Hazy Days and The Six

Flaming June is living up to its name and last week we took advantage of the weather.  At the invitation of fellow blogger Polyester Princess (Polyester Princess (polyester-princess.blogspot.com)), we joined Ann and Jos - over from Belgium for a holiday in Shropshire - and long standing friends, Vix and Jon, at Attingham Park for an epic 6 hour bloggers and partners' meet up.  You can read Vix's account of our day with its inspired title here: Vintage Vixen: Attingham Park with the Princess & the Peach (vintagevixon.blogspot.com)

Whilst I already feel like I know Ann quite well through reading her blog, it was the first time we'd met in the flesh and didn't we have fun?

First a coffee and a catch up, so I'll give you a little info on Attingham Park, a Regency mansion under the care and control of the National Trust.

The property was built to impress and commissioned in 1782 for the first Lord Berwick.  Twenty first century suburban equivalents include grey UPVC windows, anti theft driveway car barriers, block paved driveways (in and out even better), key code electric opening Blenheim gates, kitchen bifold doors, double garages and garden rooms.  You get the picture.

We took an exclusive tour of the East wing, occupied from the mid 1980s until his death a few years ago, by one Bronx born Edwin Cohen.  Born into a working class New York family, Cohen developed an obsession with antiques from an early age, courtesy of being taken to work by his mother and being captivated by the furniture and collections housed by her wealthy employers.  A bright student, Cohen ended up attending a minor Ivy League college before embarking upon a career as a stock broker.  The thrill of finding and securing a bargain at auction became a lifelong pursuit and after taking on a lease for Attingham's East Wing, set about installing his ever increasing collection of Georgian furniture and living the life of a member of the landed English gentry. Yes, he had monogrammed towels.

Sadly photos were discouraged, so you'll have to take my word for it when I say that the tour was well worthwhile, conducted by a passionate and knowledgeable guide and, dare I say, more relatable than most.  Aside from the fact that Cohen's story ended here in middle England, it was very much the American dream.

Artist at work in the entrance hallway

After lunch in the former stables, we headed outside.

This land is your land!  

Berwick and his successors may have staked their claim to the estate, but the archaeology of Attingham Park is diverse, covering many different periods of history and human habitation.  People have lived in the area of the estate for around 4,000 years since the Bronze Age, utilising the rich soil for agriculture.   The Berwick name itself derives from the medieval village Berwick Maviston, although Lord Berwick removed the village from his land.  There are seven scheduled ancient monuments across the wider estate, including an Iron Age settlement, Roman forts and Saxon palace remains.

Next, we headed for the walled garden, pleased to note how many areas had been left for nature to claim.

Of course, there were well tended gardens growing alongside their wild border neighbours, in perfect harmony.

Check out these gorgeous double headed Oriental Poppies...

...and I'm pleased to report that the pollinators were out in force.

The temperature was hovering around the mid twenties, but the humidity encouraged us to seek the dappled shade of the apple orchard.  We took some persuading to move from this spot...

...made even more magical by their unusual flowers.

I could do with a few dozen of these mirrored flowers to deter the magpies intent on terrorising our resident nesting blackbirds here at home.

More mysterious figures emerged from the long grass as we explored.

Created by Scottish artist, Rob Mulholland and on loan for the summer, they couldn't have looked more at home in the apple orchard, reflecting the sights and sounds of nature...and these stylish creatures.

From here, we followed the winding woodland path into the deer park.  The park was landscaped by Humphry Repton and incorporates the deer park with its 200-300 Fallow deer (descendants of the original herd).  

The park is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest due to it being home to many rare species of invertebrates.  The amount of deadwood left by fallen trees around the parkland makes it the perfect habitat for a variety of different species, principally beetles.

Despite our floaty summer outfits, hats and copious amounts of sun cream, refreshments were required at this point, our thirst fuelled by the site of the estate cattle, drinking from the River Tern flowing through the centre of the estate.  

Back in the stable yard we continued to chat until the cafe shut up shop.  

Reluctantly, we headed back to the car park and exchanged gifts before saying our goodbyes.  Ann and Jos treated us to some Belgian beers (one brewed in their town, Contje - a not so polite word for "bottom"), sweets ("Noses") and the best chocolates on the planet.  

Ann also generously gifted me these treasures; a camera printed tote bag made by a friend from Berlin, tapestry bag, brooch, honeycomb earrings, vibrant bangles, a funky floral maxi skirt and patchouli scented drawer sachet.  

A couple of days later, we were delighted to hear from Ann that they were planning to visit Kinver Rock Houses.  We met them and took them on an exhausting, but not exhaustive tour of Kinver Edge, taking in Nanny's Rock, Iron Age hill fort and the brass relief map, before leaving them to enjoy the Rock Houses.  

After a thoroughly enjoyable couple of days, the world seems somehow smaller, but brighter.  

And I Would Walk 500 Miles

Don't be misled by the title of this post - it's a nod to National Hiking Day, which fell on Thursday 17th November and has inspired me to sit down at my pc (the irony!)

The reality of National Hiking Day was a gloomy day with a notable dip in temperature and a bracing wind; quite a shock to the system after the weekend's balmy temperatures.  As such, on the day itself, I managed only to walk to our local primary school to donate an outdoor family portrait voucher to the Christmas Fayre prize fund.  I know, I know, there's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes. Nonetheless, I still need to allow myself a period of adjustment and to dig out the hats and gloves and on this day, I wasn't feeling it.  

Still, rewinding a little to the week leading up to Remembrance Sunday, I popped to a local church (Amblecote's Holy Trinity Church of England), to photograph the impressive display of poppies - made from recyclable plastic bottles - adorning the exterior walls.

Every year we remember, but will we ever learn?

We also managed a couple of decent walks, the first commencing from Enville Hall.  There really is something magical about this place.  Every photo I have ever taken here seems to have a particular quality that has little to do with any skill on my part.

This is Temple Lake in the afternoon sun.

Heading up and over the hills, known locally as The Sheepwalks (for obvious reasons when you follow their well-trodden path), we stopped to take in the views, although I was rather taken with this tree.  You can read more about the Enville Estate in this previous blog post. Winter Peach Photography: Seeing Stars

On Remembrance Sunday, after some traffic disruption and a tour of the back streets of Dudley, we met up with Vix and Jon for their first ever visit to the Black Country Living Museum.

Thirties Street

You can read a more in-depth report of the day here in Vix's blog - Vintage Vixen: A Bostin' Day Out, Bab! (vintagevixon.blogspot.com).  Gareth and I have been numerous times but enjoyed seeing it afresh through someone else's eyes.  

The BCLM has always been the most atmospheric of places, appearing in numerous TV and Film Productions (most notably Peaky Blinders, Stephen Poliakoff's Dancing on the Edge and the recent Sky production The Colour Room), although the new visitor centre and appearance of Wolverhampton's Elephant & Castle pub is reflecting the passage of time and heralding real change in the near future.  

The new pub was recreated as opposed to being translocated and as such, the brickwork had a distinctly new appearance.  Likewise, the interior was shiny and new and completely odourless.  Whilst I'm not advocating the reintroduction of smoking in pubs, smoking in pubs was notable by its absence.  

The new old pub, focus very much being on the tiled frontage

As photogenic as the village is, I trained my camera on the details.  Soldiers were very much in evidence...but we also spotted this lovely little tribute outside the chapel.  The chapel window looked beautiful, as viewed from the Apothecary garden, reflecting the sun and showcasing the gorgeous sunshine yellow foliage of an as yet unidentified plant.

Reclamation, shop displays and miners' lamps caught my eye.  This gent belongs in my garden!

The resident chain maker, canalside poster, more reclamation and a little window shopping through the motorcycle shop window.  Toilets might not be for everyone, but I can appreciate a bit of porcelain.

I shoehorned my way into a corner to capture the glow reflected in his goggles, so this one's deserving of a large format repeat.

It was a stroke of luck that we were able to visit in November in sunshine and we ticked all of the requisite boxes for a BCLM visit, including the legendary Hobbs' fish and chips and a sneaky beer at the Bottle & Glass pub.  A truly lovely day!

Another day, another walk.  This time, over Kinver Edge, another favourite.  This time, the sun decided not to accompany us as we made our way through the woodland before taking a path winding back up to the edge.  Instead, the late Autumn foliage illuminated the gloom.

Shhh!  Listen to the silence!

Dampness pervades....

Up on the Edge, we headed to the best vantage point.  This has to be amongst the most photographed houses in the Midlands.  I always try and challenge myself to capture it differently; this time scrambling down a steep slope to shoot through the rosehips.

Heading back down to the car park, here's the first glimpse of the National Trust Rock Houses, framed by the trees.

We also squeezed in another walk with our friends Neil and Laura in the atmospheric Hurcott Wood, although I failed to take a single photo until the journey home, when the moody sky and sunlight were going head to head for control of the skies!

As is so often the case these days, darkness prevailed.

In other news, I've been taking baby steps towards organising a new elopement wedding shoot, giving life to another idea I've been mulling over.  I'm cribbing the title from the Dua Lipa album Future Nostalgia.  Fingers crossed I can assemble another wonderful team of suppliers.

Always keen to try something new, I've also been experimenting with "freelensing" a technique where the lens is detached from the camera and just held loosely in place.  It really plays with focal planes and I think produces dreamlike results.  These are my first attempts in the garden, in dying light, so not the best conditions.  

Talking of dreams, I often fail to remember mine, but when I do, they are usually pretty detailed and often quite bizarre.  Usually, I can somehow trace their roots to something I've read, seen or heard, but I can't for the life of me explain my intense and lengthy conversations with Peter Hook (the bass player from the band New Order), whilst walking around quite a picturesque market town - vividly recalled but unknown to me.  It's not up there with the most bizarre dreams I've had (Gareth's dream that I was having an affair with Danny DeVito probably tops that list), but it was unusual.  Who or what has consumed your recent dreams?

Til' next time!