I started to think about other places that have been inspiring over the years, and soon realised that there are far too many, and of such great diversity, to share them all. Still, here are a few places I've been that really stuck in my memory.
Photo credit: The Guardian
This is Ditherington Flax Mill, in Shrewsbury. It was the first iron-framed building in the world, which makes it the forerunner for the modern skyscraper, and as such it's a Grade I listed building. It's also a building site at the moment, as English Heritage work to turn it into something that will last for the future. When I visited a few years ago there was little there but room upon room of these iron supports, occassionally with holes at the top to allow the belts that drove the machines to run the length of the room. What was most impressive about it, as I remember, was the sheer scale of the place; each room very long, and knowing that there were more floors above you just the same.
If you're interested in the Mill, you can read more about it on English Heritage's website.
Photo credits: English Heritage Prints
There's a lot to find inspiring about Bolsover Castle, in Derbyshire. These two pictures, of the Pillared Parlour and the Star Chamber respectively, are just two of the fantastic interiors that you can find in the Little Castle, a smaller building within the castle grounds. The exteriors are pretty fabulous too, not to mention the views across the surrounding countryside.
Photo credit: TravelerFolio.com
I've already said I love libraries, so it should come as no surprise that the library at Cardiff Castle completely blew me away. The detail in all the carvings on the bookshelves and painted around the room could keep anyone occupied for hours hunting for all of the animals, flowers and so on that are depicted there. They didn't, as far as I could see, run any such sort of hunt for families, but you could easily invent your own!
Photo credit: BBC
This is the chained library at Hereford Cathedral. You can just about make out in the picture that all the books are chained to the shelves with heavy iron chain! A hark back to the days when books really were that valuable. Not that I think you'd be able to slip out unnoticed with most of these tomes; they're rather big and heavy. For anyone who has read the Discworld books by Terry Pratchett, this is rather how I imagine sections of the library at the Unseen University to be!
Photo credit: Shropshire Star
This is the Picture Room at Attingham Park in Shropshire. The room is full of pictures that one of the house's inhabitants collected on an extravagant Grand Tour as is the case in many historic houses, but my favourite thing about the room is the fantastic sky-light in the roof. The panels of glass are held together by a then-innovative ironwork structure; who would expect less from a home so near to the famous ironworks at Coalbrookdale? Unfortunately the roof has a terrible tendency to leak, so today it's protected on the outside by a secondary clear roof, invisible from the inside.
I could go on listing inspirational places all day, but I think I'll leave it there for now. What inspirational places have you got to share? I'd love to see them; I'm always looking for more places to go and see.
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