Monthly Archives: July 2017

Beechwoods – Road Less Travelled

Three of the most quoted lines in poetry are: ‘Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – / I took the one less travelled by, / And that has made all the difference.’, from Robert Frost’s ‘The Road Not … Continue reading

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Beechwood Variations

If I sit here and try to imagine The Beechwoods, indeed a beech wood, the image is of smooth, grey bare-trunked trees rising up from a ground of mast, leaf litter and a few herby plants, broken here and there … Continue reading

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Street Photography – Two Views

Earlier this week I spent an hour with David Runnacles drinking coffee and looking through his latest Cambridge street photography.  David has a very distinctive style.  His slices of street life are inhabited by lots of people, usually in close … Continue reading

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Beechwoods in Leaf 2

On the 1st May I commented on the variable behaviour of the trees coming into leaf.  This picture from around then shows an extreme case of a dense crown on one tree amid an almost bare tracery of branches on … Continue reading

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Mismanaged Destination

I spent a large part of my professional life studying the impact of tourism on historic towns and promoting destination management.  In the blessing v blight debate I was inclined to the former and promoted value over volume.  Walking around … Continue reading

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Iceland at Balzano’s

Sue Brock-Hollinshead puts the finishing touches to her exhibition of photographs of Iceland at Balzano’s.  Ten pictures capture the stark simplicity of the landscape, its variety and the contrast between domesticity and the volcanic tensions beneath the surface.  It’s a … Continue reading

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Judging Photographs

‘Camera Clubs are obsessed with competitions’, according to Gerry Metcalfe speaking at a U3A session on Judging Photographs yesterday.  Hence the need for the hundreds of judges whose names are published by the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain.  Apparently judges … Continue reading

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Cafe Culture 5

The phone, the tablet and the lap top are integral parts of café culture now, technological replacements for newspapers, books and conversation.  Here the adult concentrates on her phone while the children read books, new and old cultures the reverse … Continue reading

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Wort’s Causeway 2

The Beechwoods are enclosed and intimate, the sky is hidden, there are no horizons.  Stand opposite the gate on Wort’s Causeway and the open fields spread into the distance in a world that becomes two-thirds sky.  In the early morning … Continue reading

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Burnham Overy 3 – Razor Clams

The razor clam, razor fish, or spoot, is a bivalve living buried in sandy beaches.   It has an elongated, rectangular shape, whose similarity to a straight razor gives it its name.   The shells are fragile, with open ends; the outside … Continue reading

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Burnham Overy 2

The River Burn is a chalk stream 12 km long, has a catchment of 100 sq. km and falls just 36 m from source to sea.  A barely noticeable presence, it signifies itself through the settlements of Burnham Norton, Burnham … Continue reading

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Burnham Overy 1

Mr Knights taught us geography at secondary school.  Then it was thought important to know about cotton in Lancashire, coal in South Wales and shipbuilding on the Clyde.  We learned to read Ordnance Survey maps and looked for arêtes, u-shaped … Continue reading

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Burnham Pigeons

Sometimes photography shouldn’t be taken too seriously. Photo: Burnham Overy Staithe July 2017

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Stowe Legacy

If you were to ask the Pythonesque question, ‘What has the landed gentry ever done for us?’ the apologist’s answer might not be as impressive as the original list of credits to the Romans: “the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, … Continue reading

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Beechwoods Leaves

After what looked like a slow start (see post 1st May 2107) the beeches are now fully in leaf.  The tree canopy is dense: on cloudy days the woods become gloomy and slightly menacing, on sunny ones they are dappled … Continue reading

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