Code: https://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/ My favourite week of the year and this year celebrating its 25th anniversary. "Heritage Open Days (13-22 September 2019) is England’s largest grass roots heritage festival involving over 40,000 volunteers and 5,000 events". Simply put a postcode into the search box and find out what's happening in that area. There are organised cemetery and history walks, bell-ringing, displays and exhibitions, and all sorts of places opened up that aren't usually accessible - churches, archives, towers, lighthouses, gardens, tunnels - even the clubhouse at the golf course.
You've got to laugh.....I had a look to see if there was anything to go and visit within easy distance of my neck of the woods, and, other than places which are always open and available, the one 'attraction' I could go and visit is the local wastewater and treatment works
Ooh! We have.... Warmington Parish Records Day Church of St Mary the Blessed Virgin, Church Street, Warmington, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, PE8 6TE Opportunity to view a variety of records relating to the people of Warmington. Parish records kept in Church of St Mary the Blessed Virgin, Warmington will be on view. Also, Warmington: A Record of the Village 2000; Warmington Registers of Electors 1918-1931; 1939 Register for Warmington; biographical information on the 135 Warmington men who served in WW1 Shame that my folk are not from round here....
That sounds a good one, Jan - likewise, sadly no Warmington ancestors. Certainly sounds more appetising than 'A Journey Through Waste' (although, in fairness, I bet that would be interesting. Hard hats, hi-viz...). A hint... I'm finding that you do have to jiggle the postcode search a bit on this. Not sure how the parameters are set - I had far more local 'hits' using a postcode a few miles away. My own postcode supplied hits up to ten miles away in the other direction. A different postcode gave me details of nearby places I really want to see.
I thought I'd bring up the map, which is probably the quickest way to see what's in the locality and, guess what? I still only have the option of the wastewater and treatment works
Managed to get out today for the first heritage day, or part of it, and visited the beautiful Italianate church where my in-laws were married. The vicar gave us a bit of a tour and told us all kinds of amazing stories about the church and local area. From there it was a short drive to the little church that my g-g-grandparents were married in. I knew I'd come home when I was greeted inside by smiling ladies offering cake (a lovely touch, I thought - bless them, they'd gone to so much trouble). The vicar showed us her collection of old postcards and then OH was urged to have a go at bellringing. It got a bit noisy after that.
I remember warning my son when he was in high school that if he didn't pull his socks up the only job he would get was at the treatment works standing on the grid fishing out certain items with a long pole. Sounds like a great festival though. I'm a bit envious.
All of the bookable tours/walks I wanted to do seem to be full for this year and I've missed out. That's good in a way, as they are obviously popular and likely to be held again. A lot of places are open as part of Heritage Week but aren't on the list. The first church we visited yesterday (which as the vicar explained is rarely open outside service times for insurance purposes) was open as part of Heritage but not on the list and I think we were the only visitors. So glad we made the effort to drive there on the off chance.
Things are a little different this year, as Heritage Open Days are mostly being held 'online' owing to the pandemic. So, if your local waste water and treatment works is maybe not quite your thing you can travel further afield and not leave your comfy chair. The list is much smaller, obviously, but still interesting. Many churches offering virtual tours, too, around the country.
The local waste water and treatment works isn’t on the list this year, I might have gone this year if it had been a ‘virtual’ tour
