Chinese coins

 

I had always wanted to see beyond this door. Londoners may recognise it as the door to the old Royal Mint. It's situated to the right of Tower Bridge. Until 1810 the Mint was housed in the Tower of London and from there moved to this building on Tower Hill. In the 1960s it was moved to a purpose built building in Wales.

Since it was the Royal mint the building has been used for offices and residential apartments. Once inside there was only the one room where the coins were being displayed that was open. nevertheless it was still interesting to see the front of it. I doubt I will get an opportunity again as this is going to be the new Chinese Embassy. It will be their biggest embassy in Europe. How did the Chinese manage to buy this land you might ask. Well no doubt there has been or will be a public enquiry at some point because as sure as eggs are eggs this should never have happened and there has definitely been some shady dealings going on somewhere along the line.

These are a few pictures of the coins that were on display. These coins represented Chinese inventions such as paper making, printing and fireworks.

These coins represented the Chinese Zodiac.

    

Chinese cities.

The coins were not made for circulation but display. I enjoyed looking round but to obtain a ticket I had to complete a form giving all my personal details. I wonder if I should be worried!

More to explore

I am taking advantage of the pleasant weather to continue to explore my new surroundings. I am always keen to ask around locally for places to visit especially on foot. 

A 10 min walk from where I am now living is a very large area full of allotments. These plots of land are rented by local people to grow vegetables or flowers. Normally only allotment holders are allowed access but here I discovered that the public can visit at the weekend.  There are pathways between the rows of allotments making it easy to wander around.

The individual plots are large enough for you to erect a shed and a greenhouse.

Just getting it ready to sow.

Quite a few plots had raised beds.

Potatoes were the main crop on this plot.

Flowers were the choice here.

I even discovered beehives in one corner. Everyone was very friendly and chatty and there was even a cafe where I could get a bacon sandwich and mug of tea for just £2.50! 

I was there for a couple of hours walking around and chatting to the gardeners. It was a lovely way to spend a Saturday morning. Definitely a place to revisit.

Inside the windmill

The windmill close to where I now live had an open day a couple of weeks ago. I went along with a couple of friends for a guided tour.

We were escorted round in small groups by a knowledgeable volunteer. The windmill was built in 1808 and ceased milling in the 1890s.

It has been refurbished and a number of the timbers were replaced as part of a heritage project. There are three floors which are accessible  by very narrow, steep staircases. It felt more like climbing up and down ladders than stairs.

When built the view from the windmill would have been very different from today.

One of the old mill stones.

The Windmill is only open a few times during the summer months so I was pleased to get on one of the tours. 
Who knows, with the climate crisis maybe one day we will have to return to using wind power to grind the flour.