Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Wychwood Wild Garden



A couple of weeks ago I paid a visit to the lovely Cotswold village of Shipton-under-Wychwood, a place that takes part of its name, along with a couple of other nearby villages, from the ancient forest of Wychwood.

In past centuries this forest sprawled across a large area of rural Oxfordshire, at its height in the 12th century, the forest covered some 50,000 acres. It is of course now a shadow of its former self, and since it was enclosed in 1887, 870 hectares is all that remains of the woodland that was once home to forest fairs so riotous they were eventually banned.

Friday, December 5, 2014

Northumberland Day 3 - Exploring castles inside & out





For my last sunrise location of the trip, I took an early morning drive over to Dunstan Heads, to get another view of the magnificent ruins of Dunstanburgh Castle. Once I had arrived on the coast, it was a 20 minute walk over the neighbouring golf course, which thankfully at this time of the morning was deserted, to get to the dramatic coastline.

The ocean shore along this stretch of remote headland is strewn with large, weathered boulders, worn smooth from the constant pounding of the relentless surf and battering winds.