Portsmouth, The Spinnaker and Garlic...
Portsmouth is a waterfront city with Naval and Maritime heritage situated on the south coast of England. Portsmouth was birthplace to Charles Dickens and been a home to Rudyard Kipling. Both of these literary greats are celebrated in museums across the city. Situated on the common of Southsea is King Henry V111'S castle. It is said from the vantage point of the castle he watched the Mary Rose sink, which then remained in the sea bed for 437 years. It now takes place within Portsmouth historic dockyard. Emirates Spinnaker tower stretches 170 metres above Gunwharth Quays, making it taller than Big Ben, The London tower and Blackpool tower. From the tower visitors can see a 350 degrees panoramas stretching up to 23 miles.
The Emirates Spinnaker tower was built as part of the Renaissance of Portsmouth Harbour project. It is visible from around 23 miles away. It was created to celebrate the new millennium for the public in an educational facility. The original design proposals consisted of The Globe, the Triple tower and the Spinnaker, with 60% of people voting for the Spinnaker. The commencing of the structure started in November 2001 and opened in October 2005. The tower's base was constructed by 84 concrete piles into the sea bed and then a 'concrete cake tin' on top, which had concrete pumped into it to form the solid base above sea level. The towers legs where also constructed from concrete, with 11,000 cubic metres in each leg. The highest you can stand on the tower is 110m in the sky deck. The concrete used overall would fill five and half Olympic sized swimming pools and the tower itself exceeds 30,000 tonnes in weight. The tower has received over 2.5 million visitors since opening who travel 570 steps from the base up to view deck 3, the sky deck.
The HMS Victory now lives at Portsmouth historic dock. She first floated out of the old single dock in Chatham's Royal Dockyard on 7th May 1765. She was also within the fleets in the American war of independence, the French revolutionary war and the Napoleonic war. But she is best known for her role in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 as the flagship of Vice-Admiral Nelson. In 1808 she was recommissioned to lead the fleet in the baltic. She was later relegated to harbour service, which included; residence, accommodation and flagship. In 1922 she was placed into dry dock where she lives today. In the images above you can also spot UK'S new £3bn warship HMS Queen Elizabeth, an aircraft carrier, which has arrived in Portsmouth.
At Portsmouth Historic dockyard it displays the Mary Rose Museum, which opened May 2013, and the remains of the 16th century warship itself, which is the only 16th century warship on display anywhere in the world. The museum along with displaying the remains of the ship itself, it also reunites her with many of her artefacts including personal belongings such as; wooden bowls, leather shoes, musical instruments, nit combs and many of the ships weapons and crew, capturing the moment in time when she sank. The ship fought against the French for over 30 years before sinking off the coast of Portsmouth in 1545. She was raised from the Solent where she lay in 1982.
The Garlic farm on the Isle of Wight is a free family attraction providing the full garlic experience. At the start of the visit you can taste all the garlic farm products from sweet chutneys and smooth mayoinase's to a hot garlic sauce. The farm is located in the Arreton Valley. Whilst you are there you can take a tractor trailer tour through the fields, or alternatively you can walk a short or long route. There is also a free educational centre which includes the history of the farm, archeological finds, how garlic came to the isle of wight, how to grow garlic, garlic folklore and facts. There is also a trail meadow where it displays all the types of garlic the farm uses and a bit of information about each variety. We used the open top tour bus to get to the farm, when you get off the bus you cross a busy road onto a grass path which takes you about a 20 minute walk down to the farm.
Portsmouths defences for many years where very weak. To mitigate against this they built two towers either side of the harbour with a wall connecting them to create a barrier. These are known as the Round and Square towers.
The Old Royal Garrison church in Portsmouth was built in about 1212 by the Bishop of Winchester as part of a hospital and hostel for pilgrims. The church was badly damaged in 1941 due to a firebomb raid in Portsmouth. The 20th century stained glass windows depict scenes from the Second World War and from the churches own history.
The Portsmouth Art and Culture Museum is located in Olde Towne Portsmouth.