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 →
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 →
ODO has been to visit two locations used in the Harry Potter films for the famous street of Diagon Alley. Or perhaps not. Both Leadenhall Market and Goodwin’s Court feature heavily in the plethora of Harry Potter walking tours around London. Yet only Leadenhall Market is actually in the film. Goodwin Court is included in the walks on an unsubstantiated theory that it was the original ‘inspiration’ behind Diagon Alley. What is Diagon Alley? For the few people who are still unaware of the Potter phenomenon, the central theme is that, unknown to most of us, there is a secret ‘otherworld’ where wizards use magic toRead More →
Discovered in 1835, the Margate Shell Grotto remains one of Britain’s biggest mysteries – a collection of subterranean mosaics, of unknown origin, made out of millions of sea shells. Secret pagan temple or the work of an eccentric gentleman? A trip to Kent isn’t complete without a stop at the enigmatic Margate Shell Grotto. Sandwich stop On a short weekend stay at the disarming tudor town of Sandwich (around the historic heart of the Cinque Ports), there wasn’t much that could be described as ‘odd’. So it was only right that I headed north for a day in the grittier Margate, the holiday destination ofRead More →
If London had an epicentre for oddness, it would surely be Trinity Buoy Wharf, situated at Bow Creek, the confluence of London’s River Lee and River Thames on the opposite bank to the 02 arena. Read More →
Built from recycled excavated material dug up during the construction of the surrounding housing development. It is the focal point of the recently-opened (January 2017) Gallions Reach Park, created from land left vacant Read More →