Westonbirt Arboretum

On the best (weather) day of my stay in Bristol, Frances and I went to the Westonbirt Aboretum.  A magical place in the December sunshine, which also had the benefit of being dog-friendly.  Given the waterlogged, muddy conditions, there were a very large number of filthy (but happy) pooches to be seen at the end of the day.

The pictures here are a mixture of IR and three-shot HDR images, the latter taken in the gloom of the old Arboretum as the light faded.

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 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.

IR Snow in Harston

Only a few weeks after the event, I finally got round to processing some Infra Red pictures of Harston in the snow.  Better late than never, I suppose...

West Kirby

Cambridge Camera Club reached the finals of the PAGB National Print Championships in Connah's Quay (Deeside, North Wales).  After an uneventful drive up the M6, Ann and I decided to spend what remained of the afternoon at the seaside: West Kirby, to be precise.

 
Not the sunniest of days, but one with the most amazing cloud cover which worked particularly well in Infra Red.

To give a sense of scale, the middle photograph shows a power station and a paper mill on the left, and the new bridge which spans the Dee on the right.  The bottom picture shows circular patterns in the mud caused by some kind of vehicle.  See below for a guess as to the possible culprit.

West Kirby has a rather strange causeway across the mud-flats which forms the boundary of an enormous boating lake.  It's obviously a favourite walk for couples, dog walkers and the like.  When the tide is in, there is the rather surreal sensation that these people are walking on water, when viewed from the Promenade.

The machine which we think must have generated the tracks in the mud is - well - we don't really know.  It's operated by the RNLI and has caterpillar tracks to stop it sinking without trace.  More strangely it has a couple of wooden benches attached to the back, so either it's designed to give joy-rides to tourists or - more likely - to rescue people who have been stranded by the incoming tide.

Whatever else, it clearly needed a good hose-down at the end of the working day...

Sark, part one

Sark is one of those places I've always wanted to visit.  Perhaps it's the quiet island life, or the complete lack of cars?  Whatever it is, we decided to take a day trip to have a closer look. The first few pictures are of the harbour in St Peter Port.  There was an enormous cruise ship anchored in the bay, and we saw several of its little ferry boats (which look like inter-galactic escape pods).

 

Arrival on Sark is around a wooded headland on which is positioned a lighthouse.  The island is clearly much bigger than Herm, but also much hillier and more covered in trees.

The final few pictures are waiting to disembark onto the island, followed by the "welcome" tunnel which everyone needs to walk through.

Watch out for the next, thrilling instalment of our trip to Sark...