Where can I find a picture of The Cedars

I have been looking for a picture of The Cedars, the home of the Blackwell family, of Crosse and Blackwell pickles. I have looked under the name of the owner, Thomas Blackwell. A search under The Cedars has now revealed the name of the architect of the building, Robert Lewis Roumieu, who created a distinctive building in the centre of London, and many others. So I'm sure The Cedars was a great house.

Mr Crosse and Mr Blackwell were employees of a pickle producing company. They bought it and developed it, buying chef's recipes, and acquired the royal warrant.

I am really sorry that the house was destroyed. It's a struggle to find even a photo of the house or the two men, whose names are so well known. Several streets and buildings in Harrow or Harrow Weald are named after Blackwell.

Another interesting fact is that one of them, William Blackwell I think, married into the heiress of the local family who produced bricks, so prevalent in London. In England the term redbrick applied to provincial universities, as opposed to the older and more prestigious Oxford and Cambridge with their grey stones. London soil is red clay, hence the red bricks.

Local newspapers and websites report on The Cedars, the park which is open to the public, with just the grand gates, which I photographed and showed in my previous post.

William Blackwell was buried in All Saints church near Crosse. I went to All Saints Church when Harrow Writers Circle performed an evening of poetry and readings in the church for their festival arts week. As I walked around the grounds my eye was immediately drawn to the two grand mausoleums, one of which is seven foot high.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Lewis_Roumieu

I just did a search for Crosse and Blackwell and found my previous article on them and a picture of St Anselm's church and a pickle label.

I found the Crosse and Blackwell website. I typed this message:
I would like photos of Mr Blackwell and Mr Crosse and a picture of the now demolished house where Blackwell lived. Thank you very much. If you can send me the pictures or references to where they may be found I would be most grateful. Wikipedia has articles on them and I have photographed the park, the gates of the house, and the graves of the two men at All Saints Church in Harrow Weald. I would like to see statues of them in the centre of Harrow, or, failing that, in Hatch End where Blackwell gave land for St Anselm's Church.

Up pops the reply that they are sorry my message was not uploaded so please give them a quick call. But they don't have the phone number.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Gilbert's at Grimsdyke Hotel

The public car park overlooking a vista of London is opposite the grand entrance to Grimsdyke hotel, one of my favourite restaurants in the area and the one with the best historic associations. The former home of Gilbert of Gilbert and Sullivan fame offers lunches at a modest price. Unfortunately they seem to have discontinued the loyalty card scheme before I had reached enough stamps on my cards to earn a free meal. Never mind. It's still great value, under £50 for two for lunch in a grand building. I chose to sit by the grand fireplace adorned with funny figures of impish monkeys - maybe. I did not look too closely. For some reason, like a homing pigeon, I veered towards a particular table, probably because that's where I sat last time, tucked in a cosy corner, allowing my companion to sit in the room with a wider view out through the windows to the trees beyond.

My companion was driving and frugally declined drinking alcohol throughout January, recovering from Xmas excess on the five days eating what you like, two days dieting regime. Men have 600 calories on the diet days, women 500, he told me. But he postponed his food diet. 

I indulged in a glass of prosecco at about £6 for 125 ml, quite enough, rather than a larger glass of Champagne or Pino Grigio or rosada. The wine waiter asked if we wanted a bottle of wine. My host declined. The wine waiter whisked away our glasses,  but our waiter kindly said, 'to stop you being bothered later by anybody asking if you want wine'. How tactful, making it sound as he was doing us a favour. 

White rolls and brown arrived in a basket. I chose the brown roll with walnuts and raisins. The rolls were hot, and the butter was salty and tasty.

A jug of water was brought without us needed to ask.

As a starter we both chose the chicken and lentils. Elegantly presented on an oblong plate. The lentils were lightly spiced, very flavourful.

The main course could have been chicken but we'd just had chicken so I opted for duck. It was prettily fanned on the plate. The potato daughinoise was a block like a small brick. Spinach, dark green, and carrots a colourful orange were a pleasing contrast.

My companion's 'sustainable fish' was sea bream. We amused ourselves joking about how long the fish was sustained before reaching our plate. His potatoes were new, which sounded healthy, but turned out to be less healthy looking but more attractive with a sauté or grilled outside.

I especially liked the look of my companion's vegetables,  green beans threaded through a hole in what could have been a short tube of  cucumber or aubergine. I could copy that idea at home for a special occasion, and it would remind me of lunching at Gilbert's restaurant.

I had my leftovers from the main course wrapped up to take away, as we say in England. (If Americans are reading this, you would say wrapped up to go.) My leftovers came back wrapped in tin foil.  I was saving room for dessert.

Desserts were not quite as pretty at the previous courses. An unremarkable rice pudding, and a pleasant creamy lemon syllabub. They could have been improved by a contrasting garnish.

The only improvement I would like to see is the appearance of the staff areas behind the doors off the dining room. Peeling paint on a wall near a staircase alongside the cashier's area by the restaurant's main door did not impress. They must have staff who could fix that at minimal cost.

However, as Shakespeare said, all's well that ends well. My double espresso coffee came in Steelite crockery with a jug of milk and the brown sugar was cubed - so smart. Best of all a good truffle encased in dark chocolate.