Rather than spread this out into a long series of blog posts, I’ve condensed the various day trips into a single entry.
Abbey House Gardens
Of course there’s a visit to Abbey House Gardens, isn’t there always? May this time, and the gardens looked good. And yes, it was a clothes optional visit – I’ve only been once when it hasn’t been!
Bowdown Woods/Thatcham
In early July I met a former colleague (now good friend) for a catch up and we had a wander round the woods and surrounding area – the edge of the former airbase at Greenham Common, the Kennet and Avon Canal. Rather nice, if a bit warm!
Not many photos as that wasn’t the real purpose of the day – but the B&W ones were taken on my Fuji X-T20 and an IR filter, so these are genuine IR images not a fake IR effect.
Caen Hill Locks
The flight of locks on the Kennet and Avon Canal at Caen Hill are well worth a visit.
Most of the B&W ones are again taken with the IR filter, but there are also some film shots in there.
Pershore Confetti Farm
A friend tipped me off about the flower confetti farm at Pershore in Worcestershire last year, but I didn’t make it – they are only open to the public for one week a year. But we made it this time, and it’s rather beautiful.
Exmouth
OK, this is a slight cheat as there are photos from two trips here.
The first was the annual naked boat trip up the Exe, blessed with good weather, and the other was a visit in November.
Dark Skies Workshop
In November I attend a Dark Skies Photography workshop at Humble By Nature in Monmouth – this is a working farm owned by Kate Humble, where they run a wide variety of courses, lambing, hedge making, cookery, crafts and all sorts.
The workshop was run by David Broadbent, who runs the Forest of Dean & Wye Valley School of Photography, and was well worth attending – I would never have thought of pushing the ISO right up so high and trying to photography bats as they flew past!
The biggest disappointment was that Ms Humble herself wasn’t there…
