So Long September

So the heady days of summer seem to be well and truly behind us.  We're layering up and stepping away from the thermostat, consuming damsons and apples in abundance and on our walks, observing distinctly autumnal landscapes as slowly, but surely, the trees reveal their skeletal frames.  Things are getting twisted.  Spooky season is almost upon us!

Born from the charcoal remains of one of the woodland casualties of the summer fires...

...this dragon emerges from his slumber.

After another manic week, I can confirm that the woodland elopement shoot went very well, but I'm afraid that's all I can say for now, as the shoot is scheduled to be featured in an industry blog next month, so for now, my lips are sealed, although there are a few permitted sneak peaks on my Instagram accounts.  

So what else have I been up to, other than editing photos and touting them around town?  Here's a brief rundown of people, places and consumption of media.

A couple of weeks ago, in the dying days of summer, I had a lovely visit from my oldest friend, Sarah.  We met at primary school, but don't get to see each other so often these days as Sarah lives in London and is a busy working actress/writer/mother to two young boys.  Shortly after her visit, my Mom discovered some old photos of the two of us.  

Here we are, having a Hot Fuzz moment in a model village somewhere in the Cotswolds.

And now.  Sadly, I can't share the photo of the two of us, as I was doing a slow blink and I don't want to scare you.  Mercifully, Sarah and my Mom are way more photogenic.

Books:

I've finished reading "And Away" Bob Mortimer's amusing and highly digestible autobiography. I'll shortly be moving on to either Victoria Hislop's Cartes Postales from Greece or My Uncle Oswald by Roald Dahl (two more differing reads you would struggle to find...the joy of charity shops!)

TV we've watched and enjoyed:

Trainwreck:  Woodstock '99, the Netflix documentary of the ill-fated 90s revival of the original peace and love festival of 1969.  

Bloodlands (BBC)

The first series of this crime drama set in Northern Ireland, contained one of the best plot twists I've seen and the second series is certainly living up to expectations and cranking up the tension.

Cunk on Earth (BBC)

For light relief, look no further.  Her spoof presenter is totally ill equipped to take on the hefty topics assigned to her and her interviews with various academics are priceless.  The writing is sharp and infinitely quotable.

Ka-De-Ve (BBC4) The German subtitled period drama about 4 friends coming of age in 1920s Berlin, centred around the luxury department store.  So far, so brilliant.

FILM: 

The Electrical World of Louis Wain a delightful, bittersweet film about the eccentric artist Louis Wain starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Claire Foy.  

I confess I was unfamiliar with his work prior to watching, but now a convert to his psychedelic cat paintings.  It's a real must-watch for cat lovers with a cameo from Nick Cave too!

As for the places we've visited.  Last weekend we headed to the attractive Warwickshire town of Bideford-on-Avon for the RSVP VW BBQ - a meet for uber cool "rad ride" owners.  Oh my, there were some beauties.

This rare Brasilia, for example with its beautiful patina.

The editor of Hayburner Magazine (a bible for many VW owners) was hanging around this gorgeous Karmann Ghia, which is unsurprising.  What a beauty!

Not a VW, but how cute is this little Renault/caravan combo?

As for this splitscreen, the owner explained to me that it was rescued from New Mexico, where it had languished for years, in use only as target practise.  Its bullet hole scars have now been soldered up and embraced as part of the van's history.

After years of photographing VWs at festivals, nowadays, I tend to zoom in on the details.  I spotted a few familiar stickers...

and...rusty roof tops.

More rear windows, the latter containing some pretty bold statements and life advice.

I loved the contrast between the ageing paintwork and shiny new Porsche wheels on this old bus.

This windscreen was not an easy fit...third time lucky.

However, I have a tendency to glaze over when people take more than a cursory glance inside an engine or begin to discuss at length their restoration jobs.

I moved on and discovered this couple and their feathered friends.  I'm terrible with names, but what I can recall is that one was 6 years old and the other 22!  They "tolerate" each other apparently.

On Sunday, we headed to Harvington Hall with our friends Neil and Laura.

It's some months since our last visit to the grounds of the house (read about it here Winter Peach Photography: Horticulture, History and a Hint of Intrigue).  This time we headed inside to locate the seven priest holes hidden within its walls.  Harvington is known as an Elizabethan manor house and for its role during the period of catholic persecution, although its moat and artificial island date back to the 13th century.

We opted for free flow tickets and wafted through the atmospheric house, picking up little nuggets of information from the enthusiastic volunteers along the way.

The kitchen contained a well, which was extremely rare for this period.  The water was taken directly from the moat (certainly not safe to drink), but is given a clean bill of health once it reaches the well, courtesy of natural sandstone filtration. 

The stained glass on the ground floor depicts Sir (and Saint) Thomas More, English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, statesman and Lord High Chancellor for Henry VIII, who later executed him after he refused to take the Oath of Supremacy.  His parting words were:  "I die the King's good servant and God's first."

The custodians of the house had clearly heard I was visiting, as they had kindly laid out my big dress in readiness.

Framing Laura.

Under a layer of whitewash in 1936, this Elizabethan arabesque style two tailed mermaid wall painting was uncovered.  It has been speculated that this may have been the work of a Flemish artist brought to the Hall from London.

Many of the walls were decorated...

...including the impressive Nine Worthies Passage, decorated with almost life size paintings of nine famous men (the nine worthies).  In Elizabethan and Jacobean houses, this was a favourite decorative theme and the figures were characters that were considered important ideals of chivalry at the time.  The only other surviving depictions of the Nine Worthies still surviving are at Montacute House in Wiltshire (carvings over the main gate) and in Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost.  Only six of the nine remain at Harvington.  I managed to capture two with some clarity.

Hercules

Julius Caesar

As for the priest holes, we found them all, but some are so cleverly concealed, accessed through attic space, reached via a fireplace for example, that they are impossible to photograph.

This one, hidden in plain view in the library, has to be my favourite.  At the top of the steps, you can see a dislodged timber (top right).  This is the opening to the priest hole.

Even more ingenious, is this hole, hidden beneath the staircase. The family would hide jewellery just inside the priest hole, so that if and when it was discovered by a soldier, the soldier would hastily pocket the jewels, assuming this to be nothing other than a clever hiding place for valuables.  He would then guard the hole (and unbeknownst to the soldier, the priests lurking way down inside) with his life to ensure his precious bounty remained a secret from the others.

In other news, I've bought some tulip bulbs and potted a few hyacinth bulbs in my newly acquired £5.00 charity shop find - a vintage 50s Sylvac clam shell planter.  

The waiting begins.  

That's all for now.  On Saturday, I'm off to Birmingham for a fix of Peaky Blinders; this time courtesy of the Rambert Dance ballet entitled "The Redemption of Thomas Shelby."

See you soon!

Wagons and Horses

I'll kick off this post with a nod to its title by revealing....drum roll....that the Loblan cowboy boots do indeed fit!  We'll skip over the messy business of removing them (I'm hoping the leather will soften over time), but once on, they are perfect.

I thought I would model them with the slightly hitched up, trippy galloping horses print maxi skirt mentioned in my last blog.  This is Monday morning me, make up free and making the most of the sunshine.  My entire outfit is second hand and, boots aside, cost me less than £10.00.  The boots at £35.00 were still a bargain when you consider that their retail price is somewhere in the region of £170.00.

On Thursday we popped down to an exclusive little event hosted in a local pub car park.  Not exactly the hottest ticket in town, but if there are classic cars to be seen, Gareth will be there in the blink of an eye and I could challenge myself to get some interesting car photos worthy of a "car porn" hashtag.  Not quite wagons, but bear with me.

The turnout wasn't great.  It seems there are more interesting things to do on a Thursday evening (Gareth's looking at me incredulously).  However, there was a stunning example of a VW squareback in all its 1970s glory.

I loved the addition of this blind in the rear window.  Uber cool!

This VW Beetle with its Porsche wheels was a lovely example.

Can you spot the beautiful Victorian Water Works building in the background?  This beauty is Hinksford Water Works, built in 1900.

Before long, this VW Bug had two companions.

Spot the photobombing poor cousin (a modern Beetle).  That's mine.

I headed home shortly after taking this photo, leaving the petrol heads to their talk of patina and prolonged engine examinations.

The actual "hottest tickets in town" were reserved for Saturday and our long awaited return visit to Giffords Circus, founded by Nell Gifford, who sadly died in 2019 from breast cancer at the age of 44.  Her funeral was attended by her good friend Helena Bonham Carter - another great example of British eccentricity.  

Photo:  Clive Burling

Nell is quoted as saying "I held the jewel of my childhood up to my eye, and through it I saw ponies and a dressing-up box and a tent, and that was Giffords Circus."

Nell read English at New College, Oxford, before running away with more than one circus.  She honed her craft at the US Circus Flora, the Chinese State Circus and Circus Roncalli in Germany, all the time dreaming of creating her own village green circus.

Together, Nell, a gifted horsewoman and Toti Gifford (her former husband) achieved this dream, spending all they had on a round white tent from the Trade It newspaper and building a maroon and gold showman's wagon to live in.  They advertised for performers in The Stage newspaper and held auditions in a dusty little theatre in Cheltenham (now The Playhouse).

The result?  A magical little creative empire, responsible for entertaining over a million people since the turn of the century.  

Inhabited by an international stellar cast of colourful characters including Tweedy the clown, Attila the Hungarian horseman, Ehiopian jugglers, Gabor Vosteen (allegedly capable of playing Mozart on five recorders; three in his mouth and one in each nostril) and Molly Molloy (all things Burlesque), to name but a few.  This nomadic tribe has also been inhabited by Gypsy violinists, magicians, illusionists, opera singers and gymnasts over the years and the assembled performers set up camp annually in and around the Cotswolds area on commons and village greens, welcoming locals, famers, weekenders, tourists, rock stars, artists, pensioners, shop keepers, school children and this weekend, yours truly, Gareth and Vix and Jon.  We were beyond excited to see them both.  

En route, I took quite possibly my favourite windscreen shot ever whilst Gareth grumbled about his unrelenting neck disc pain which seems to trouble him when driving.  Another trip to Nigel might be on the cards.

Our journey was blighted by a disagreement with the sat nav which added at least 20 minutes onto our journey.  Finally, we parked up, deep in the grounds of Sudeley Castle, Winchcombe (famous for being the final resting place of Queen Katherine Parr, the last of Henry VIII's seven wives), found Vix and Jon and toasted our meeting with an IPA.  Soon it was time to take up our seats.  The website suggested that the circus was still operating at full capacity, but in reality, the tent was bursting at the seams and the atmosphere was joyous.  I'll stop rambling now and let the photos tell the story of Carpa! a Mexican themed extravaganza.

Here come the horses...

Upper body strength goals...

Hair raising, but a possible Botox alternative.

Exhilarating stuff!

For us, the treats didn't end there.  Vix and Jon had very thoughtfully brought us both goody bags.  For me, a pair of 70s oversize sunnies, a lovely denim skirt with deep pockets I had commented on, a nourishing sleep mask, some beautiful, artisan made earrings from Greece and a book - Emma Donoghue's Frog Music - which will go on the top of my "To read" pile.

This morning, I modelled the aforementioned sunglasses, earrings and skirt with my French Connection blouse (a second hand find) that has been languishing on my rail for a few years now and has come close to being re-donated a handful of times.  I'm not sure why.  However, I think it's found its team mates.  

Here's a closer look at the earrings...

...and blouse.  The splashes of colour in the slightly abstract butterfly pattern work well with the geometric colour pop of the earrings.

For Gareth, some incense sticks, a selection of teas and a graphic novel by The Dandy Warhols singer/guitarist, Courtney Taylor-Taylor.     

          .

We rounded off our day at the circus with a slap up meal at a fourteenth century coaching inn, The Hobnail...

....before heading into the sunset and home.