Public rights of way

The U.K. has a web of public rights of way spread across it. These are footpaths across private land over which the public are legally able to walk. Land owners are required to keep such paths accessible both in fields and where they cross into other fields by gates or stiles. Most do this well: others make little effort, and a few are deliberately obstructive. I saw these walkers from the summit of Coombe Hill, near Wendover, in Buckinghamshire. The farmer had done a great job marking the path in his carefully prepared field and the walkers were sticking to it - a win win situation. It also made for an interesting photograph.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Hazy London view

Whether you are an analogue or a digital photographer you will probably know about and use filters with your camera. I loved a red filter with black and white photography to produce high contrast skies. I'm also partial to a vignette and a neutral density filter, and I've used polarising filters for decades. But sometimes I think weather is the best filter of all. Shooting against the light (contre jour) gives great silhouettes and contrast. Snow gives strong emphasis to line in a scene and fog mutes colour and gives the effect of layers of different shades. Haze offers some of the same qualities as fog, but less so. This photograph of Tower Bridge taken from London Bridge has muted colours and objects become less definite with distance. The distant towers of Canary Wharf are depicted almost as if painted by a water colourist.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

View in the side mirror

As my son drove us round the M25 I noticed, in the mirror closest to me, the sun tinged clouds of the setting sun. I took several photographs of what I saw, many of which were blurred due to vibrations, and a few that captured the evening scene. This is the best of the bunch. When I came to caption the photograph it occurred to me that we don't seem to have settled on a name for the mirror by the passnger side door. It's not a wing mirror because they are above the wheel arch. Nor is it a rear-view mirror - they are inside at the top centre of the windscreen. Door mirror is sometimes used, as is A-pillar mirror and side mirror. I've plumped for the latter.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Evening cherry blossom, Islington

Several days in and around London presented both familiar and new subjects for my camera (and phone camera). I noticed this one as we got out of the car and, because we were laden with bags, I took out my phone to get the shot. At our previous home we had a cherry that produced this type of blossom. I took plenty of photographs of the aged tree but not once did I photograph it during the hours of darkness. That's probably because the darkness of a village is so much deeper than the darkness of a capital city. Here the street lights and reflections made for a better image.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: iPhone

Hartpury bee shelter

Hartpury bee shelter was built of Cotswold stone in the mid-1800s by the stonemason, Paul Tuffley, for his house in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire. Its purpose was to house the coiled straw bee skeps that were used before the widespread adoption of wooden hives. For protection from the weather and cold skeps were often placed in wooden shelters or in recesses in stone walls. The Hartpury example is believed to be the only extant stone shelter in Britain. It was very nearly destroyed in 1968 when it was in the grounds of Nailsworth police station. Its removal to Hartpury Agricultural College, its restoration and siting in Hartpury churchyard has ensured that this unique structure is available for all to see.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Hartpury tithe barn

The original purpose of the tithe barn was to hold the produce paid by farmers to the local church. One tenth of a farm's production was paid to the priest and went towards his and the wider church's upkeep. A number of tithe barns still remain in Britain, and many more are remembered in street names. The fourteenth century tithe barn, built by the Abbey of Gloucester at Hartpury, is one of the largest in the country, measuring 161 feet by 36 feet. It is made of stone and may have originally had a thatched roof. The present roof is tiled. In the eighteenth the large main door was supplemented by five smaller doors. Further adaptations - inside dividing walls and adjoining walled yards to manage cattle - were added in the nineteenth century. Interestingly, on one end of the roof is a Welsh dragon finial (facing towards England) and on the other is an English lion (facing towards Wales).

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Seasonal yarn bombing

The knitters of Ross on Wye have been busy for the past few years undertaking seasonal "yarn bombing" of the centre of the town. Bollards, signs, post boxes and many other surfaces have been decorated with seasonally apt individual and group pieces. Here are a few examples of the current Spring/Easter display.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: iPhone

 

A languishing K6 telephone box

Any list of British icons will invariably include the policeman, the black taxi, a guardsman in ceremonial uniform, Tower Bridge, the Houses of Parliament, Stonehenge, a red double-decker bus and a red telephone box. Following the rise of the mobile phone (cell phone) the phone box has become a much less common sight on our streets. In fact, following the privatisation of the phone service, British Telecom made a concerted effort to get rid of these unprofitable public telephone boxes. This included selling them for a nominal price (with the phone removed) to any local councils who wanted to keep one. Many did so, rightly seeing them as heritage assets. Often they were re-purposed as, for example, free lending libraries, locations for public notices or sites for community defibrillators. They were regularly painted in "post office red" and became a valuable and attractive resource. But, some councils, after an initial burst of enthusiasm, let them languish, their bright red turning a drab pink and the site of vandalism and graffiti. The example above, a K6, appears to have suffered this fate.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

The Feathers Hotel, Ledbury

The oldest parts of the timber-framed Feathers Hotel, Ledbury, date from c.1560-70. This comprises the first three floors of the leftmost part of the building. The fourth floor of this section, with the five small gables, is an addition of the early 1600s. So too is all of the rightmost part, from the coffee shop sign. The hotel is close-studded throughout with none of the box-framing that is a characteristic of Herefordshire and adjacent counties. The building is quite deep with timber-framed extensions accessed from within the building, and through carriage arches. It must always have been the town's premier hotel and it remains so today.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

St Katherine's Terrace, Ledbury

How do you give the front of your modest house a visual "lift"? Answer: paint it a bright or strong colour. How do you give it a further lift? Answer: find a way to to get your neighbours to do the same. The truth of this can be seen at St Katherine's Terrace in Ledbury, and at many other locations across the country. If you don't believe me, just imagine the doors in the photograph were painted white!

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

The fox in the wall

When I first saw this fox's head peering out of the hole in this stone wall I was startled. Was it real or was it a toy? Closer inspection showed it to be real but long dead since it was stuffed and mounted on a wooden shield. Clearly it was someone's trophy and had presumably "decorated" someone's wall before it found this resting place. I imagine it was someone's idea of a joke to place it in the wall. If so, it was in poor taste.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Monnow Bridge gatehouse, Monmouth

Over the years I've taken several photographs of the Monnow bridge gatehouse in Monmouth. It is one of ony two remaining medieval fortified bridges in Britain and has been the subject of artists down the centuries. On a recent visit, as we passed over the bridge, I took this quick snap, prompted by the cloud of feral pigeons swirling around the roof of the gatehouse. There are usually pigeons to be seen on the building and I'm sure many use it as a nest site. They contributed something vital and transient to this view of the bridge and prompted me to ignore the view I usually choose (see here and here).

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

Street musicians

In recent weeks we've had a few days and spells of spring-like weather that has brought out the street musicians.  The most common performers have been singer/guitarists and singers with backing tracks. However, the most proficient and enjoyable that we've seen are a solo accordionist and this duo featuring saxophone and guitar (a Gretsch hollow body).

 

They were playing jazz and jazz-inflected "standards" and were a pleasant accompaniment to our coffee as we sat under the Market House in Ross on Wye.

 

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Coal hole covers

In the older streets of Britain's towns and cities you can still find coal hole covers in the pavements next to rows of houses. These comprise a pair of rectangular metal flaps that, when opened, gave access to a coal cellar beneath the adjacent property. Deliveries of coal for fires would be poured through the coal hole and thence into the internal house cellar, when stores needed replenishing. The surface of the coal hole covers, because they formed part of the surface of the pavement, have embossed patterns to offer grip to pedestrians.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

The Christmas Rose in April

The Christmas Rose, Latin name Helleborus niger, also known as the hellebore, is currently in full flower in our garden on April 1. In my experience this flower has never really deserved its Christmas appellation, usually flowering in January, February and/or March.

I certainly don't recall it in bloom as late as April. It's probable that its shady location has delayed its flowering. Whatever the reason, it is putting on a good show in a spot where later flowering perennials usually appear. These straightforward photographs show the characteristics of the plant, but don't make a photograph to compare with this shot I took indoors of a hellebore from which I cut the flowers.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2