Recently I spent three nights staying in an AirBnB in Lymington on a family short break. Needless to say we went for walks in the forest and also paid a visit to the beach at Milford on Sea. Here are some images from this trip. The weather was kind to us with a day of sunshine on the day we went to Milford on Sea.
After a walk in the local area I stopped off at this airport for a spot of photography and lunch. The AV8 cafe is open to the public and it was very busy when I visited last week. It was still the school summer holidays and the weather was great…
Cotswold Airport at Kemble used to be the home of the RAF acrobatic display team The Red Arrows. However, now it is perhaps more well known as where obsolete aircraft are broken up for spares. During the Covid pandemic in 2020 BA decided to retire its fleet of Boeing 747s and many were sent here to be scrapped. One G-CVIB was spared and it now rests close to the restaurant/cafe as a nightclub and cafe. It means that visitors can get up close and personal with it.
The summer of 2025 has been long and dry with little rain during the past few months. Temperatures have been above average and according to the Met Office we have had a few “heatwaves” when the temperatures are above 25°C for at least 3 consecutive days. So far we have had four….
There are several bike routes I can ride on from the house but recently I have put the bike rack on the car and driven somewhere else to have a ride. For a while I wanted to ride around Oxford and I managed to do this on 19 August. My plan was to park in Woodstock, however, the car park was full so I drove on to Oxford Parkway Park and Ride and started from there. The map above shows my route which was 25 miles and took 2.5 hours of not travelling very fast and taking in some sights with a few photo stops as well as a lunch stop in Jericho.
Improving weather meant that I able to get out and about with my camera. Burford is one of my favourite places to visit despite the numbers of tourists who frequent the town.
Unusually for me I was back in Scotland in April. Juliet and I travelled with a friend from the village for a four night stay. Three nights were spent in an AirBnB in Tradeston on the (just) south side of the river. We drove up, however, did not need the car at all. Fortunately there was plenty of parking space at the flat we rented. We visited some of what Glasgow has to offer and on our way home stayed at an hotel near Thornhill in Dumfriesshire. One highlight of the trip was a visit to Dumfries House which had been saved for the nation by the King whilst he was still Prince of Wales.
As you can see our travels were fairly eclectic ranging from culture in the Kelvingrove Art Gallery, the Victorian Necropolis, the oldest house in the city, a pub which has come into the 21st century as well as paying homage to the architecture of Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
The trip to Dumfries House was certainly well worth it. We had booked in advance in order that we were guaranteed a tour. Having come so far we decided to go for the full guided tour. The interior is amazing and we would certainly recommend a visit, not just to the house but to the grounds as well.
We spent the night after in an hotel near Thornhill – Trigony House Hotel. A lovely hotel set in gardens that you can walk around. It is dog friendly and several guests were there with their four legged friends. Our rooms were very comfortable and the food was excellent.
Jill was brought up in Kenya so it was fitting we had a photo stop in Penpont, Dumfriesshire to see the house where the explorer Joseph Thomson was born in 1858. Thomson’s Falls in Kenya and the East African gazelle were named after him.
I made a brief visit to Glasgow in March to attend a dinner at my old school. Here are some photos
In the hot weather yesterday I walked from near Ascott in Warwickshire to the nearby village of Stourton, home of the Cotswold Distillery. As well as producing gin and whisky the distillery also houses a lovely cafe which served as my lunch stop.
It was about a 7 mile walk…..
As a family we paid a recent visit to Edinburgh to celebrate my sister’s 80th birthday. It was a total surprise as she had no idea we were travelling north to have lunch with her and her immediate family.
It was a sunny afternoon today, a vast change from the rain of yesterday. On the spur of the moment I decided to drive down to Woodstock and have a walk around the Blenheim Palace estate – we have annual passes so we can visit any time we like.
Here are three photos from my visit.
On 15 April I had a day out and returned to the Malvern Hills as I had not been there for some years.
This time I started by walking up to the Worcestershire Beacon and North Hill before returning to the car and moving it to another car park before climbing up to British Camp and the Herefordshire Beacon.
The black and white image was created in Tonality an app which has numerous presets for monochrome imagery.