Author Archives: Whitehall1965

Hook Norton Community Smallholding

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A group of villagers got together a number years ago to raise pigs on a small plot off and rented to us by a village landowner.

Over the years it has gone from strength to strength. As with everything Covid-19 put paid to our activities in 2020 but we were able to source some weaners last year and they have been growing over the past few months. The batch we had this time around were Berkshires crossed with Gloucester Old Spots. Berkshires are a slow growing breed and we have had these pigs for longer than we anticipated. Normally we send them to slaughter in late autumn but as we got them later in the year we have had to keep them over the winter. However, they seem to be ready to go.

Feeding time

Rugby Saturday

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I enjoy watching rugby and paid a visit to Kingsholm yesterday to watch Gloucester play Wasps. Sadly the result did not go Gloucester’s way, they lost 21-27. First half was a bit scrappy but things livened up a bit in the second when all the tries were scored.

Lineout action from the second half. Wasps putting pressure on Gloucester.

Cropped image taken on my iPhone.

Is Spring finally here?

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Spring came to this part of England a couple of weeks ago which meant the I was out and about with my camera. My latest trip was a pleasant drive to Guiting Power where I parked the car and walked over to Kineton before making my return in time to buy lunch at The Cotswold Guy, a deli in Guiting power.

St Michael’s and All Angels Church in the Gloucestershire village of Guiting Power

My first choice of food supply was The Old Post Office which as well as being the village shop also has a cafe. Sadly it was closed for refurbishment, this was during Cheltenham Festival week which surprised me, but there you go. I’ll have to return some day to sample their wares.

The Old Post Office, a shop and cafe in the Gloucestershire village of Guiting Power
Cotswold stone barn in the Gloucestershire village of Guiting Power
Stone steps cut into a wall in the Gloucestershire village of Guiting Power

However, the weather these past few days has seen snow and overnight frost so maybe Spring is not quite here yet!

Crickley Hill

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Crickley Hill Country Park is a National Trust run open space lying to the south of the Regency town of Cheltenham close to the Air Balloon public house and roundabout on the A417.

Open all year round with a lovely cafe with friendly staff and clean toilets it is a great place to go for a walk with or without a dog. In the park itself our four legged friends require to be on leads, however, there are parts where they can run free. Belted Galloway cattle graze on the NT land, hence the request for dogs to be on leads.

Panoramic view from Crickley Hill Country Park near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

The views from the escarpment are spectacular looking towards the Malvern Hills and in the distance the Brecon Beacons and the Black Mountains in Wales can be seen on a clear day.

Closer to the park Gloucestershire Airport at Staverton is clearly visible its three runways being a legacy of its use as an airfield in WW2.

View of Gloucestershire Airport from Crickley Hill Country Park.

White Horse Hill

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My aim this year is to make an effort to get out and about with my camera as I am getting fed up with walks in the local area. There are only so many photos I can take of the area around Hook Norton.

So I recently drove down to White Horse Hill near Uffington for a walk along part of The Ridgeway.

Here are some photos from my outing.

From left to right:- Westmill Wind Turbines, Uffington Castle, Waylands Smithy, White Horse Hill, Lone tree, White Horse Hill and The Manger, White Horse Hill.

Oxford Canal Walk

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To start the year off I drove to Thrupp on Sunday 2nd January and went for a walk along the towpath. I had aimed to walk across the fields to the church at Hampton Gay. However, after all the rain we had had water levels were high and the path from the canal bank to the church was flooded.

However, I walked along the path as far as Enslow Wharf before turning around to retrace my steps to the car. Here are some photos from my walk.

London Images

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These days camera lenses tend to be “computers”. I have a Tamron 150-600mm lens and in order for it to be compatible with my Nikon Z6 the firmware needed to be upgraded. Fixation near Vauxhall is the Tamron agent so after collecting the lens I tried it out taking some images of the river from near to Vauxhall Bridge.

In order to get the best out of it the shutter speed should be close to the focal length of the lens in order to minimise “camera shake”. The majority of these images were taken at 1/1000 second at a rating of 640ISO. I’m glad to say the lens passed its test with flying colours.

Above are some of the photos I took on my visit to London last week.

Photoshop’s Sky Replacement Tool

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Adobe’s Photoshop software continues to evolve with more additions being added all the time. One recent new feature is Sky Replacement. Some sample skies are included to get you started. You can, of course, add your own and use them which is a great asset if you are “creating” new images and uploading them to library websites. At least then the complete copyright rests with me as the photographer and so I do not need to worry unduly on this score.

I have played around with it using examples of aircraft images shot during a visit I paid to Turweston airfield in June 2021. Here is one of my reworked images.

DHC1 Chipmunk, Turweston Airfield, Buckinghamshire, England

2021 Posts

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I realise that I have been remiss and have not posted anything for a couple of months. We are now into March so hopefully spring is around the corner. We have had a relatively mild winter with very little snow compared with other parts of the country. Let’s hope that is all we are going to get.

  • Trees in a field in the north Oxfordshire village of Hook Norton following a snowfall the previous day. Image taken into the winter sun.
  • View of the parish chruch of St Peter in the north Oxfordshire village of Hook Norton following a snowfall the previous day

Here are a couple of photos from the modest snowfall we have had.