Cheerful Chester

This is our first visit to Chester, a city steeped in history, from evidence of Roman habitation to medieval buildings; from Tudor to the modern day. What impressed me was how the compact city centre provides a wide spectrum of shops and how chainstores' familiar branding is retained without destroying the appearance of the ancient buildings. A good example is my main picture: Mr PP (+ brolly) is standing in front of a branch of Superdrug, where a blue plaque describes the building's history: St Nicholas's Chapel, originally a medieval chapel, this was Chester's Commonhall in the 16th century and later became the wool hall. It was licensed as the Theatre Royal in 1777 and converted into the Chester Music Hall by James Harrison in 1885. Charles Dickens performed here in 1867.

The omnibus in my collage offers tourist trips around the city and was too photogenic to omit, though we toured by Shanks's pony. Equally, I couldn't leave out the beautiful clock built in the year of Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee - ostensibly the second most photographed clock in Britain after Big Ben. We also went on a Roman guided tour, where we had the knowledgeable guide all to ourselves (see Extra). Off to visit friends near Chester this evening. It's all go!