Great Amwell

Choosing a meeting venue with an English couple and Golden Retriever who have spent the last several years in Provence was a challenge I faced on Wednesday. The idea was to meet somewhere halfway between where I am located near Luton, and London where Peter and Diana have their English base.

A motorway service station was not going to fit the bill, and the direct link was the M1, so I chose a spot I had first been to some three years back when working for a whole day covering the photographing of a series of Hertfordshire projects for Tom Williams of Maydencroft Rurals – Amwell Nature Reserve, close by Ware.

The spot I chose was in the heart of the village; the George IV public house, and despite setting out from our respective bases in London and Luton at differing times, I arrived within a minute of Peter. The purpose behind our meeting was he was shedding his London home of several Bowens electronic flash heads, and they would add to my own kit handily.

The handover would take place later, for the moment we would take a wander through the nearby graveyard which was awash with a profusion of snowdrops, and as graveyards go, this one was charming as it was hilly with pathways winding through trees, and so quiet and peaceful. All three of us chatted as we walked around and finally made our way towards the New River, with its ducks, geese and coots, and the tranquil island with its massive Weeping Willow and beyond a redwood tree rising ramrod straight into the grey sky, with both providing serene reflections in the glassy surface of water. That was one side of the bridge, and on the other an old rustic cottage currently up for sale.

We crossed across a quiet road, and eventually came to a gated railway crossing whose sign implied we were required to phone to check it was safe to cross if we had a dog, however, when I did phone I was told patiently the warning was really meant to cover the moving of animals in groups across the tracks, such as sheep and cattle!

We walked alongside the canal, sometimes with Daisy unleashed, sometimes under more strict control, taking in views across the wetlands to the hides and the golden reedbeds. we looped around and finally back up to the pub, where we had a light snack lunch with wide ranging conversation covering Peter and Diana’s joint careers as photographer and stylist and life around the world, but they have a lot of decorating to complete before returning to France, so it was time to transfer the flash gear to my car and let them go back to painting ceilings.

For all of us it was great break, and we were soon back on the road.