Keep following the brown signs

A blog post about brown tourist signs.

I was pleased to hear that my fellow blogger, 'dull' person and fan of the quirky Amanda from Follow The Brown Signs was back in action after a hiatus.

We've always been interested in straying off the beaten path and even before we found out about Follow The Brown Signs we would look for and find different things to see and do while out and about on our travels.

Finding out about Amanda's mission and website in 2011 gave us even more ideas as well as another outlet for us to share tips and stuff from our own quest.

Just last week I spotted a brown sign, followed it and found a Pumpkin Garden!

Check out the Follow The Brown Signs website for more information and inspiration.

Here's a selection of brown tourist signs from our adventures.

Stockport Heritage Trust's Dungeon Tours

Exploring more of the rich history of Stockport.

A few weeks ago Emily and I enjoyed an amble around Stockport town centre and checked out a few of the pubs there too. Walking from the market hall towards the Underbank we noticed a wooden door above the ground and a plaque above that.

The plaque described how the building had once been the town's Court Leet - the magistrates court of its time - and the door was the entrance and exit to a dungeon!

Last weekend we were enjoying another walk around our new local town, this time with our friend Simon who had just arrived for a weekend stay with us. We walked up Mealhouse Brow to show him the dungeon door and plaque as it was an interesting bit of history. And while we were at the spot we were offered a tour of it! We didn't realise that was a thing - but the Stockport Heritage Trust look after the building and the building is open for tours.

Free tour if your dare! Well worth a visit though

In a way we wish we hadn't gone in, as the dungeon itself has to be see to be believed! The outer door we had seen was the way in to the 'drunk tank' dungeon - itself a pretty squalid cell. But the dungeon of the Court Leet was far more horrifying than that.

The view of the drunk tank cell - seen from a hole in the court leet cell. I think I'd rather have just been given a tour of the dungeon with the door!

Even so, for anyone interested in social history, and the history of Stockport, Mealhouse Brow is well worth a visit. Just be prepared to hear from the knowledgeable volunteer from Stockport Heritage Trust about the conditions prisoners were kept in!

Visit the Stockport Heritage Trust website and blog for more information and details of the Stockport Heritage Trail.

We picked up a copy of the Stockport Heritage Trust's Town Trail map and are looking forward to exploring the other places of interest in the town.

Links:
- Stockport Heritage Trust website
- Stockport Heritage Trust blog
- Stockport Blue Plaques

Related blog posts:
- Stockport

A trip to High Wycombe

A visit to High Wycombe’s two Chair Museums.

Q. How interesting can furniture be?

A. Very

Ahead of visiting a friend’s housewarming party in High Wycombe I asked her what else was interesting, or a ‘must see’ when in the town. She said that amongst the good shopping on offer and nice walks (if the weather is nice) that there is a Chair Museum. She said that the Buckinghamshire town is famous for its chair making, much like Luton is renowned for its hat making tradition.

Checking online for details of the museums and also on twitter to see if they had a presence I also found out a number of other people talking about the High Wycombe Chair Museums, most notably via the Crap Towns* twitter feed (linking from a blog post), and the book’s author Sam Jordison who was keen to hear all about it.

So here goes...

Driving into the town on the West Wycombe Road the Brown Tourist Sign for the Chair Making Museum was nice and prominent, so as soon as we had parked up we knew exactly where to head to. The Chair Making Museum actually had seven Brown Signs that we could see (including one right outside!), Amanda at the Follow the Brown Signs website would be in her element.

On our arrival we spotted another brown sign advertising the museum and a nicely crafted door. 

On entering the showroom for Stewart Linford Furniture Maker and museum upstairs we were welcomed by the ‘curator’ Tom who was intrigued by our story of how we had found out about the museum. 

He let us know that if we wanted the full tour of the Chair Making Workshop it would be £6 each, but he was happy to give us some background information about Chair Making and also a variety of chairs in the showroom – including the Winston Churchill chair (with secret compartment) and a one-of-a-kind anthropomorphic rocking chair! 

The most comfortable chair I've ever sat in

We also found out why chairs have an H-frame and why a top hat should be kept top-side down. Intriguing stuff.

The Chair Making Museum is open seven days a week and we were advised to book ahead and perhaps visit on a weekday to get the full experience.

Ironically in the road right next door to the museum was an old chair, upturned and used to block a drain!?

After a break wandering around the town we headed to the town’s main museum. This is in Castle Hill House on Priory Avenue and very close to the town’s railway station. 

The museum had some fascinating exhibits about the chair making industry, the people involved in it and the town itself. 

There was also an excellent sporting exhibit (running until the 8th of September 2013) on the town’s football team – Wycombe Wanderers (aka Chair Boys) - to celebrate its 125th anniversary. Fellow Minigolfer, Bar Billiardist and Skittler Marc ‘The Roller’ Bazeley was also due in the town to report on the Wycombe Wanderers F.C. versus Northampton Town F.C. but the game was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.

Amongst the displays, information and trophy cabinets there were interactive elements, including a table football game (Emily beat me in the best of 3-points game and I won 3-2 overall) and a penalty shootout game which I won 2-nil, although Emily made the save of the match by using her face!

The High Wycombe Museum and Gardens are well worth a visit if you’re in the town, it really was a very well maintained and interesting set-up and gave me some good inspiration for the Crazy Golf Museum.

We had a great day out in High Wycombe and there was plenty to see and do, though no Coeliac-friendly places to dine out gluten and wheat free (a real shame). We’ll be heading back again to visit the Hell Fire Caves which we spotted advertised on a Brown Tourist Sign on the drive in.

Links:

- Stewart Linford Furniture Maker and Chair Making Museum

- Wycombe Museum

* My home town of Luton, Bedfordshire won the title of ‘Crap Town’ in 2004 (beating the likes of Windsor and Sunderland and 47 other UK towns) and I recently found out that in winning the ‘honour’ the town was NOT bestowed with a plaque or trophy of some sort! Hopefully the next winner, wherever it may be is given something tangible to mark the distinction.

The Brown Sign Way - A Website and Blog Dedicated to Tourist Attraction Signs

I recently discovered the website and blog of The Brown Sign Way via some facebooking related to Minigolf.

The Brown Sign Way and Follow The Brown Signs are written by Amanda Hone and are well worth a look if you’re interested in travelling, signs (obviously), the UK & new and interesting things to do.

Before checking out the The Brown Sign Way blog I wasn’t aware there were a grand total of 93 different types of Brown Sign Symbols, ranging from 10 Pin Bowling, to Museums, to Windmills, to Zoos, with Golf also included, but not specifically Crazy or Mini Golf in the ‘93’.

Looking through our photo archives from the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour (and beyond) I found a few examples of Brown Signs I’ve snapped en route to, or at, places we’ve travelled to.

I found that the excellent Strokes Adventure Golf Course in Margate, Kent (course played #34) has the most photographed Brown Signs in my collection.

 

There are probably many more Brown Signs we’ve passed by on the way to some destination, or been side-tracked by on one of our many road trips around the UK.

Photo: The Brown Sign at the Merlewood Hotel (Gwesty) in Saundersfoot, Wales (the location of an unplayed Miniature Golf course on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour)

Check out the who, what, how, when, where’s section on the The Brown Sign Way blog to find out more about these useful tools for pointing tourists in the direction of attractions.

Photo: The Brown Sign (and a White one too) at Conyngham Hall Park, Knaresborough

On our road trip around the Welsh coast in August 2009 we spotted this Brown Sign (below) in Penarth that shows just one of the many different ways that Miniature Golf (and variations such as Pitch & Putt, Minigolf and Crazy Golf) can be spelled in the Welsh language.

The Crazy Golf at the Rhylstone Gardens in Shanklin Old Town on the Isle of Wight (#65) is the most well signposted Miniature Golf course I've found to date, boasting seven signs on the walk to the course!

As well as Brown Signs in our photo archive, my search also turned up a number of other signposts (and the like), which I’ve snapped away at as they say something to do with Miniature Golf.

Photo: A Black Sign showing the way to the Crazy Golf course in Tonbridge, Kent 

Photo: A Blue Sign showing the way to the Putting course at Greenhill Gardens in Weymouth, Dorset 

Photo: A White Sign pointing towards a Miniature Golf course in Penarth, South Wales 

Photo: A 'non-standard' Brown wooden sign at the entrance to the Crazy Golf course in Tredegar Park, Newport, Wales (oddly stating it's a Putting Green!?)

Link to the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Links to The Brown Sign Way & Follow The Brown Signs

I'm also a fan of the Missin Letters Blog which looks for signs that are missing letters in them.

I've also had a number of photographs that I've taken over the years published for one odd reason or another in a number of media and newspapers (such as the 'broke' Ladbrokes in Stevenage Old Town).