The Hidden Beauty Of Alton Towers
In the heart of the English countryside is a theme park called Alton Towers.
You might have heard about it in the news a few years back, after the dreadful accident on one of its rides, The Smiler.
As a child I visited a lot. Many happy weekends running from ride to rides with my sister's and my cousin's, trying to get the most from the day.
In my early 20's visiting with my husband while we were still dating. Every visit planned so we could fit the most rides in the hours we had there.
My husband and I have two daughters now. While they were small we did the kiddie rides, but were quite lucky as our eldest is rather tall for her age. She very quickly wanted to advance onto the bigger rides, now allowing my husband and I to take turns riding the big attractions.
Alas our youngest is not a trill seeker. We have tried to build her up to the more exciting rides, but have had to accept roller-coaster are just not her thing.
That is when she and I started to explore the forgotten history of Alton Towers. Click here to read its history
A rough run down of its history, stretches back to Iron age, where a fort was built.
In about 700 AD, the Saxon king Ceolred of Mercia built a fortress on the hill. King Ine of Wessex besieged the site in 716 AD. The ensuing battle, which ended in stalemate, caused such a loss of life the place was called Slain Hollow (which later became the estate's oriental water garden).
In 1801 the 15th Earl of Shrewsbury, Charles Talbot built the Gothic stately towers that are still a haunting silhouette, that looms over the park today.
During the 2nd world war the war offices took over it for officer training.
But it wasn't until the 1950 did it get opened to the public and start growing into the theme park we love today.
As I said above throughout my childhood and early adult life I have loved the park. Head down I have ran from ride to ride enjoying the new attractions. But it wasn't until my daughter found no enjoyment in the bright coloured rides and high trills of technology, did I discover the lost beauty of this park.
So next time you visit Alton Towers or are just walking down the high street of your home town. Look up, look around you and look at the buildings with different eyes and see if you can find the hidden beauty in the world around you.
https://steemit.com/life/@kathieletalis/the-hidden-beauty-of-alton-towers-part-2
Check out the end of the blog here (just some more photo really)
For some reason the photo wouldn't post. Think I deleted some of the important formatting and it went all funny :(
It really is a beautiful place behind all the rides :) Really worth just taking an hour to look around the tower and the gardens
nice information
Very nice.
We're going to try and get there this summer, I wander around the ruins while the girls and their mum go on the rides.
The tower is really beautiful and next time we go back hope to take some more picture with my better camera.
I think you can use Tesco club card vouchers to buy tickets :)
I didn't realise there was so much history behind the park. Well done!
As I said I didn't really know about the history, until my daughter started asking question. :)
What a beautiful old building. I love so many of the old English castles and manor homes. We have nothing like that here in Australia.
And a very interesting history behind it also. Loved reading that.
I visited a castle called Bolsover a year back. Most of it was ruins and to be honest I enjoyed looking round the shell of the building trying to work out which room were which, then going around the bit that was still intact.
The old ruins can be great. I saw a few when I was in Ireland several years back. Structures still standing, but usually no roofs. But the walls were built so solidly they have withstood the ravages of time. I remember an old castle, and cathedral near it, overlooking a harbour on the border with Northern Ireland.
I visited one up in Scotland a few years back. Might do a blog on that one and share the pictures I have on that one :)
You should. I'd love to see the photos.
Nice post and pictures! As I said in your other post, old buildings (and ruins, ancient sites, etc) fascinate me - love reading about this!
Thank you. I also love old buildings. I have a number of photos of different ruins round the UK, that I have taken over the years. Might dig some out and do another blog on them. I quite enjoy doing this one . :)
Kinda spooky