A Different Destination, Still Interesting

It is often interesting to set off for a prescribed destination, and minor disappointment when that becomes not possible, but often that can still prove to be worthwhile, and that was the case in this instance, for the result was I met some interesting people. Yes, we kept our distance, but this did not prove to be a hindrance, I learned something from those I met, and we all seemed to enjoy our chance meeting, and I was allowed to take photographs up close in some of the front gardens.

The original plan was to find access to a group of lakes, but they appeared to be entirely inaccessible to the public, and so, undeterred, I move on elsewhere, and soon find subjects for my camera — the subject soon presented itself to me — as I drove away from my initial disappointment, ahead a field of Gold was revealed; the first fields of rapeseed I had so far seen this season, so I pulled the car over to a convenient spot to park. I noted that I had been to this spot before, around three or more years back, and captured an evening sky. On this trip, I had parked in the spot as before, and taken a stroll along the nearby road towards the field where I captured a few landscapes of rapeseed, before returning along the lane for shots of a distant horse, a chat with a couple who had been passing me after traversing the path through the field of rape. The man turned out to be an angler who was able to suggest a good spot to see kingfishers.

On the journey back to the car, I met two more of the residents of these cottages, allowing me to record some shots in their respective gardens, and to stop long enough to chat, whilst maintaining at a respective distance. I also crossed across a small planking bridge to get a couple of shots through the trees to an open grass area that was a right of way to distant fields. I managed a glimpse of a robin just before leaving this spot, and heading for home after a brief chat with a man mowing his large lawn between his current cottage home and his erstwhile large home, now his son’s family abode. I hope that his break to chat to me did not delay his completion of mowing, since this was no small lawn! A church bathed in sunshine later attracted my attention as that was also having its lawns mown, I was offered a chance to view the interior, but on this occasion I declined, but perhaps I will take up the offer at a later date.

I stopped once more, on a bend with a view of the large former Country House at Ampthill, that is now divided into flats that I had earlier photographed from Stewartby with my long Sigma lens a while back. The reason for this brief stop was the abundance of trees sporting mistletoe balls of varying sizes, but I took advantage of a shot of the big house as well.

Ampthill Christmas Lights – Switch On

Andy Fox came around to drop off the last of a series of mounted prints that now adorn the walls of my new home, and casually mentioned that he and his wife, Debbie were going to the switching on of the Christmas Lights in Ampthill that evening, and this struck me as a good way to spend the late afternoon and early evening as it was generally well-attended and a good show.

Since my arrival was not likely to be all that early I decided not to chance going too far into Ampthill to park, but I do need all the exercise I can get, so I parked just off the A507, giving myself a fair trek to reach the town centre; I soon found I had been overly cautious, as it soon became apparent I could have parked far closer, but I was not going to waste time and petrol to make the change. It also gave me a chance to add to my stock of images of autumn and textures.

The central roundabout had the access to the High Street barricaded off to make it a pedestrian thoroughfare and the Sainsburys car park had become a funfair with stalls, rides and charity tents and was filling with people when I arrived, and though the afternoon was cold, it was still bright and families were along full of the festive spirit. The decorations were mainly confined to shop windows, and the lighting scheduled to be lit were not extravagant, but that mattered not a jot – the atmosphere engendered by the throngs of people was all that mattered and the street was a happy place with chattering children and shiny balloons depicting Minions, Mickey Mouse, Super heroes and Ponies, and it was not long before one was lost to the sky, but I did not hear the sounds of crying for its loss, just a few adults remarking that it was on its way to the stars!

There was dancing and music playing in the run-up to the count down and dusk began encroaching very gradually with the crowd density increasing in direct proportion to the darkening of the sky. As I recorded the scene unfolding I spared a thought for such gatherings on the continent realising just how fragile was this peaceful scene I was witnessing, and I wondered how many of those present sensed those same sentiments – if they did, it certainly did not show or dampen their spirits, for which I was grateful. It is however worth at least understanding how tenuous this grip on everyday normality really is at this time, whilst not becoming despondent and fearful.

I enjoyed the event very much and was really grateful to Andy who brought the event to my notice, I hope I have captured the essence of the evening in the gallery of images.

Warm Walk in the Country

April 1st – No joke, it is sunny and warm, with almost edge to edge blue sky and contrails from jets at high altitude supply the only clouds, and because I listened to the forecast for a chilly day, I was over-dressed and walking the circular route around Hexton near Hitchin with a camera bag and three cameras proved to be very warm.

There came a point in the walk where I arrived at a road and no marker of which route to take, and with the benefit of hindsight, I realise I chose wrongly so although I probably covered the distance, I think my second half was not along the correct route. However it did mean that the sun was no longer in my face, but on my back. I arrived back at where I parked the car, had a brief lunch and some orange juice, and spotted the entrance to Barton Chalk pits.

I decided that here might be a chance to spot local wildlife, but sadly these were not pits, just workings into the hillside, so no water, a very pleasant place to walk and admire the scenery, but with a high sun little in the way of picture opportunities, but I did have company; I met and chatted to someone who had hoped to find butterflies or birds, but like me was destined for disappointment.

I drove from there to Pulloxhill which had a charming cottage in its centre and on to Flitten with a splendid church, before returning via  Beadlow (where I spotted the bright yellow and pink blossom beside the road), to Ampthill Park. I wandered firstly to a small pond I had spotted from the main road, but was barely there a second before a single young coot disappeared into the reads and cover. So I walked back and over the hill to another larger pond that could just be classified as a lake where a few fishermen were still there, though I saw activity that suggested not for much longer! I managed to catch an equally fleeting glimpse of a squirrel that had made its mind up that I meant danger, and promptly scampered from one tree to the next to put a distance between us.

Certainly, this day was the longest day of exercise in the great outdoors since last year.

Houghton Circular Walk

Houghton House is an attractive wreck of a building just outside Ampthill, in Bedfordshire with spectacular views across towards Stewartby with its four remaining chimneys from its days as a brickworks, that have been awarded listed status, retained I gather from my colleague Andy Fox as an aerial landmark, though searching the internet, I can find no corroboration of this.

The idea of a circular walk from this house was proposed by Andy, so we met at his place and drove to the house and parked up. I decided that whilst walking the 70-200mm zoom was a better bet than the 300mm, but how wrong could I be? Once we had walked to the house,we spotted three large birds (which turned out to be red kite) soaring in the warm air not too distant from us, with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight I should have gone back for the longer zoom, but it seemed too far back and I thought the birds might have disappeared in the meantime. Shame, because they performed in front of us for more than half-an hour! My shots were worthless. Andy who had a 300mm took some very nice shots. He has Nikon gear, I have Canon, so a swap was not on the cards.

Whilst we were there, a posse of photographers with a bride and groom arrived to use the derelict house as a backdrop, to my mind a somewhat bizarre linking, but each to their own.

We set off up the tree-lined avenue, past the farm, and water tank, close by another farm, and I learned more about this area that Andy had travelled since his childhood, he mentioned he had come across rusting cars in earlier days, and soon spotted the final remains of at least one by a young tree, we joked about shooting what we found in different seasons with puns such ‘Spring in Summer’, and later we found a saw; Andy saw it first!

At either end of Holly walk are Lodge-style cottages, both of which had once been thatched, but the first is now tiled which makes the chimneys seem far higher. Altogether a great way to spend Saturday afternoon, thanks Andy.

Ampthill – The Firs, Frost and Footballers

Having got up early to get my haircut, I did not want to waste that extra time, especially as the sun was shining in a clear blue sky, after several days of grey gloom – I therefore texted Andy Fox to see whether he was interested in joining me to go out for a morning’s photography.

He soon phoned me back to say yes, so after sorting a few remnants from Saturday’s work, I gathered a few cameras and lenses and drove to meet him at Clophill and we both transferred to his car and he drove me to Ampthill, and we set off to walk through The Firs, with Andy giving me a running History commentary – if there is a gap in his local knowledge, I think only the local historian could fill it!

Andy has a photographic project needing a sport-related image, so we both stood behind the goal to capture something of the two teams playing, before moving deeper into the woods and up the hill to the renowned wild heather. There were a great number of dog walkers, bike riders and walkers out in the crisp morning air. The strong low sun meant that the silver birch fairly gleamed against clear rich blue of the sky, and the frosty leaves were now slowly melting to droplets of water. We walked beyond the heather to a gate that led to the War Memorial and the Almeda, a tree-lined avenue of Lime trees that had been newly shaved. We stopped by the memorial and both captured a few close-ups of the crosses and wreaths thereon. Returning eventually to the Ampthill road with its thatched cottages and tiles eyebrows above a window of a lodge-like building, and Andy’s car, we then drove further for Andy to show me the ruin of Houghton House .

An Ampthill Leafy Wall

On my way to my accountant, I find a wall of red leaves that screams out to be photographed.

Images from such a source proves ideal for background images when creating cards; these can be for simple messages of gratitude, or for a wide range of other purposes, so I keep collecting.

There was also a very large spider, a shield bug and some fascinating seed structures. Leaves hold an enduring fascination for me, and the challenge is to capture the curves, the texture, the detail and the colour in pleasing compositions – the leaves may die, but their images remain for so much longer than the moment.