My Favourite Houses in Holywood, Plus A Real Life Grey Gardens in Bangor?

I'm starting off with the red herring. It would be an easy guess that this George McDermott designed, positively mansion-esque, flat-roofed home in Cultra would be my favourite house in Holywood. 

Sitting alongside the Culloden Hotel on the main road from Belfast to Bangor, it's as luxurious inside as the size would imply. The interior has been fully modernised, but I would love to see photos of its original 1970s' stylings, especially the pool room, which it's rumoured George Best frequented back in the day. Best loved this place so much that he has his home in Cheshire based on some of the wilder features.

The home went on sale a few years back for £1.2m and includes vast grounds and an outdoor pool. 

While I admire the modernist design, it alone isn't my favourite house in Holywood. There is a cluster of split-level, reverse-rooved wonders just a little further up the road and on the opposite side.

The Marino area on the hill side, not the coast side of the main road, is home to half a dozen parallel streets with these family homes of 1960s & 70s quite innovative designs. 

Because of the hill, split level is used frequently, as well as lovely big windows for the views. 

Here is one of the homes that's been modernised in the last decade, although the others don't look too dated. 

I do wonder if this style of modernisation I've seen on bungalows in Bangor West too, will soon look more dated than the original homes, the way the cladding fad has. 

This one isn't terribly design heavy, but I love it because it is true , right this minute Kitsch. A small family home overdecorated to the point it looks too much. Anything too ornate on something small is kitsch. 

Finally, I'm not sure if this would be of interest to anyone, but there is a real life Grey Gardens really close to my house. Someone really lives in this house, year round. The house is as it was when the street was built. No upgrades or double glazing, in fact the top further window is broken and just has card in place.  

I wonder how much it would cost to repair the place to how it should be? Would it be cheaper to tear down? 

So now I think I've featured all the houses I know of and love, but does anyone know of any others I might like to look at? I've a feeling there's a patch over in Greenisland with similar houses to Marino, I just don't know where to look on Streetview to see them. Let me know! @rudedoodle

Grey Gardens Scrapbook, by Sara & Rebekah Maysles

My Grey Gardens book arrived! This huge tome has been put together by Sara and Rebekah Maysles, daughters of Albert, one of the brothers who filmed the famous documentary in the 70s. It's clearly a labour of love, and a must buy for any serious Grey Gardens fan.

There are pages and pages of conversations with the Edies, a timeline of events in their lives, not to mention the priceless collection of candid photos and behind the scenes information.

I don't want to spoil it too much by showing you too many pages, you really should go buy it if you're a fan because it's worth every penny.  This really is a tiny snapshot of the hundreds of pages of pure Grey Gardens joy.

There is a huge section on the technicalities of putting the film together, plus these photos of the premiere which Little Edie attended in her beloved New York. 

There is also the entire 'script'  of the documentary, should you wish to reenact it!

Included at the back is a 60 minute CD of unreleased recordings with the two Edies. My son is already dreading me playing this in the car!

Lastly, you might not be aware that there is a Grey Gardens sequel of sorts. The Maysles brothers released a new feature length cut of unused, but equally amazing, Big & Little Edie footage in 2006. The documentary is called 'The Beales of Grey Gardens' and you can buy the DVD online.

If you missed it last week I posted a video I made comparing the original footage of Little Edie with Drew Barrymore playing her, and also the Christine Ebersole musical version, and Bill Hader's Little Vivvy.  Drew Barrymore totally nails it!

7 Documentaries About Classic Video Gaming- From Tetris Masters to The Perfect Game of Donkey Kong, Via The Fabled Atari ET Landfill Site

Being born in 1980, I was a kid at the tail end of the golden age of gaming. Santa brought my brother and I a NES console one year, and a Game Boy the next. While I never really spent much time playing games in arcades, I did play console versions of Donkey Kong and indeed Pacman. 

So I indulged in a bout of extreme nostalgia, watching documentaries about classic arcade gaming and the original Mega Games like Tetris.

1. Chasing Ghosts

This tells the tale of Twin Galaxies Arcade, who originated a scoreboard for players to submit their high scores of video games to. We also meet Billy Mitchell, the first person to complete a perfect game of Pacman. Watch it for free here. 

2. The King of Kong

Another documentary starring Billy Mitchell, but this time he has a slightly villainous role. It sees a regular family man try to play a perfect game of Donkey Kong, and beat Billy's record.

Watch it free on YouTube. 

3. Man vs Snake. 

You'll end up really rooting for the guy in this documentary as he tries to reach the high score on an arcade game called Nibbler. Again Twin Galaxies and Billy Mitchell make appearances. 

I saw this a while back on Netflix, but there's a free copy here.  

4. Ecstasy of Order: The Tetris Masters

Arguably the world's most played game, Tetris is the star of this documentary. It explores the highest score, the legendary kill screen of level 30, and gathers the best players for a tournament of kings. 

Watch it free here. 

5. Get Lamp: A Text Adventure Documentary

Now this is really old school. I remember playing text adventure games on the BBC computers in primary school. This documentary explores the history of the games and their creators.  

Catch it here. 

6. Atari: Game Over

There is an urban legend about Atari and the worst game ever made. This documentary tells that story. Atari rushed production of an ET game, to coincide with Christmas. The game was too difficult, boring and absolutely no fun to play. This led to the demise of Atari and the rumour of a huge landfill somewhere in the States where they buried millions of copies of unsold ET games. The film makers try to find the site, while explaining just what went wrong for Atari. 

Watch on Netflix, or for free here. 

7. Nintendo Quest

Ending on a happier note, Nintendo Quest sees two best friends try to buy all 678 NES games within 30 days, with no online purchases. The documentary also delves into the history of Nintendo and is a must watch for nostalgic folks of my generation.

Watch for free on YouTube. 

My Favourite Art Deco House in Bangor Northern Ireland- Plus Tonic Cinema Illustration From Hand Drawn Creative

I shared with you my favourite house in Portstewart last week, so how about my favourite house in Bangor, where I actually live.

Its this pink beauty which resides in the wonderfully named 'Beverley Hills', in the Ballyholme area. Built in the 1930s it nestles amongst a neighbourhood of otherwise regular family homes, and backs onto a golf course.

I know what you're thinking- ​the cladding. I know. Cladding the exterior of a house in fancy stonework was a trend in the 1970s and you would wonder who in their right mind would have altered such an already high concept design building like this, let alone all over cladding, then painting it pink.

The photo below showing the house in its original form is so much better, the corner windows to the left side are totally lost under the heavy brickwork. 

The current owner was not responsible for the cladding, or the pink, ​and they also say the original interiors have been stripped and changed too. So no retro futuristic interiors to observe, sadly.

David Wilson architects did some remodelling work recently extending the kitchen and living area on the ground floor. They appear to have done a good job, in keeping with the traditional design of the building.

Bangor has some beautiful Art Deco public buildings, one of which Neal McCullough from Hand Drawn Creative has featured in a clean crisp illustration, which you can buy on his Etsy Store.

The Bank of Ireland building is another example, right at the midpoint of Main Street. The building to the right which you can't see in the photograph has quite a few modernist qualities. I have an old Ulster Architrcture book somewhere that features it, I must dig it out to share with you on another blog post.

There's another section of Bangor, what I call the new-build sprawl of the East which is like a maze to me, but which has a pocket of home designs I've always loved.

Along the ring road and into never ending suburbia there are a couple of streets of these happy little chalets. They look like designs of the 60s or 70s, family homes with asymmetrical rooves, cute archways and novelty balconies. 

There are several designs dotted along the Pinehill / Silverbirch area.

Incidentally Neal has a print that looks a little bit like these homes- Hand Drawn Creative Hollywood Bungalow A3 for £20. Apart from his Fisher Price retro toy illustrations, I think this is my favourite of Neal's work.

The last home of my favourites in Bangor list, is one I've been telling my parents I wanted to live in since I was a little girl, when we moved to the same road when I was aged two.

"The Sugar Cube", as its lovingly named by the family who live there, is a flat roofed design house on the same road as my parents' home. I always told my parents I would love there so I wasn't too far away from them when I moved out as an adult. Ironically I actually live almost this close now, although it's round the back of the Springhill Road, rather than down and opposite from my parents' house.

So have I got all th unusual homes in Bangor? Or do you know of any that I might like to nosy at too?  Hit me up on Twitter- @rudedoodle

I may feature Holywood next- it would require a lot of time on Google Streeview going up and down the split-level, modernist heaven that is Marino!

One last bonus architectural oddity- the Ballyholme windmill, which peeks out from in between the streets of homes. 

I would LOVE to live somewhere like that. 

More Sausage For Your Sizzle- 3 for £10 BBQ & Grill Delights From M&S

Much as I love a good old fashioned sausage, I'm rather partial to the wealth of fancy BBQ treats Marks & Spencer have on offer each year. King prawn skewers, chilli & halloumi kebabs, smoky ham & cheese warmed on the BBQ grill.... I'll take one of everything please!

Handily, M&S have a number of offers on right now that means you can try more of the products. The BBQ Grill meats are all 3 for £10 mix and match, so for one bundle I got the two different skewers above, plus the Lemon & Herb Salmon Flatties. Then a second £10 selection of 12 Cornish Cove & Bacon Posh Puppies (hot dogs), BBQ Beef Brisket in a chilli glaze, and the Mixed Slider Selection- 4 chorizo pork & 4 Moroccan spiced lamb mini burgers.

Chorizo sliders, Moroccan lamb sliders & Cornish Cove and bacon Posh Dogs on the grill!

M&S also have a range of delicious BBQ Grill sides, which fall under the 2 for £4, or 3 for £6 offers. I picked the Smokey Spiced Potatoes (above) and the Sweet Potato Wedges (below). These can simply be placed in the oven to cook while the meat is BBQed.

Weird Judy, BBQ Defender

Marks & Spencer is the home of exotic salads, and their long running 2 for £4 offer on the mini boxed fresh salads includes the new recipes for Spirit of Summer 2017. The Orzo Pasta below is excellent, it will be a summer-long repurchase for me. 

Hopefully we will have lots of sunny weather for BBQs! 

She Spies Retro Futurism By The Seashore- My Favourite House in Portstewart

Houses like these make my heart soar. Just look at that staircase in the long, completely glazed hall. Look at that totally impractical reverse pitched roof. I always have to slow down to ogle this home when I'm driving past to get to the Portstewart Strand.

I did a little poking about online and found some info on Alan In Belfast's blog. In a post dated 2006, he shares a little history of the building, which he is next door to. The two photos below are his, and show the house in disrepair a decade ago. However the building is listed, and rather than be demolished for apartments, like so many old plots along the coast, today sees it as in the photo above. It's inhabited and all fixed up.

Alan's investigation found that the reason for its listed status was not the architecture alone, but the large outdoor mosaic adorning the front of the building. It's a piece by the Irish artist Colin Middleton, one of the few surrealists of the early part of the last century hailing from our island. He was heavily influenced by Van Gogh, and spent the latter part of his life living in Bangor, where I'm from.

The story of how this particular piece of his came to be is an interesting one. The story goes that Middleton had been staying in a house in Portstewart, but didn't have enough money to pay for his board, so he designed this mosaic to pay his way.

The architect of my dream house, Noel Campbell, also commissioned Middleton to create a mosaic for a home he designed in Ballymena, Scandia, seen below. 

Another of Noel Campbell's houses is just round the corner from Portstewart Strand, Little Rock, on Larkhill Road, below.

But my heart belongs to the Strand Road beauty! 

Family Friendly London #2 The London Transport Museum

Tucked in a corner of the vibrant Covent Garden square, nestles the  London Transport Museum.

I have an Underground crazy nine year old, so on our last trip we made a point to devote a couple of hours to visiting this museum, after visiting the Natural History  & Science ones previously.

The location is very simple to find, and within minutes walking distance from Covent Garden tube station. It's also only a short walk from Leicester Square, so if you are approaching from the tourist hub of the theatre district, it's actually easier to walk above ground than go hop Underground stations from the Square to Covent Garden. 

There are also dozens of mini boutiques and cafes you may want to pop into along the way too. Covent Garden has a concentration of glorious little makeup stores of some of the more independent brands that don't show up in Department Stores. There's even a shop dedicated completely to The Moomins.

The Transport Museum has a small, modern, glass entrance pavilion, with a free to browse merchandice store and upstairs Cafe. You can then purchase tickets for the Museum on the day, or collect your prepaid online ones. 

Kids go absolutely free at this museum, adult London Transport Museum tickets are £17.50, but there are group discounts, concessions etc so click through to the website to see if you can take advantage of any of their offers. 

The museum is on several levels, all accessible by lift, and they layout is very easy to follow around. The displays are engaging and informative, with interactive portions so kids won't even notice they are being educated on the sly.  

Dotted throughout the whole museum are these card stampers. Each child will have their own card with numbers on it, to find and stamp as they pass through the exhibitions. The stamp cutter then chops their card into various different shapes, the same way a train or bus conductor would mark a ticket back in the day. 

Smix really enjoyed this game and it makes for a cute souvenir for the scrapbook back home. 

You'll learn the history of public and private transport in London from the early beginnings of the settlement, right through to the present day. 

The history of steam trains, with life size vintage carriages and even engines you can pop inside and pose for pictures in.

There are old London buses, with the history of the service within the city, as well as horse drawn carriages that used to be seen on the streets of 19th Century capital. 

Smix was most interested in the history of The London Underground, which the museum features heavily, so he was delighted.

The history of the various lines, how the tunnels were made,  the specs of the trains used, there was even a section on driver uniform and the different seat fabrics used for each train line's carriage (shown right). That was my favourite part- a capsule exhibition about the retro advertising campaigns was also a winner for me.

If you have young kids with you, even up to Smix's age, will enjoy the special play area on the main exhibition hall floor (see below).

They can drive a bus, ferry, train, or even work as the lost property in a mock up Underground Station. 

The interactive fun area gives Mums & Dads time to have a sit down & a coffee and snack, if you wish to. We were there mid-week, mid-summer & it was busy but by no means chaotic. Lots of tables & room to play. 

Smix stood for ages just watching this HUGE live map of locations of buses & tube trains over the city, very cool.

All in all, over the entire museum's exhibits we must have spent a good two hours there, but if you took time to read more of the displays and all the history you could easily spend twice that time. 

I would say with the kid entrance being free, if you are just paying for one adult then it's a fair price for a few hours of fun and entertainment in the centre of the city. 

Even the seating section outside the bathrooms (below) looks super cool, and we could have spent a fortune on Underground merch in the store. 

So a big thumbs up from us for the London Transport Museum. If your kids love trains, buses or The Underground it's a must-visit on your next day in the city.

Check out our review of the London Duck Tours for a family friendly London trip too! 

The Best Little Edie For The Day-Compare Drew Barrymore, Christine Ebersole & Bill Hader's Versions Of The Famous Grey Gardens Costume Speech

I'm totally obsessed with Grey Gardens right now, and was searching for a video that showed just how close Drew Barrymore got to actually being Little Edie Beale in the HBO drama version about the ladies' lives. Drew won a Golden Globe for her amazing performance, but sadly YouTube didn't have any videos with her renditions of any of the famous sections of dialogue right beside the original clips from the documentary.  So I had to make one!

I decided to compare some other classic Little Edie performances, first with Christine Ebersole's Tony Award winning version in the Grey Gardens Broadway musical. Christine plays a younger Big Edie in the first act of the show, set when Grey Gardens was at its peak and Little Edie was a young girl. Then in the second act, set around the time the Maysles made their infamous documentary, Ebersole takes on the role of Little Edie. The Costume For The Day speech is set to musical accompaniment, and the whole second act quotes much of the documentary, which die hard fans adore.

Lastly, I just had to tag in Bill Hader's 'Little Vivvy' from the half hour spoof 'Sandy Passage', part of the Documentary Now! series which parodied a whole collection of classic documentaries including The War Room & Stop Making Sense.

Who do you think does the best Little Edie? I didn't include RuPaul's Drag Race winner Jinkx Monsoon's version as she doesn't do this speech on the episode, but I may go back later & see if I can find her quoting it in the Return to Grey Gardens stage show she has performed.