On the roof

Had a little trip to London last weekend and visited the Kensington Roof Gardens in Kensington High Street, a long-cherished ambition. Open to the public when not hired for a function and now owned by the Virgin Group, the gardens were established in 1938 on the roof of what was then Derry & Toms department store. The bar and restaurant had not yet opened for the afternoon, but that is probably just as well ... My photographs are on Flickr for those who are interested.

Travel was, naturally, Cross Country Trains to Peterborough and then first class (advance ticket, of course!) on what is now Virgin Trains East Coast to Kings Cross. Is there anything where Virgin does not have a stake?
On the way to London we were served coffee and biscuits before the refreshment service closed down as the end of the journey approached, and on the return there was tea, sandwiches and cake, not bad for a Saturday evening on such a short run - it is only 50 minutes between London and Peterborough.

In the beginning

Just a small piece of cake ...

Ten years ago we were on holiday in Bridport, Dorset in England, by car, and I saw a sign pointing to Pecorama. As a railway modeller I had heard of this place but had never really thought about visiting it, but I followed the sign and we had a great half-day there.

Pecorama is a pleasure garden attached to the Peco model railway equipment factory at Beer, near Seaton in Devon and includes a permanent model railway exhibition, some great gardens and a long miniature railway ride.

We have returned a few times since, the highlight always being a cream tea in the static Pullman car Orion, one of the famous Golden Arrow coaches from the 1950s.

It was the experience of sitting in Orion that set us on the hunt for further Pullman train experiences, and 2014 had turned out to be the year of the Pullman! It has included a Pullman afternoon tea on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, the Pullman Dining class excursion to Snowdonia and hopefully will include another tea on Orion.







I thoroughly recommend a visit to Pecorama: you do not need to be an avid railway fan to enjoy it as there is plenty for everyone and the ticket prices are very reasonable. Buses X53 between Exeter and Weymouth will take you to Beer from the stations at those places.