Maggie Hambling and a little tour of Canterbury

Hello everyone! Weather returned to normal in Canterbury; grey sky, a bit of rain and a chilly wind. Despite the weather, we walked to the High street this afternoon to visit Sidney Cooper gallery to see 'The Thinking Line: Defining Drawing'. This morning, I happened to find that the drawing of Maggie Hambling is included in it and she is alumni of Christ Church University where Mike and I do ceramics. I liked her oil painting at Jerwood gallery at Hastings last week. So I wanted to see more of her works. 

Sidney Cooper Gallery on the High street

It is a small gallery, but most convenient for us to visit as we could walk, and it is free. I spotted her work as soon as I saw it. It was black and indigo acrylic drawing, but it reminds me of Japanese ink drawings. Her energy and dynamism was vibrating from it. It was titled 'Bird and dog fighting.'




I have noticed that lots of you are from abroad. So I think this is a good opportunity to show some parts of our famous historic city. After the gallery, we walked a bit more and did some shopping, and had espresso and chocolate cakes at Champagne bar at ABode. I will show you a part of the city as we walked back to home from there

The View of The library from the window of Champagne bar at ABode

It has been closed for several years for repair and extension. But it is near to completions now.

The history of Canterbury goes back to the Roman time, or beyond; there was a Celtic settlement before the Romans came in the 1st century A.D. 

The Westgate from inside the City wall

There are lots of tourists from all over the world, all year around. It is the destination of European school trips as well. You could hear French, Dutch, German and Italian quite often. It is a very international place.

Westgtae from the outside of the city wall

The city was walled by the Romans in the third century. This Westgate was medieval replacement of the Roman gate,  rebuilt around 1376 from Kentish ragstone, and the last survivor of seven medieval gates. Last weekend, the city changed its traffic system, and the Westgate area became one way system, except for buses and taxis. But there are still some confusions among residents. Double decker buses go through the gate. When I was a student, I used to sit on the upper floor of the bus to get a little thrill. I have seen large vehicles got stuck in the gate several times.  

Westgate Garden

 This is Westgate Garden. A shame about the grey sky, but it is more often like this! You can go on a boat trip over the River Stour. It is lovely place and lots of locals come to do picnic during warmer months.

St Dunstan

This is our nearest church, St Dunstan, found in late 11th century. There is the head of St Thomas More in the vault of Roper Family in it. More's daughter married to a member of Roper family who has lived nearby.


This evening we went to Beverley Craven's' little gig, Mike's old favourite, at the Gulbenkian theatre in the University of Kent. 3 minutes from our house by car. It was a fun. Although I didn't know any of her songs, I totally enjoyed it. She is talented.