Tag: Liverpool

A Stroll Around Sefton Park

Sefton Park is a large grade 1 historic park located in south Liverpool. It is very popular with local residents and students and regularly holds special events such as concerts and food and drink festivals. It is three miles from the city centre and is just a short 15 minute drive/taxi ride. A number of bus routes pass closely and can be checked at the Merseytravel website. We drove from the city and entered the park via Aigburth Drive, probably the closest to the city centre. There is free parking on Aigburth Drive/Croxteth Drive/Mossley Hill Drive which is the perimeter road that runs all the way round the park.

If you enter the park from Aigburth Drive and park to the right of the entrance there is a long drive which leads walkers into the centre of the park. At its beginning is the Samuel Smith obelisk, built in 1909 to honour Samuel Smith who was a cotton trader, Member of Parliament and philanthropist. Constructed in red granite it is now grade II listed and makes a fine marker for the start of your stroll.

Walking down the drive from the obelisk you come to the café, toilets and the Shaftesbury Memorial and Eros fountain. Erected in 1932 it is a replica of the monument to be found in London’s Piccadilly Circus. It has recently undergone restoration with a new statue atop the monument.

From the café head off towards the left and the Palm House. The Palm House has had a few ups and downs since it was first built in 1896. It was damaged in the May Blitz of 1941, losing most of its glass windows. There was post war restoration but then gradually deteriorated and was officially closed in the 1980s because it was deemed to be unsafe. A public fundraising campaign led to its reopening in 1993 followed by a full restoration in 2001 using Heritage Lottery and EU funding.

Around the outside are eight sculptures by Leon Joseph Clavalliaud, some could do with a bit of a clean.

  • Andre le Notre
  • Captain Cook
  • Mercator
  • Carl Linnaeus
  • Charles Darwin
  • Columbus
  • Henry the Navigator
  • John Parkinson

The Sir George Frampton statue of Peter Pan was unveiled in the park 1928 but was moved to its current location adjacent to the Palm House in 2005 following vandalism.

It is now possible to hire the Palm House for concerts, private functions and weddings.

From the Palm House a short walk takes you to the Fairy Glen and Iron Bridge. This is such a peaceful and tranquil area of the park with small water cascades which can be sometimes overlooked by visitors.

The boating lake is a significant and popular feature of the park. Boats no longer are a feature on the lake and the jetty and boathouse were removed many years ago. In recent times the lake was drained and renovated before being refilled and restocked with fish. A walk around the lake is very popular and it is often the busiest area of the park. Approaching from the Fairy Glen a walk around the lake in a clockwise direction will bring you back eventually to the café.

Just before the café is the bandstand said by some to have been part of the inspiration for The Beatles song Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.

From the café you can retrace your steps back up the drive towards the Samuel Smith Obelisk to complete your stroll.

Baltic Triangle Street Art 2019

I first wrote about the street art to be found in Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle in September 2018. You can read the original post using the link here. As twelve months have elapsed I thought it would be a good idea to revisit the area and have a look at what was new. Much of the original work first seen in 2018 is still here but this post will just concentrate on that which is new to me. Check the link above to see the earlier works.

The Baltic Triangle is a pleasant 15 minute walk from Liverpool city centre, head out along Paradise Street, turn left onto Park Lane and when the road forks take the right branch which is Jamaica Street. This brings you to the heart of the Baltic Triangle.

Blundell Street is very much under redevelopment but there are a couple of nice pieces on the hoardings surrounding the building work.

The next street is Kitchen Street where you will find this work. I can’t seem to find anything about the artist and there are a number of works of a similar nature closely. If anyone knows add a comment at the end of the post.

The building at the corner of Jamaica Street an Bridgewater Street has a number of smaller works including the ceramic by HEX.

On Watkinson Street Liverpool based artist John Culshaw has created a mural of the ‘Fab Four’, although Ringo does appear to have had one of his teeth coloured in.

The north side of Norfolk Street is now cordoned off for redevelopment work but you can just glimpse the work by PinHeadUK on the corner with Jamaica Street.

The brick wall on Jamaica Street between Norfolk Street and Brick Street has long been a popular location for artists and is home to probably the real most iconic work, Paul Curtis’s Liver Bird Wings and Straw Girl by Irony. Much here has survived the passage of time but there is a couple of pieces I had not come across before. Latvian street artist Kiwie has this work here.

Check Point Charlie is also a relatively recent addition.

Neal Keating’s Game Over is also here.

Vancouver based artiest Emily Gray has created a delicate, pastoral mural which has suffered a little with a tag added but still looks pretty good.

The Liverpool Life Sciences UTC building on Greenland Street has yet another mural by Paul Curtis. You can even become part of this work as a convenient space has been left for you to stand in.

The skate park on Jamaica Street has always been popular with street and graffiti artists. What started out as an advert for the Netflix series ‘Our Planet’ has since been partially overpainted. It was created in March 2019 and showed Pink Flamingoes coming into land on a lake. Only the top section now remains.

On Jordan Street Manchester street artist Aske has created this portrait of Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp.

Paul Curtis has another mural on the wall of Cains Brewery Village. Commissioned by The Beatles Story Museum, in the Royal Albert Dock, for the 50th anniversary of the release of Abbey Road. Paul has created the famous street scene minus the four Beatles enabling you to create your own version of this most famous album cover.

Kokonut at Bunch

Yetti and the Kokonut are the nicknames of David Geyer and Koen Janssens who together make some fabulous wines in South Australia. I have previously written about their wines from the 2018 vintage, you can read it here. Last Sunday evening, at Bunch Natural Wine Bar in Liverpool Koen was showcasing some of the wines from the recent 2019 vintage.

Fruit Basket 2019, Eden Valley. Fruit comes from a 90 year old single block of vines in the Eden Valley which contains 13-15 different varieties. The relative proportion in the vineyard is unknown and the block is harvested and vinified all together. For the 2019 Fruit Basket they tried something different and vinified small batches separately in the hope of giving some personal identity to the wine. The wine saw 10 days skin contact and has a feint blush. It has lovely texture and balance. Peachy, floral, perfumed, with some dried herbs, there is an awful lot going on here and this is what I like about this wine, every sip brings something new. The finish is dry with a delightful floral perfume. As a result of the drought in South Australia production is 70% down on last year. Get it while you can.

Metro Savagnin 2019, McLaren Vale. The story of Savagnin in Australia in an interesting one. DNA tests conducted in 2009 on Albarino confirmed what had been suspected, it wasn’t Albarino at all but was Savagnin. So the Savagnin growing in Australia is there because of a mistake and what a beneficial one it has proved to be for Yetti & the Kokonut. They farm a vineyard of Savignan, harvest it all at the same time and then vinify in different ways. Metro is a new wine which was vinified in two separate batches, in one it was 100% whole bunch in the other 50% destemmed with 50% whole bunch on top. The resulting wine has a lovely freshness with lots of citrus, pear and stone fruit. It is well balanced and has a delightful delicate finish. It’s refreshing and very drinkable. A very versatile wine.

Mount Savagnin 2019, McLaren Vale. The same vineyard as Metro but this wine was made in a much larger wooden vat holding around 3000 litres. There is some delicacy here with lovely pear and lime and a texture that makes this very drinkable. The wine is not out there shouting about itself, it just quietly gets on with delivering a very nice glass. Very much in its youth and lovely for drinking now.

Mount Savagnin 2017, McLaren Vale. An interesting comparison with the recent release and a much more serious wine. It has the fruit of the 2019 but has also developed a nuttiness and complexity which makes it a wine for contemplative drinking. Great balance and a lovely freshness to the finish.

B’rosé 2019, McLaren Vale. This years wine is a blend of Cabernet Franc, red Semillon and Verdello. Noticeably absent is Gewurtztraminer which has added real fragrance and spice to previous vintages. Unfortunately the Gewurtz wine picked up an infection and was spoiled hence its absence. Despite the problems this is still very good. A fruit forward wine with masses of red berry fruit, a great texture and real character. This is a wine that demands some serious attention, preferably sat in the warm sunshine. As winter approaches perhaps we could drink it to bring a little sunshine into our lives. I really hope so.