Southsea Canoe Lake

This is Southsea Canoe Lake, as I mentioned in the previous post. Plenty of events happen around and on the lake during the summer; you can hire a giant swan to float around (!), the Portsmouth Model Boat Display Team are frequently down there late in the summer afternoons.

Located at the Eastern end of the seafront, the lake isn't really that big but its location is quite nice - trees down one site and a well kept park with flowers throughout the summer. There are seats there on which to relax and enjoy the spectacle of model boats flying up and down the lake as well as a childrens play area just far enough away to not be disturbed by the noise.

The lake has been a popular part of the seafront for many years.

View a Satellite image of Southsea Canoe Lake @ Google maps.

You can clearly see the flower beds and the 'giant swans' on the lake.

Portsmouth Butterfly House

A colorful butterfly, one you can find at the Portsmouth Butterfly House which is part of the Natural History Museum. Portsmouth doesn't have too many museums, and the ones it does have tend to be more targetted at the younger generation but the Butterfly House is a refreshing addition. You can visit the museums site here

As the info text says, its pretty hot in the Butterfly House, probably around a constant +28 or so. Its nice to be able to walk along with the butterflies flying around you, however its not the easiest thing to get a decent picture of them!

Located at the Eastern End of Southsea, its right next to Southsea Canoe lake which I will be featuring next.

View Satellite image of the Portsmouth Natural History Museum and Butterfly House.

The Garrison Church at night

The Garrison Church can be found in Old Portsmouth, the oldest and most historical area of Portsmouth. The oldest part (similar to many old churches, the sections were built at different times) dates back to around the year 1212 (according to this site) . Since then its survived through the reign of Henry VIII, the First and Second World wars and now its the home of memorials to those fallen during those wars.

I decided to shoot the church at night, using the stars to good effect. Its a fairly tranquil area, with the sea just to the right over the grass hill and a field (still belonging to the Ministry of Defence apparently) behind it. Its a nice place to visit at night, as long as you can live with the harsh flourescent lights that surround the car park opposite.

View Satellite image of the Garrison Church @ Google maps

In the image it shows the church with the old moat to the south east. Try to ignore the bad join, this is one place that Google messed up!

A taste of France

There are some wonderous sights here in Portsmouth. Wandering down the many small roads you might be forgiven for thinking that all you see are row upon row of terraced houses but there are a few gems out there. Like this small line of houses in Campbell Road. A sleeping road between roads, tucked away from the main hustle of Portsmouth city.

Very French in style, I would assume they were built in the late 40's after World War 2, as Portsmouth was bombed heavily leaving very few buildings in place (though I may be wrong).

Pastel colours enhance the display and give more of a continental feel and the extremely well presented gardens are simply beautiful to look at. Definately a place to visit if you feel the need to escape the usual red brick former ship workers homes.

View Satellite image of Campbell Road @ Google maps

A fine example of a city street

The first post is an example of how cramped Portsmouth, or Portsea island is, for space. Just imagine how nice this road would be without all the cars??

For those football fans out there, within the space of 500m is the home of Portsmouth football club, you can imagine these streets packed with fans whenever there is a game on.

By the way, not many streets in Portsmouth are tree lined like this - this is a rarity. The street planners in this area obviously dont class trees too highly, but if you check the map below it seems theres plenty in the gardens!

View Satellite image of this road @ Google maps