hkskyline's 2022 in SURREY, England

[hkskyline]

Surrey is located west of London with interesting towns, historic artifacts, and rolling hills. Well-connected by trains from London, there are many day trip options worth visiting.

Guildford is a good pit stop while exploring Surrey's historic attractions. It has a beautiful High Street and a castle. Getting here is also easy, with trains from London Waterloo taking about 40 minutes only, with the train station just across the river from the main attractions.

Guildford Castle is believed to have been built by William the Conqueror in the 11th century. It was a palace, prison, and residence until the city took over and turned it into a public gardens to mark Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887. Beautiful floral displays adorn the castle's gardens.







St. Mary's is the oldest church in town, with the tower believed to date back to the 10th century, and the rest built over the next 3 centuries. Changes were made since, with most of the windows dating from Victorian times.





High Street is pedestrianized and slopes upward with many historic buildings along the way.











The beautiful Guildhall was built in the 16th century with a clock made in 1683. It was once a courtroom and council chamber and is still used for civic functions today.





Opposite the Guildhall is a bakehouse stall offering various delicious treats.









The Abbot's Hospital at the end of the High Street was founded in 1619 by the Archbishop of Canterbury to shelter the town's elderly poor, with the first residents moving in in 1622.







A short drive away is the grand Guildford Cathedral, whose construction began in 1936 but stalled during World War II, finally opening in 1961. Unfortunately, there was a special event happening so I couldn't tour the interior.







More photos on my website : https://www.globalphotos.org/surrey.htm

[geomorph]

Originally Posted by hkskyline

[size=3]

I like these stylized details!

[hkskyline]

Just a short drive from Farnham, Waverley Abbey is the first Cistercian monastery in the country. Founded in 1128 by French monks, the monastery was rebuilt in the 13th century and continued to grow. By the 16th century, the Dissolution forced the abbey to be dismantled.

There is a small gravel parking lot just off Waverley Lane before the entry into a much grander building. A path leads you around a small lake towards the ruins. There are a few small gates along the way but admission is absolutely free.





























More photos on my website : https://www.globalphotos.org/surrey.htm

[mrnyc]

nice place to surrey on down to for a stone soul picnic.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

nice place to surrey on down to for a stone soul picnic.

Thanks mrnyc, now that song will be stuck in my head all morning. There'll be lots of time and wine.


Great pics, hkskyline!

[hkskyline]

Kingston upon Thames is located upstream from London along the Thames and is a nice bedroom community that is commutable into the city. It was a medieval market town thanks to its bridge across the Thames that was completed in the 12th century, although the current one was built in the early 19th.



A short walk along High Street is Market Place, but I arrived a bit too late in the afternoon as the 28 permanent stalls have closed up for the day.











Neighbouring streets have a sprinkle of old architecture and is a shopping area.



Out of Order on Old London Road consists of 12 British red phone boxes that lean against one another, each tilting and toppling in its own way.







More photos on my website : https://www.globalphotos.org/surrey.htm

[hkskyline]

I first heard about Brooklands Museum because of its bus collection. I was curious whether this was a branch of the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden, which I visited many years ago. But apparently it's a separate museum in the far outskirts of London, charging a fairly hefty admission fee.

The ticket includes admission to 2 museums on the site. Aircraft manufacturing arrived during World War I and continued during World War II. Over 5700 military aircraft were produced here, and after the war, a few successful civilian planes were also made here.







On the other side of the Concorde is a special VC10 that was used by the Sultan of Oman. The first VC10 flew from Brooklands in 1962 and was the biggest, most luxurious aircraft produced in the country.











The BAC 1-11 flew for 29 years and arrived here in 1994. Developed in the 1960s, this type was one of Britain's best-selling planes, with the largest version able to carry 119 passengers cruising at 21,000 feet.













This Vickers 806 Viscount was built in 1958 and the model was the world's first turboprop plane for passenger use. After 444 planes were made, production ceased in the early 1960s. It can seat up to 71 passengers.









The "Superb" was built in 1961 for British European Airways. It was converted into a cargo plane in 1970, and flew until 1996 when Hunting Cargo donated the plane to the museum. The Vanguard came at the wrong time when turboprop planes were no longer competitive and only 44 of these were built, all at this site.











This unsuspecting-looking building is actually quite historic. This was the world's first booking office offering recreational flights to the public, dating from 1911.



More photos on my website : https://www.globalphotos.org/surrey.htm

[JMKeynes]

Very beautiful!!!

[hkskyline]

In the 1960s, a few private bus owners with preserved vehicles came together to form the London Bus Preservation Group, and bought a former aircraft factory in Cobham to store their buses and exhibit them in a museum. The building's condition deteriorated and Brooklands Museum kindly offered a large plot of vacant land for a new museum, which opened in 2011.































More photos on my website : https://www.globalphotos.org/surrey.htm