Ironbridge

We are really lucky to live a 15 minutes drive away from Ironbridge - 'the Birthplace of Industry' and I visit there usually once a month and have seen it in all weathers: snow, rain, flooded and yesterday it was sunny (I hope this good weather continues).

When it is a really nice day I find it is best to visit Ironbridge first thing in the morning when there is hardly anyone about and you can walk along the river with the sun is just starting to bring a hazy atmosphere to the place and swans and ducks swim along the river.

Yesterday it was really busy and I didn't manage to walk along the river , although I did take a few photos including the one above of the Iron Bridge which is the world's first cast iron bridge built over the River Severn in 1779.

After a short walk by the bridge we stopped here for some Ben & Jerry's Cookie Dough ice cream:

As this was a quick visit we didn't stay as long and as we headed back in the car I spotted this at the Coalbrookdale Museum of Iron:

I had to stop the car and go and take a closer look at this old fairground ride.

The ride was at the entrance to Enginuity I am not sure why it was there but there was no one around at all. I would have loved to have a ride on it and was wishing that I had my sketchbook with me.

As I walked up the hill to take more photos I noticed the tiles on the floor. I am interested in patterns that I see around and may use this as inspiration for my artwork.

You can see this clock tower from the road and the architectural features are really interesting as you get closer.

There are lots of old pieces of machinery around the Museum of Iron and I came across this wonderful old boiler. Again I wish I had brought my sketchbook with me. I am going to have to come back at a later date and take more photos and definitely bring my sketchbook with me.