The Bowes Museum

 The Bowes Museum

Last Friday I met up with a couple of friends I used to work with. I retired 5 years ago, one retired about 3 years before me and the other one is still working. We only live about 40 miles from each other but trying to arrange to meet seems to take us ages. We all have commitments of one sort or another however finally we made it last week.

We decided to do an indoor get together as the weather has been so awful and we chose Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle. It is a beautiful place and has some amazing collections. The French style chateau was built in the 19th Century and was the first building in Britain to be designed using metric instead of the usual imperial measurements. Seems odd seeing a French chateau in the middle of County Durham but it is a beautiful building.

It has a formal parterre  garden at the front and is surrounded by acres of parkland. The fountain has been restored but wasn't working when we were there. Couldn't be due to any water shortages!

The day turned out to be cold but there was glorious sunshine so we started the day with a coffee in the museum and then decided it was too nice to be inside so we went for a walk around Barnard Castle. I'll save those pictures for another day. We went back to the museum for a delicious lunch and talked so much we didn't have time to tour the museum. We'll have to go back another time!

My photographs were taken with my husband's camera as mine is broken and I'm not that familiar with this one so the light isn't too good. Also the pictures taken quickly as my friends were keen to get on with their walk and I didn't get as many photographs as I would have liked. 

Sean Connery (Source: Wiki Commons)

Hard to believe it's 50 years since the boyfriend of the day dragged me to see Dr No. I wasn't keen but he was persuasive & have to say I really did enjoy it. The boyfriend didn't last the 50 years but I have enjoyed most of the Bond films since. My favourite of the Connery Bond's was the first Dr No. It was so different to any of the films being produced then & its style was copied but was never matched.

Not sure who my favourite Bond is, I've liked them all even Timothy Dalton & George Lazenby. 

Roger Moore Source: Wiki Commons

I loved the really elegant & humorous style of Roger Moore & his voice is still wonderful. My favourite of Roger Moore's Bonds was Moonraker. Who could forget Jaws?

Pierce Brosnan brought the humour, the elegance & the fabulous good looks to Bond in 4 films. 

                                                  

       

 Pierce Brosnan Source Wiki Commons

My favourite of his films was the first, Goldeneye where he came up against a former friend played by Sean Bean. Sean Been always seems to play the baddie now. His posh accent in Goldeneye was really over the top but I suppose a broad Yorkshire accent wouldn't quite have matched the character. I loved the computer whiz Boris who thought he was "invincible".

 

Now we have Daniel Craig and I have to say I'm not that keen on him as Bond. He was great as Mikael Blomkvist in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo but I still don't see him as Bond.

Daniel Craig Source: Wiki Commons

It's not just that his looks differ and I know he's a really good actor. I think it's more that the style of the films has changed significantly over the Daniel Craig Bond films. They've lost some of the humour & become much darker. To be honest they're more like the Bourne series of films which were OK but frankly nothing special & not really my cup of tea.

I think if I had to choose my favourite Bond, it would be Pierce Brosnan!

Another great thing about the Bond films is the music. The first one Dr No introduced us to John Barry's James Bond theme & since then there have been additional themes for each film. Hard to pick my favourite there have been some fabulous songs but I think I'll opt for gorgeous voice of Matt Monro with the John Barry Orchestra & the theme song of From Russia With Love. If you get a message restricting you from watching the video just click on the Watch on YouTube  link.

Now we're just waiting to see how Adele fairs with her rendition of Skyfall from the next Bond Film. I love Adele & this certainly sounds like a Bond theme but I'm not sure it's as strong as her usual songs. We'll see.