Lower Brockhampton House

click photo to enlarge
Lower Brockhampton House is located in a small valley near Bromyard, Herefordshire. It is a timber-framed manor house that dates from the early 1400s. It is still almost completely surrounded by a moat, with a gatehouse of c.1542-3 giving the visitor access to the garden and main building. The house received additions in the 1600s and it remained a residence for most of its life until it was given to the National Trust in 1946. The last owner's family had lived there for more than twenty generations.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: iPhone

Oxburgh Hall, Norfolk

Sometimes there is a coming together of time of day, season, weather and position such that you can't help taking what I call a "tourist shot". On a recent visit to Oxburgh Hall in Norfolk, a mainly brick fortified house of 1482 and later, such a confluence occurred and I took the above photograph. What you might not initially notice, however, is the aspect that detracts from the image, namely the green/yellow, scum-like blanket weed on the surface of part of the moat caused by eutrophication. The covering isn't entirely of this source; the darker areas are water lily leaves, also present in large numbers. I imagine work is done to control the weed, but the recent very hot, dry weather can't have made that job easier.

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