Category: Travel

Weekly Photo Challenge: The Hue of Me

Posted on Posted in Art and Design, Photography, TravelTagged , , , 36 Comments

For this challenge, we want to keep it simple: share a photograph with a prominent color (or assortment of colors) that reveals more about you. It could be a symbolic, meaningful shade; a color that expresses how you currently feel; or a combination of colors that excites you and tells a visual story, says Cherie Lucas Rowlands for this weeks photo challenge. Now this is interesting and will no doubt be interpreted in many different ways. I looked around my immediate space and saw rich, bright and earthy colours, things I’ve have collected on my travels and decided that they show quite well who I am. Or perhaps who I would like to be, a traveller, a seeker of encounters with other planet walkers. So these things are from Morocco, Turkey, India, Ghana and Malaysia.

Come away with the raggle-taggle-gypsy-o.

and join in at http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/10/18/hue-photo-challenge/

A Slice of Saturday at Coleton Fishacre

Posted on Posted in England, Gardens, Photography, TravelTagged , , , , , , , , 17 Comments

What could possibly come between asked Christine, commenting on my post yesterday. So, so many things but I’ll try not to overload you all!
The people who discovered this valley by the sea were none other than the D’Oyly-Carte’s, best known for their company that staged Gilbert and Sullian operas and as owners of the Savoy hotel.It was Rupert and his wife Lady Dorothy that built Coleton and planted its beautiful gardens with a mix of rare and exotic plants that wouldn’t usually grow in our English climate.
The house has a stunning art deco interior – sadly photos were not permitted inside the house, but it was gracious, elegant living at its best. A family home in the country with ample space for house guests, each room had a view over the gardens and some of the sea beyond.
Here are some of the vistas and peep betweens that have evolved.

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The D’Oyly-Carte’s had two children, Michael who died in a car accident at twenty-one in 1932 and a daughter, Bridget. In 1941, Rupert divorced Dorothy and Bridget took over the house. Dorothy moved to the Bahamas with her new man and Rupert continued to visit the house at weekends until his death in 1948.
The dream ended, Bridget sold the house after her father’s death and a number of years in private ownership, it became a National Trust property in 1982.
So, we can all see it, we can stroll along the paths, gaze out to sea and enjoy the wonderful garden, surely one of the best in the country.
Here are some of the plants, holding up well in mid October.

I hope you enjoyed my day out at Coleton Fishacre, I’ll be going back in the spring to see what’s blooming and for another nice lunch and cake break.

The Middle of Yesterday

Posted on Posted in Devon, England, Photography, TravelTagged , , , , , , 24 Comments

Imagine yourself ninety years ago. You find yourself sailing past one of the loveliest parts of England, an unspoilt valley by the sea in Devon. You decide you have to buy it and have the architect Oswald Milne design your perfect country house.

The house was built so that all the main rooms faced south and once it was complete Milne, who was Sir Edward Lutyens assistant designed the hard landscape.

The stone was quarried on the land and the landscaping even included channeling a stream through a rill, damming to form pools before it returned to its natural state in the lower slopes of the valley.
coleton 6
Stand and enjoy the view,
coleton 8
your own private beach lies below.
coleton 7

and all the while your paradise is being planted with a sheltering belt of Monterey pine and holm oak that will eventually create a micro climate.
One day your paradise will be filled with fragrant and exotic plants, flowers so colourful that everyone will want to see it.
Tomorrow perhaps I’ll show YOU how it turned out.

The Jurassic Coast . . .

Posted on Posted in England, Photography, Travel, UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , 39 Comments

. . . stretches for 95 miles from East Devon and all along the Dorset coastline. It isn’t just Jurassic, parts are Triassic and Cretaceous, each with different rock types. It’s a fossil hunters paradise, especially after one of the frequent landslides, with Charmouth and Lyme Regis areas the most likely places to find a little gem.
My end of the Jurassic coast is Exmouth, the furthest point West, where we have red sandstone that stretches along past a couple of estuaries and then abruptly changes to chalk at Beer and Lyme Regis. At Lyme you can look one direction and see chalk cliffs and east towards Charmouth, where the fresh landslides reveal fossils, in soft dark, grey, rock that feels almost like clay at times. Chalky stuff returns at Durdle Door and Lulworth.

The west end of the Jurassic coast
The west end of the Jurassic coast
The chalk begins
The chalk begins
Here you will walk large fossils in the rocks
Here you will walk on large fossils in the rocks
Like these!
Like these!
Lyme Regis looking east
Lyme Regis looking east
An area of recent slips
An area of recent slips
Here the fossils you find on the beach are in soft grey rock and mostly ammonites
Here the fossils you find on the beach are in soft grey rock and mostly ammonites
Further east the unspoilt beach at Eype
Further east the unspoilt beach at Eype
Layers of rock laid down overcountless millenia at Lulworth cove
Layers of rock laid down overcountless millenia at Lulworth cove

So this is the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, a geological walk back through INFINITE time and its my entry for this weeks photo challenge, as well as an excuse to show off the beautiful of South West of England!

Join in at http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/10/11/photo-challenge-infinite/

Capture the Colour 2013

Posted on Posted in Photography, TravelTagged , , , , , 33 Comments

Last year I took part in Capture the Colour, a competition run by Travel Supermarket. The idea is that you submit a photo that conveys each of five colours. This year Georgia invited me to join in, go check her entries at http://rainbowbakery.wordpress.com/2013/09/20/capture-the-colour/ Georgia’s White photo is my favourite, I wonder which you would choose?

Reds
My RED photo was taken at Rosemoor, my favourite Royal Horticultural Society garden, I like the double dose the reflections bring.
yellows
For YELLOW I’m still in Devon, this time on the Exe estuary when the tide was so far out you could almost walk to Starcross.

Greens
GREEN is Rosemoor’s pristine hedges and borders in late summer.
Blues
And for BLUE I’m bringing you Brixham harbour in June.

Whites
A bit further afield, this is Mount Etna. It’s peak is shrouded in a mixture of smoke, steam and cloud, each a fluffy WHITE.
I think the competition closes at midnight tonight so if you’re quick you can still enter. http://www.travelsupermarket.com/c/holidays/capture-the-colour/

Braving new heights

Posted on Posted in Photography, TravelTagged , , , 26 Comments

A couple of weeks ago I was on a coach from Heathrow to London when a young man got on and sat beside me. He anxiously fiddled with his tickets and I asked if he was okay. He was a bit worried about his connection and finding his way. I reassured him that negotiating Victoria coach station was easy and promised to point him in the right direction.
We chatted all the way and I learnt that he was heading for Canterbury University to do his masters, his first trip out of Malaysia. He asked me about shopping, where to find affordable groceries and if he would be able to find Malaysian food.
Looking out of the window he was excited to see the Victorian terrrace houses and thought they were beautiful. Of course I shared that I had been to Malaysia and loved it there, especially the architecture in Kuala Lumpur. Ailsa’s challenge this week reminded me of my charming encounter with that young man. By now he will be settled in his new world, I’d love to know how he is getting on and hope he has found his nearest aldi to help make his pennies go further.
So, to ‘Height’, here are some of the heights of his homeland and one of my favourite cities, Kuala Lumpur.

The Tower emerging
The Tower emerging
A view from the tower
A view from the tower
Apartments looking up
Apartments looking up
Fountains and tower blocks
Fountains and tower blocks

Join in with the challenge at http://wheresmybackpack.com/2013/10/04/travel-theme-height/

October tomorrow

Posted on Posted in Devon, England, Photography, TravelTagged , , , 24 Comments

I love summer. I try to convince myself that autumn is beautiful, a palette of rich colour,a time to prepare for Christmas, settling in the warm for winter with some good books, but it doesn’t work. I just start counting the days until spring, especially once the shortest day has past. Leaving for work in the dark and not returning home until dark, I could easily fall prey to seasonal affective disorder. Photos are one the things I use to keep myself sane, looking back over best parts of the year, so I’ve chosen one from each month of the summer to share with you.
April at Buckland
April, not quite summer but full of promise.

May on the quay
May in bright blue.

June my birthday in Brixham
June at Brixham harbour.

July The Grand Western Canal
July relaxed on the water.

August patchwork to the bay_edited-1
August across fields to Lyme Bay.

September Rosemoor
September, my favourite garden full of colour.
It hasn’t been the easiest summer, but it has been rich with experiences and adventures. Now, let winter be short and gentle!

The Colours of Sicilia

Posted on Posted in Photography, Sicily, TravelTagged , , , , 27 Comments

Over at the Daily Post this week the photo challenge is saturated. Michelle W. tells us to ‘show us a photo of whatever you’d like, but make sure it’s saturated. It can be black and white, a single color, a few hues, or a complete rainbow riot; just make sure it’s rich and powerful. Let’s turn the comments into an instant mood-booster!’

I went to Sicily back in the summer and I found plenty of rich saturated colours, in the natural world, the food and the art. I’d like to share these with you.

sat 4

Do you have some vibrant imsges to share? join in at http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/09/27/photo-challenge-saturated/

Travel Theme: Through

Posted on Posted in Photography, Travel, UncategorizedTagged , , , , 11 Comments

Take a stroll through the medina in Marrakech and you will find the 19th century Bahia Palace. The entrance takes you through lush gardens with banana, bamboo, bougainvillea.

bahia bananas

Look up at each threshold, the tiled ceilings are beautiful.

bahia ceiling

And so is the Jali.
bahia jali

Take a peep through at your daughter if she came too.
bahia Nina!

Glimpse through to the courtyard.
bahia 2

and look through the window to a room that was once a concubines.
bahia palace
Join in at http://wheresmybackpack.com/2013/09/20/travel-theme-through/comment-page-2/#comment-32870