Cotswolds tour part two

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On the second day of my mini tour around the Gloucestershire Cotswolds, I found myself in the early spring sunshine on the banks of the River Windrush, as it slowly ambles through the popular Cotswold village of Bourton-on-the-Water.

The term village of course is somewhat of a misnomer, as the number of permanent residents in Bourton outnumber those of nearby Stow-on-the-Wold and Burford, both of which are considered small market towns, despite neither of them boasting a market. It’s all very confusing. 

During peak tourist months, the number of visitors easily outrank residents, which, if you’ve ever visited during the summer, and seen the hordes of people lounging next to the river and milling around the shops, is not hard to believe for a second.

The Cotswolds on a sunny morning

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It was high time to get some sunrise images of my local area, as I hadn't been out for a while, mainly because sunrise is about 5 am at this time of year, and frankly I just couldn't drag myself out of bed in time. It's one thing to be on location and know that you only have a few days to get the shots you want, but quite another when you're at home and you know there will always be tomorrow...

So after some determined effort to get up and about, I found myself down on the banks of the River Windrush at 4.30 in the morning, I followed its path as it languidly snakes its way from Burford towards Swinbrook on the look out for a suitable spot to watch the sun appear.

Exmoor Day 3 - The Barle Valley up close

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I emerged from my dripping tent, thanks to a boatload of early morning condensation, to a very dim vista, so I couldn’t yet tell what the sky had in store. I jumped in the car, well more sort of slumped, at that time in the morning, and headed towards the Exe Valley again, in the hope I might get a decent start to the day.

I set up in the pre-dawn gloom and prepared myself for the sunrise to come, which was all well and good, except there wasn’t one. Just a dim grey sky turning slowly into a slightly less dim grey sky.

The grey clouds have come out rather blue in this picture, which actually makes the scene look a lot better
than it was.

Stanton & Stanway

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Early morning a week or so ago, I paid a visit to two of my favourite spots in the Cotswolds, namely Stanton and Stanway. The main cause for my visit was to complete a commission, but it's always a pleasure to spend some time in these idyllic Cotswold villages.

Taken from the Mount Inn, looking over the village of Stanton, out to the vale of Evesham and towards
the Malvern Hills and the Welsh Mountains

An afternoon in the meadow

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Finding myself at a loose end a couple of weeks ago, I took a stroll down to Burford meadow, a relatively small patch of land that encompasses a section of the River Windrush, as it meanders on its picturesque journey through the Cotswolds, before spilling into the Thames at Newbridge.

The meadow was sporting a good crop of buttercups, and a handsome herd of cows, so it was no chore to spend an afternoon wandering over the boggy ground, amongst the fresh spring growth.

Loud and quiet

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I was out the other morning down by the local river, taking advantage of the weather. We’ve had a lot of rain recently, so the fields were flooded, but, there wasn’t any rain that morning, meaning I could get some pictures. It was the perfect storm, except without the storm.

The tranquillity of trees

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Minster Lovell Hall from a distance, and hidden by trees. Getting a closer shot proved to be a problem.

Following on from my last post about capturing a hard frost at Minster Lovell Hall, an English Heritage property not far from where I live. It occurred to me last weekend, that I should pay it another visit, what with all the flooding we’ve had recently, I thought it might be a good time to go back, and see if I could get some nice reflections of the ruined hall in the swollen river.

A large helping of frost

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With the weather getting slightly chillier, but not by much, we haven’t seen a great deal of frost about, certainly no sign of that mighty frigid roarer; the hoarfrost, so until that Polar Vortex comes barging it’s way over here, I dug out a few frosty snaps to tide me over.

These were taken in the grounds of Minster Lovell Hall last winter. Which is just as well, as the site is flooded at the moment, thanks in no small part to the adamant desire of the rain recently, to place as much of the country under a couple of feet of murky water as possible.

They were taken first thing in the morning, while the sun was just bobbing up over the horizon, and before it could start to nibble away at the delicate, frosty tendrils that incrusted every surface, and simmer away the delicate mist hanging amongst the trees.

And while processing them afterwards, I thought they lent themselves to rather well to a sepia glow, so that is what they got.

Fingers crossed for some of that polar fury to blow this way…

Vintage Cars

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I attended the Witney Steam and Vintage Fair the other day, and as you can probably surmise by the name, it was full of people showing off their steam engines and vintage cars.

I do like a bit of steam engine action, so I was looking forward to catching those snarling helions as they rumbled and clanked around the arena, to the glorious sound of raw 18th century fury.

Extreme apertures in the lavender fields

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I took a trip to Snowshill Lavender Farm the other weekend to get some shots of the lavender fields in full bloom, and I was looking to get something a bit different from the usual purple rows you see so often.

The Puddle That Stays With Me, Always

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I took a little jaunt into the Cotswolds the other day and, inspired by the images of reeds and water I took a few days previously, whilst I was in Widford I forsook the natural beauty of the surrounding wolds and valleys, and found myself a nice big puddle to settle down with. 

And I have to say, our time together was some of the best of my entire life. We talked and laughed and dreamed our dreams, it was as if time had stood still for us. But as with all things, nothing can last forever, so in the end I had to say goodbye and move on with my life, plus I had to get home for my tea, it was fish fingers and spaghetti that evening, and I wasn’t about to miss it.

But I can’t seem forget that puddle, and something tells me I never will.

At least I have the memories…

Reeds, Water & A Long Exposure

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I took a recent excursion to a local fishing lake to get some watery shots and I liked it so much, that I had to go back again. This time though the weather wasn't in cahoots with my intentions, so my attempts at apprehending the setting sun and incarcerating it in my digital casket did not go to plan. That wily old sun. 

But as I was making my way out through the undergrowth I came across some reeds that caught my fancy. There was a bit of breeze about the place which didn't look too good on the water surface, so I set up my ever dependable tripod and prepared for some long exposures.

I wanted the surface of the water to be as smooth as possible so I did what I could to minimise the amount of light that was able to enter the lens, thereby extending the exposure as much as I could. This would dissipate the ripples, as they would all blur into each other, thus creating the illusion of a smooth finish, ideally.

I did this by closing the apperture to f/22 and bringing down the ISO to 50, or L as it's known on my camera. I would normally do neither of these things, as they each result in a loss of picture quality, but I decided the ends justified the means. Nothing was going to deter me from my plotted course.

Nothing. 

f/22, ISO 50, 6 second exposure

I visited a local fishing lake recently but I didn't want to go fishing.

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I will admit though that I had a private, urgent need that required satisfaction. And yet, I didn't have the slightest desire to stand, tackle in hand, on the banks of this great pond and while away the hours tugging on my rod (And no, it is not wile). So now we have cleared that up, as many an angler has had to do. I will admit that my great need was to get some images of water.

You know how you might get a hankering for a certain type of food all of a sudden, and nothing will make it go away until that craving for a century egg or Casu Marzu or whatever floats your boat is satiated. Well that is the position I found myself in. I wanted some reflections and I wanted them right away.

So I headed to the aforementioned fishing lake at sundown to see what I could find and I was pleasantly surprised. The sun for its part was ‘playing the game’ and I managed to get a few nice shots in the bag. Nothing earth shattering, but they gratified the flustering urge that had been growing inside me.

And after that lazy sun had slumped beneath the horizon, I sauntered past the fishermen, still grappling with their wet flies and wooly worms, with many pleasing thoughts filling my contented mind.

As the sun was saying goodbye it deposited some golden tones
on the blue/grey lake which worked well.

The Cotswolds on a sunny afternoon in Spring

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It’s been quite a while since I last posted, mainly due to malaise, and the fact that it’s been a while since I last picked up my camera, predominantly for the same reasons.

But the guilt of having an expensive piece of machinery sat about gathering dust, along with a low hanging chimerical smear of cloud gently, but insistently draping a curtain of shame over the back of my mind for not ‘getting out there’ and ‘capturing the light’ etc etc, ad nauseum, was enough to spur me to action.

So action is what happened.

I took an action packed trip up the road and got some pictures my local area, so here they are, with a bit of info culled from various tourist sites about the Cotswolds.

“The Cotswolds is the most 'quintessentially English' and unspoiled region of England where you cannot help but fall in love with the uniqueness of it.”