Country of tea and hot scones….

Part 1 -  Chester

After a wonderful life in Mumbai for 5 and a half years, our life decided to take a turn. My husband had to shift to UK in a place called Chester towards the North-West of this island country.

So after thinking of all the pros and cons ( the only con that I could think of was leaving my stable consulting job) I decided to shift with him. There were lot of things that required attention as we had considered Mumbai to be our second home away from Kolkata and after of lot of wait and speculations had purchased a 2 bedroom flat in the Mumbai suburbs close to my work-place. Things were moving fine with cook and maid, our jobs and our parents visiting Mumbai for few months in a year and then came the sudden change.

My husband moved to UK in Jan and bravely faced the first UK winter whereas I stayed back to wrap up things in Mumbai and finally joined him in June. That was a blessing in disguise because the first thing that I realised after landing in Manchester airport was summer can be very pleasant in  these European countries. The drive to Chester which is about a 45 mile (yes, I will be using ‘mile’ instead of ‘km’ !) was very pleasant as our car passed through beautiful meadows, small towns and   lovely trees in full blossom with some unusual flowers.

‘Chester’ is a pretty little city in Cheshire towards the Northwest of England and close to the border of Wales. It’s history go back a long way, almost 2000 years which is typical of many cities in England. Some of the most prominent architecture of this city are 'Cathedral' and the 'Town hall'. The Cathedral which is built around 11th Century and still stands tall and has one of the most elaborately carved canopies which is said to be one of the finest in the country. The Town hall on the other hand was opened in 18th Century and has a wonderful Gothic architecture. 

Cathedral

Another important surviving structure of this old city is the 'Chester Castle' which is said to be of the medieval time. There are some neat black-and-white wooden buildings in Chester which are fully operational with shops below and people living there. They looked very different from the rest of the residents and shops around it and were pretty unique. I later read that the Black-and-white Revival was an architectural movement from the middle of the 19th century which re-used the vernacular elements of the past, using timber framing. The wooden framing is painted black and the panels between the frames are painted white. The style was part of a wider Tudor Revival in 19th-century architecture. They are supposed to be one of the main tourist attraction of Chester along with the 'Eastgate Clock' which is said to be the most photographed clock in England after Big Ben.

Apart from the beautiful history and authentic architectures Chester also has scenic beauty that makes it a tourist attraction. On one side you have River Dee that twists and turns across the city and forms canals that joins river Mersey and Severn outside Chester. The river and the canals are major tourist attractions during summer time when you find rowing competitions, boating and river cruising in galore. The unique part of the canals are that there are several lock gates which need to be opened in order to level the water for the boats to pass-by and then closed again. This is done by the families themselves who take their boats across these canals during summer holidays. A typical scene that we encountered during our evening walks was elderly couples and by elderly I mean people in their 70’s who seem to enjoy life to their fullest opening huge ‘lock-gates’ by the canals and then passing the canals in their beautiful boats where they spend weeks riding across the rivers and visiting different cities.

'Lock-Gates' at the canal

Boats cruising along

Since during summer on a typical ‘bright day’ sun sets at 10 pm you will find people out for walk with their partners, children or dogs. There are huge meadows, parks ( the most prominent being Grosvenor park which is next to my house) and walk areas by the river and canals which are truly scenic and beautiful. A typical Saturday or Sunday evening has the local crowd sitting in different pubs and restaurants in and around the city-centre and enjoying good beer and food over loud discussions and laughter. You might also find some vendors selling souvenirs in mobile stalls around the city calling out loudly 'Come my love wonderful trinkets at 5 pounds only!'

Sunday cricket match

Chester meadows on the other side of river 'Dee'

Another attraction in Chester is the Chester ‘city-walls’. The walls encircle the bounds of the medieval city and constitute the most complete city walls in Britain,the full circuit which is a walkway measures nearly 2 miles (3 km). It is said that the construction of the wall started around 70 AD by the Romans and took almost 100 years to complete. When I walked on those city-walls and took the full circuit I did think of the ‘age’ of that wall and the thousands and thousands of years of history behind it. Thinking of the Romans, Kings, Knights and soldiers who walked over that same wall where I was walking did send a shiver down my spine.