the UK (except in malls of course) and this part of Chester is known as 'the Rows'. This photo was taken from a restaurant on one of the upper rows...note the red telephone box in the corner hehe.

I love this building, it's one of the original steam mills by the canal.

This canal is very narrow now, as you can see, it's hard to believe that once upon a time it was these waterways that made Chester the most important port in the North-West.

This photo was taken by one of the towers that are part of the Roman walls. Poor King Charles...can't have been nice to see your army defeated!

This is Chester Cathedral, it's beautiful and impossible to capture in one photograph!

This clock is the second most famous clock in the UK, the most famous? Big Ben of course!

The Eastgate Clock was built for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897.

And, although it's not technically part of the Chester tour, I couldn't resist including this picture of my cousin Charlie and I. I only see him for a couple of days every few years, I guess that's what happens when you have family in Australia!

Hope you enjoyed the tour. I'll be back with more London pics soon, watch this space :-D

Fancy a holiday home in this beautiful part of the UK? Or just some gorgeous eye candy? Check out:

Property for sale in Chester

Property to rent in Chester

 
Post is included in group: Club Chaos

45 Comments on A walk around Chester, England....

JUL
21
2008
656,350 Points 108 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog

Poppy - Will you be my tour guide if I ever make it to England?  Once again, this is an awesome photo tour.  Keep up the good work!

11:22am • #1
297,995 Points Outside Blog

Love the fabulous photos and love that word, "fabulous"... I will have to use it more often. :-)  Hmmm.. I just noticed that your name is Poppy Dinsey.  I must be somewhat dyslexic... I thought it was Poppy Disney!  You are inspiring me to take a trip to "this precious stone set in the silver sea."  Thanks for your regular posts and photos.

11:27am • #2
1 Featured Post

Poppy, I loved the tour. like Jason, can you be my tour guide when I come to England? btw, I live in West Chester (NY). it's nice here, but nothing like this.

11:28am • #3
378,899 Points 14 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog

Poppy,

It was a totally delightful tour and I am looking forward to more in coming posts.

Thank you ma'am.

Don R.

11:30am • #4
7 Featured Posts

Jason - I've become quite the tour guide for American contacts that come over, I'm pretty good at it now! We'd love to have you here :-)

Shirley - Hehe, I love the word fabulous too! Don't worry about the name, most people think I'm a cousin of Mickey and Minnie. Lol!

Peter - Of course I'll give you a tour, get yourself over here!

Don - You're more than welcome, glad you enjoyed them.

11:36am • #5
357,054 Points 9 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog

Poppy -- thanks for the tour and the beautiful pictures.  Hope you are enjoying your travels... and congratulations to your grandparents on their 50th.

11:43am • #6
318,417 Points 14 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog

OMG-- Shirley, you are not dyslexic, I'm DYSLEXIC. Poppy, I"VE BEEN SPELLING YOUR NAME WRONG FOR WEEKS. Why didn't you smack me with an email or something? How come only Shirley caught this? I just posted a dedication to you inverting the letters of you name again. I'm sooooo sorry. I have Disney movies on the brain with my six year old, your last name is Dinsey. Duh? (LOL). I have to go edit myself now. Go check out the Brooklyn Bridge. I'm linking back to you from there with your fab new tour in addition to the original one.

BTW, You ROCK!!

Loved every single minute of it and please forgive me for introducing you to a couple of thousand people with the wrong last name. I flipped positions with the s and n. Sorry! :-O)

11:47am • #7
3 Featured Posts

   Poppy,  Great photos of Chester.    On my mothers side, my late grandfather was named after the city. I was there only once passing through while taking a few bands on tour . Don't remember too much ( the clock, yes) as I was still using and drinking back then. Would love to actually see what you are showing one of these days.

12:25pm • #8

Walt Dinsey is what we should call you. You know I caught that the first time we tweeted! Damn good photos for sure. I'm still waiting to see what your Starbucks looks like.

Glad you had a good time the past couple of days. Family is cool when you don't see them that often. They get to be a little more drama like when you see them every weekend, well at least mine do.

Hope all is well and look for us tomorrow sending you well wishes on the RE Bar Camp event page on qik.com.

Derek

Derek Overbey
Sr. Director of Partnership Strategy
Roost.com
http://www.roost.com
http://blog.roost.com

 

Derek Overbey
2:22pm • #9
318,417 Points 14 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog

Hi Derek!

Dude, when are you going to start blogging with us at Club Chaos? Update your profile, come hang with us and get busy! :-)

4:26pm • #10
401,657 Points 179 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog

Hey, Charlie!  Greetings from the beautiful Kitsap Peninsula in scenic Washington State, USA!...

<Snap> <Crackle> <Poppy>... love the photos that you're sharing with the community. Someday we'll have an accurate member location for you. I promise!

4:32pm • #11
128,602 Points 24 Featured Posts Outside Blog

Poppy -- LOVE the photos!  Im going to have to hop across the pond and play tourist at some point...Ive added England to my list of places to visit thanks to you.  :-)

5:03pm • #12
178,475 Points 9 Featured Posts Outside Blog

Poppy ~ More great photos!  I was looking for the Oliver Twist cast in a few of them! : )

6:02pm • #13
587,898 Points 63 Featured Posts Outside Blog

Poppy, I have been to London and Woking twice and your walk about tour of Chester reminded me of the great architecture you have about the city. Thanks for your extraordinary photos.

6:42pm • #14
125,191 Points 3 Featured Posts Outside Blog

Love the pics!  Thanks for sharing.  Your cousin is a real cutie!!!

6:54pm • #15
Outside Blog

Hey.. I never knew Chester had such wonderful old buildings. Having grown up in England I hadn't heard about the beauty. Norwich Next Please, I lived there for 10 years 1978-1988  I am sure the subscribers would love the old place.

7:17pm • #17

C Tann-Starr,

My bad. I've been a little busy with Inman in our backyard. I swear I will get by butt in there and start posting next week. Please forgive me.

Derek

Derek Overbey
8:07pm • #18
318,417 Points 14 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog

Derek, you will always be forgiven. Enjoy Inman! :-D

9:04pm • #19
JUL
22
2008
7 Featured Posts

Joan - Thanks for stopping by, I had a blast.

Carolyn - ROFL! I never even noticed....whenever I read the word Disney I see it as my surname anyway! Although that probably explains why it never came up as a google alert! Hehe.

Kim - You should come, it's lovely :)

Derek - I know what you mean about how often you see your family!Luckily mine are all very spread out :-D

Rich - I'm gonna hold you to that!

4:54am • #20
7 Featured Posts

Clint - Thanks! You should come :-)

Kathy - Hehe, you should see Manchester and all the old industrial buildings. VERY Oliver Twist!

Gary - I grew up near Woking (Guildford), glad you liked the pics.

Melody - He is isn't he? :-D

Alan - You're right about Norwich, I haven't been for a while but have lots of family in Norfolk so will put it on my list of potential tours!

4:57am • #21
128,602 Points 24 Featured Posts Outside Blog

Poppy -- Can I crash at your house when I do?  :-) 

7:38am • #22
7 Featured Posts

Clint - House?! You think people can still afford houses in Central London? ;-) You can crash at my teeny tiny apartment any time!

8:03am • #23
128,602 Points 24 Featured Posts Outside Blog

Poppy -- I figured a brilliant, successful, good looking lady like you would have a large estate.  :-)  But, Id be happy to sleep on your couch regardless...I gotta call my travel agent...LOL!

8:15am • #24
255,463 Points 34 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog

Poppy, that was just wonderful. The architectural designs are fabulous. I have just placed Chester in my "to see" list. Thanks for a great tour.

Later in the rain~Deb

9:52am • #25
249,117 Points 9 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog

Poppy -- I loved the canal shot, and of course the architecture is wonderful, especially for those of us in the recently tamed (by historical standards) wild, wild west of America.  Our buildings are babies when compared to yours.

10:31am • #26
318,417 Points 14 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog

Norma, I never thought of it that way. How true!

1:59pm • #27

Poppy, we have a tiny apartment too. Picture 4 people living in a one bedroom apartment. We gave the bedroom to the boys because we realized we hardly ever use it. We are always in the living-room. Even before they were born. If we were not dueling on our computers, we were glued to the TV battling it out playing video games. Her biggest complaint was the fact that I kept falling asleep on the floor instead of coming to bed. So, I brought a leather couch with a queen sized bed and we got into the habit of staying there. Then I brought a futon to replace the couch, but we discovered the living room was larger than we thought and we kept both. We can actually open them up side by side without moving anything out of the way. The funny thing is now I can't even sleep on either of them because the kids are always trying to climb in her armpits to use each shoulder as their personal pillows. Lately, (more like every other night) my two year old kicks me off the futon and I am banished to the bedroom to use Noah's bed. Stephen the Destroyer will not give me my wife back and will fight to keep me at arms length. I usually give up after a few pokes to the eye and a head butt. The kid is relentless. Did I mention he is PDD-NOS with a high tolerance for pain? We run from him at least twice a day! (LOL)

Don't let me scare you, kids are a wonderful thing. Looking forward to still being your friend when you give birth to your little minions. Terrible twos are universal, my dear. Don't take it personally when they assault you. It's a sign of misplaced affection. :-)

3:27pm • #28
318,417 Points 14 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog

Haaaa! Misplaced affection! I like the way you explain being black and blue! Stephen the Destroyer earned his nickname people! My two year old is a rough neck! Wow - the kid has me typing in exclamation points -- too funny!

7:31pm • #29
JUL
23
2008
7 Featured Posts

Clint - I can't get out of the habit of spending my fortunes on handbags at the moment....hopefully they'll one day turn out to be as good an investment as real estate, maybe if I sign them they'll be worth twice as much?! :-p

Deb - You're very welcome!

Norma - That's one thing I always miss when I'm in the US, the VERY old buildings. But that being said the historical US buildings are so different to ours that they're gorgeous to see too. We never had cowboys here, which instantly makes us less cool. Hehe.

Mike - Sounds like a very lively family ;-) I can picture my children already, chatterboxes with big egos and LOTS of curly hair. Lol!

Carolyn - I'm definitely going to have to remember this 'misplaced affection' line myself when I'm fed up of battling with them in the early hours of the morning!

5:06am • #30
318,417 Points 14 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog

How lovely! That sounds really promising, girlfriend! BTW, the band seems like they have a lot of fun. I was checking out the crew shots this morning. Veeerrrry interrrrresting! We definitely have to hang when I eventually take my bloggers butt across the big pond. (LOL). Are they available on iTunes? I'm very curious to hear what they sound like... If not, do try and talk them into it! I promise to post lots of pictures the first chance I get. We are sorting through them like mad on my end. :-)

4:59pm • #31
JUL
24
2008

Poppy, Beautiful tour and pictures, thank you so much for sharing.  Mike

2:59pm • #32
JUL
25
2008
276,180 Points 3 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog

Poppy, what lovely photographs!  I didn't know about Chester, but now it will be a must-see when I finally visit the U.K.  I imagine that Chester County, PA must have been named after Chester.  I'm recommending your post for a feature.

12:37pm • #33
JUL
26
2008
7 Featured Posts

Carolyn - They're not on iTunes yet but I'm working on it, the second their new CD is recorded you'll be the first person I send it to!

Mike - You're very welcome.

Brian - It's amazing how many US places take their names from the UK, Birmingham, Chester, Cambridge and of course New York :-) Thanks for recommending for feature, very sweet of you!

 

5:25am • #34
JUL
27
2008
136,366 Points 2 Featured Posts Outside Blog

Poppy - Thanks for sharing. These photos are splendid.  I have not been to the UK yet, but I do want to go.

7:31am • #35
318,417 Points 14 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog

Outstanding! I am soooo looking forward to it! Cool! :-)

9:01am • #36
318,417 Points 14 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog

BTW, I'm linking back to this for my next Localism tour of houses. You ROCK!

10:51am • #37

Carolyn, thanks for the absolution.  My husband accuses me of being dyslexic and I will admit to a touch of it.  But it usually makes me double check things more than I otherwise would.

1:42pm • #38
249,909 Points 22 Featured Posts Outside Blog

Thanks for the walking tour Poppy.  I just got done running with Carolyn in Queens County so the walk here was a nice cool down.  It was great to see Chester and you and your cousin look happy! Wish your Grandparents the best. Have a great Sunday.

3:57pm • #39
JUL
28
2008
440,288 Points 8 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog

 I have always wanted to go to England, and it really sounds like you had a great time. Really like the post and your pics are wonderful.

Robert Swetz

3:29am • #40
7 Featured Posts

Tanya - You must, there's a lot to see :-)

Paddy - Hehe, glad to be part of your cool down regime! Have a nice week.

Robert - Thanks! Glad you liked them.

6:14am • #42
Localism Sponsor Outside Blog

Hi Poppy

I miss the old home didn't get back there this year...grew up in good old Swansea Wales and went to College in London. Looks like you had a great time there including the tea!! :)

Anne

9:27am • #43

Hi Poppy

I miss the old home didn't get back there this year...grew up in good old Swansea Wales and went to College in London. Looks like you had a great time there including the tea!! :)

Anne

9:28am • #44
JUL
30
2008
420,605 Points 17 Featured Posts Outside Blog

These photos are spectacular! Was London really once known as Londinium?

I also wanted to invite you to post this to the brand spanking new PHOTO MeMe group =) This is perfect!

12:08am • #45
OCT
31
2008
303,287 Points 3 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog

That was great!  I've been there and have to say it was a very memorable town.  My Uncle and Auntie took us to the oldest pub, still in existence.  It was amazing.

4:00pm • #46

Leave a response…



(optional)
What does the graphic say?
 
Rainmaker_large

Poppy Dinsey ~ London, UK

Anaheim, CA

More about me…

Globrix

Email Me



Links

Archives

RSS 2.0 Feed for this blog

Find CA real estate agents and Anaheim real estate on ActiveRain.