Anke: Royal Tunbridge Wells

You may have noticed things have been a tad slack around here lately, well here's the reason.

David and I are very excited to finally announce our brand new Tunbridge Wells Project website. It's been a very busy few months of transferring over 10,000 images across from the previous platform, as well as having to create shiny new galleries and pages.

We would like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to Jez Timms who built the original website for us, it got the project on its feet and has stood the past three years very well. However, technology moves fast and it is time to meet the needs of today's browsing trends. Our new site is ‘responsive’ which means that it will automatically optimise itself for viewing across various platforms.

We are also using the new template for our exciting new Das Wiesbaden Projekt. This is a joint venture between us and two photographers in Wiesbaden who will be heading up the sister website. More information will be coming soon after we pay another visit to our twin town to help shoot their first Projekt gallery.

In the meantime, go and have a look at out Project website as we have added 25 new galleries within the Salomons album and have several planned shoots in various buildings within the next few weeks for you to look forward to. We have also now added a blog to the website so you can keep up to speed with what's going on more easily with the Project.

What are you waiting for? Go have a look and let us know what you think.

To put a final cherry on the top of the Kent & Sussex Hospital tiles adventure, Cheryl Baker today unveiled the superbly restored Noah's Ark tile in its new home at the Tunbridge Wells Hospital in Pembury.

In wonderfully expert fashion, as only the skirt-ripping legend could, Cheryl tore down the paper cover to reveal the tiles once more to the daylight. It looked fantastic, and now in its new home in a busy corridor will be enjoyed by thousands of people every year. I wonder how many people will see it and recognise it from the old Children's Ward of the Kent & Sussex Hospital?

A huge thank you to the Comms Team at the NHS Trust for inviting David and I down to see the unveiling. It gave us a nice warm feeling inside.

Click to see more photographs from the event.

We can now finally bring you an exclusive look inside the new Tunbridge Wells Hotel on The Pantiles, and it looks fantastic.

Panorama of the Bridal Honeymoon Suite of the hotel.

It was my wedding anniversary and we got the call to go spend the morning in the bridal honeymoon suite at the new hotel. When I say we I mean David and I, not the wife, she was left at home whilst we documented this brand new refurbishment for our Tunbridge Wells Project. I was popular that day I can tell you.

We've just started to add the images online to the Project so keep checking back soon and I'll update this post when more photos get posted.

Click to see more photographs of the new hotel.

Nothing gets my hat and coat on quicker than somebody mentioning the "t" word. Tunnels. David and I received a call from a reader who noticed that workers were inside 58 Mount Ephraim, which you may know as the old Unwins Wine Vaults. Within five minutes I was knocking on the door.

The tunnels of the wine vaults.

Now, everyone in Tunbridge Wells loves a tunnel story, and surely one of the most talked about of these is the wine vaults. But are there tunnels here and how far do they go?

Back when this building was an off-licence the vaults extended about 10 yards before ending but as we walked into this new space it had been opened up and the room was about 25 yards long, with a very tempting door at the end. Beeline towards the door then!

The new shop floor of Adena Stoves. Notice the door at the end made to look like a wood pile.

People who walk past these vaults little realise that they have stood here since around 1700 (if you look at the photo at the bottom of this post you can see what they originally looked like). It has always been speculated that they served as a hiding place for smugglers on their way from Rye to London. Let's explore!

The first tunnel descending to another level below.

We pushed open the door and it made a satisfying creak. There before us was a narrow passageway dropping down into the earth. Cue excited giggles. We proceeded to walk down towards the end and into the main vault. A photograph can't get across the feeling of this place. It was very large (the whole building being about 75 yards total) and quite cold, perfect for storing wine, and smuggled booty.

Inside the main vault.

You may notice that the stone in the back wall has a bit of a change in the colouration, that is because some of that wall is modern brick, the tunnel continues. So, with a little help from Mr Sledge and Mr Hammer we will be going through that back wall in early 2013 to see just how far it really goes. In the meantime I have a terrific quotation here from the Sussex Daily News of 1938 which gives us a tantalising glimpse of what may be behind it:

Evidence has been found from time to time of underground passages below Mount Ephraim and these would have served as an admirable hiding place. When the foundations of the new Kent and Sussex Hospital were being dug several years ago boys who were playing over the waste ground discovered some caves and it is believed that these at one time linked up with the wine vaults on Mount Ephraim. Just after the war Corporation workmen in the sewers in London-road discovered another subterranean passage. and this also appeared as though it led to the wine vaults. The wine vaults themselves are in the form of a narrow underground passage extending for 75 yards. The walls and ceiling, made of brick, are in an excellent state of preservation and the temperature of the vaults varies little either in mid-winter or summer. At the end of the passage is a small well and although to-day there is only about two feet of water in it one interested speculator offered Mr. Williams £50 to be allowed to dig down and keep the contents. The offer was not taken, and to-day the well is covered over because the dustman fell down it the other day!

An old drawing of what the Wine Vaults used to look like. Notice the lack of floors above.

It is entirely plausible that smugglers fled to Tunbridge Wells and hid themselves in these vaults, and therefore that old well might be able to reveal some of their secrets. Rest assured we shall be going fishing in 2013 too.

Stop by our Tunbridge Wells Project to see more photos from the vaults and as a special treat here is a video walkthrough too.

Video walkthough of the wine vaults. To see in glorious HD click here.

A huge thank you to Michael who was so helpful in allowing us in to document his building which is being converted into a rather splendid stove shop called Adena.

What an amazing weekend. 1,256 miles and 20 hours of driving with a visit to our twin town of Wiesbaden in the middle of it. But why did we go?

The RTW delegation at Wiesbaden's twin town sign, can you see Tunbridge Wells?

We visited Wiesbaden, firstly because we were itching to visit the town with the name that graces our town's welcome signs, and secondly we were invited to bring our Tunbridge Wells Project over there. Intriguing eh? Read on.

Our day started very early with breakfast together, as well as the core Project team we were joined by our wonderful translator, Christine, who had flown out to meet us, and Christiane who is the Secretary of the Wiesbaden Twinning Association, and also Catherine, a Tunbridge Wells Tourist Guide.

Inside the Wiesbaden Stadtarchiv. With, Left to Right, Christiane, Dr. Brigitte Streich, Christine, Bettina, Catherine, Sarah and Christoph.

First stop was the Stadtarchiv, the town's archive. We were here to meet Dr. Brigitte Streich, from the Cultural Office, who is in charge of this facility. She gave us a personal tour of the building, which any member of the public can visit, and showed us just a sample of the millions of documents from hundreds of years of Wiesbaden history. We were here because a few students (more on them later) had contacted them many times requesting information about abandoned buildings and buildings at risk of demolition. This sudden influx of requests got the Stadtarchiv into investigating our Project which then led to them to think about beginning of one of their own.

We are shown some of the Stadtarchiv's photography.

The Stadtarchiv realised how good an idea our Project was and how valuable it could prove in the future so began to commission photographers to document some of the at-risk buildings around them. It has already resulted in some valuable architectural artifacts being saved from destruction. We left agreeing that we would help collaborate with them on getting their own Project off the ground. Off to meeting number two.

Wiesbaden Council Offices.

A flying taxi ride across town to the Wiesbaden Council offices. We were here to meet the Director of the Wiesbaden Education and Cultural Affairs Department, Frau Rose-Lore Scholz. We were warned she had very little time and was a very busy lady and we had to pitch our Project's plans to her as quickly as possible. We needn't have worried, she was so lovely and gave us more than enough time to sit together and chat.

This is where we get to the nub of why we travelled to Wiesbaden. We explained to Frau Scholz that we wanted to help get the Wiesbaden Project off the ground by showing an exhibition of our Tunbridge Wells Project photographs in the city and to also organise a photoshoot with some local photographers, all of which would need a lot of help from the Wiesbaden Council and many other people besides. She was more than impressed and being someone who loves England, especially Prince Charles, she was more than happy to support us as much as possible. Brilliant! We left this meeting very pleased indeed, it was a major hurdle overcome to seeing the Project visit Wiesbaden in 2013.

Meeting with the Education and Culural Affairs Minister, Frau Rose-Lore Scholz.

Into another taxi and back into the centre of the city, to the town hall. But we weren't here for another meeting. Below the Wiesbaden Town Hall is a huge cellar in which is a rather fabulous restaurant and bar called the Ratskeller. How about that for an idea for our town hall, TWBC? We were treated to a slap-up traditional German meal courtesy of the Cultural Department and never before had we eaten so much meat in one delicious sitting, the beer flowed rather rapidly too. Delicious.

A very liquid lunch.

A taxi was waiting for us outside to take us to our next meeting. We slowly made our way out into the Wiesbaden suburbs in the very heavy snow to the home of Frank Deubel to meet with him and another photographer called Professor Dr. Axel Sawert.

Frank is the organiser of the Wiesbaden photography festival, Fototage, and Axel is a published photographer who loves architecture, and both really love Wiesbaden. They were intrigued by our Project and wanted to get involved in the creation of the Wiesbaden version. Our hosts were most welcoming with tea and stollen as we talked photography and the buildings they thought needed to be documented. Apparently some of their hot springs are at risk and they want to create a Project for these too. After explaining about our exhibition they thought it would make a great addition to the Fototage Festival. We are looking forward to visiting these two lovely gentlemen again in 2013.

Professor Dr. Axel Sawert and Frank Deubel with us in Frank's home.

The doorbell rang, our brief but informative meeting was over and it was time to leave to our final destination for the day, the Wiesbaden University.

A room of about 20 photography students awaited us. Our Project had grabbed the attention of their professor, Jörg Waldschütz, earlier in the year and he had shared it with his students. Amazingly they were so taken with it that they all wanted to produce Projects of their own and we were here as special guests to listen to presentations of their initial ideas. I cannot tell you how proud David and I felt sitting there listening to all these students excited by what we had done. We couldn't have imagined three years ago when the Project was born that it would prove such an inspiration to young people in another country. Truly amazing. I'll write another post soon about the student's ideas.

Some of the students presenting their own ideas for Projects.

And with that the mind-blowing day was over, it had gone by in a flash. It was a very long day, a very proud day, a very overwhelming day. We ended it stunned at how generous, polite, and kind the people of Wiesbaden are. Truly wonderful people in a wonderful city.

As well as the lovely people we met we would like to personally thank Professor Michael Holman from the Tunbridge Wells Twinning & Friendship Association, Christoph Nielbock, Christiane Laubach, and Christine Phillips. Thank you.

More soon but please get in touch if you would like to help get our exhibition to Wiesbaden in 2013.