Timber-framed houses

I once read that the order and symmetry of the exposed woodwork of timber-framed medieval and later houses revealed something about their age. Broadly speaking asymmetrical, seemingly (though not in fact) haphazard wok was usually an indicator of early work - say, the fourteenth or fifteenth centuries. The more orderly, symmetrical timbers that were often arranged to form patterns and sometimes include ornamental quatrefoils and such were invariably later, usually dating from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. By that reckoning this photograph taken in Lavenham, Suffolk, shows some reasonably early timber-framing.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

A font, ecclesiastical not typographical

The 7th Edition of the Canons of the Church of England say this with regard to fonts: "In every church and chapel where baptism is to be administered, there shall be provided a decent font with a cover for the keeping clean thereof. The font shall stand as near to the principal entrance as conveniently may be, except there be a custom to the contrary or the Ordinary otherwise direct; and shall be set in as spacious and well-ordered surroundings as possible." At St Lawrence in Evesham, Worcestershire, a font must have been in the south chapel for centuries and thus the exception prevails. It is a fine setting and a good architectural composition.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Umbrellas

In the minds of those living in Britain, and also in the minds of those from elsewhere, there seems to be an association between umbrellas and our often wet islands. On the day I photographed these umbrellas that brought a splash of colour to a Hereford shopping centre I was carrying a (black) umbrella. Our day rucksack is permanently kitted out with two small, collapsible umbrellas. Rain is not an everyday occurrence in Britain - the dry east receives amounts comparable with much of central and parts of southern Europe. However, it does appear fairly regularly and prudence dictates that if you want to remain dry an umbrella is pretty much a prerequisite for many places and times of year.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Dry garden plants

I've seen several dry gardens in recent years. The concept of growing plants that will flourish in dry weather isn't new, but the onset of global warming has given the idea greater currency. Often such gardens have a grey-green appearance due to the preponderance of shrubs and perennials with leaves of that colour, a characteristic of many drought-tolerant plants. Here, however, in Beth Chatto's Essex garden the blue cornflowers, brown grasses etc gave a wider range of colours that I found very attractive.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Sunny Shoreditch Park

On a recent weekend the warm weather brought people out into sunny Shoreditch Park in London. Dry weather and the popularity of the park had turned the green grass yellow but that didn't stop young and old coming out to feel the sun on their faces and backs. As we passed through the park the looming buildings under construction gave a dissonant note to the tranquil scene.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

King's Cross Quarter

Those of us who live in the provinces often see London as a place that not only produces money but sucks it in from where we live, depriving our communities of funds that would help to re-balance the country. London, to we provincials, seems to do everything to excess. I reflected on that when taking this photo. A provincial building site would have a painted, printed or photographic sign up to advertise what was going on. Not London. The glossy, three dimensional, internally illuminated temporary sign on these metal faced(!) hoardings hiding the building site outshines many permanent and final signs elsewhere in the country.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Nigella seedpod

Of all the plants in our garden I find "Love in a Mist (Nigella damascena) to be one of the most fascinating. Its English name is descriptive of the appearance of these blue (usually) flowers when seen in a tight group, gently swaying in the wind. However, the spiky, other-worldly seed pod that the flowers produce are completely at odds with that soft, benign name: then one of the plant's other names - devil in the bush - seems more apt.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Pavement fountains

It has been interesting to see the spread of "pavement fountains" in recent years. I've come across several in Britain and I've seen them in other countries too. They are a magnet for young children and dogs in hot weather, and have their attractions for older folk who are young at heart. What draws children, and what leads to them getting wetter than they perhaps intended, is the apparent randomness of the way in which they turn off and on, catching out the over-confident. The fountains in the photograph are near King's Cross in London, a particularly large example that was offering welcome relief on a hot July day.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Garden pavilions

I know a few people with garden pavilions, small, wooden structures, often open at one or more sides, sometimes with a door and windows. They offer somewhere to sit and admire the garden, perhaps have a cup of tea or and alfresco snack. No one I know, however, has one quite as grand as this example at Melford Hall in Suffolk. Built of brick with a tile roof in 1559 it is contemporary with the great house and from its upper floor offers a fine view of that Tudor building as well as the garden by its perimeter wall.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

A rowing boat as eye-catcher

A visit to the gardens of Beth Chatto, near Colchester in Essex, produced the photograph above. The pond is one of a series that have been created on a slope in the garden and it features this rowing boat. I imagine the boat is used with serious intent only occasionally. However, it supplies a semi-permanent focal point in this section of the garden as an eye-catcher. Most garden eye-catchers are on land; statues, pavilions,mock ruins, sun dials, etc are typically used. Where there is water it can be a boat house on the shore, a fountain or perhaps a building on an island. I've never seen a  boat used in this way before, but it works, not only for this section of garden, but also for a photograph.

 photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

The dipper

I imagine that everyone who watches wild birds on a regular basis has their favourites. I've always had a liking for the wader known as the greenshank (after its green legs). It's an elegant bird with subtle colouring. I also like the wheatear, a bird that was a harbinger of spring when I lived in the Yorkshire Dales. In recent years I've developed an affection for the swifts that flash about the village in which I live, screeching or hunting for flies. The old name for them in "devil bird", but I can see nothing about swifts that warrants that derogatory name. On a recent visit to the town of my upbringing, Settle, I photographed another favourite - the dumpy dipper, a bird of fast flowing upland streams and rivers.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

Weeping willows

The weeping willow is a variety of the white willow (Salix alba). It is characterised by long slender branches, coming from sturdier boughs, that hang low over the ground and particularly by water. Its individual leaves are long, green, and spear-shaped with silvery white undersides. These willows come into leaf early in the year and cast their final leaves relatively late in autumn. Its weeping form always reminds me more of a waterfall than human tears. That is true when in full leaf, as with these examples by water in Bourne, Lincolnshire, or even when leafless in winter, and covered by hoar frost.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

A multitude of beach huts

Beach huts are a widely photographed phenomenon of Britain's seaside resorts. They are either privately-owned or publicly-owned for hire and constitute a place where someone can base themselves when spending a day or several by the beach - a place to eat, make a cup of tea, rest, laze, change clothing, shelter from rain etc. Privately-owned examples are often very individually painted and frequently feature somewhat humorous names. Public beach huts are usually brightly painted but with fewer colours. On a recent visit to Walton on the Naze in Essex I came across these ranks of (presumably) publicly-owned huts for hire. I've never seen so many together in stepped ranks, and rarely so few in use on a summer afternoon.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Photographing Queen Elizabeth

I'm not a fan of our system of constitutional monarchy so you'd be unlikely to see me going out of my way to photograph Queen Elizabeth II. But Queen Elizabeth I is another matter. Any photograph I took of her would, of necessity, be of a representation, and there are some very interesting examples to be seen. The portrait in stained glass shown above is in Melford Hall, Suffolk. It dates from the nineteenth century and is based on a well-known Elizabethan-era painting. As I waited for the photographer in front of me to complete her shot it occurred to me that the inclusion of her silhouette might make for a more interesting image.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Brachyglottis or Senecio

Science doesn't stand still, nor should it. I remember reading several years ago that some academics had calculated the "half-life of scientific knowledge" at 45 years i.e. in that many years time half of current scientific understanding will be superseded by new knowledge. You can see this at the layman's level in the name changes that animals and plants periodically undergo as DNA and genetic research re-classify species. One example from the garden is a New Zealand shrub with yellow flowers and grey/green leaves. For decades I have called it Senecio greyi: now it is Brachyglottis greyi. Today's offering is a contrasty black and white photograph of this plant's leaves.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Art personified

The fashion for personification seems to have died out. From the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries it was not uncommon to see statues that represented, for example, Music (often with a lyre), Justice (blindfolded with sword and scales), Industry, Time, and much else. Today's photograph shows a statue of Art personified (with hammer and nails (!) hidden by the flowers). She is at one side of a Cecil monument in St Martin's church, Stamford: Victory (with a gilt Pallas Athene) is at the other. I've never seen this tomb with flowers nearby and a shot contrasting their soft colour with the almost monochrome marble suggested itself. Here is the whole of the tomb.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10