The Horse and Guardsman Pub

The Horse & Guardsman, which  opened in November of 2021, is a pub worth visiting, not just because of its location, but its decor and food. The pub honours the King’s Horse Guard who are stationed nearby.

The Horse and Guardsman Pub – Pub Sign

Interior

This pub had a lineup waiting to get in. Because they had a full house, I did not take pictures inside of the decor or architecture. Unless there are not many people, I do not attempt inside pictures. The pub has lovely decor in honour of its namesake the Horse Guardsmen. There are paintings , photos, and other artifacts related to the King’s Horse Guards.

Exterior

The Horse and Guardsman Pub

I like the way they displayed the flag. Most pubs have the flag in some form outside or inside. It is also on the pub sign below.

The Horse and Guardsman Pub

Food

Some pubs may be more modern in terms of food choices, but many like this pub also will have some of the traditional British foods. This pub has some interesting savoury pies on the menu and also has gluten free items to choose from. They do roasts on Sunday. In my opinion their variety of menu choices should have almost everyone covered.

Location

The Horse and Guardsman pub is on Whitehall. South of the pub on the same street is the Royal Horse Guards and the Household Calvary Museum. Going north from the pub is Trafalgar Square. Across the street and not far is the street Great Scotland Yard, named for the police service.

Horse and Guardsman Pub – Royal Horse Guards down the street
Horse and Guardsman Pub – Royal Horse Guards down the street

If you are visiting Trafalgar Square, the Royal Horse Guards, or the Household Calvary Museum it is worth stopping at the pub for a bite to eat and to see the decor. This pub highlights one of the iconic things about England, the Horse Guards.

Mystery Bird

All you bird experts out there, I need your help. Can you identify this bird? I assume it is a duck, but I ran this through Merlin North American and Europe and nothing seemed to be an absolute match. I am far from an expert.

Mystery Bird

It appears to have red eyes and an orange beak. The colour on top of its head is a darker brown. I do not know if this is a juvenile or an adult. I saw this in one of the parks in London. That of course does not mean necessarily that it is native to Europe. What are your thoughts? Can anyone identify this mystery bird? Or could this even be a hybrid cross between two birds?

Chiloe Wigeon

I was lucky to see a lot of birds I have not seen before in England. The royal Parks and other parks in London were great places to view some of these birds. The chiloe wigeon was one of them.

Chiloe Wigeon

Appearance

With Chiloe Wigeons both male and female look similar, but the male may be brighter. It has rusty coloured sides. They have white cheeks and a white forehead. They also have a metallic green head. Chiloe wigeons are small ducks.

Diet

The diet of a chiloe wigeon includes water plants, crustaceans, and tadpoles.

Location

The chiloe wigeon is often found in wetlands, marshes, lakes, and along rivers. The chiloe wigeon gets along with other waterfowl, but more often seen near or on the shore shore, grazing in grassy areas. This bird is mainly found in the southern part of South America, but it is also seen in parts of Europe including England.

Don’t discount parks in cities, you may find a lot of wildlife you are not expecting.

Bath Telephone Booths

Bath, England has a rather nice city centre that is walkable. Several streets across from the train station are closed to most vehicle traffic. There are a lot of restaurants, shops, and pubs. One thing they do is decorate the telephone boxes and streets in the shopping area. Below are just a few of the Bath telephone booths that are decorated.

Bath Telephone Booths – This one is next to the train station. Warning this one was hard to get a picture by itself on a Saturday. It seems to have a full schedule of photoshoots with Instagrammers.
Bath Telephone Booths – An artist had fun with this telephone booth.

The photos above and below are made of Cotswold stone. Bath is at the edge of the Cotswolds.

Bath Telephone Booths

The British love flowers. I love it when towns do something different to spuce up their city centres. What do you think? Do you have a favourite?

Coyote

You could not miss this coyote. It walked across a busy road. It looked like it was following after something, but I never saw what that was. No, this is not in England. I took this tonight on my way home.

Coyote- Nice enough to pose for a couple of shots

It is not the best image. It was at night after a rain storm in low light. I had my camera in its bag in the back seat. I had to pull off and take it out. I saw the coyote go into a business parking lot, so this is where it is in this image. Note to self: I need to have my camera in the front seat readily available.

The coyote looks very scruffy. Could this be the result of a disease? May it be the battle scars of fights with other animals? It did not look to weary of people. It actually left a popular rail trail and was in a business parking lot. It stood there letting me take a couple of pictures. Sometimes I wonder what tales an animal could tell. If I had known it was going to do that I would have set my camera to a 1/800 of a second instead of 1/2000. What do you think it’s story would be?

Red Lion Pub Sign

What name tops the list for most popular names in England for pubs? The Red Lion does The origins of this pub name may have started in the 14th century. John, a son of King Edward III was fighting with his nephew who later became King Richard II. John added a red lion into his coat of arms while the symbol that represented Richard was a white heart. Pubs that supported John displayed a red lion while those who supported Richard displayed a white heart.

The Red Lion Pub Sign

Lions are said to have represented the monarchy in England dating back to the 1100s. Animal names are the most popular theme for a pub. Have a great week!

Gray Heron

I was fortunate enough to see some gray herons at different Royal Parks in London. It turns out these places are great places to bird watch.

Gray herons are similar in appearance to great blue herons, but are smaller in size. All About Birds has the length of the gray heron being between 35.4-38.6 inches, while the great blue heron is between 38.2-53.9 inches in length.

Gray Heron – Adult

The above pictures appears to be an adult. It has the pronounced black stipe on its head and the beak is lighter. During peak breeding season its beak can be orange.

Gray Heron – Juvenile?

I am guessing this image may be a juvenile gray heron. It does not have the pronounced black and white colours on its head and its beak is darker.

I highly recommend visiting the Royal Parks in London. It is a great way to get in some steps in while being nature in the heart of London.

“In every walk in nature, one receives far more than he seeks.”

John Muir

House Signs of Rye

In England it is not uncommon for people to name their houses. This custom started with gentry naming their castles and manors. Later the common folk would adopt the practice. Rye is close to the sea, so words related to ships and the ocean are popular to use. These are just some of the house signs in Rye.

House Signs of Rye – Landgate Cottage

One way people may name their house is by what is on the property or near the house. This one is close to Landgate in Rye so hence the name.

House Signs of Rye – Arbella House

This house may have been named after the Arbella that was one of the first ships that carried about 20,000 English to New England between 1630 and 1640. The Arbella traveled from Southhampton, England to Salem between March 22 and June 12, 1630. The ship was named for a prominent puritan, Lady Arabella Johnson, who was on the ship traveling with her husband.

House Signs of Rye – Neptune Cottage
House Signs of Rye – Smuggler’s Cottage

Smuggler’s Cottage may have been the site of a smuggling operation or it could just be a name that was picked years ago.

House Signs of Rye – Old Stable

Some houses are named after what the former purpose of the building was. This one is named Old Stable so it may have been a stable converted into a house. The name Stables is in the top 50 names of houses in England with 549 houses using that name.

House Signs of Rye – Quaker House

This house was most likely old meeting house of the quakers. The Old Rectory, The Old Vicarage are two of the top 50 names in England of houses.

Are there any of these names or signs you like the best? Would you name your house if you had the option to do so?

Windows of Rye

One of the little towns I visited in England on this trip was Rye. One of the things that stood out for me was some of the windows. Below are some of them.

Windows of Rye

I love this curved window. It seems a great place to display something like this vase.

Windows of Rye

One of two windows I tok photos of that had sailboats in them.

Windows of Rye

I love inside shutters. When I stayed at Oxford University they had something that closed on the inside as well instead of blinds.

Windows of Rye

The second window displaying a sailboat.

Windows of Rye

This one was just an interesting shape.

I love the architecture of windows and doors that are older. They seem to have more character. Which one do you like best?

Edward VIII Post Box

One of the more iconic things in England is the post box. These boxes are usually red in colour. The cipher on the box tells who was the king or queen when the box was added to service. You can still find post boxes dating back to Queen Victoria actively being used.

Edward VIII Post Box

This box is one of the more difficult ones to find. The cipher says EVIIIR. The king at the time this box was placed on the street was Edward VIII. R stands for the latin word for king, Rex. It is rare because Edward (1894-1972) was only king between 20 January to 10 December 1936, so less than a year. He is the only British king to resign or abdicate. He did so to marry Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee.

Edward was a controversial figure to say the least. After he abdicated, he spent most of his time in France. He and his wife visited Germany, and he was honoured by the Nazis. It is also said he entertained the idea from the Nazis that if they invaded England they would place him back as king.

This post box has a stamp machine attached, but it obviously is no longer in service, as evidenced by the cost of the stamps listed. The cost shows 50p for a book of stamps on the machine. Only one first class stamp is 1.35 pounds today. Don’t you wish stamps were that cheap today?