Winchelsea offers battle scars, Christmas window displays, subterranean tours and a mysterious rough-and-tumble street game. Odo took its seasonal break in East Sussex to find out more.Read More →
Located on the Denge marshes on the Dungeness Peninsular in Kent, lie three vast concrete structures, rising out of the flat landscape. The Sound Mirrors of Denge.Read More →
Chislehurst Caves has been a bomb shelter and a mushroom farm, a human sacrificial chamber, a battlefield for Time Lords, and a venue for rock concerts. Read More →
The specific origins of the ancient practice of Well Dressing may be lost to time, however in recent years it has come to form a key part of rural life in the Peak District. Bringing people together in a celebration of all things local these wonderful displays are all at once spectacular and transient. Read More →
Well that was me, Royal Iris, on the river Mercy beat n’ with the band, that was me Paul McCartney, That Was Me, 2007 Few people who pass by what’s left of the MV Royal Iris in Woolwich realise the important role the boat played in the cultural history of Britain and the world. The ship has been moored by the Thames Flood Barrier since 2002, seemingly left to rot. But for most of the preceding fifty years she was at the centre of cultural life in Liverpool and played an important role in the development of the Merseybeat scene and the emergence of the Beatles.Read More →
Housed in a beautiful Grade-2 listed house in historic Greenwich, the Fan Museum provides a fascinating history of the fan.Read More →
The history of Three Mills Island is the history of London. It ground the flour and distilled the gin to feed Londoners for hundreds of years. ODO has visited to learn more.Read More →
Odd Days Out have been to investigate how – with the help of ‘Roys of Wroxham’ – the village of Hoveton has managed to buck the standard commercial homogeneity found in most high streets and instead replaced almost every shop with a Roys. Read More →
British parliamentary democracy has experienced a bit of a reputational downturn recently, but it’s still known around the world as the ‘mother of Parliaments’. One of the most iconic parts of British democracy is Prime Ministers Question Time (PMQs). PMQs is a weekly opportunity for the Leader of the Opposition, and MPs from across political parties, to directly field questions to the Prime Minister. Odd Days Out has been to investigate how you can join in before the entire thing collapses in on itself. History of PMQs Like many aspects of British Democracy, PMQs is the result of an informal precedent only very recently acquiringRead More →
Any day-tripper to the Brighton coast can’t fail to notice the horizon’s newest edition – eight miles out in the channel, the colossal wind turbines of the Rampion Offshore Wind Farm stoically face the shoreline. Since 2017, the 27 square mile wind farm has been supplying the national grid and now the public can hop on a boat for a close up tour. (See details below for how to book a visit.) The Wind Farm My trip out from Brighton Marina to the wind farm took close to an hour, all the while battling the currents and wind. Slowly but surely, the true stature ofRead More →