Hestercombe

By shendyNo Comments
A few weeks ago we saw a Gardeners' World feature on Hestercombe in Somerset, so we decided to pay a visit. We've found giving up our National Trust membership quite liberating - we'd only tend to consider going to their sites on the grounds we'd have to pay for anywhere else, so having to pay everywhere means we can go (theoretically) anywhere. Anyway, Hestercombe is lovely, well worth a visit....
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Jekka’s Herb Farm

By shendyNo Comments
On Friday, we went to Jekka's Herb Farm just outside Bristol. The business is generally mail-order only but they open up to the public on a few days each year - there was even a bus full of Dutch people on a garden tour. We've been a few times in the past, and it's an interesting place with a variety of photographic opportunities - and there are always plenty of bees around....
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Butterfly World

By shendyNo Comments
A couple of weekends ago I took a trip up to Butterfly World near St Albans - a butterfly conservation centre. And it was another clothes-optional thing, which was nice. They have a number of small gardens, each designed by different people, some of which were rather good, plus a butterfly house and an ant house. The main learning from the day was that I need a new macro lens - the £100 Cosina one I bought 10+ years ago isn't very good. Oh, and that photographing ants is bloody difficult!...
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Stars, Butterflies and Black & White

By shendyNo Comments
As the weather was nice, I took a half day on Friday and headed down to Dorset to camp for the night - the annual Perseid meteor shower was due to peak on Saturday night but I'd seen that the forecast wasn't great for then so tried to make the most of Friday. And it was well worth it - the skies were fantastically clear and I had a great view of the stars - and managed to see probably 20 Perseids over the course of a couple of hours until the moon rose just after 1am. This is the International Space Station And so is this - would have been a far better picture if I'd taken a bit more time to think about it and compose it properly. This is the only shot I got that includes a Perseid. I must have taken about 50 photos of the sky but this is the only one that caught something. Not as easy as...
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