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There is something to do in London every single weekend of the year. This is a city that truly does not rest. Whether you like art, sports, music or history, you can find something to do in London throughout the year. Some of the London events that take place each year include the Spring Festival and Kew Gardens, the Maypole Dancing in Hyde Park, Regents Park Book Festival and the St. John’s Wood Art Festival.
Spring Festival in Kew Gardens
Kew Gardens is one of the most beautiful public gardens in London and hosts a variety of events throughout the year. In the Spring, Kew Gardens comes alive with a flower show that is truly put on by Mother Nature. The Spring Festival in Kew Gardens starts at the end of April each year and lasts through the end of May. The flowers are in full bloom during this time and on the weekends, refreshments are served and there are talks about how to grow different types of flowers. Anyone who visits England in the Spring should visit Kew Gardens so that they can see the flowers in bloom.
Maypole Dancing In Hyde Park
Hyde Park is the largest park in London and is the central hubbub for everything going on in this city during the summer months. Hyde Park is open all year long and is a park where people can spout off political opinion and often do so in various areas of the park. Maypole dancing in Hyde Park is a tradition that takes place on the first of May each year. Everyone who wants to enjoy this event can join in the festivities and grab onto the Maypole and dance around. Maypole dancing in Hyde Park is an annual event in London that occurs every May first.
Regents Park Book Festival
Regents Park is close to the upscale St. Johns Wood and hosts a book festival in the summer months that is ideal for new authors as well as anyone who wants to buy used books. You never know what type of antiquity you can find when you peruse the book festival at Regents Park during the last weekend of May in London. Anyone who enjoys reading books can enjoy the books festival that is open to the public and totally free of charge. The late spring is an ideal time to walk around Regents Park and the book festival is the ideal place to find books.
St. Johns Wood Art Fair
The Regents Park book festival is in conjunction with the St. Johns Wood Art Fair that takes place the first weekend of June in this area of London. New and existing artists visit this area so that they can enjoy the art from new and well known artists. The art that is displayed in St. Johns Wood is displayed in art galleries and shops that are located in this upscale London neighborhood.
There is plenty to see and do in London, no matter what your tastes. During the summer, you can spend just about any weekend enjoying art, music, books or theater in London as the London events calendars are filled with fun things to do.
Author Carole M. Lidgold (nee Thomas) was born in Toronto, is married, mother of two, grandmother of two, and attended Winston Churchill High School in Scarborough. She inherited her voice from her grandfather and father, and has sung in The Canada Life Choralaires, various church choirs and has been a member of the Serenata Singers for eleven years. Carole is the author of The History of The Guild Inn and has eight other self-published books. She tried politics but lost out and has since worked as a secretary, currently retired as a church secretary.
Featuring: Birds On My Brush by Carole M. Lidgold – In April 1763, unknown artist and naturalist, Elizabeth (nee Symonds) Gwillim was born in England. She accompanied her husband, Henry, to Madras, India, in the 1800s, where she died in 1807. In London, England, in 1924, a Dr. Casey Wood, surgeon and ornithologist, discovered in an ‘out of the way shop of arts’, Elizabeth Gwillim’s watercolour paintings. Today, 2009, these painting, painted two decades before Audubon published his illustrious Birds of America, are part of the Blacker-Wood collection of Zoology and Natural History, at McGill University, Montreal, Quebec. Prints of several of her painting of India’s birds are included in this novel.
About The Story: Birds On My Brush is a novel based on the few known facts of the life and untimely death of Elizabeth Gwillim. My character, Sarah Purcell, was born in the spring when birds were chirping the birth of their new offspring. As a child, and later as and adult, Sarah was obsessed with sketching precise details of the birds. She married William Cantwell, a barrister determined to live in the land of his boyhood hero, Robert Clive, and English hero in India’s development. Sarah’s younger sister, Rose Purcell, accompanied them on this journey. Rose’s tortured dream of death in India hampered her enjoyment of this new life.
Birds on My Brush Book Review: A compelling account of an unknown artist’s life!
The life and times of 18th-century wildlife artist Elizabeth Gwillim are shrouded in mystery and uncertainty. She was born in England in 1763 and moved to India with her husband in the early 1800s, where she worked diligently to perfect her art.
She never achieved public recognition in her lifetime and she died, an obscure, undiscovered artist, in her mid-40s; it appeared, for the longest time, as though her art may have gone to the grave with her.
Nearly two centuries later, Gwillim’s wildlife watercolours were “discovered” in a London, England art shop. Today, in death, Gwillim has achieved what she could not in life; her wildlife art, notably her precision sketches of birds, has been widely praised as among the finest of its era. Gwillim’s work now forms part of the Blacker-Wood Collection of Zoology and Natural History at McGill University in Montreal, one of Canada’s pre-eminent schools of higher learning.
Carole M. Lidgold, a Canadian writer fascinated with Gwillim’s life and art, has painted a fascinating portrait of Gwillim’s life in her new, fact-based fictional novel entitled Birds on My Brush. Lidgold has taken what is known of Gwillim’s history and has built around the edges, crafting a fully-realized novel from the sketchy framework of Gwillim’s remarkable life.
She has created a lead character, Sarah Purcell, utilizing the Purcell character as a standin for Gwillim, and producing a sweeping, engrossing tale that lovers of art and history will find both hugely enjoyable and dramatically memorable.
The story covers the artist’s life from the early years in England, through the productive artistic period in India, to the point of the artist’s comparatively early death. Along the way, this much is made very clear: author Lidgold’s fascination with Gwillim’s life and artwork shines brightly throughout the novel’s 280 pages. A particular bonus for readers is that Birds on My Brush offers up not only some factual context of the details of Gwillim’s life, but also some representative samples of her artistic work.
Lidgold is an accomplished writer, whose stories typically brim with life and vitality. Birds on My Brush offers something beyond that – an historic and artistic integrity that takes readers well back in time to contemplate the challenging life of an artist who produced first-rate work, but couldn’t break out from the prison of artistic obscurity.
The novel is a well-constructed triumph. It is a triumph that the artist herself could imagine only in her dreams.
Reviewed By Anonymous Reader
Book Details:
Paperback: 280 Pages
Publisher: Self-Published (April 17, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0968938116
ISBN-13: 978-0968938119
Genre: Fiction
Print List Price: $16.95
Purchase Directly From Author: (Use Pay Pal Button On The Webpage or Email Author):
http://www.booksinsync.com/authordirectory/lidgoldcarolem.html
Books by Carole M. Lidgold
History:
The History of the Guild Inn – ISBN: 0-9698244-8-3
Memories of Cayuga: Ontario’s Love Boat – ISBN: 0-9698244-2-4
Steamship Cayuga: Toronto’s Ship of Romance – ISBN: 0-9698244-3-2
Fiction:
Faces of the Night – ISBN: 0-9698244-5-9
Birds on My Brush – ISBN: 9780968938119
Children:
The Adventures of Inch Worm Willie – ISBN: 0-9698244-4-0
The Elf Who Made Snowflakes – ISBN: 0-9698244-6-7
Daisy Dee’s Party – ISBN: 0-9698244-7-5
(All of Carole’s children’s books are fun stories for children of all nationalities, from picture book to story. All three children’s books have pen and ink sketches with a colored laminated cover to withstand constant reading.)
Poetry:
Journey Into Christmas – ISBN: 0-9698244-0-8
Submitted by: Books In Sync
London hotels will usually have a flyer for Covent Garden in their reception. And deservedly so. With a colourful range of street performances, it’s a real crowd pleaser. But is it much of a market these days? With its pricey boutique stalls and crowds of tourists, Covent Garden is far from its roots as a thriving flower, fruit and vegetable market.
Spitalfields is in London’s East End close to the widest range of cheap hotels in London. For hundreds of years this area has been a melting pot of peoples where East meets West in a rich mix of cultures from East End music halls to the vibrancy of Banglatown and the enduring infamy of Jack the Ripper.
The name Spitalfields comes from a shortening of the phrase ‘hospital fields’ referring to “The New Hospital of St Mary without Bishopgate” (the priory and hospital of St. Mary’s Spittel) that was founded there in 1197. Spitalfields was built on trades such as clock making, silk weaving, leather goods and a bustling fruit and vegetable market where traditional East End barrow boys hawked their wares.
Nearly twenty years of work has gone into the Spitalfields regeneration programme. Many historic streets in the area have undergone restoration, new public spaces have been created and the retailers and restaurants carefully selected to create one of London’s most vibrant areas.
The market is made up of the Spitalfields Traders Market, Old Spitalfields Market, Spitalfields Arts Market and a buzzing community of independent shops and stalls. The centrepiece and focal point of the area is Crispin Place. This building, with its magnificent cathedral-like glass canopy, houses the Traders Market where you can browse and shop no matter what the British weather throws at you.
There’s a real buzz here and a wealth of market stalls you just don’t get at Covent Garden – from jewel-encrusted vintage boots to that rare vinyl you’ve been hunting for, from art deco sofas to hand-carved toy trains… there’s something for everyone and so many things you won’t find anywhere else.
The same goes for the food on offer at the Fine Food Market. Tuck into a hearty steak & Guinness pie handmade from fresh British steak braised slowly with vegetables and a decent glug of proper Guinness. Or, for the perfect vegetarian meal, homemade falafels with all the trimmings.
And there’s always something going on… you could join in some tea dances with a quick foxtrot or even some free Tango lessons, listen to a free open air concert or maybe even get the chance to try some British specialities such as a classic G&T with a twist (infused with plum) or grab a slice of spit-roasted whole suckling pig.
Spitalfields is open all year round – come rain or shine. Market stalls are open 10am–4pm Tuesday to Friday and 9am–5pm on Sundays (the busiest day). It’s close to Liverpool Street Station, Aldgate tube station and many hotels in London. UK markets are thriving again!
Theatre, concerts, museums, architecture, culture and shopping, London is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world, buzzing with life 24 hours a day, all year round.
Planning a trip to the Big Smoke can be costly, but if you plan right, and budget well, you can get a great hotel at a discount price.
Think about your needs before you book; are you willing to pay more for a hotel that’s central, or would you be willing to stay a little further out in order to save money? Do you want top of the range facilities or are you simply looking for the bare bones?
You’ll be able to find a better deal if you’re prepared to compromise on some aspects of your booking, but if you have a strict budget you should make sure that you stick to it – spending more on your accommodation will simply eat into your spending money.
Whether you want to treat yourself to an elegant, high-end hotel with a spa, Michelin starred restaurant and extensive wine selection or a just want to lay your head in a budget hostel, London has something to suit every traveller and budget.
From boutique hotels in Kensington and Chelsea, to basic, capsule-style accommodation close to the action, you’ll be able to find what you’re looking for in the Capital.
To get the best deals on hotels in London, make the most of online discounts that can save you hundreds of pounds. You can search by star rating, cost, area, or the facilities you want, to find the perfect hotel for your dream trip.
Check-in-London.com offers Central London Accommodation From £30 Per Night and features a wide selection of Hotels and Serviced Apartments in London that can be suitable for Short-stay or Long-stay use for Leisure , Work , Relocation , Education and Transit. Our advice is impartial as we only facilitate bookings and reservations and do not own any of the properties mentioned on our website. Our aim is to provide the Best London Accommodation to travellers and help them make the right choice.
We understand that travelers like their independence today, which is why we offer them a complete range of Hotels and Serviced Apartments to suit every budget so that they can make their own choice according to their preferences. However traveling to a new city like London can sometimes be overwhelming and it can be difficult making the right choice. Not to worry , Check-in-London are booking specialists in London and can offer you free impartial advice on the best London locations to suit your needs. We have the best deals in London with last minute deals and late availability.
Our Newest Properties in our Portfolio range from Boutique Luxury Hotels to Budget Bed & Breakfasts and suit every budget. We provide accommodation in all Central London locations and can provide advice and general tips to travelers who are visiting London.
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Check-in-london allows you to book your stay with confidence making sure we only recommend the best accommodation for your travel. We do our very best to make sure every traveler booking with us has an enjoyable stay in the U.K. and books with us again. We feature an Online Blog , Travel Updates , London Links , Facebook Page and Twitter updates to keep you in the know and make sure you know what is happening in London so that you don’t miss out when traveling to this amazing city.
London has produced some of the most successful authors and provided the backdrop for countless novels, so if you want to explore the capital’s literary history, perhaps your first stop should be the historic pub “I Am the Only Running Footman” – on Charles Street in Mayfair. This 1749 drinking den, was once the hangout of servants and is said to have inspired P.G. Woodhouse to create the fictional club “Junior Ganymede” for “the gentlemen’s gentlemen”.
No visit to London is complete without paying homage to perhaps the most famous of all English authors, Charles Dickens, which can conveniently be done at the Dickens House Museum at 48 Doughy Street. Here you can tour the rooms where Dickens lived with his family during a particularly productive period of writing, when the author completed “Oliver Twist”. The museum also holds the world’s most important collection of material relating of Dickens, where visitors can see paintings, rare editions, manuscripts, original furniture and many other items that relate to the life of the most popular and beloved personality of the Victorian age.
If all that leaves you a little thirsty, why not indulge in a pint of London’s finest ale in Dickens’ local watering hole – “The Lamb on Lamb”. This pub was not just a hangout for Dickens, but also the meeting place of the “Bloomsbury Group”, a collection of novelists and essayists whose work deeply influenced the literature of the period, and whose topics often focused on controversial areas of the time, including feminism and sexuality.
For crime fiction fans, 221b Baker Street is an essential stop on the London Literary tour. As the home of London’s most famous detective Sherlock Holmes and his sidekick Doctor Watson, this notorious address is the starting point for dozens of the detective duo’s adventures.
To witness part of a more recent literary phenomenon, JK Rowling fans can pay a visit to Kings Cross station. From here, muggles can attempt to find Harry Potter and Co’s platform 9 and three quarters, from where they catch the Hogwarts Express to their wizarding school.
Bookworms who are looking to buy a piece of prose can peruse some of the thousands of new and second-hand book shops; from the big chains like Waterstones, Blackwell or Borders, which sit next to some of the most prestigious shops and hotels in London, right down to the smaller, side-street stores, where books from times gone by are piled up and waiting to be rediscovered again.
The world is home to many famous authors, but nowhere else is there such a concentration of literary heroes as you’ll find in London; so if you truly are a book lover, the British capital should definitely be on your visiting list.
London: Looking for an Affordable Holiday?
Travellers dream of visiting London, of seeing the Big Ben, of smelling the flowers in Kew Gardens, gazing at the mighty Thames… It can be expensive though, and a large number of travellers stay at home, believing a stay in London to be more than they can afford. But if you really want to see the city, and spend some time absorbing its glories, there are many affordable options as far as accommodation is concerned, as long as your heart is not set on five star luxury!
Budget Accommodation
Accommodation in London, like most other cities of the world, ranges from the basic to the frankly opulent. At the lower end, you can stay in dormitories and youth hostels – this would be the most economical choice. Bed & Breakfasts offer basic, no-extras accommodation at a reasonable cost, and you can get discounts on these prices. You’ll find a wide choice of B&Bs in districts all over London, with varying rates. Some B&BS are cheaper during weekends.
If you’re looking for a little more comfort, try the hotels in Bayswater, Kensington and Paddington. There areas are convenient for Underground access and other transport links, and handy for visiting a large number of tourist attractions. During the week, these hotels offer sizeable discounts, while those in Euston, the City, and Bloomsbury are a great bargain on weekends. Victoria offers plenty of budget accommodation and many budget hotel chains operate in Central London.
If you’re travelling with your family, an apartment could be an economical option – you can even cook your own food, and save money on expenses.
Take advantage of the wide variety this city offers by exploring some of the options. You’ll get plenty of information online, and you’re sure to find something that suits you and your pocket. And have a great holiday!
To know more about Budget Hotels in London, Visit This: www.hollyhousehotel.co.uk
It happens every spring, but this year, the questioning has been particularly intense. Every month of April, on occasion of the London Book Fair, newspapers publish articles speculating if it still makes sense to publish books.
At the turn of the century, one thousand book titles were published for every feature-length movie made. Today, the ratio is one to six hundred. The number of movies produced every year has increased and, at the same time, the number of published books has diminished.
“We live in a visual world,” sociologists argue. “In many areas, the written word is becoming a relic of previous centuries.” Media analysts blame the trend on video-games and portable DVD players. Others simply say that reading requires too much effort after our long work schedules.
In my view, those commentators are missing the point completely. Despite the abundance of cheap visual entertainment, readers’ motivation remains strong. The reason why people read books has nothing to do with the demands of society and everything to do with individual psychology.
1.- MINORITY VIEWS: Visual media, due to its structure and economics, is unable to express minority views in a consistent, intellectual manner. In this respect, all has been tried and all has failed. Complex ideas cannot be transmitted without the written word. No photograph and no movie can replace a chain of reasoning built in clear sentences.
2.- DIVERSITY: Films, television, and radio, despite the growing number of channels, can only thrive when they aim at large audiences. They can offer multiplicity in the multitude, but no original ideas. Digital video has reduced the budget necessary to make a movie, but not the distribution costs. Actors, good lighting, and a decent soundtrack are still expensive. Books, on the other hand, can still be published and distributed cheaply.
3.- FRESH IDEAS: In a movie, special effects cannot cure the problems of a weak scenario. Even great acting is unable to sustain a filmed story that doesn’t make any sense. How long ago is it since you saw a really thought-provoking movie? How often do you gain deep insights from watching television? The written word remains the ideal means to transmit innovative ideas.
The good news about reading is that three per cent of the population still remain avid readers. One out of thirty-three is not a bad proportion at all. A strong audience for writers is still there and it is not going to become smaller in the foreseeable future.
Do people read internet blogs for the same reason that they love books? Is it because they want to read original ideas? Do they do it in order to enjoy some fresh writing?
I suspect that, for most, the main drivers are the joy of discovering something new and a steadfast refusal to join the other thirty-two.
JOHN VESPASIAN writes about rational living. He has resided in New York, Madrid, Paris, and Munich. His stories reflect the values of entrepreneurship, tolerance, and self-reliance. See John Vespasian’s blog about rational living.
http://johnvespasian.blogspot.com/
When it comes to cultural entertainment, London has few shortcomings – a fact that’s apparent in the city’s impressive calendar of theatre, music and dance performances, not to mention its spectacular host of concert halls and event venues – one of the most iconic and versatile of them being the Royal Albert Hall. Inspired by the success of Prince Albert’s Great Exhibition, the Royal Albert Hall was opened in 1871 – ten years after the Prince’s death. Being largely influenced by ancient amphitheatres and notions of the arts, the oval structure’s terracotta walls are decorated on the outside with a frieze dedicated to “The Triumph of Arts and Sciences”. Today, the stunning venue stands as a testimony to the architectural and aesthetic achievements of the past, as well as the technological developments of the present; it even features the largest pipe organ in the British Isles.
The Royal Albert Hall hosts a wide variety of entertainment events, including classical, rock, pop and jazz music, sporting events, galas, banquets and balls and the world-famous Proms series. It has a capacity of 8000, but is typically packed with crowds during the summer months when the Promenade concerts take over. Thus, visitors have to the option to queue up on the day of an event in order to get cheap, last-minute tickets for the seat-less “Gods” level (the highest level in the hall), or to book in advance for seats up front.
The Royal Albert Hall has a year-round line-up of traditional and contemporary theatre, music and dance events. Upcoming performances include: the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on 15 March, the Classical Spectacular 2007 from 22 March – 25 March and the Cathcart Spring Prom concert on 17 May. There’s even a Ballroom Dancing Championships event being held in autumn!
If you’re planning to attend an event at the Royal Albert Hall in London, make sure you book a hotel in South Kensington. That way, you’ll be close to the venue and you’ll still remain well connected to other top London attractions such as Hyde Park, Kensington Palace, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Natural History Museum. Moreover, South Kensington is located right next to Knightsbridge, which, being home to the exclusively famous Harrods and Harvey Nichols department stores is one of the prime shopping districts of London.
So, during your next visit to London, book a hotel in South Kensington and attend a performance at one of the most iconic and atmospheric music venues in the world: the Royal Albert Hall.
Andrew Regan is an online, freelance journalist.
Discounts are attractive to all types of travelers – whether they opt for deluxe and five-star hotels or for luxury resorts or economy and budget hotels. Getting London hotels at cheap discounted prices is a dream for visitors, tourists and business travelers to the city. Offering value for money, hotel booking agents offer as much as 70% and 80% discounts on hotel room rates quoted in their respective brochures. These special bargain deals are often available through online and offline hotel booking agents, tour operators, and travel specialist firms, who have good contacts and share regular business relations with the hospitality industry.
Often, hotel-booking agents in London book rooms in bulk at a range of hotels at wholesale prices. In turn, they offer attractive discounts to guests who are visiting the city for business purposes or as leisure travelers and are looking for accommodations to stay in during their London trip. Unlike what is popularly believed, established players in the market study discount London hotels closely and share information and reviews on them with their guests to allow greater transparency and better services.
Even if you want to stay at premiere hotels and resorts in London that offer outstanding comforts and luxuries as well as quality services, you can always ask for quotes from different online hotel reservation websites and compare their prices. It is very important to make sure that you clearly indicate your preferences in terms of location of the hotel, type of rooms you want (smoking, non-smoking, rooms for physically disabled etc.), your budget and other related choices while filling in the enquiry form online. Travel specialists can then guide you with all the possible choices, which you can then compare and choose.
Tourists to London may find it amazing that most of the hotels are actually situated right near major tourist attractions and commercial hubs of the city. Most of these hotels quote a good price for individual enquiries. However, those in the industry know that hotels do come up with promotional offers, package deals, last minute offers, and special holiday, weekend and off-season discounts from time to time. As soon as a scheme is launched, proactive tour operators and hotel booking agents jump at the opportunity to extract as many freebies and as much discount as possible for their guests. Complimentary dinners, free breakfasts, and sightseeing and theatre packages are some of the frills popular among London Hotels.
However, there are a few things that one should keep in mind, while booking hotels in London. First, you should check the cancellation and refund policy of the agent and what you will lose if you fail to make use of the room you have booked with them online; and secondly, you should be very careful while parting with your identification and credit card details. You should only use safe, secure and trusted websites while making any transactions on that record.
If you are traveling in large groups, you may negotiate for heavy discounts for booking several rooms at once or you may ask for extra night stays for the same amount of money. Discount London Hotels range from private accommodations to major global chains – so any worries about the quality of service or standard of facilities and amenities should be put to rest.
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