United Kingdom Short Trip Tales
Episode One: Chester
The summers are the best season to satisfy your wanderlust when living in the United Kingdom. We fell in love with the gorgeous summer that this country offers, so we made sure none of the weekends were spent sitting at home.
On one of such weekend ventures, we paid a visit to one of the most historically famous city of England, Chester. We being currently located at Manchester have an advantage that trains are very easily available to Chester. We took the Northern railways to reach Chester. The journey lasted around 1 hour. The route passes through the lush green countryside scenes of the UK. It is a sheer pleasure to the eyes.
Travel checks: We would suggest that you set out as early as possible in the morning so that you are able to utilize most of the day when going out for a day trip. You can also drive to Chester from Manchester, however, parking can be an issue making travel via train a more viable option.
The weather was soothingly pleasant offering us a delicious blend of heat and cool. A perfect concoction for a day trip.
The first thing that captured our imagination on reaching Chester was the Railway station itself.
Chester Railway station:
While most of the UK`s railway stations give you a historical feel by their architectural make-up, the Chester railway station was even more gorgeous! This station designed by architect Francis Thompson showcases the grandeur of the Italianate style of architecture. This station serves as physical testimony to the days of the twin-World Wars. During the First World War, the station was used by the troop trains for transportation of the military personnel from training camps in North Wales to the Western Front and during the Second World War, the station served to trains that were hauling ammunition. The station remained unscratched throughout the wars, however, to reduce the chances of damage via aerial attacks, a concrete bunker was built to house signaling equipment. (Source: Wikipedia).
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The Chester railway station.
Photo Courtesy: The Leader |
Once we finished admiring the station we started off towards the main city. Our first stop was the Chester Roman Amphitheatre. It takes about 13-15 minutes to reach the site on foot.
Travel Checks: most of the must-visit places of Chester are free of any entry fee.
Roman Amphitheatre:
This is an English heritage site, it is said that only a very small portion of the entire oval structure lies exposed to the eyes, a much larger part of it is yet to be excavated. The place might have been used to serve purposes both of entertainment as well as for the training of the army. It is easier to understand its structure when viewed from the higher grounds. Standing beside its walled outskirts along the little John street it is not possible to understand its structure. On a sunny day like the day of our visit it is usually thronged by people, all enjoying the sunshine while indulging in the historical flavor that Chester brings forth. Our next stop from here was the Grosvenor Museum.
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| The amphitheater as seen from the gallery. |
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| A different view of the Amphitheatre. |
Travel Checks: You can opt to do a weekend trip to Chester, wherein you can dedicate one whole day, exploring the Chester Zoo. If you have kids with you, this can be a good addition to your weekend trip itinerary.
Grosvenor Museum:
The museum is a mere 6 minutes walk from the amphitheater. On reaching the museum we were greeted by a lady at the reception desk who suggested that we watch the documentary on Chester that was being screened at the museum hall before we could start exploring the museum.
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| The reception area of the Grosvenor Museum |
We are glad we took her advice! The documentary told us so much about the history of the fortified city of Chester, some of the remains of these ancient walls can still be seen in Chester. Being a port Chester anciently known as the Roman fortress-city, Deva was always a place of political and commercial significance. Chester once served as a strategic outpost for the Roman empire. The museum is divided into a number of segments ranging from Natural history to reminiscent of the roman empire displayed in the two Roman exhibitions gallery that the museum houses which narrates the story of the Roman fortress Deva that Chester once was. There is also a beautiful art gallery. If you are a big fan of history you can spend a good amount of the day strolling inside the museum, it has quite a lot to offer.
We had other places on our must-see list for the day so we headed out to check them out. Next on our list was the Chester castle which is just a 1-minute walk from the museum.
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The Grosvenor Museum
Photo: Chester Cultural Centre
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The theatre inside the museum where we watched the documentary on Chester.
Photo: Chesire Live
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Chester castle:
The castle is located on a low hill overlooking the River Dee. The castle was built in 1070 by Hugh d'Avranches, the second Earl of Chester. Although what we see now is a stone structure, the original structure would have been a motte-and-bailey castle with a wooden tower. The stone gateway to the inner bailey is known as the Agricola Tower and the chapel of St Mary de Castro is located on its first floor. Our next point of interest after this was the famous Chester racecourse. It is a 13-15 minutes walk from the Chester castle.
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| View of the Military museum from the outside |
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| The Chester Castle |
Chester Racecourse:
Chester is said to be the oldest racecourse that still operational in the world, it was built in 1539. This is also known as the Roodee and the first known race was held in 1539. There are racing events held from May until about September. There are two restaurants on the site that remain open throughout the year. On the day of our visit, unfortunately, there were no races scheduled so we could not get a first-hand feel of the place in motion, however, you can always book your tickets for a race from their official website and plan your trip to Chester accordingly. We did not spend much time here and headed towards the famous Chester cathedral.
Travel Checks: Enroute to the cathedral you should keep a lookout for the famous Chester Eastgate clock, which is a beautiful structure that was built to commemorate Queen Victoria's 1897 Diamond Jubilee. It is claimed to be the second most photographed clock after the famous Big Ben in London.
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| The famous Chester Eastgate |
Chester cathedral:
The cathedral is located near the town center of Chester. The church although now mainly displays the Gothic style of architecture, was originally built in the Romanesque style. On entering through the main entrance a small but beautiful gift shop greeted our eyes. We were given a map of the cathedral from the reception desk there, this map helped us to explore the different parts of the cathedral other than the core part where the mammoth church organ is situated. Weekly Organ recitals are held here and it boasts of hosting some the finest choirs of the country there. We spent a good hour wandering inside the cathedral, being mesmerized by its architectural beauty and serenity at the same time. After we had finished with our exploration of the cathedral, we headed out to further our discovery of the city of Chester. A visit to Chester can never be complete without a visit to the famous Rows.
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| View of the cathedral from inside the lawn |
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| The main entrance to the cathedral |
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| A view of the Nave of the cathedral |
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The stained glass of the cathedral |
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| Fountain of Life |
The Rows:
The Chester Rows comprise a series of continuous half-timbered retail stores, they stretch throughout the city`s main shopping arena. These are quite unique to the architectural makeup of Chester but why they had been built in this way is not quite well-known. They make a very beautiful canvas to behold for the eyes. On a sunny afternoon like the day of our visit, the area was bustling with life, with live musicians and the chirpy crowd all-around a different feel was added to the place. When visiting Chester, this is a must-visit place if you want to get the real feel of how life is in Chester. After spending some time strolling along the Rows we finally made way to our second last destination on the list, the Roman gardens.
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| The Rows as seen in the main shopping area |
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| The typical medieval architecture of the Rowhouses |
Roman gardens:
The Roman gardens were constructed by Graham Webster and Charles Greenwood. The garden displays building fragments from the Roman fortress city Deva that Chester once was. Most of the Roman building fragments that can be seen now on display in the gardens were uncovered at the end of the nineteenth century when excavations were done in Chester. There are some tall pillar-like structures that are on display here, it is said the largest column currently in the Roman Gardens comes from the assembly hall of the headquarters building. A reconstructed Roman heating system (called a hypocaust) can also be seen on display in the garden. There is a circular mosaic at the entrance to the Roman Gardens that was initiated by Chester Civic Trust for its Golden Jubilee in 2010. Next on the list was a mandatory walk along the banks the beautiful River Dee. The river can be reached very easily via the Roman garden as the gardens have been remodeled to provide access to the River Dee. (Information source: cheshirenow.co.uk)
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| Fragments from important building on display at the garden |
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| The hypocaust on display at the garden |
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| The mosaic artwork on display at the garden |
River Dee:
Along the bank of River Dee one can find a number of benches, we stationed ourselves on one of them and soaked in the beauty of the landscape that was strewn in front of our sight while the sea-gulls filled the air with their continued chanting. We enjoyed our lunch sitting here. A number of food shops are located in this area and this is definitely a good spot to ease out a bit after a long day of city hopping. We saw many artists who were selling their paintings nearby the river and some were even offering to draw you a portrait if you wanted one.
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| River Dee |
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| The cruise boats on River Dee |
Travel Checks: You can choose to take a half-hour city cruise or an afternoon tea cruise on the River Dee. It can also be an interesting way of exploring Chester in case you do not want to venture much on foot throughout the day or have young kids with you.
We spent the last few moments of our trip here and then made our way back to the station to board our return train to Manchester.
It was a day well spent, exploring another city, discovering a bit more of history otherwise unknown to us.
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| The walls of the historical fortress city of Deva. |
Travel Checks: The remains of the ancient walls of the original fort can be seen all along the side of the River Dee.
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