Photography at the local flower show

Last Saturday was extremely busy. It was the local flower show and the church choir had been asked to sing at a wedding. Fairly early in the morning I took thirteen photos to the flower show and entered them in the appropriate classes. There were six to choose from:

1. Capturing a season in nature
2. A garden of flowers
3. Mirror image
4. Village landmark
5. My favourite tree
6. Insect.

Then I went to choir practice and the wedding service, which was lovely. I knew the bride when she was a child. After lunch I went back to the flower show, which is perhaps the social highlight of the summer here. I was delighted to have won two first prizes and a third prize. These are the original photos, which won. The portrait view won the 3rd prize. For the 4″ x 6″ prints I had to crop them slightly. (The classes in which I was successful were numbers 2-4 above.)

Walled garden, Scargill House

Tree and Melbreak

Parish church

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A walk from Great Wood to Ashness Bridge

On a fine Sunday afternoon at the end of March we set off to walk from Great Wood in the opposite direction from Keswick. The path with views of Derwentwater took us directly to Ashness Bridge – one of the best-known spots in the English Lake District. Many calendars of Lakeland views feature it. I had to be patient to catch it without people or a vehicle. We spotted wildflowers along the way. (Regular readers may know I am interested in #Wildflowerhour.)

Also along the way we were reminded how easy it is to have an accident even at relatively low levels. There was a rocky outcrop with water flowing over it. The path went straight across it. Perhaps it took two paces to reach the other side. Behind me Hubby stepped on the wet part and ended up lying down. I noticed a steep drop below him, but he hadn’t seen it and climbed back onto his feet and the path without further ado.

On the way back we went down to the shore of Derwentwater and walked along it. As it had been dry for a few days the water-level made this easy. We could imagine that at times the path becomes submerged. Near a waterfall we saw some interesting birds, possibly treecreepers.

View across Derwentwater

Sunlight on the fells

Ashness Bridge

First view of a waterfall

Top to bottom

View towards Keswick

A visit to two castles in Cumbria

With our English Heritage membership about to expire hubby and I went to see two castles we had not previously explored. Although their names look very similar (as are aspects of their history) the way they are pronounced is quite different. Brougham sounds like broom and Brough rhymes with gruff.

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We broke our journey at Rheged and had a look around some of the shops there. Brougham castle is just off the A66 beyond the Penrith junction. We found a parking place and took our picnic lunch through the ticket office/museum. We ate it overlooking the river Eamont. (There are more benches and picnic benches farther into the site, but it was convenient for returning our surplus items to the car rather than carrying them round.)

There are history information boards around the site and it is possible to climb up the keep for views of the surrounding area. Hubby climbed to the top, but I decided that the first level was quite high enough. I am not good with heights!

As it was still fairly early in the afternoon, we decided to proceed to Brough Castle, which is also close to the A66, rather than returning home immediately.

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Unlike Brougham Castle, entry to Brough castle is free. It was very busy, but I managed to take some photos avoiding the other visitors.

Our journey home took longer than expected due to the volume of traffic on the A66. In spite of that, it was another good day out.