London, England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales
Beatles Abbey Road
(Pen 737, Drawer 18)
Westminster Abbey
(Pen 735, Drawer 19)
Houses of Parliament, Glorious Britain
(Pen 748, Drawer 19)
Tower Bridge, New
(Pen 756, Drawer 19)
Piccadilly Circus
(Pen 1412, Drawer 19) This version shows a bus, advertising Normeat, and there is a neon sign for Bovril in the background
The Queen’s Silver Jubilee 1977
(Pen 1622, Drawer 19) It has suffered a bit over the years, but a charming pen nevertheless. A great find by Katy at an ephemera fair
Thames Barrier
(Pen 2027, Drawer 19) If you ever happen to be visiting London, this is a spectacular sight, and a lovely adjoining park – we would definitely recomend it for a couple of hours away from the hubub of the city.
London Airport
(Pen 1714, Drawer 20) The lovely people at Oxfam in Hessle contacted me about this pen and matching box. London Airport was renamed Heathrow in 1966, so that helps to date the pen. The box is amazing!
Nessie Scotland
(Pen 894, Drawer 36)
Wales
(Pen 957, Drawer 127)
Post Office Tower
(Pen 2399, Drawer 20) An historic pen of the Post Office Tower, London, before it became the Telecom Tower, before it became the BT Tower. And it comes in an amazing presentation box, just like pen 1714 – Katy, you are amazing!
Edinburgh
(Pen 963, Drawer 36)
Blackpool
(Pen 970, Drawer 40) The famous Blackpool tram floats along the Golden Mile.
Blackpool at night
(Pen 971, Drawer 40) The gorgeous Blackpool Illuminations are shown in this pen. It’s very dark, but catch the light and it’s a real treat!
Blackpool at night – old
(Pen 972, Drawer 40) A much older version of the one above. Amazing retro font and colouring on the reverse.
Liverpool
(Pen 978, Drawer 40)
Freud Museum
(Pen 736, Drawer 69)
British Museum – Gladiators
(Pen 1099, Drawer 69)
The Sherlock Holmes Museum
(Pen 1382, Drawer 69) 221b Baker Street, London
Souvenir from the Isle of Wight (map in background)
(Pen 1384, Drawer 99)
Cornwall
(Pen 983, Drawer 128)
Stonehenge
(Pen 992, Drawer 117)
Plymouth England
(Pen 1659, Drawer 99)
Cambridge
(Pen 999, Drawer 117) A simple, but genuine floater. A punt floats past Kings College.
The British Museum (egyptian with bird)
(Pen 1436, Drawer 69)
Hamleys
(Pen 733, Drawer 18) The world’s largest toyshop – their teddy bears wear top hats, while a double decker bus floats across London.
Hamleys – blooper
(Pen 734, Drawer 18) As pen 733 except the white has accidently been missed from the floater making the bus appear transparent.
London
(Pen 739, Drawer 18) A parade of guards is moving in a typical London fashion between a bus and a telephone box.
Sherlock Holmes
(Pen 740, Drawer 18)
Abbey Road, NW8
(Pen 742, Drawer 18)
London – 3 Bobbys
(Pen 743, Drawer 18)
Firepower
(Pen 747, Drawer 18)
London ‘heart’ England
(Pen 759, Drawer 18)
London, UK
(Pen 1066, Drawer 18)
London red bus
(Pen 1119, Drawer 18)
Making London simple
(Pen 1305, Drawer 18) “The simplest way is…by bus” – it’s an 0171 number so that dates it fairly specifically
Feemason’s Hall, London
(Pen 1346, Drawer 18)
Feemason’s Hall, London (blue apron)
(Pen 1347, Drawer 18)
St Paul’s Cathederal
(Pen 1354, Drawer 18) Some very hip tourists are dancing in the streets of London
London, Martini Auctions
(Pen 1369, Drawer 18)
London, Paddington station
(Pen 1370, Drawer 18) Not a sign of the Bear!
Madame Tussauds, Baker Street London
(Pen 2321, Drawer 69)
Buckingham Palace
(Pen 738, Drawer 19) Don’t worry, not all guards are taller than the trees in the UK!
Houses of Parliament. New
(Pen 749, Drawer 19) The beautiful Houses of Parliament being passed by a modern passenger boat.
Houses of Parliament. Old
(Pen 750, Drawer 19) An older barge sails by, probably having dredged the odd car or dead body from the river bed.
Piccadilly Circus, New
(Pen 752, Drawer 19) The red bus floats past a black cab and a red telephone box. A McDonalds and Coke sign can be seen in the background.
Piccadilly Circus, Old
(Pen 753, Drawer 19) More foreground, less background. Sadly, discontinued.
Tower Bridge, Glorious Britain
(Pen 755, Drawer 19) A boat floats from the Tower of London on the left, past Tower Bridge, and into another vessel on the right. A spectacular interpretation of perspective!
Tower Bridge, Old
(Pen 757, Drawer 19) Even more peculiar perspective! Sadly discontinued.
Westminster Abbey (at night)
(Pen 758, Drawer 19)
Houses of Parliament – newer
(Pen 1065, Drawer 19)
Tower of London
(Pen 1136, Drawer 19) (with annoying orientation of the back panel for OCD sufferers like me!)
Buckingham Palace, Old
(Pen 1191, Drawer 19)
Tower of London (Red and White)
(Pen 1344, Drawer 19)
Piccadilly Circus (newer without phone box)
(Pen 1460, Drawer 19) Very poor quality, but seems to be genuine
Tower Bridge (newer without birds)
(Pen 1461, Drawer 19) …and the bridge is down, unlike our other Tower Bridge pens
Chelsea Football Club
(Pen 744, Drawer 20) The Pensioners!
Piccadilly Circus (V old)
(Pen 760, Drawer 20) It hasn’t changed a bit.
Highclare Castle
(Pen 2617, Drawer 117) The real “Downton Abbey”
Souvenir of London Airport
(Pen 2632, Drawer 20)
Is it Trew? (Scotland)
(Pen 895, Drawer 36)
Loch Ness Scotland
(Pen 896, Drawer 36)
Scotland (pipers)
(Pen 897, Drawer 36)
Scottish Piper
(Pen 898, Drawer 36)
Scottish Seabird Centre
(Pen 1101, Drawer 36)
The Real Mary King’s Close
(Pen 1524, Drawer 36)
Chatsworth
(Pen 958, Drawer 40)
Life, Newcastle
(Pen 960, Drawer 40) A nice brightly coloured pen from a horrible brightly coloured exhibition in Newcastle. It features a chromosome floating in front of various scenes celebrating life.
Roman Chester
(Pen 962, Drawer 40)
Gullivers
(Pen 966, Drawer 40)
Beamish
(Pen 969, Drawer 40)
Blackpool Tower
(Pen 973, Drawer 40) A vertical image of the lift floating up and down Blackpool Tower. The four Blackpool pens above were a gift from our dear friends Dulcie and Drew Harbottle. You are great scouts!
Alvechurch Waterways Hols
(Pen 976, Drawer 40)
City of Nottingham
(Pen 996, Drawer 40)
The Lake District
(Pen 1046, Drawer 40)
St. Mary’s Lighthouse – Whitley Bay
(Pen 1343, Drawer 40) …On the beautiful North East Coast
Souvenir of Norfolk Broads
(Pen 1373, Drawer 40) One day we will go sailing on the Norfolk Broads – until then, we can enjoy the pen.
Chester
(Pen 1527, Drawer 40)
Graveyard Scene (from Broadstairs)
(Pen 989, Drawer 56) We can’t really see the connection between Broadstairs and a spooky graveyard – but we did buy it in a souvenir shop in the centre of the town. The tourists were all quite elderly, but not as elderly as the skeleton crawling along the pen!
London Aquarium – shells
(Pen 730, Drawer 69)
London Aquarium
(Pen 731, Drawer 69) Katy, our number one floaty scout, bought us this. The big blue shark and the little yellow fish happily swim side by side. It’s like having our own mini aquarium, except we don’t need to feed these fish, and the water does not get smelly!
British Museum – hippo
(Pen 732, Drawer 69)
The London Dungeon
(Pen 741, Drawer 69)
British Museum – mummy
(Pen 745, Drawer 69)
Planetarium London
(Pen 746, Drawer 69)
Museum of London
(Pen 751, Drawer 69)
RAF Museum, Hendon
(Pen 754, Drawer 69)
London Aquarium, shark
(Pen 1064, Drawer 69)
The British Museum (snakes)
(Pen 1449, Drawer 69) “Hiiiiiiiiiiiisssssssss”
The Shuttleworth Collection
(Pen 1000, Drawer 82) Our first true ‘drive-by.’ Russell lets me out at the entrance, I blag my way into the museum shop without paying an entrance fee, purchase the pen and come out, all within the time it takes Russell to turn the car around, and we’re off. Sorry I can’t tell you anything about this museum – we weren’t there long enough!
Royal Airforce Museum
(Pen 1105, Drawer 82)
The Beatles Story
(Pen 965, Drawer 86)
Nido Student Living
(Pen 1351, Drawer 87) Come and study in London, our buses are red!
Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway
(Pen 967, Drawer 98)
National Railway Museum
(Pen 977, Drawer 98)
West Somerset Railway
(Pen 997, Drawer 98)
Railway, Bognor Regis
(Pen 1003, Drawer 98) This has everything we ever look for in a floaty pen – obscure tourist attraction, pretty scene, good floaty action, bright colours. Thanks Jo – this is a very special pen!
South Devon Railway
(Pen 1007, Drawer 98)
Bluebell Railway
(Pen 1048, Drawer 98)
Brecon Mountain Railway
(Pen 1095, Drawer 98)
Isle of Wight Steam Railway
(Pen 1315, Drawer 98) Chuffing pen!
Seaton Tramway
(Pen 1362, Drawer 98)
North Yorkshire Moors Railway
(Pen 1526, Drawer 98)
Sea Life Centre
(Pen 979, Drawer 99) Features three seahorses floating in front of a lovely marine type scene. It was bought in Brighton, although is available at Sea Life centres throughout the country.
Vistorama, Bournemouth
(Pen 985, Drawer 99) Our second ever floater. A vertical picture of the tethered balloon ride. We went up at night and the views were amazing.
Kents Cavern
(Pen 991, Drawer 99) Very scary! Kent floats into his cave. Ooooh!
Brighton
(Pen 998, Drawer 99) A vintage car floats by the wonderful Brighton Pavilion.
Weymouth & Portland
(Pen 1002, Drawer 99)
Weymouth
(Pen 1004, Drawer 99) An extra big thank you to Jo and Lee. This is almost exactly the same train as in the floaty pen Jo bought me from Bognor Regis. It is very rare to find the same floater in two pens – how did you find them Jo?
Isles of Scilly
(Pen 1005, Drawer 99)
D Day Museum Portsmouth
(Pen 1009, Drawer 99)
Souvenir from Folkstone
(Pen 1306, Drawer 99)
Souvenir from the Isle of Wight
(Pen 1318, Drawer 99) Beautiful 1950’s car on a summer’s day
Weston-Super-Mare
(Pen 1339, Drawer 99) Donkey rides on the sands!
Quince Honey Farm
(Pen 1746, Drawer 99) This place looks buzzing! Thanks Tulay – you’re as sweet as honey!
Leeds Castle (Cartoon knight)
(Pen 1998, Drawer 99) Ian, you are a great floaty pen scout – thank you once again for your astounding efforts
http://www.ukboathire.com
(Pen 2028, Drawer 99) Thanks Greg – we can really recommend a narrow boat holiday. This website can make it happen.
Mersey ferries
(Pen 975, Drawer 101)
Mersey ferries (Red back)
(Pen 1184, Drawer 101)
London Lite
(Pen 1597, Drawer 106) Westminster City Council estimated that free newspapers made up a quarter of all rubbish in the West End – I still miss it being around to turn my nose up at!
Ted Baker, Ted Baker London
(Pen 1999, Drawer 112) A nice bit of pen topiary and a black London cab
Alice’s Shop, Oxford
(Pen 959, Drawer 117)
Oxford
(Pen 974, Drawer 117) Katy, Mark and Zoom bought us this one on a day trip to Oxford. It features a student, in a long gown, floating on a bicycle. Luckily for us, it must have been a student serving in the shop that day – he got the prices mixed up and charged her only 35p each. Katy bought us LOADS!
New Forrest Otter and Owl Centre
(Pen 980, Drawer 117)
Hedgehog Hospital
(Pen 981, Drawer 117) Another present from our number one scouts – a gorgeous family of hedgehogs float along – and every pen bought goes towards the care of sick and injured hedgehogs. You can also buy this pen from their web page.
New Forest
(Pen 982, Drawer 117)
Empire and Us
(Pen 984, Drawer 117)
Hack Green Secret Nuclear Bunker
(Pen 986, Drawer 117)
Leeds Castle
(Pen 987, Drawer 117)
Canterbury Cathedral
(Pen 988, Drawer 117) The knight on the right charges/floats at the knight on the left. Interestingly the float is limited so that the knights do not cross.
Windsor Castle
(Pen 990, Drawer 117) The guards are parading around Windsor Castle, another home of the Queen, just outside London.
Stratford-Upon-Avon
(Pen 993, Drawer 117)
The Roman Baths, Bath
(Pen 994, Drawer 117)
Journey to the 20th Century
(Pen 995, Drawer 117) Wow! The most detailed foreground, with 14 figures representing different ages of British history: Stone age, Bronze age, Iron Age, Roman, Saxons, vikings, Normans, Middle ages, Tudor, Stuarts, Victorian, First World War, Second World War and Today. The floater is a spaceman representing the future.
Southend Pier Museum
(Pen 1010, Drawer 117)
English Heritage
(Pen 1073, Drawer 117)
Windsor
(Pen 1096, Drawer 117)
Leeds Castle, small
(Pen 1104, Drawer 117)
Southend Pier Museum, older
(Pen 1156, Drawer 117)
Kennet and Avon Canal
(Pen 1193, Drawer 117)
Sheringham
(Pen 1357, Drawer 117)
M Shed
(Pen 1875, Drawer 117)
Mary Arden’s Farm
(Pen 1878, Drawer 117)
St Leonard’s Farm Park, Esholt
(Pen 956, Drawer 126)
Eden Camp
(Pen 961, Drawer 126)
George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland, Lord of Skipton, Queens Champion, 1590
(Pen 964, Drawer 126) This pen certainly gets the prize for the longest title! Like the Canterbury pen at the top of this page, this pen features duelling knights. The detail here is amazing. A wonderful gift from our newest floaty scout!
Scarborough
(Pen 968, Drawer 126)
York, England
(Pen 1355, Drawer 126) York Minster, one of the gates and a horse and cart.
Wolds Way Lavender
(Pen 1392, Drawer 126) Mmmm, smells lovely!
Jorvik, The Viking City
(Pen 1420, Drawer 126) A great souvenir from York
Gower Heritage Centre
(Pen 1192, Drawer 127)
Souvenir of Wales
(Pen 1523, Drawer 127)
Snowden summitt, Wales
(Pen 1611, Drawer 127) A big thank you to Dr Jonathan C Roberts for his amazing Random Act of Kindness! Eight pens collected whilst on family holidays in the 19 70’s and 80’s
Charlston Shipwreck & Heritage Centre
(Pen 100, Drawer 128)
Lands End
(Pen 1001, Drawer 128)
Jamiaca Inn
(Pen 1006, Drawer 128) Jamaica Inn, Cornwall’s legendary coaching house, immortalised in Daphne du Maurier’s novel of the same name, has stood high on Bodmin Moor for over four centuries. Still referred to by historians as Cornwall’s most famous smuggling inn.
Cornwall (Ship)
(Pen 1011, Drawer 128)
Poldark Mine, Helston Cornwall
(Pen 1608, Drawer 128) A big thank you to Dr Jonathan C Roberts for his amazing Random Act of Kindness! Eight pens collected whilst on family holidays in the 19 70’s and 80’s
St Michaels Mount
(Pen 1877, Drawer 128)
Great Orme Summit Llandudno
(Pen 2073, Drawer 127) A wonderful gift form Adam and Becky Chater. “It’s from the Great Orme Tramway, at Llandudno . We visited earlier in the year on a geocaching expedition and bought a pen at the time, completely forgetting that you collected them too (sorry!). We returned to the area again this week and made sure we went back up the Great Orme again (this time by car!) just to visit the shop and get some pens for you. Unfortunately, they seem to have stopped stocking the floaty pens and have lots of other different kinds of pen instead but Becky managed to find what could well be the very last floaty pen from the Great Orme Tramway hiding in the basket of other pens so we quickly made the purchase. We did ask and were told there were no more floaty pens in the back of the shop.”
Southend pier and foreshore
(Pen 2089, Drawer 117) Didn’t we have a lovely day, the day we went to Southend? Of course, any day with a floaty pen is a lovely day
Florence Nightingale Museum
(Pen 2133, Drawer 52) A beautifully detailed, but thankfully not too bloody, pen
Canals of Great Britain
(Pen 2136, Drawer 126) We really wanted to take a boat out on our day trip to Skipton – we had to settle for this pen, which is equally charming!
John o’Groats
(Pen 2181, Drawer 36) Adam and Becky Chater are fellow floaty pen collectors, but only collect pens they have picked up themselves on their travels. They often send us gifts of pens, but WILL NOT accept any pens or money in return. This makes them probably the nicest people on the planet.
Caledonian MacBrayne
(Pen 2182, Drawer 122) Adam and Becky Chater are fellow floaty pen collectors, but only collect pens they have picked up themselves on their travels. They often send us gifts of pens, but WILL NOT accept any pens or money in return. This makes them probably the nicest people on the planet.
Dartmouth Steam Railway and Riverboat Company – rail
(Pen 2183, Drawer 99)
Dartmouth Steam Railway and Riverboat Company – boat
(Pen 2184, Drawer 99)
Swanage Railway
(Pen 2186, Drawer 98)
Longleat
(Pen 2188, Drawer 117)
Cheddar Gorge
(Pen 2189, Drawer 117)
Alice’s Shop, Oxford – white rabbit
(Pen 2190, Drawer 117)
The Gurkha Museum
(Pen 2192, Drawer 82)
Caldey Island
(Pen 2193, Drawer 127)
Liverbird Greetings, Liverpool
(Pen 2196, Drawer 40) This beautiful Liverpool pen was created by Hilary Caplan at Liverpoolgifts.co.uk (highly recommended!) The pen was actually bought for us by the amazing Jonathan Wall when he happened to be up there about a day after the pens had gone on sale!
England Rugby
(Pen 2202, Drawer 66) Sarah, you have done it again. This pen is amazing. As they say in Rugby “Above and Beyond!”
Scotland(three pipers)
(Pen 2320, Drawer 36)
Beefeater (naked legs)
(Pen 2322, Drawer 19) This charming Beefeater drops his trousers when the pen is tipped – whatever next!
Scottish piper (with Scottish flag on barrel)
(Pen 2323, Drawer 36)
English Heritage, Step into England’s story
(Pen 2411, Drawer 19) One of the advantages of living and working in London, is that we re able to pop in regularly to the same museum shops in the hope that they will have a new floaty pen design for sale. These two pens were picked up in one lunch hour, so the perseverance does pay off.
Westminster Abbey (Graphical)
(Pen 2412, Drawer 19) One of the advantages of living and working in London, is that we re able to pop in regularly to the same museum shops in the hope that they will have a new floaty pen design for sale. These two pens were picked up in one lunch hour, so the perseverance does pay off.
Royal Naval College Greenwich
(Pen 2431, Drawer 69) The college was established in buildings designed by Sir Christopher Wren and built between 1696 and 1712. It has proven a popular setting for filming in recent years, appearing, among other instances, in Sherlock Holmes and as the setting for the final clash (on Earth) in Thor: The Dark World.
Tower Bridge London
(Pen 2525, Drawer 140) Something is not quite right about this pen – the graphical image is not in keeping with the age of the pen type – but the seal is clear, so it must be genuine
Alice’s adventures Underground (falling through the rabbit hole)
(Pen 2603, Drawer 140) As a floaty pen collector, we travel far and wide and search high and low in search of floaty pens and often return empty handed. Also, friends and family tell us they search for us, but don’t see them so much these days. This pen is the exception to the rule. Our dear aunt, Kathy, had travelled 4,100 from Vancouver to visit London, and was having a day out at Bletchley park, when she saw this pen lying in the mud – what are the chances of that happening? If you genuinely lost this pen, please contact us and we will return it.
Alice’s adventures Underground (I’m late)
(Pen 2604, Drawer 140)
North Yorkshire Moors Railway, engine on right
(Pen 2629, Drawer 98) Missing its top, but still full of steam
From Guernsey “The Sunshine Isle”
(Pen 2721, Drawer 99)