Foggy, flooded bandstand, Ross on Wye

A few times each year heavy rain causes the River Wye at Ross on Wye to spill out of its channel. This doesn't usually do much damage because it's done this for decades and buildings have, for the most part, not been erected where it floods. Or the structures that are flooded aren't damaged - like this bandstand that was recently subject to not only floodwater but fog, and made for an interesting photograph.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P950

Kingfisher

The kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) is one of a relatively small number of birds that the layman can readily name. Its striking orange and electric blue plumage makes it noticeable even though its fast, direct flight gives only brief glimpses of the bird. It is easiest to photograph as it sits in waterside branches scanning the shallows for any small fish. Capturing the bird in flight requires patience and skill as well as an appropriate camera and lens. This obliging kingfisher sat in riverside willows for about thirty seconds or so before moving on. Time for me to fire off several shots of which this is the best.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P950

Autumn reflections

Reflections in water offer the opportunity of doubling the impact of a shot. This example shows, mainly, the deep colour of autumn beech and oak trees next to Hartleton Lakes, near Ross on Wye. I took a couple of photographs from this point. The other example didn't include the near vegetation or the fishing platform. When I asked a few people which of the two shots they preferred only one, my eight year old grand-daughter, liked the wider view with the platform, the view that I also prefer.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P950

Everyday history

Some of the most interesting photographs are those that capture a particular moment in history. This doesn't have to be a momentous moment - mundane is often good enough, so long as it can be compared and contrasted with a different way of doing things. In 2024 the re-surfacing of one of the main roads in Ross on Wye, Herefordshire, looked like the above with men in high-vis and purpose-built machines being used for each stage. It won't be like this 100 years in the future and at that point a photograph like this one may come into its own.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Tractor at work

Towards the end of September, while standing on the highest point of medieval Goodrich Castle, I noticed a field with a tractor about a mile or so distant. The vehicle was going up and down the gaps between rows of posts and plants. I was carrying what I call my "bird watching camera", a Nikon P950. Even with its long lens I couldn't make out what the crop was when I viewed my shots on the camera's screen and I resolved to remedy that when I got the image on my computer. But no, I'm still none the wiser!

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P950

Shadows in The Maltings

For centuries British cities, towns and some villages had malt houses. These were buildings where cereal grains were converted into malt by soaking in water (promoting sprouting) then drying the mix to stop further growth. The malt was usd in the brewing of alcoholic drinks, particularly beer. In the nineteenth century the small malt houses went out of use to be replaced by fewer, but much larger "maltings". These could be found in cities and major towns. They, in turn, during the twentieth century, were replaced by methods of brewing that no longer required massive maltings. The large premises were often turned into housing and covered shopping. The small shopping centre in Ross on Wye was built on part of the site of the town maltings, though some of the larger buildings and distinctive shape of  the roof profile can still be seen. I caught this photograph on a day when the sun was throwing shadows from the glazed roof.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix LX3

C18 cartouche gravestone

To my mind the design of gravestones hit a peak in the C18. In the C17, as gravestones grew in popularity, they exhibited a naivety of subject and execution. In the C19 mass production, Gothic influences and grandiosity overwhelmed the original and innovative designs that can still be seen. C20 gravestones are usually more modest, machine-made and make use of too wide a variety of stone. The C18 used a limited palette of (usually local) stone, ornament and lettering. The example above, at St Michael, Walford, Herefordshire, has the typical winged putto head and foliage arranged as a cartouche. Rising damp has obscured the lower lettering, but above it is crisp and shows interesting abbreviations. If you look carefully you can still discern parts of the faint, scratched, guide-lines to keep the lettering level and of the correct height.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: iPhone

Braeburn blossom

Walking through apple orchards near Bromyard, Herefordshire we came upon some young Braeburn trees. They were in blossom and the colours and the way they were opening was most attractive. We knew they were Braeburns because they were labelled as such. Moreover, a sign indicated the direction, distance and name of the location where they were first grown. This is in New Zealand where, in 1952, a Mr Moran found a "chance seedling". The variety was developed, became a great success, and is now a favourite across the world.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Former Cottage Hospital, Ledbury

click photo to enlarge
The former Cottage Hospital on The Homend, Ledbury, is a brick and half-timbered building: not proper timber framing, but decorative, in the gables and porch only. It is the work of the architect Henry Haddon and was built in 1891. The effect he sought was a slightly picturesque asymmetry. Today it appears to be divided into separate dwellings. Of itself it isn't much of a photograph, but with its magnolia tree in blossom it is a real eye-catcher. The magnolia flowered early this year: my photograph was taken on 14th March. When passed it again on 22nd most of its blossom had fallen.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Kitchen garden path

English country houses generally have three types of garden. The best known is the landscape garden, the remodelling and improvement of the middle distance and far distance landscape by, for example, creating lakes, planting trees in clumps and as individuals, and adding "eye catchers" such as classical temples, Romantic ruins and interesting follies. Then there is the formal garden that can be seen from the house windows and when walked through. It will have plants, shrubs and small trees, all arranged in beds that frequently organised geometrically. Then, usually hidden behind a tall wall all around, there is the the kitchen garden where vegetables and fruit are grown for the table of the owners. This may have small workshops and glass houses to enable tender and non-native foods to be grown. Today's photograph shows part of the kitchen garden at Croft Castle, Herefordshire. The rustic path is made of bricks, pebbles and tiles, and on either side, with name tags dangling from them, are different kinds of apple trees.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Fog at Croft Castle

There was a familiar tale recently - the weather forecaster said unbroken sun but we, the weather observers, saw nothing but fog (until the afternoon). Consequently our day out at Croft Castle produced photographs that I hadn't imagined. For much of the time the details of the building's facade were lost and it became a monochromatic, looming pile.

Only when we walked round to the terrace on the south side did we see something of the structure we recognised.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

A font from afar

The church of St John Baptist, Lea, Herefordshire has a remarkable font. It is an Italian stoup bought from an antiques dealer in London in 1909 as a memorial. The shallow bowl has fine decorative carving and stands on a slender column that has a capital made of interlocking rams' heads and a single knot half way down. This column stands on the back of a small elephant. It is thought to date from the late C11 and to be influenced by work in Canossa and Bari. I know of no other font in Britain that is remotely like this example in the small medieval parish church at Lea.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: iPhone

Thirteenth century capital, Much Marcle

The decorative top of a column is known as the "capital". Down the ages people used different designs so consistently that the period in which they were carved can be determined by the style. The capital shown above is in the style known as "stiff leaf", a decorative form favoured in Britain in the thirteenth century. Further stylistic and written evidence enable the capitals to be dated more specifically to c.1230-1240. This example is one of a number of capitals of this period that can be seen in the church of St Bartholomew at Much Marcle, Herefordshire.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

View over Herefordshire

click photo to enlarge
On a recent walk on the Malvern Hills I was reminded how sunlight and clouds can enrich a view of the landscape. Not only do they make it feel more three-dimensional, they focus the viewer's eyes on elements that might otherwise offer less interest. On this shot they also make the foreground, the main subject, feel separate from the bluish, hazy distant landscape.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Beautiful tiny gardens

This terrace with cottage-like fronts is on an urban street in Ledbury, Herefordshire. I've often walked by it and enjoyed how so much has been made of so little. The small canopy porches break up the essentially flat facades and give a focal point to the exterior of each dwelling. Rather than fill the space between the public pavement and the house with solid material - stone, concrete, gravel etc - a very modest garden strip, about two feet deep, has been created and the owners have used it for conifers, annuals, perennial, shrubs, climbing and rambling roses, and pots with plants. This has transformed the buildings and given them a pretty, homely, almost rural character that is a pleasure to behold.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: iPhone

Bronze Norman door knockers

In 1986 I photographed the ornate, bronze sanctuary knocker on the door of Durham Cathedral (above). It was a replica in place of the original that had been there from 1172 until 1977. The purpose of the knocker, as described on the Durham World Heritage Site website was as follows - "Those who ‘had committed a great offence,’ such as murder in self-defence or breaking out of prison, could rap the knocker, and would be given 37 days of sanctuary within which they could try to reconcile with their enemies or plan their escape."

I was reminded of this well-known Norman metal work on a recent visit to the church of St Peter, Dormington in Herefordshire. It also has an ancient door knocker that dates from the 1100s and it too is a replica. The original is held in the Treasury at Hereford Cathedral.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OM 1n

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Dried hops

Herefordshire has long been a county where hops are grown. However, the old traditions of cultivating this essential ingredient in beer making have given way to more modern methods. Tall hop kilns no longer feature. Nor are migrant workers from cities employed on a seasonal basis. Where stilts were once used to allow the workers to reach the plants that grew up tall poles and strings, today low-growing plants that grow hedge-like are more easily harvested. One tradition that hasn't been lost, however, is the decoration of churches in hop growing areas with the leaves and flowers of the hops. The dried examples in the photograph were displayed round the chancel arch at St Peter, Dormington.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Belligerent mute swans

This pair of mute swans appear to be the best of friends. However, they also both appear to be males (cobs) and prior to this piece of seemingly amicable side-by-side swimming they were noisily chasing and squaring up to each other. When swans place their wings in this arched, raised position and vigorously propel themselves through the water (called "busking") it is a sign of belligerence. I photographed the pair after setting the camera exposure at -0.7 EV. It was necessary to avoid overxposing the white feathers. It also produced the happy result of darkening the water and making the birds more prominent in the image.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

Looking across Herefordshire

 click image to enlarge

One of our favourite views of Herefordshire is the prospect seen as we look back when climbing to the summit of Worcestershire Beacon on the Malvern Hills. The wooded nature of the county is evident as is the undulating landscape overlaid with the ancient network of hedged fields. The mixed agriculture of sheep, cattle, arable and fruit can be discerned as can the small villages and farmsteads. On the distant horizon are the western hills leading up to the Welsh mountains. This larger than usual photograph was taken on 25th April 2023, a time when a late and colder than usual spring was beginning to make itself felt.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Front and back

There are not many houses that have more money spent on the back elevation than on the front. They do exist but buildings with more elaborate fronts than backs are pretty much the rule. That is even the case with Britain's country houses, i.e. the houses that were (and to a lesser extent still are) erected by the country's wealthy.

 Berrington Hall near Leominster, Herefordshire, was built in the late C18 by the architect, Henry Holland, and though he took care with, and spent money on, the rear elevation, it has service buildings - kitchens, stables, a laundry etc, and an open courtyard, that would always have impinged on a more opulent rear elevation. Today these utilitarian buildings make useful locations for the cafe, toilets, bookshop etc that visitors to the now National Trust owned property can use.

photo 1 © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300
photo 2 © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5