Winter calm

Sun is out, water is calm, Winter is not all bad.

Sheep

Is this an English thing or is straw chewing a global pastime ?

Retro

This was taken earlier this week, before the rain came back. I wanted to create a 50's style image so used one of the Photoshop guides (http://freephotoshopguides.com/photo-effects/retro-50s-postcard/1/) but realised what I was actually after was a Kodachrome look. Unable to find any good tips on how to achieve that so ended up with this ....


It's not that different from the original so guess I failed.

Early Spring

Winter was late coming and now Spring appears to be here..... in February.

Caneoist

Strong winds again today. This possibly foolhardy canoeist braved the waves, minutes after this shot he came out of his canoe and luckily floated to shallow waters.

Windy

Kite surfers out today, just out of shot were the serious size waves.

Dartmoor

This is a cheat as it was taken last year not today...have moved house since then so did not get the chance to see what it looked like in today's snow. For those that like to laugh at the Brits reaction to a few flakes of snow .... Severe weather warnings continue

Toy Boat

A real boat, but it looks too clean to have ventured very far. The weather has changed now so I better stop posting pictures from our sunny Sunday.

Padstow has a famous chef, renowned for his fish dishes, which seems to have encouraged most of the shop owners to turn into restaurants or ice cream parlours. If you ever make it to Cornwall make sure you pick up some Skinners beer, the brewery is based in Truro but most places in the county stock their bottles. Check out the website to view the unique names of their brews. Delicious!

Foot

Feet

A beautiful sunny Sunday in February, the weather is warm the flowers are already blooming and a walk on the beach in Cornwall is a must.

Saunton Sands

A typical English Sunday morning in October, grey skies, low cloud , dull and dreary, best thing to do is to stay in bed .... or get some sea air. The sun comes out and the day is transformed. I once worked with a guy from New Jersey, he told me that all the beaches in England where covered in rocks, he should have gone to Saunton Sands.

Away

Taking a break, enjoy the summer.

The Tower

Closer to home, another sunny day in England yesterday, in the middle of a field near Forward Point in Devon a navigation tower built in the 19th Century.

Three

Three birds at the Hampton Court show, I name them Layla, Hayley and Annika. Ha!...am I going to be in trouble for that :-)

Hampton Court

Actually it is a show garden at the Hampton Court Palace Flower show, the palace is a little different .

Trebah

These flowers were also at Trebah Garden, I have no idea what sort they are. This is the actual colours recorded by the camera, no post processing...a bit underexposed ?

Gunnera

People laugh at the British for always talking about the weather, but that is because it is so unpredictable and becuase we have now travelled to places that actually have more than 2 consecutive days of sunshine. We have now had over a week of sunshine so it is a good time to go a visiting.

Cornwall is a great place to visit in the sun and, as it seems to have its own micro-climates, it has some interesting gardens open to the public. Plant collectors have planted many exotic plants, not normally associated with our less than exotic climate.

This was a "forest" of Gunnera, the plants reaching about 2-3 metres or 7-8 feet in height. The leaves were a bit like a city road map gone mad when viewed close up. The new growth looked slightly sinister, like a giant Venus fly trap, with spikes on the stem. Unfurled they are quite majestic.

More commonly associated with South America they were thriving in this English garden.