Astoria

 

We left our moorings at Hampton Court Palace at 08.10 and were soon up the first lock of the day which was on self service. Luckily Carolyn and Sharon soon worked how to operate the controls. We then came upon the boat above and liked the name. It looked like it was made of Tin ,but was probably Aluminium.

We then passed this houseboat with a very good name….

Then we came across this boat called Astoria ,it is a grand houseboat, built in 1911 for impresario Fred Karno, and adapted as a recording studio in the 1980s by its new owner, Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour. It is moored on the River Thames at Hampton, Greater London. Gilmour purchased the boat in 1986, because he "spent half of his life in recording studios with no windows, no light, but on the boat there are many windows, with beautiful scenery on the outside". The boat was built in 1911 for impresario Fred Karno who wanted to have the best houseboat on the river to become permanently moored alongside his hotel the Karsino at Tagg's Island. He designed it so that there could be an entire 90-piece orchestra playing on deck.The boat is framed in mahogany and has mainly Crittall windows with taller, wider windows towards one end. It is topped by very ornate metalwork canopies and balustrades

Oops another one down !

Above Shepperton lock they are building this huf-haus . We have seen many on TV and always admired them . I was a bit shocked when I looked at Carol’s blog Still Rockin to see the house that was there before. It looked a far better house than what Mr huf was building.

After a good 3 hour cruise we picked up this lovely mooring and  it was soon out with the chairs,wine and instruments  . Richard is rather good on the Guitar ,but couldn’t resist a blow on Carolyn’s Sax .The rest of our time was spent chilling and enjoying a brilliant Summer’s day…

                                                                                                    Happy Days