The Hunt: The Final Choice

It has be good fun joining in Eileen and Joys's Winter Photography Scavenger Hunt . It is now time for the final link up so I have chosen my final choice for each one.

1.  A Robin Redbreast 

The Robin is a frequent visitor to the garden. I have chosen this as my favourite.

2. Tinsel.

Socks was determined not to miss out on decorating the tree.

3. Outside Lighting.

Bath Abbey looked particularly festive lit up prior to Christmas.

4. A Star

I had several stars to choose from on the tree. This wooden one I liked for it's simplicity.

5. A Snowman 

The absence of any snow has made the likelihood of a real snowman very slim! I have therefore chosen this little chap who one of the girls had in their advent pocket to put on the Christmas Cake.

6. A Puddle

The wet weather this winter has given many puddle opportunities. This one distinctly shows the effect from the iron ore in the local soil.

7. Berries and / or Nuts.

It was difficult which to choose for this but I finally chose some sweet chestnut that I picked up.

8. A Wreath 

There were some lovely wreaths on doors this year but I have opted for this enormous wreath high up in York Minster.

9. A tree that has lost all it's leaves.

This magnificent tree was by the river in Oxford University Botanical Gardens complete with some clusters of mistletoe.

10. A windy day.

I was finding this one tricky until I spotted this poor hen who was not so keen on the draught behind her!

11. Your Favourite Pudding.

This attempt at Lemon Meringue Pie was a bit of an earthquake but it still remains one of my favourite puddings.

12. A Fancy Button.

Finding these in my mum's button tin brought back happy childhood memories. Did you have Ladybird brand clothing?

13. Street art.

Our proximity to Bristol made a Banksy the only choice.

14. Afternoon Tea.

Had to be the Battenburg..

15. Candlelight.

The simplicity of candles to remember those lost to us.

16. A Chimney. 

I photographed lots of spectacular chimneys but in the end I have chosen our own chimney against an evening sky.

17.  A ladder.

An angel climbs up to heaven on Jacob's Ladder on the east front of Bath Abbey.

18. An arrow.

A new sign on the old road sign points the direction of the cycle way.

19. A fountain.

It was a shame this was not working but it struck me as the most unusual.

20. Cutlery.

 A wedding gave me the opportunity for this. The pink bag contained a small bar of Kendal mint cake and a charity badge from a donation in memory of those not able to be present.

21. Your own handwriting.

Some of my homemade marmalade with handwritten labels.

Alternative A.  A supermarket trolley or basket filled with shopping.

Not difficult to get this one. My trolley is always full on my fortnightly shop.

Alternative B. An Animal Statue.

The Tyntesfield lion won the day on this one!

Alternative C. Metal Railings.

I again found many ornate railings but have chosen the rather quaint recycled railings from a quarry railway on our own farm.

So it just remains to say thank you to Eileen and Joy for arranging this very enjoyable photo hunt. I'm now off to see what everyone else has to show.

Memorandum Monday: A New Home

On a Monday morning it is time to share something new from our weekends with Sian and the other Monday bloggers. What have we been doing? Sunday saw us in a small Devon village for a pub lunch in rather quaint surroundings. I smiled to see the Post Office with it's  King George V post box (evident by the G R initials).

And a sign left from another century.

Then there was the village school with an unusual arched entrance and the church behind. 

What took us down to this lovely village? We were there to visit the new home of one of our friends. He has just moved down from Bristol and only got the keys this week. He has certainly chosen a lovely place to live. There was not much time for photos as I spent the afternoon cleaning some of his kitchen cupboards but I did have time to admire the potential of his garden.

I also had time to glance out of his kitchen window when squeezing out my cloth and appreciating his fabulous view.

I am sure we will be making some more visits to explore this corner of Devon and to see our friend's progress on his new venture.

Ornate Railings

I shall be posting my final finds for the Winter Photography Scavenger Hunt on Tuesday (one day late). Meanwhile I have a few ornate metal railings to consider.

When visiting York we stayed in The Churchill Hotel which was furnished in a rather quirky World War 2 style with many Churchill memorabilia. I was amused to see that the railings were original and had saved the war when most railings were removed for the war effort. The house had been occupied by the military who had "saved" the railings from removal!

It is in another historic city namely Bath that I spotted quite a few more railings.

Most of the houses would originally had light holders such as this over their entrance.

This last example was from Bristol at the bottom of Park St.

A Chilly Walk

Yesterday I went for my monthly walk with my walking group. It was a bit disappointing to wake up to such a sharply cold day especially as the planned walk was in quite an elevated position. We met at The Crown, a popular pub in a small hamlet called Tolldown. It is situated only about a mile from the Bath junction with the M4 on the A46. Our first task was to cross the busy A46 which proved to be quite tricky.

We were then on small country roads where we able to walk at a fair pace to counteract the bitter wind.

We made our way down to the village of Dyrham where we passed the back entrance to a National Trust property Dyrham Park.

Work was in progress in the gardens to prepare it for the coming season.

Only one gardener seemed to be hard at work. A daunting task!

Some of the properties in the village were not on quite the same scale. Possibly a previous gate house?

We passed a small waterfall before we turned back up the hill.

The return climbed up and through Dyrham Camp also known as Hinton Hillfort. This spur of land was the sight of an Iron Age Fort of which the terraces are still visible.

When we reached the top there was just time for a reflective photo before returning to the pub for lunch.

Six Word Story: Moon

I took this photo back in September 2012. I can't really remember why but I guess because it was so eye catching. I have unearthed it to use for Miriam's Six Word Story  for which this week's word is moon. 

                                             The light of the silver moon.

An Arrow

The only item that I have not posted for the Winter Photography Scavenger Hunt is No. 18 An Arrow. I have struggled a little to find something inspiring for this one. I have found a few.

This first one was outside The Aquarium in Bristol. It leaves no doubt as to which way you need to go to enter!

There is a network of cycle routes all over the Bristol and Bath area. I like this one because of the contrast of new and odd signage. We have a lot of these old road signs around our area with the county marked on the top.

It was only a few days ago that I realised there was an arrow right on my doorstep. I spotted this one lingering on our horse ménage. I assume someone wanted to accustom their horse to scary horse signs. I won't ask where they got it from.

Snap: The Pultney Weir

The view of Pultney Bridge and the weir in front must be one of the iconic sights of Bath along with the Roman Baths and the Royal Crescent. Our visit to Bath on Sunday for the Bath Half Marathon which you can read about here took us past this bridge several times. The runners village was close by and the start and finish line were in Gt Pultney St just beyond the bridge. This 18th century bridge is unusual in design in that it has shops built on it.

Today I am joining in with Helena's meme Snap and have chosen four angles of the Pultney weir in front of the famous bridge. These were all angles that we viewed it from during our wanders round during and after the race. I have been partly inspired by Eileen's "compass" duck .The present weir is v shaped and was rebuilt in this shape in 1972 as part of flood defence measures. Bath had suffered from serious flood problems up until this time.

This first picture is the classic view often seen on postcards taken from the next bridge downstream and showing the Parade Gardens on the left.

This second view is from directly by the lock gates close to one of the exits from Bath Rugby ground. The effects of all the recent rain and wind is evident in the collection of branches and trees caught by the weir. The background shows the collanade walkway in the gardens.

Thirdly this picture is taken from the steps climbing up from the towpath by the side of Pultney Bridge. A similar picture is often taken from one of the windows of the shops. It clearly shows the v shape of the present weir.

The fourth picture looks back across the river once we have crossed the bridge. It is taken from on top of the collanade shown in pictures two and three. It shows the row of extra toilets for the race and on the right you can vaguely see the rugby field.

Then as a bonus here is a view of the bridge from this last viewpoint. Note the queue of people still leaving the runners village.

I am looking forward to linking up to see what other snap ideas there are this week.