Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Seeing the world in black and white

England is abloom with daffodils and blossoms; there is plenty of colour However, I m fascinated by the black and white houses. Not all are Tudor, I love that Mock Tudor here is something that happened in the 18th C!! In NZ, it happened in the 1970's!
 In Shrewsbury or Hereford, can't remember now but both towns are black and white house heaven! Do click on the image, hopefully in its bigger size you can see how very higgledy piggledy this place is.
 Shrewsbury? Hereford? Sorry! What amazes me is that you will find 17th C houses/shops with a Boots Chemist or a Costa's cafe in the bottom of them. Talk about two centuries living together!
 This one leans ominously over the street-look how crooked the windows are! The leaning I think was built in but as these jutting out second storeys are not really supported by anything, it may also be down to time. Me, I wouldn't be standing in the window jumping upside down, all I'm sayin'.
 Isn't this a cutey! And take a look at the door and frame! The doors on these places are amazing. I'm doing a whole blog on doors one day. Hereford.
 The Old House in Hereford town square. It's a museum and the upper rooms are full of furniture from the time. All bedrooms interconnect upstairs as was the Tudor way, and the labels suggest that the curtains on four poster beds were not just for warmth but also privacy!
Oh My Giddy Aunt! This is Umbrella Cottage just 30m down the road from our B&B in Lyme Regis. Amazingly it was built in the 19th C! Early on mind you. It was a Toll house originally. So far it tops my Favourite House list. I've not seen any others like it. Has anyone else?
These are a mere sampling of the buildings we've seen and I've photographed. So much house bling, so little time!

3 comments:

  1. WANT! (the umbrella cottage that is). Oh soooo cute!

    Also, my word verification on my last comment was "fidepurr", which I thought was adorable

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  2. Building the second story jutting out above the first was actually a really sensible device. It served to hold down the floorboards and keep them from buckling as they dried out in the warmth of the house.

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