Exploring the Bournemouth Coast Path

There are reports this morning of the sea in Poole Harbour being frozen.

The Marine’s cafe is open daily 10am to 5pm.

At weekends you will find the doors open at 9.30am.

The Marine is at the east end of on the Milford-on-Sea beach where you make the decision about walking to Lymington or Hurst Castle.

Portraits of The 4th Marquis and Marchioness of Headfort go on sale at Sotheby’s in May.

From the year of their marriage in 1901 until 1910 the couple lived at Pennington House which is seen from the coast path along Pennington Marshes between Milford-on-Sea and Lymington.

Lord Headfort had shaken society by marrying Rosie Boote who was a Gaiety Girl playing the part of Maisie in ‘The Messenger Boy’ in 1900.

The lonely house was recommended to them by William and Patsy Cornwallis-West who lived at Milford-on-Sea.

The Headforts’ other friends included painter Sir William Orpen who undertook their portraits now going on sale.

The pictures were never hung in Pennington House as the couple did not received them from the studio until 1914. But the portrait of Rosie is as she appeared in the Edwardian years when Pennington was her retreat with her husband.

I recall hearing about Rosie Boote in the 1980s when visiting Lord Lurgan at Pennington House. His family had lived there since the Headforts left in 1910.

Over the weekend someone became stuck in mud near Chewton Bunny.

The report is in the Echo.

But this is not new and has happened nearby below Naish Farm. Beach and cliffs can be dangerous.

Christchurch Council plans to change the paths in Chewton Bunny as part of a scheme to allow biking.

The consultation runs until early February. The details are here.

Good to see Bournemouth listed among the world’s ten top beaches along with Cape Cod and Capri.

Just back from visiting the fabulous revamped Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh.

Allan Ramsay’s full-length portrait of the 3rd Earl of Bute can be seen flanked by Queen Charlotte and George III. The hanging highlights Bute’s huge influence before he retired to enjoy botany at Highcliff Castle.

It is often suggested that his fall down the cliff, when looking for a plant, led to his death two years later in 1792.

Ken Russell lived in Southampton and the New Forest.

He knew Highcliffe’s Naish Farm next to Chewton Bunny as a holiday destination in the Thirties. His 1977 film Valentino was partly made in Bournemouth where the cliff top Russell-Cotes Museum was Valentino’s house.

The tributes are here.

The launch of the Poppy appeal at Highcliffe Castle was a bold gesture. It is a good place to recall the past especially those who died during the ‘Great War’.

The castle was home to Germany’s Kaiser for three weeks in November 1907 following his state visit as guest of Edward VII. By having him to stay in London and Highcliffe, Britain was talking to a rather difficult country which was better than war. But the Kaiser made intemperate remarks whilst at Highcliffe about the “mad as March hares” English and within seven years we were at war.

The seeds of the Second World War can be traced to the First. Highcliffe is a place where we ought to remember the millions who died far away.

The seawater bathing pool at Lymington has a deficit of £40,000 but is reopening next May.

This is good news as it has been a coastal feature since 1780 when it was a saltern.

But it seems that a balloon will fly over it next year to boost visitors.