A Walk along Gloucester Road

We'll start the post with a Missing Word Round, and prizes will be awarded for the most entertaining suggestion as to what might have been painted over here.

Gloucester Road in Bristol is supposedly the longest parade of independent shops in the country.  There was uproar in the area when Tesco tried (and succeeded) to install one of its "Express" stores, and the poster campaign against the development is still in evidence.

While waiting for Frances and Christopher to wake up on Saturday morning, I went for a walk along the road to see what I could find.

A bit like Cambridge's Mill Road on steroids...

Adorable Kittens

Last weekend I went to Bristol to visit Frances and Christopher in their new flat.  Waiting to greet me were two adorable kittens, Chewy and Obi, who proceeded to get inside everything I'd brought with me.  The names derive from Star Wars, as the kittens were born on May 4th.  You know the saying: May the fourth be with you...

Incidentally, Frances has adopted her married name, so the URL of her blog has changed.  It is now francesborehamphotography.blogspot.com.

Enough talk already - on with the kittens!

Wasn't it thoughtful of Frances to provide some mice to keep the kittens entertained?

Blickling Hall Gardens

Because we had Amber with us, and it was too hot to leave her in the car, we had to take it in turns going around the house.  Having spent far too much time taking pictures of the interior, my visit to the gardens was an extremely brief affair.  Given the nature of the day and the amount of foliage around, IR seemed the natural choice.

Definitely somewhere worth going back to.

Blickling Hall Interiors

I'd always considered the National Trust as being relatively unfriendly towards photographers.  As well as the "no tripods" rule, there's usually been a ban on taking pictures inside their buildings.  Things must be changing, though, as I was actively encouraged to use my camera inside Blickling Hall, so long as I didn't use flash.  Light levels were low, but I still managed to capture some of the amazing interior of this place.

The pictures are a mixture of single images and three-shot HDRs.  All were hand-held, and the majority were taken at ISO3200.  The 5DmkII still astonishes me sometimes...

Blickling Hall in Infra Red

Contrary to the weather forecast, the Sunday dawned bright and sunny.  As a result we decided to come home via Blickling Hall, a National Trust property with extensive (dog friendly) grounds.  The conditions definitely called for the IR camera.

The first image is the pub, which is part of the estate village.

The second is a rather ugly tower, built by one of the late Victorian Blickling residents.  Not a folly, but a platform from which to watch horse racing; now leased out by the National Trust as a holiday "cottage".

A mausoleum, built for one of the more egotistical family members.

A couple of views of the Hall from across the lake.

Finally a couple of views of the hall itself, taken from the main gates.  

A truly imposing Jacobean pile, famous for being the seat of the Boleyn family (of beheaded Anne fame), although nothing of the original Tudor building now exists.

Don't let the sun go down on me...

The wind finally dropped a bit by Saturday evening, so after dinner I wandered down to the sea front in order to take some pictures as the light faded.  There's a mixture of colour and monochrome processing, and I'm not sure which I prefer yet.

Watch the Birdie

On the Saturday morning we headed along the coast to the Norfolk Wildlife Trust bird reserve at Cley.  There were more twitchers than feathered specimens (at least, within photography distance) and a couple of the hides were like Piccadilly Circus. 

The reeds were impressive in IR against a brooding Norfolk sky.

Although we saw several bird species (at a distance!) the only one which performed for us was a rather fine Tufted Duck.

There's always a Mute Swan who is prepared to pose, of course, and Cley was no exception.

Piers of the Realm

By Saturday morning the rain had passed, but it was still grey, cold and very blustery.  We went for a walk before breakfast along the beach to Cromer's magnificent pier.

 At this point we'd worked up a good appetite for the "Full Monty" breakfast at the hotel.