Another garden sculpture

This metal, sculpted face is in the sculpture garden at Burghley House near Stamford, Lincolnshire. It is one of the best of its kind that I've seen. I particularly liked the way it appeared to grow from, and merge with, the surrounding vegetation, and how it took on a fresh appearance depending on the angle from which it was seen.

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

Dutch Garden, Hampton Court Castle

In England the term "Dutch garden" often refers to a formal garden with water features where the space is used efficiently and the layout is essentially rectilinear with cut hedges and shrubs. They were characteristic of English country houses of the later seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, though many fell out of favour and didn't survive to the present day. This example at Hampton Court Gardens in Herefordshire is a reconstruction that captures some of the qualities of this type of garden.

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

Maze, Hampton Court Castle

The maze at Hampton Court Castle, Herefordshire, has a tower at its centre from the top of which you can survey people wending their way (or not) towards you. It also has a tunnel that leads from the base of the tower to the garden beyond the perimeter of the maze. This means that, having navigated your way to the centre of the maze you have no need to find your way out: a feature that I've never come across before. But then I haven't experience of more than half a dozen mazes.


photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

The Fosse, Hereford

The house called The Fosse, in Hereford, was built at a time when the comfortable and well-handled Georgian architecture was about to adopt some of the features that ultimately characterised Victorian architecture. Here we see an unusual pattern in the leading of the windows, elongated chimney stacks with chimney breasts featuring on the main elevation, a "squeezed" staircase tower with an inaccessible balcony above the front door, a first floor conservatory with a Dutch gable above, and pierced obelisks on the columns of the garden boundary. The house is thought to be the work of Robert Smirke and its date, 1825, is contained in a panel below the twin chimneys.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Artichoke leaves

Artichokes are tall, spectacular plants with an eye catching flower and large, deeply incised leaves. This example caught my eye because it was catching the light more than those around it, something that emphasised its qualities.

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

Pavilion revisited

Seven years ago I photographed one of the two garden pavilions that form part of a water feature in the formal gardens of Hampton Court Castle in Herefordshire. On a recent return visit, accompanied by two of our grandchildren and their parents, I photographed the pavilion again, this time in brighter weather and including more of the surroundings which have now matured nicely.

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

Garden sculpture

This piece of garden sculpture appears to be one of two children responding to the beckoning flute of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. The three metal sculptures are situated in an area of "meadow" in a garden at Hampton Court Castle in Herefordshire. The setting of long grass adds depth and mystery to the the pieces that placement on a manicured lawn could not.

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

Seashell whorls

A whorl is a single, complete 360° revolution or turn in the spiral growth on  a seashell. This shell has several whorls but my photograph concentrates on those in the centre where the shell's growth began. Incidentally, the dominant line of the shell is a true spiral. In everyday use the helix (as seen in a traditional metal spring or the spiral staircase ) is often called a spiral.

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

Scarecrows

I don't know if there is a collective noun for a gathering of scarecrows but if there isn't let me suggest a "fright". However, it's only farm scarecrows that seem designed to actually deter birds: most of the others are usually of a much friendlier demeanour, so perhaps that isn't an apt word. This collection of twenty four scarecrows on an allotment in Ross on Wye all looked pretty friendly and were, I think, made for fun rather than deterrence.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Euphorbia

Over the years I've had a love-hate relationship with the plant, Euphorbia. I like the shapes and colours that have been bred by plantsmen, I like its vigour, the fact that it thrives in semi-shade, and its tolerance of moist conditions. However, that vigour can turn to invasiveness and the plant can squeeze out other species. Moreover, it attracts the sort of pests that are not always welcome in a garden, and every variety has sap that is an irritant on the skin, so careful handling is required. There is definitely a place for some of the more striking varieties in a large garden. In a smaller garden the case isn't as strong. The variety shown above is Euphorbia griffithii "Fireglow": its name says it all.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Chase Hill, Ross on Wye

The distinctive profile of the wooded Chase Hill is visible from all of the major roads as you approach Ross on Wye. The summit is the site of an Iron Age hill fort, so the defensible location must always have attracted attention. It is likely that the hill was less wooded in the distant past, but from medieval times it probably looked much as it does today, though the coastal redwoods were added by the Victorians. The wood is owned by the Forestry Commission, and is a popular place for walkers, joggers and those interested in natural history.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Five bar chequer treadplate

Five bar chequer treadplate was, I believe, designed as a durable anti-slip surface for potentially hazardous workplaces. Areas that get wet or dirty such as the platform of cranes, ship decking, factory walkways etc, could be made safer by its application. But, once it became widely available, man's ingenuity took over and a  wide range of uses arose that the inventors had not anticipated. I've seen it applied as a "modern" facing for walls in twentieth and twenty first century architecture, as door kick plates, as a stand-on surface on 4X4 vehicles, and most recently, as a vandal-proof shell-like shelter over seating in a children's play park, where I took this photograph.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Phone

Meadow

Modern farming methods mean that meadows are fewer and less species-rich than they were when I was young. However, in the north and west of the British Isles they can still be found in reasonable numbers and they still have the power to lift my spirits as I pass through one on a walk. This example is on a steep hillside in an areas largely surrounded by trees. Nearby, in the last week of May we saw our first meadow that was being cut for silage.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100