Swindon
What to see
You’ll find accounts of Swindon’s tourist attractions in Towns of Two Halves (and of 91 other places: order the book now for £8 from info@townsof2halves.co.uk). For additional information plus shopping, eating out etc there’s Visit Swindon or Swindon Event.
Links to Swindon attractions include:
● Coate Water Country Park
● Lydiard Park
● Museum of Computing
● Richard Jefferies Museum
● Steam: Museum of the Great Western Railway
● Swindon Museum & Art Gallery
Towns of Two Halves extracts:
● “As for the stadium itself, it claims to have been the first football ground in the country to be equipped with floodlights (in 1951). They were not necessary for the tedious 0-0 draw we sat through – or, at least, most of it. We left early.”
● “At the museum reception I said to the young woman: ‘We’re first-time and possibly only-time visitors: what should we not miss?’ The collection of modern British art, she said, without having to stop and think, adding cryptically ‘and the crocodile.'”
● “Whether a sculpture or an example of the taxidermist’s art, or indeed whether it is a crocodile at all are questions that it would take another visit and forensic examination to resolve. The crocodile is a family attraction and we felt self-consciously male and elderly in their company. A glance, then, and we left. Its long, thin snout suggests an animal called a gharial.”
These are taken from the Swindon chapter of Towns of Two Halves, published in 2018. To order a copy, email info@townsof2halves.co.uk.