At the Beach - Then and Now!

As I reflect back on the sparkling moments of the last week or so, its the unexpected that makes me catch my breath and say wow! A couple of moments this week that stand out. One was noticing that the garden was full of butterflies in a way it hasn't been for years (presumably because of the awful summers we have been having) . The second was the realisation again of how much I love the freedom of being by the sea in warm weather, breathing that wonderful air and walking along the beach with my camera.

I love the beach at any time of year but in the school holidays it becomes a fun filled bustling kind of place with the cafes busy and the children in and out of the water and crabbing in the rock pools. It was a very special time for us and our son when he was young and I love seeing other families enjoying the beach.

My discovery this week is that you can scan in very old, small, poor quality photographs run them through Lightroom and end up with something half decent. This was very good news as I am planning to start a new blog documenting my childhood on the Isle of Wight in the nineteen fifties and I want to include some family history in this. To wet your appetite, here are some of my father's family having fun on the beach in the early twenties - I love the top two of my dad and granddad having fun and am amazed by the clothes they consider suitable for beachwear in the bottom one! I think their beach experience may have been a little less comfortable than ours.

We think these photos may have been taken in great Yarmouth, there is a train station in the background almost on the beach - anyone recognise it?

I'd love to hear about your sparking moments of the week so please add a comment - see you soon!

A Weekend on the Wight - The Horse the Hero and the Manor

Sunday was a special day at National Trust property Mottistone Manor, it's the only day of the year that the house is open to the public. This year was even more special because, in the morning, guided tours were being given by members of the Seely family who gifted Mottistone to the trust in 1963, going on to lease it back from them, which is why normally only the gardens are open.

The house was mentioned in the Doomsday Book and the older part of the building which in this picture looks to be made of lighter stone was build round a saxon long house. The house now is a charming example of a small tudor manor house that has been sensitively renovated by the architect John Seely. there is also magnificent tithe barn.

this extract from the Brook Village Website gives some information about John Seely, who as "the second Lord Mottistone, was a talented architect who, together with his partner, Paul Paget, formed the firm of Seely and Paget in 1926.

One of their first commissions involved designing the opulent former Eltham Palace for Stephen and Virginia Courtauld and their pet ring-tailed lemur.

They restored many damaged church buildings after World War Two and restored parts of Windsor Castle in the 1960s. They also became surveyor to St Paul’s Cathedral, where the candles on the choir stalls are called ‘Mottistone candles'.

The Shack in the grounds of Mottistone Manor was used by the architects as a retreat and country office. Built in the 1930s, it is an example of Modern Movement design.

Local examples of John Seely’s work include Mottistone Manor, Little Brook and Shalfleet Church Hall. It is he who is to be thanked for gifting much of Mottistone to the National Trust and ensuring that the countryside, coast and downland did not become overdeveloped in the 1960s".

The shack in the garden is still there and is unique with its original fittings - unfortunately I was not able to get the right angle to take a successful photgraph of it though! Here are some flowers to make up!

The real joy of the day was the guided tour of the house by the current Lord Mottistone's sister. No photography was allowed ( understandably as this is a home not a museum), however if you are interested in catching a glimpse of the interior some pictures can be found here. Hearing the stories from a family member really made them come alive; especially when she spoke about her grandfather known as 'Galloper Jack' and his charger 'Warrior" who managed to get through the whole of the first world war, pretty much the first to the last day, relatively unscathed. It is said that some of the adventures of Michael Murpurgo's War Horse we based on Warrior. For tales of Victorian 'Dering Do' Galloper Jack and Warrior can't be bettered. Galloper Jack's biography has been written by his grandson Brough Scott and more information can be found here . You can also purchase the book of course.

Galloper Jack: The Remarkable Story of the Man Who Rode a Real War Horse

By Brough Scott

Tour of the house finished, we continued look round the garden enjoying the carefully tended borders.

before making our way up through the bluebell woods

to the Longstone. A megalithic site, the only one on the Island, roughly contemporary with Stonehenge.

We stopped to savour the views before taking a circular route back to the manor. We dropped in at the farm shop on the way home where we found this barn with particularly photogenic occupants.

A Weekend on the Wight - A Busy Day

Last weekend was a holiday weekend in the UK and for once we were blessed with good weather. We had a fab weekend and I thought it would be nice to relive it by inviting you to join me. First up on Saturday morning we went into Freshwater to shop at the butcher, the baker, and the fishmonger. We do this every Saturday when we are down and each time I feel grateful that these fabulous local shops are still here! While we were there I noticed the Horse Chestnuts were in bloom (very late shows you what a dreadful spring we've had!) and, probably for the first time, really looked at the individual blossoms.

Back home to drop off the shopping before heading for Cowes, we noticed a lot of yachts with brightly coloured spinnakers in the distance; so we went down to the cliff to see what was going on. A race was obviously in progress and though we checked the local paper we never did find out exactly which one we were watching. Both Hurst Castle in the distance (on the mainland side of the Solent) and the much nearer Fort Victoria make a dramatic backdrop for the boats.

We visit Cowes quite frequently, I love the atmosphere, the shops and the general sense of a place dedicated to the sea. I have taken many pictures here over the years and today I decided to focus on things I hadn't noticed before. In the case of the first it's because its not always there, but today the beat lead us up the High Street. You don't often see a good old fashioned 'tea chest' skiffle group these days!

The second thing I noticed was this piece of machinery - I was planning to go into the yacht haven to look around for photographic inspiration but unusually it was locked up, so I had to make do with the quay by the ferry terminal where I don't usually linger.However I did notice this

On the way back from Cowes we stopped off at Newtown which in one of my favourite places on the Island. I lived in a nearby village but my best friend lived here and I was a frequent visitor. I always think of this house, which I have know since childhood, as the 'enchanted cottage' but in a good 'fairy godmother lives here' rather than a bad 'wicked witch lives here' sort of a way. I have however never see it look as amazing as it did last weekend with an absolute riot of clematis and wisteria virtually covering the entrance porch and front door. I know I said a couple of weeks ago that I don't like pretty - well this is the exception that proves the rule!

The outbuildings are scarcely less attractive than the house with this carefully placed boat prow just waiting for would be photographers to come by.

Then on towards the quay, glimpsed in the distance across a sea of buttercups

Walking along the edge of the marsh before crossing the footbridge, enjoying the gold of the gorse in the distance

And finally arrival at the quay with boats marooned on the mud at low tide

Back to the car and home for a cuppa next, but it was such a lovely evening we couldn't resist a final walk to the cliff, where the sea pinks looked misty and the gorse glowed in the evening light

Stay tuned for the next episode where we meet a medieval manor, a hero and a war horse.

A Photo Walk in Steephill Cove

As usual we spent the holiday weekend on the Isle of Wight and taking advantage of the long weekend we decided to go over to Ventnor, with the aim of visiting Steephill Cove, a charming spot that can only be reached on foot via the coastal path or by boat. We had only been there once before out of season and were keen to see it in its summer glory.

As we rounded the bend we saw the cove was a hive of activity with kids digging on the beach, in the sea, and generally having a good time.

For grown ups there is the additional bonus of the Wheeler family’s foodie offerings in their restaurant the ‘Boat House’ and the ‘Crab Shack’. We hadn't booked for the Boat House but managed to get a seat at the Crab shack where we enjoyed delicious crab pasties which are the shack speciality, washed down with a glass of cold Muscadet.

Apparently the Wheeler family have been longshoremen at Steephill for 500 years. Nowadays they sell their fresh seafood, look after the beach and hire out deck chairs.

The cove itself was colonized as a resort in Victorian times and boasts a few pretty cottages together with sometimes dilapidated, but ultimately picturesque shacks and huts. Some of these have been turned into attractive holiday accommodation.

It is hard to describe the ambience of the cove which is an attractive jumble of flowers shacks, lobsterpots and cottages.

Don’t miss it if you take a trip to the Isle of Wight.

Earth, Sea and Sky

Yesterday we set out for a walk from Colwell Bay to Fort Victoria - a pleasant walk that doesn’t involve driving to get to it but not normally especially exciting! - little did we know what was in store! I started off by taking some nature photos in the hedgerow as we walked up the lane.

Then we carried on to the high view point on the walk where we found a number of people with binoculars and serious cameras. They told us three of the huge America’s Cup J Class yachts were doing a round the Island race. It seemed they were still quite a long way away so we decided to push on to Fort Victoria, another great viewpoint. No J class there either but a lot more to see as there were flotillas of boats out to see these magnificent boats come by. There is also ice cream which may have played a small part in our decision not to wait for the yachts at the view point. An added bonus was that I bumped into an old colleague that I hadn’t seen for several years.

After watching the shipping for a while and still no J Class we decided to head for home and were amazingly lucky in that just as we reached the viewpoint on the way back the first of these magnificent boats came round the headland - certainly a walk to remember!

Stay tuned for the next episode where we meet a medieval manor, a hero and a war horse.​

Stay tuned for the next episode where we meet a medieval manor, a hero and a war horse.