Dreams Of Home

For many years "home" for me was the pretty village of Grantchester just outside Cambridge. In some ways it still is home as my mother still lives there and I visit her often to care for her (and the garden). Yesterday, while she had a friend visiting, I went out for a stroll with my camera along the familiar village street. 

Grantchester, as almost anyone who has visited the city of Cambridge well knows, is a favourite bolt-hole for any tourist who tires of the crowded colleges in the centre of town. I've also shown many photos from the village on this blog and recently it's been the setting for a TV drama. But today I sought to photograph details from those gardens which can be easily seen from the roadside.

As in the last post I thought I'd confine myself to ten photographs and I've given them a rather dreamy treatment, partly by tinkering on the computer but also by limiting the depth of focus, shooting against the rather fierce light and other tricks of the trade.

Cottages like the one above are much loved by all who visit the village though by no means everybody lives in them - or would want to for that matter!

The rather strange effect above is simply the shadows of plants and trees thrown onto a roughcast cottage wall.

This small house, originally built for farmworkers, has been left empty for a while but the garden plants have enjoyed the freedom to go exactly where they want! 

In the churchyard this nasturtium was determined to wake me from my reverie with its blast of incendiary orange.

Back to the greens and reds of our deserted garden for this little detail of the front doorstep as leaves slowly gather where no one any longer treads. Don't worry though, I'm sure this little house right next to the meadows will soon be snapped up as there is always a huge demand to live in such an idyllic setting, just a short cycle-ride from Cambridge.

It's the time of year for fungi to develop on any rotting wood and in any damp place.

A very smart yellow front door lurks amongst a riot of vegetation.

As Autumn edges into Winter the roses begin to feel their age and droop their heads a little.
And me? No, as long as we have this clean, fresh, sunny October weather I'll be striding out with head held high.


Take care.

The First Kiss Of Autumn

October, the tenth month. Ten photos taken in Cambridge University Botanic Gardens.

Take care.

Bollards, Signs, Trees, Stones, Sundials, Stations.

Bollards

These bronze piles of books are to be found outside the Cambridge University library and serve as bollards to prevent people parking in front of the building. One would have thought a sign would have sufficed, after all most visitors to the library are a fairly civilised bunch and can presumably read. These works of art are also interactive in that you can spin the books around if the urge comes upon you. Great fun.

But not according to Germaine Greer who wrote in The Guardian newspaper that they make the Library into "a beacon of naffness". Even more fun!

Just for Germaine here's another photo of them!

More Traffic Calming Measures

In the village of Whaddon the residents can not only read but seem to have a sense of humour too.



Introducing Dawn Redwood

Dawn Redwood - it would be a fine name for a Hollywood actress, but it's actually a tree and one with true star quality. She made an exciting comeback after not being seen in the UK for a long time - about five million years! And she hadn't changed at all!

The tree was thought to be extinct and only known from fossil records. But in 1946 a Chinese botanist discovered a small stand of them in his country. Seeds were sent to the USA and to Britain and were found to germinate freely. The one in the photo above is the oldest in this country and has grown rapidly. It was planted near the lake in the University Botanic Gardens, as in its native China it grows in wet conditions. However it seem to survive in other environments, even in the streets of London.

Although the trees are protected in China, such has been the demand for seed that the cones have been collected to such an extent that it's unlikely that they will propagate naturally in the wild.



Not A Bollard

Following on from the pile-of-books bollards it would be tempting to say that this is a bollard outside a mushroom farm - but it's not. Although they are now often used as bollards outside farm gates to prevent vehicles driving on the grass verges, they have a much older purpose. Those of you who have been paying minute attention to everything I say on this blog may remember that they are called "staddle stones". They were used to support the floors of farm granaries which were raised up off of the ground to prevent mice and rats entering the buildings.



Telling The Time

This beautiful but rather complex sundial can be found in Selwyn College in Cambridge. The golden lines show the hours since sunrise while the silver lines show the hours since the last sunset (Are you with me so far?). The shadow of the disc will lie on the vertical line at midday (or at 1 pm when the clocks change to Summer Time). It rests on the horizontal line at the equinoxes. If you want to calculate the clock time all you have to do is add the hours since sunset to the hours since sunrise and divide by two (not forgetting to adjust by one hour during the summer months). 

If that's too complicated then turn around and you'll find there's a clock on the Hall behind you!

In The Station

I have lamented in the past about the neglect of the architecture of some of our smaller railway stations. Some are no longer in use while others are ruined by unsympathetic modernisation. But if you take the time to look you can still find pretty buildings like this wonderful Victorian station at Stowmarket.

Take care.

The Art Of Steam

Take care.

Beds Steam

There, that's got your attention!

"Beds Steam" or The Bedfordshire Steam And Country Fayre, held in historic Old Warden Park, is one of the biggest gatherings of steam-driven traction engines and their enthusiasts in the country. I didn't even realise that there were so many of these smoke-breathing monsters still around.

As well as traction-engines of all sizes there was all manner of other farm machinery, steam-rollers and steam-driven vehicles of all sorts, fairground organs and fairground rides - powered by steam of course - as well as heavy horses, country crafts, sheep-shearing demonstrations, a beer tent, fish and chips......Much impressed by all this John took more photographs than he really knows what to do with, so here's another...

The event runs for three days and by getting there reasonably early you can see the amount of delicate tinkering and vigorous polishing required to keep these great beasts looking good.

This is not a static museum display so, while you can wander around and get up close and personal with the machines, you can also see them in action, moving slowly and carefully through the crowds or going through their paces in the big arena (or "playpen" as they refer to it!)

Understandably with so many steam fans present there is much to discuss and they are only too willing to answer questions, often with longer and more detailed information than you expected!

Everything is so well loved and spruced up that it's unusual to find something like this...

A fine old rusty steam-roller, presumably found in a shed somewhere, and as yet unrestored. Somehow the power and strength is even more apparent when seen in this state. It was a magnet for the many photographers present, in fact it was difficult to get this clear view of it. 

Lets look at some more of these fine vehicles...

I'll be back in the next few days with candid portraits of some of the characters there...

                                                                                                                                                 
....and quite possibly some of the interesting and colourful details....              

There might even be a video too if I can whittle down an hour or so of footage into something more digestible. And as I mentioned the heavy horses I'd better show you at least one picture of those in case a certain person should read this post.

Take care.

PerKelt On The Streets.

You never know what styles of music you'll find on the streets of Cambridge; acoustic guitarists, jazz saxophonists, string quartets, a man on the musical saw....I've seen them all.

But recently I encountered the music of Pavlína Bastlová playing recorders and Štěpán Honc on guitar. As you might guess from their names they're not from round these parts but hail from the Czech Republic and describe their music as "Medieval Celtic speed folk".

I couldn't help but interrupt my shopping to listen, stare and after a while record a little video for you all. I really can't understand how other people were able to hurry past without noticing.

So here they are playing a rather spectacular instrumental....

Quite possibly the best Medieval Celtic speed folk band ever to come out of the Czech Republic!


Take care.