I'm rather taken with Geoffrey, a friendly giraffe used to promote Toys R Us since 1965. I'm even more taken with his bench inside W H Smith in Chippenham. Prior to the chain's sale earlier this year, it was agreed that certain stores would also have a Toys R Us section within them. Geoffrey's bench marks the transition from one of our traditional High Street retailers into something more fun and entertaining, though sadly rather empty when I took this photo. At some point the name W H Smith will morph into its new owner's chosen rebrand name, T G Jones* - rather bland in my opinion which appears to have been made up, unlike the original name which refers to the company's original founder Henry Walton Smith and reaches back to the year 1792. * = it has already in nearby Malmesbury, though they have yet to erase the etched W H Smith from the glass doors. They seem to have retained the corporate blue colour on the shopfront too, for now at least. UPDATE - it tur...
Fantastic, and what an amazing view in the background. A really lovely spot.
ReplyDeleteAnd this was on a relatively dull day CJ, imagine what it would be like when it's sunny :)
DeleteIt looks spectacular!
ReplyDeleteIt was - very much using your estate to convey how much power you have like Blenheim does so effectively.
ReplyDeleteWe were at Powis Castle last week, which was spectacular too. You would have loved the giant cannas and aeoniums in the terrace borders :)
Wow! Stood in the same spot VP a few years ago - isn't it fabulous :)
ReplyDeleteIt certainly is Anna - this was taken this time last year :)
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DeleteWow... now that is a grand entrance and an amazing viewpoint! It reminds me of Disneyland Paris back in 2000 with its entrance to mark the millennium of small hexagonal paving tiles with peoples names on them (at a cost). The hills in the background act like the castle at Disneyland :-)
ReplyDeleteHi Shirley - I see what you mean! The hills in the background are the Wicklow mountains which dominate the scenery over several counties in Ireland. The highest one in the photo is the Great Sugar Loaf, which you can see easily from Dublin and from where we were staying in Wicklow.
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