A Royal Wedding and what the bride wore – in Bath

Yes folks, today is the Royal Wedding day for Will and Kate. And of course the big question on everyone’s lips is ‘What will the bride wear?’ I can practically guarantee the miles of descriptive prose and full colour magazine pages that will be devoted to every detail of that dress.

Perhaps Kate and her dress designer will have taken inspiration from brides of yesteryear, having paid a visit to the exhibition I enjoyed recently at the Fashion Museum in Bath. The ‘What will she wear’ exhibition is a celebration of wedding dresses from the museum’s collections and continues until January 2012, so you’ve no excuse not to visit if you’re looking for design ideas for your own dream wedding dress.

The dresses were displayed in no particular order with the bride from the 20s next to the bride of the surprisingly demure 60s although as wedding dresses are often inspired by historic costume it was not so easy to tell them apart. The high necked dress with delicate lace from the 70s looked distinctly Edwardian and the Alexander McQueen dress from 2010 had 18th century panier skirts.

If only those cases full of gorgeous gowns could tell their stories; the romance, the fluttering hearts, the courtship, the proposal and finally the big day. For many of those dresses the owners are known and there might even be a newspaper clipping to give the account of the wedding, with full details of what the bride wore. For others, not much is known about the owners. On the walls of the exhibition were formal portraits of elegant and wealthy brides from the 1930s modelling their couture gowns from the House of Worth, in the studio setting surrounded by flowers.

Bridal exhibition at Bath Fashion Museum

Bridal exhibition at Bath Fashion Museum

Fashions for brides have been a reflection of the past and the present. A hundred years ago weddings were held in the morning, so a day dress was worn, but later they came to resemble evening wear with long trains as worn at court. Our teenage girls took it in turn to pick the one that they would choose for their wedding day and the dress above left is my daughter’s favourite. I was married not long after Diana and Fergie and like many brides was influenced by their full skirts, ruffles and lace. Now I think I might like to wear one of those elegant bias cut columns from the 30s. Which one would you choose?

Bridal exhibition at Bath Fashion Museum

Bridal exhibition at Bath Fashion Museum

So what will the bride wear? – we’ll find out soon enough but in the meantime, enjoy these lovely wedding gowns of yesterday.

The What will she wear? exhibition is on display at the Fashion Museum in Bath until 8 January 2012.

Other adventures in Bath

Fancy a dip at the Roman Baths in Bath?
Dressing up at the Fashion Museum in Bath

If you’re looking for a hotel in Bath, compare prices and Book at Hotels Combined

www.flickr.com    heatheronhertravels’ Bath – Fashion Museum photoset

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The Colston Hall in Bristol is nominated for the Enjoy England Accessibility award

Today I’m giving a shout out to my home city of Bristol, where the city’s premier concert venue, the Colston Hall is up for an Award for Excellence from Enjoy England, the official English tourism organisation, in the Access for All category.

As I hadn’t visited the venue since the shiny, copper clad new foyer building opened 18 months ago, I decided that a nose around this weekend was long overdue. Before the redevelopment of the Colston Hall, the original turn of the century building was feeling it’s age, with an auditorium from the 1950s that still remains, but little space in the building to circulate, relax and encourage visitors to linger for a little longer. When a new concert venue for Bristol was proposed as part of the Harbour-side development, the Colston Hall was earmarked for closure, but when those plans were abandoned it was given a new lease of life with funding from The Arts Council and Bristol City Council, for a large, modern foyer building, which opened in September 2011.

Finally there was the opportunity to create a building that met the highest standards for accessibility in Bristol. Now the whole visit becomes an experience with plenty of room to have a drink or a bite to eat in the new H Bar Cafe and restaurant, serving Mediterranean  dishes all day and into the evening and regular free live music in the Foyer performance space.

The design for the new foyer involved plenty of consultation with different groups to ensure it met the needs of all users and everything was considered, from the obvious such as wheelchair access, to the less obvious such as whether the width of the glass sided walkways would meet the needs of vertigo sufferers. There are lifts, ramps and chair lifts to enable wheelchair users access to all areas and lower height sections at all the bar and box office counters.

Now there are additional wheelchair spaces available on the balcony area as well as in the stalls and staff are trained and available to give assistance and can even look after assistance dogs during the performance if necessary. There is flat access from both entrances and a new drop-off zone has been created on the Trenchard Street side, close to a public car park.

The desire to make the new Colston Hall as inclusive as possible goes well beyond the physical access for disabled users. The building of the new foyer building has enabled the creation of education rooms that are used for rehearsal and music composition in partnership with projects such as Remix who run Youth workshops. On the ground floor there’s The Glass Room, a small free exhibition space that is used to showcase local artists and frequent free live music or workshops going on in the foyer performance space. The Colston Hall also works with organisations such as Music Beyond Mainstream to bring more unusual performances to Bristol that might otherwise not get to be seen in a major mainstream venue.

With excellent public access, the Colston Hall is in the heart of Bristol with a large multi-story car park on one side and major bus routes running nearby. The venue is getting an increasing number of overseas visitors who take advantage of flights into Bristol International Airport to build their stay around a performance at the Colston Hall.

Last weekend, the Colston Hall was holding a Latin Weekend to celebrate the performance of Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club, the well-known 15 piece band of top musicians from Cuba. For those not attending the main performance, there was live Latin music in the foyer, giving those who had been practicing their Latin dance steps an opportunity to show off in front of the band. I had a bite to eat first in the H Bar that serves light meals and snacks, choosing a delicious risotto of the day.

The Buena Vista Social Club performance had brought out the Latin music enthusiasts including myself and before long they had everyone up and dancing, wiggling their hips and shimmying their shoulders. The performance featured the ‘Mas Sexy’ Omaro Portuondo, now in her 80s, a vision in pink with sparkly turban and corsage sent by an admirer, who still managed to salsa with the best of them. The performance had me longing to visit the back streets of Havana, to tap into some of the Cuban soul and perhaps take a lesson or two in hip wiggling.

Now I’ve seen what the Colston Hall has to offer, I’m sure to be calling in more often, not least to enjoy a drink or a meal in the H Bar with some of that free live music in the foyer. The winners for the Excellence awards will be announced at the Award Ceremony in Birmingham this Friday 15th April and I’m crossing my fingers that the Colston Hall will be a well deserved winner in the Access for All category.

The Colston Hall, Colston St, Bristol, BS1 5AR, Box Office: 0117 922 3686

Other places nominated in the South West for the Enjoy England Excellence awards include;

• Somerville in Torquay in the Guest House category
• The Times Cheltenham Literary Festival for Best Tourism Event
• Global Boarders in Cornwall for Best Tourism Experience,
• Event Exeter for Business Tourism
• Mother Ivey’s Bay in Cornwall for Best Caravan Park,
• Bovey Castle in Devon in the Large Hotel category
• The Eden Project for Large Visitor Attraction
• Sarah Lee at The Big Sheep in Devon for Outstanding Customer Service
• Milbrook Cottages in Devon in the Self Catering holiday category
• Hestercombe Gardens in Somerset for Small visitor attraction
• Bedruthan Steps Cornwall for Sustainable Tourism
• Porthminster Beach Cafe in Cornwall for a Taste of England
• Gloucester Tourist Information Centre in the Tourist Information category.

More things to enjoy in Bristol

A walk around the harbourside in Bristol – video
A Garden Open day at Emmaus House in Bristol
To Bristol Cathedral for a Contemplative lunch

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com – Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home

You’ll also find our sister blog with tips on how to build a successful travel blog at My Blogging Journey

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A very Happy Christmas from Heather on her travels

On Christmas Eve I’m wishing everyone out there a very happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year to come.

Obviously I’m not actually writing this on Christmas Eve, but will be going to Midnight Mass with my family, followed by a relaxing Christmas day at home eating turkey and mince pies. You can read all about our terribly British Christmas in my previous post.

What can I bring you to keep you in the festive mood? A few of the Christmas wreaths that I photographed while going up and down the road to deliver Christmas cards to my neighbours.

Can you guess which one is mine? Which one would you have for your front door?

More Seasonal greetings

A terribly British Christmas
Christmas decorations from around the world
Father Christmas on a bicycle in Munich

www.flickr.com heatheronhertravels’ Christmas photoset

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com – Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home

You’ll also find our sister blog with tips on how to build a successful travel blog at My Blogging Journey

Don’t miss out – subscribe to Heather on her travels

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