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Sombre atmosphere
the crematorium blues
a touching goodbye
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by Scooj
Tag: Surrey
Thursday doors – 7 August 2025 – Doors of Godalming
Doors 319 – Doors of Godalming, Surrey, March 2025 (Part V)
Are we really in August already? Life canters on with little respite, which makes writing a blog all the more important, taking time to think, reflect and write before returning to the maelstrom.
This is the last in a series of doors from Godalming, a small town in Surrey, which I visited on a work trip back in March this year. Although I had heard and was aware of the town most of my life, it wasn’t until my work took me there that I visited the place. I am super-lucky that one aspect of my job takes me all around the country to stay in towns and cities, many of which I get to visit for the first time. I chronicle my ‘tours’ through photographing doors and street art (if there is any), which feels like a nice way to remember a place. Enough chit-chat – on to this week’s doors. I hope you enjoy them.
The red door, was the last one I photographed in Godalming and was from a small cottage situated directly adjacent to the brook (West Brook?), which was obviously exposed to frequent flooding, hence the brick flood wall blocking the entrance. I think that there was another entrance on the side of the building that was a more practical access to the cottage.
I very much enjoyed my night stopover in Godalming, and would recommend a visit if you happen ever to be in the area.
Something a little different next time.
If you have made it this far, you probably like doors, and you really ought to take a look at the No Facilities blog by Dan Anton who has taken over the hosting of Thursday Doors from Norm 2.0 blog. Links to more doorscursions can be found in the comments section of Dan Anton’s weekly Thursday Doors post.
Thursday doors – 31 July 2025 – Doors of Godalming
Doors 318 – Doors of Godalming, Surrey, March 2025 (Part IV)
Rather remarkably, I have remembered that Dan is taking a Thursday Doors holiday this week, but I have decided to press ahead with this week’s selection as I have a little bit of time (last night in fact) to write this post and I might as well make hay while the sun shines.
This is the fourth and penultimate selection of doors from Godalming in Surrey, photographed on a work trip overnight stay. This week’s doors are mostly from the High Street running through the centre of the town. Enjoy.
Godalming High Street, like so many other high streets in English towns, is stuffed full of little gems and wonderful history, heritage and architecture. It is all too easy to keep your head down and not look at what is around you. Having an interest in doors acts like a portal (no pun intended) into this world of curiosity of your surroundings, and it has certainly prompted me to look at the places where I happen to be through a different lens. One more selection and then I move on to another place. See you next time.
If you have made it this far, you probably like doors, and you really ought to take a look at the No Facilities blog by Dan Anton who has taken over the hosting of Thursday Doors from Norm 2.0 blog. Links to more doorscursions can be found in the comments section of Dan Anton’s Thursday Doors post.
Thursday doors – 24 July 2025 – Doors of Godalming
Doors 317 – Doors of Godalming, Surrey, March 2025 (Part III)
A quick one this morning as I haven’t left myself much time to write. This is the third selection of doors from Godalming, a small town in deepest Surrey, a place that on the face of it is reasonably affluent, and definitely has some lovely buildings dotted about the place. I hope you enjoy these doors:
I rather like this selection of doors and the range of periods, but that last building is a beauty in my view. Here is an excerpt from a website called Geograph, about the building:
Godalming High Street: Nos. 74-76
I was puzzled by this building. A date-stone says 1663, but at first glance I thought that unlikely – probably because I was taken in by the honeycomb glazing bars.
Later, dipping into the Surrey volume of ‘The Buildings of England’ I found Ian Nairn having one of his rants: ‘Nos. 74-76 . . . coming right at the end of the C17 Artisan tradition of brickwork in Surrey, and a deplorable end too . . . All sense of proportion, and even of picturesque outline, is gone’. He makes the useful point that the window design is of 18th century origin – lifted from one of Batty Langley’s pattern books.
Nairn goes on to concede that (along with No. 80, somewhat similar) Nos. 74-76 are ‘good fun to have in a town’ – even if they lack architectural merit. My own view would be that brick-built structures dating from the 1660s are pretty rare in a small-town context, and we should be grateful for those that survive.
Later, dipping into the Surrey volume of ‘The Buildings of England’ I found Ian Nairn having one of his rants: ‘Nos. 74-76 . . . coming right at the end of the C17 Artisan tradition of brickwork in Surrey, and a deplorable end too . . . All sense of proportion, and even of picturesque outline, is gone’. He makes the useful point that the window design is of 18th century origin – lifted from one of Batty Langley’s pattern books.
Nairn goes on to concede that (along with No. 80, somewhat similar) Nos. 74-76 are ‘good fun to have in a town’ – even if they lack architectural merit. My own view would be that brick-built structures dating from the 1660s are pretty rare in a small-town context, and we should be grateful for those that survive.
So That’s it for this week, more to come from Godalming next time.
If you have made it this far, you probably like doors, and you really ought to take a look at the No Facilities blog by Dan Anton who has taken over the hosting of Thursday Doors from Norm 2.0 blog. Links to more doorscursions can be found in the comments section of Dan Anton’s Thursday Doors post.
Thursday doors – 17 July 2025 – Doors of Godalming
Doors 316 – Doors of Godalming, Surrey, March 2025 (Part II)
I am writing this all in a bit of a hurry last night, because today I’ll be travelling to Eastbourne to run a workshop for a large nature partnership. Expect to see some doors of Eastbourne some time in the future.
Today’s doors are the second helping from Godalming, a small town in Surrey bristling with character and heritage, which I visited on a similar work trip back in March this year. If nothing else, my work rewards me with opportunities to go to parts of the country I’d perhaps have never thought of going to, and Godalming is probably one of those.
I took these pictures in the evening I arrived and early in the morning before my workshop started, it is a routine I have mastered over the last year or two. I hope you enjoy these doors and some of the timber frame architecture.
That’s enough Surrey culture for the time being. More to come next time. May I wish you all a very happy weekend.
If you have made it this far, you probably like doors, and you really ought to take a look at the No Facilities blog by Dan Anton who has taken over the hosting of Thursday Doors from Norm 2.0 blog. Links to more doorscursions can be found in the comments section of Dan Anton’s Thursday Doors post.
Thursday doors – 10 July 2025 – Doors of Godalming
Doors 315 – Doors of Godalming, Surrey, March 2025
It sounds like an interesting place, Godalming, but I had never visited until earlier this year, and as it turns out, it is a lovely, small, Surrey town. I was there with work for a partnership workshop I was leading, preparing for a celebration event for England’s newest National Nature Reserve, called Wealden Heaths. Sadly I never got to go to the celebration event itself, but I am told it was a perfect day, and we generated plenty of local and national coverage. Job done.
The town is very much centred around a single main street, called High Street, which is home to a wonderful array of timber-framed shops and houses in a Surrey style, quite different to those I have encountered in other parts of the country. This first set of doors are found on the route from the station to the High Street. I hope you enjoy this first of three or four collections from Godalming.
More to come from this rather pretty town next time, and perhaps for the next couple of times after that. Meanwhile, I am basking in the brilliant and unusually wonderful summer sunshine we are having in Bristol, with little sign of rain for more than a week.
That’s it for another week. I prepared this post in advance, and I am publishing it very early (UK time) on Thursday, because when I did this by mistake a few weeks ago, I had far more views than I would normally expect. I am testing the idea once again, but this time deliberately, to see if that was an anomaly or a real effect.
If you have made it this far, you probably like doors, and you really ought to take a look at the No Facilities blog by Dan Anton who has taken over the hosting of Thursday Doors from Norm 2.0 blog. Links to more doorscursions can be found in the comments section of Dan Anton’s Thursday Doors post.
6820. High Street, Godalming
Part of my work involves a bit of travel around the country supporting the establishment of new National Nature Reserves. I took a trip last month to Godalming in Surrey, where I was running a partnership workshop. Naturally I took the opportunity to wander round town in the evening and early in the morning to photograph the architecture, and doors in particular. I was not expecting to find any street art (it is not that kind of place), but my in-build radar and trained eye brought me to this piece by Hendog, lurking behind some bins. I think it might be the only piece of street art in town.
Hendog is a stencil artist, who seems to paint around the south-east area of England, from what I could make out, and I haven’t come across before, although I think he might have a piece in Bristol which I will need to hunt down.
There are hints or references to Banksy’s famous ‘mild, mild west’ piece as he features an urban teddy bear up to a bit of mischief with a traffic cone on his head and a beer bottle in each hand. The stencil work has plenty of depth, aided by the clever shadow work. I have no idea what the locals think of it, but it has been there for a while, so I imagine they might be quite fond of it. A pleasurable and unexpected find.
On tour again
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Next destination
Godalming town in Surrey
overnighter looms
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by Scooj
Haiku 1
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A butterfly comes
we all gaze on in wonder
iridescent wings.
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by Scooj
- This was the first ever haiku I wrote. It was in honour of my mother on her 80th birthday 10 years ago. I had flu at the time and that period coincided with the birth of Natural Adventures. I used the haiku to open my speech at her party last night, so I thought I would share it again here today.
Worthwhile
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A mission of love
to celebrate ninety years
in challenging times
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by Scooj
Natural adventures 