18, Baywatch and Shugborough

Up to Cheshire this weekend ostensibly for my friends' son's 18th birthday. Unfortunately his 18th falls in the middle of his A -Levels so this was a little celebration just before his actual birthday. And an opportunity to hand over some cash to pay for his holiday shortly thereafter.

 Top present was a roll of fivers with the message "stripper money" inscribed outside them.

His holiday is to help crew a tall ship for a week (well each to his own) so his sister built a birthday cake that was a textbook with a ship on it. You wouldn't see that on Bake Off.

As well as with family, he also went off to the cinema with some mates. So his Dad and I did the same, since he needed a lift to the cinema complex. No, obviously we were not going to sit in the same film and watch them, so we had to find another one, with the unappetising choice between Baywatch and The Mummy. We plumped for Baywatch as the trailer suggested it was a bit of a tongue in cheek spoof. Alas, not enough of a spoof.

I think the film was created as follows. Firstly a writer was employed to write a goodie v baddies script set on a beach that would appeal to the under 12s. The sort of plot that Flipper or Skippy might use but without the wildlife. The script was then handed over to someone else to eek it out with knob and tit gags, and a few knowing references to the old Baywatch TV series. The result is a film too crude for kids and too childish for adults.

And it had another problem - a bit of miscasting against the script. It stars Zac Efron as a young Olympic Swimmer who is dismissed throughout the film as a pretty boy, or as "One Direction". Which would have been ideal for young Zac Efron. But the actual Zac Efron is nearly 30 with the physique of a body builder. Fine young man and you can see why they want to get his shirt off, but no boyband member now. It was a bit like watching a film where Judi Dench is constantly being called a sexy young model. The words don't match the appearance.

On Sunday, given Kit had returned to his exam swatting and my train home was out of Stafford, I persuaded Dave to drive us the Shugborough, a recently acquired National Trust Property only 20 minutes from Stafford Station,. We had indeed done the same trip before for the same reason. But it was nice to return to see what they had been doing to the place. Pretty major restoration project is the answer. The upstairs is now closed after they discovered that the balustrades had "little or no structural integrity". Anyway, we had a pleasant wander round, between showers.

Restoration of the Walled Garden had come along since our previous visit.

Tower of the Winds, based on the Athenian version I had visited only  a few weeks earlier. Under a rather stormier sky.

The mansion from a distance

A sedan chair from the early 19th century.

 
 Fortunately w spent most of a heavy shower in th mansion, and came out to a brief spell of sunshine. Nice for a walk and a few photos.

A particularly picturesque "designer" ruin.

 The Ansons clearly loved their chinoiserie. A cute tea house appears by an equally pretty oriental  bridge.

 

Chepstow Castle

Day 2 of my Wiltshire sojourn and we headed across the Severn to Chepstow. Which may mean more to you as a racecourse but actually has a very fine castle, albeit one under a fairly serious bit of maintenance. This involved a brief excursion across the border into Wales with the inevitable rain.

This is a good choice of castle, if one overlooks the slightly over-zealous appeal to small children. It has history, a lot to look around and great views of the river.

These doors have been dated back to 1190, the oldest castle doors in Europe.

 This is what I meant about the over-zealous courting of the under 10s. Plastic dragons in the courtyard. Really?

Not the very early Norman doorway. This castle was built not long after the Norman invasion.

 The eco-friendly basket-work knight has seen better days, on his now three-legged horse.