Halloween pumpkins

I'm not a fan of Halloween. What was an easily ignored modest festival (All Hallows' Eve) has, in the past 20-30 years, become a confused, frenzied mish-mash of U.S. pumpkins and trick or treating, ghosts, ghouls, spiders, witches, bats, black cats, grave stones etc all served up in the tackiest ways possible way for the benefit of commercial interests. But, when you have grandchildren, you get drawn into aspects of it, hence our involvement in the trip to choose pumpkins and the carving of them in our kitchen. The pumpkin above, the work of one of our sons, features a Minecraft shape surrounding an Enderman. The accompanying photographs below were taken at the pumpkin field.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: iPhone

Vicars' Close, Wells

The vicars of Wells were minor officials of the cathedral. The street shown in the photograph housed them and was built as early as 1348. It is 456 feet long and most of the twenty seven residences (originally 44) are identical. The front gardens are an addition of c.1410-20. Improvements and modernisations have been applied to the buildings of the Close during every century between their initial construction and today. Despite this, it is considered to be the oldest purely residential street in Europe.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

The brightest autumn leaves?

I imagine that if people were asked to name the leaves that produced the brightest colours in autumn most would mention the Acer, a tree that has been bred specifically to produce colourful leaves. However, this autumn, though I've photographed my share of Acers, I've also come across a leaf that could well be brighter than the brightest acer. I don't know the variety of Cotinus (also known as Smoke Bush) shown above, but I do know that its leaves "out-glow" most Acers. I came across this one growing behind a school fence, stretching towards the pavement seeking light.

 photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Reflections on the River Avon

The meaning of the word "reflections" includes "thinking about" and "mirroring". I employed both those meanings when I sat down to process this photograph of the reflections in the River Avon of the Borough Flour Mill, Tewkesbury. I reflected that the name "Avon" is one of the most common river names in the British Isles, is an ancient word meaning "river", and hence the River Avon is "River River". I also noted that the surface of the water reflecting the windows and brickwork had been beautifully disturbed by passing mallards making it worthy of a semi-abstract photograph.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Abbot's kitchen, Glastonbury Abbey

Not many medieval kitchens have survived the years since their construction. One of the best preserved in Europe is the Abbot's Kitchen that still stands in the ruins of the Benedictine abbey at Glastonbury, Somerset. It dates from the second half of the fourteenth century and is, externally, square in plan. However, in each corner is a fireplace and this makes interior space octagonal, a shape that is carried through in the truncated pyramidal roof. The latter is surmounted by a tall lantern which itself has a tiny lantern on top.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

West front, Wells Cathedral

I haven't had much luck photographing at Wells Cathedral. On the last but one visit to the building it rained making outside shots difficult or impossible and interiors a lot darker than I would wish. On my most recent visit, a few weeks ago, we were about to step over the threshold and enter the building when the fire alarm sounded within and everyone came briskly out into the close. A wait of twenty minutes or so was only enlivened by the arrival of a fire engine and finally the all clear at a false alarm. This time I did the inside shots first - fewer people! Then went out  and took this photograph of the west front and its impressive tiers of canopies, many with medieval carved figures.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

Puzzle on Hergest Ridge

The puzzle on Hergest Ridge is this: why is there a 3X3 grid of monkey puzzle trees (Araucaria araucana) on top of the upland hill? It is unusual to find this tree, also known as the Chilean Pine, outside of gardens, and its presence on this exposed, wind-swept summit on the border of Herefordshire and Wales is a conundrum. They are likely to be there on a landowner's whim, and are perhaps associated with the former horse racetrack whose oval can still be seen. The tree was not widely known in Britain until around the 1850s, and I remember reading that one of the Victorian houses below the Ridge had a driveway flanked by them. Perhaps that is the connection. 

photo © T. Boughen     Camera:iPhone

Views from Hergest Ridge

click images to enlarge
A road closure involving us in a detour down muddy, single-track roads, followed by a bank of cloud that appeared over Kington and Hergest Ridge, nearly caused us to look for a different destination than our planned walk on the famous hill. But we overcame and accepted the impediments and were rewarded with an interesting (if very windy) walk and some reasonable views. Here are two taken when the clouds admitted pools of light. They show the cultivation of the lower valleys and the uncultivated steep slopes and tops of the outcrops.

 photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

On Hergest Ridge

We recently made our first visit to Hergest Ridge. This 1394 feet (425m) hill is on the Herefordshire-Wales border. Its summit is notable for piles of local rock, gorse, small pools of water, semi-wild Welsh Mountain Ponies, an odd stand of trees (see later post) and quite good views. People of a certain age, or with a relatively deep interest in popular music, will recognise "Hergest Ridge" as the title of Mike Oldfield's second album of 1974, following his very popular "Tubular Bells (1973). The composer/performer bought a house near the Ridge where he composed his music.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Boston Ivy

At this time of year many garden climbing plants become much more eye-catching as their leaves change colour. A couple of weeks ago we came upon this Boston Ivy (Parthenocissus tricuspidata) making a fine display as its green leaves turned to pink against a brick wall. In the past I've considered this to be a variant of Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia), but if I'd taken note of the Latin names I'd have realised my error - the clue is in the tri and quinque.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Gothic Revival at Tyntesfield House

Tyntesfield House, in Somerset near Bristol, is a Gothic Revival country house designed in the 1860s by the architect, John Norton. It cost £70,000, a large sum that could be well afforded by the owner who has been described as "the richest non-noble man in England."

 Pevsner describes the south elevation (photo 2) as "an object lesson in the technique by which a High Victorian architect endeavored to keep balance while avoiding symmetry." Money was lavished on every elevation - see east elevation,  photo 1 - as well as the interiors. The chapel, on the right of photo 2, was added in 1875, the design of the architect, Sir Arthur Blomfield. It has been likened to the chapels of Oxford colleges. The house became the property of the National Trust in 2002 and the public were first admitted ten weeks after purchase.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

Pier pavilions, Clevedon

Piers offer something of the feeling of being at sea without the discomforts of wind, spray, and the rolling motion that brings on sea-sickness. In the UK the great era of pleasure piers was the Victorian period. Those that survive from that time help visitors to capture something of the simple pleasures that accompanied a nineteenth century day out at the seaside. The architecture of piers is designed to withstand wind and water whilst providing visitors with shelter on inclement days. The September day of a recent visit to Clevedon Pier on the Severn estuary near Weston-super-Mare, was everything a visitor could hope for and we lingered a while admiring the views and metalwork of the 1869 structure.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

Knightstone and Steep Holm

The Bristol Channel between England and South Wales has a number of small, rocky islands. Today's photograph shows Knightstone and, in the distance, Steep Holm. The former is now attached to Weston-super-Mare by a permanent causeway rather than the original shingle bank. Steep Holm is today a bird reserve with no permanent human residents but has been at various times a place for sportsmen, a defensive site with cannons, and part of a chain of fortified sites designed to impede invasion.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

The mandarins' new colours

During summer after the hatching of eggs and the quick growth of ducklings the mandarin, like all other ducks, moults its feathers. This period is also known as "eclipse". It is most noticeable in the brightly coloured males that become predominantly brown though they can still be distinguished from the females by their distinctive beaks.

click image to enlarge
As autumn approaches a new set of feathers grows and quite quickly the males assume their multi-coloured best. On a recent visit to Cannop Ponds in the Forest of Dean we saw the mandarins by the waters edge, under the overhanging trees. Many birds were perched on the low branches of alders. The second photograph shows a bird standing on a section of submerged branch, its lower body reflected in the water, with real and reflected branches in the background

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

Salt-water rusted door

On a walk around Knightstone Island, Weston-super-Mare, we came upon a metal door that must have been regularly lashed by waves and spray for years. The builders had obviously known that the door would be subject to extreme conditions and therefore selected metal for its construction. They must also have known that salt-water corrosion leading to replacement was inevitable and they will have reckoned on a reasonable life-span numbering years for the door. What they probably didn't do is predict that as it started to succumb to the environment it would develop beautiful complementary colours, textures and shapes.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

St Michael's tower, Glastonbury Tor

It is thought that Glastonbury Tor was occupied in the C6. Evidence of occupation between 900AD and 1100AD is said to include a Christian cross head and what may have been monks' cells cut into the rock. The granting of a charter for a fair on the Tor dated 1243 suggests that a monastery dedicated to St Michael existed there at that date. The style of the present tower is late C13 with 15C additions. The top storey of the tower is missing and the floors are no longer there: the view upwards from inside shows the sky. A notable restoration of 1804 preserved what was left of the building. Since 1933 the tower and the Tor have been in the care of the National Trust.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300