A Walk Round Yarmouth

At the beginning of the month we had a week on the Isle of Wight. With hindsight and considering what it has been like since, the weather was very good. Indeed we had two near perfect days. On one of these we had a lovely walk round Yarmouth, one of my favourite places on the Island.

We headed off past the old station that has recently been reimagined as a cafe

through Rofford Marsh

and down to the sea where we saw a couple of cormorants fishing together, and a man walking his dogs along the shore at what was one of the lowest tides of the year (usually no beach visible here)

Back through the town, the cottage gardens were looking pretty,

then on to the pier, reputedly the longest wooden pier int he UK.

From the pier we spotted children taking advantage of the low tide and glorious evening to go crabbing

All this in a gentle stroll lasting around an hour - we are blessed!

Another Place

On Monday we visited Anthony Gormely's installation 'Another Place' on Crosby Beach just outside Liverpool. It consists of 100 cast-iron, life-size figures spread out along three kilometres of the foreshore, stretching almost one kilometre out to sea.

When we arrived the tide was on its way in and the weather was pretty murky with outbreak sof squally rain, but somehow the scene didn't call for bright sunshine.

The figures - each one weighing 650 kilos - are made from casts of the artist's own body standing on the beach, all of them looking out to sea, 'staring at the horizon in silent expectation'. The figures are really spaced out and some were already underwater when we visited. We walked to a couple of the nearer ones which were textured with rust, sand and barnacles.

According to Antony Gormley, as quoted on Visit Liverpool , 'Another Place harnesses the ebb and flow of the tide to explore man's relationship with nature. He explains: The seaside is a good place to do this. Here time is tested by tide, architecture by the elements and the prevalence of sky seems to question the earth's substance. In this work human life is tested against planetary time. This sculpture exposes to light and time the nakedness of a particular and peculiar body. It is no hero, no ideal, just the industrially reproduced body of a middle-aged man trying to remain standing and trying to breathe, facing a horizon busy with ships moving materials and manufactured things around the planet.'

As we watched and waited the tide rolled in and more figures began to be underwater, it gave a slightly erie feeling. I guess the visit would have been entirely different if it had been a bright summers day with the beach crowded with people. As it was, it seemed to represent the human condition, how we are buffeted by the time and tide of life, marked by its vicissitudes but gaining a strange beauty as we age.

“Happiness, not in another place but this place...not for another hour, but this hour.”

— Walt Whitman

Class Outing

On Sunday my photography class had a field trip. We headed out to the coast at a place called Calshot which is right next to the Fawley oil refinery and also boasts an activities centre run by the local council.

In addition to these delights there are ships, wildlife, marshes, beach huts, and a host of other treasures. Our brief was Go Explore!

I started with the wildlife and was charmed to find this egret pottering about the base of the old castle before taking off to sit on the top.

There were also lots of Oyster Catchers enjoying the low tide

and it's a long time since I saw so many shells on a beach

As well as these natural wonders there was man-made detritus on the shore too, such as old tyres.

But I was getting chilly, maybe it was time to explore inside. Calshot was an airfield from 1913 to the 1960s and the activity centre is housed in the old aircraft hangers

The main attraction indoors from a photography point of view was the velodrome

I've never been inside a velodrome before. It was impressive! I still can't work out how they mange to stick to the walls

It also gave me a chance to practice panning

Back outside again I focused on the more industrial landscape

boats and chimneys

before ending up with a visit to the beach huts

verdict - cold but fun!

Into the Light + a Surprise

“The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever”

— Jacques Yves Cousteau

I think I feel more acutely aware of the light when I am by the sea. It sparkles, it reflects, it picks up colour from the sky, the sun, the clouds, it's constantly changing.

Driving along the esplanade at Cowes on Friday evening on our way out to supper I was struck by how the light was catching the sails of the large racing yachts that were milling about. Of course we had to stop!

The sails just shimmered in the brightness of the evening sun.

Look towards the west however and you get a totally different impression of the light. The sun is beginning to sink, the light is a hazy gold rather than bright, it's hard to imagine you are in the same time and space. This picture is natural colour but it almost looks as if I have put a sepia filter on it.

It's Saturday mid-afternoon and we are walking round the Rofford Marshes at Yarmouth. The tide is out and the waders are feeding, the sun gleams on the mud, the weed looks almost a florescent green

The light is such that we are unable to identify the birds from our reference book,

the colours blend and merge together, the bird seeming to take on the colour of its surroundings.

Looking across the estuary where the glare and gleam of the light is strong, the colour is washed out, so that the difference between a colour and monochrome picture seems almost insignificant.

As we continued our walk we came upon something very unexpected. Our route took us down the old Newport - Freshwater railway track. Closed in 1953 even before Beeching wielded his axe, I have no memory of it other than as a bridleway. Some of the stations have been turned into private houses, others have been demolished and Yarmouth station was a Community Centre. Over the past few months we had noticed building work and renovation going on but couldn't work out what the final result would be. At last we were to discover!

To our great surprise the station had been recreated, painted in the Southern Railways' colours familiar from my childhood, and turned into a tearoom and restaurant. I was not able to take any pictures of the interior on this occasion but it was reminiscent of a 1950 railway carriage.

They have even built a faux signal box which doubles as a bird hide with a wonderful view over the marshes. We can't wait to go there for supper on our next visit to the Island!

If its spring again, birds sing again ..........

I suddenly got this tune from my childhood into my head - it's Tulips from Amsterdam sung, if I recall correctly, by Max Bygraves ( just checked it was Max Bygraves). And it led me to reflect on what spring means to me. I think it's the flowers first and foremost, to begin with the aconites and snowdrops, followed by the daffodils and all the flowering trees that have burst on to the scene in the last week.

Even the wild flowers have got going

The second big thing that heralds spring for us is the opening of our tiny place on the Isle of Wight. The first trip of the season is always exciting, checking if there have been any cliff falls and if our favourite shops (especially the fishmonger) are still there. The cliff falls were fairly minor (given the weather we've had) although they were rebuilding some of the beach huts that had been damaged by the storms.

After doing all the chores we went for a drive round - first stop Freshwater Bay where there was a stiff breeze with spray catching the sun over the sea wall

and there was a family having fun laughing at grandpa who was jumping in and out of the waves in his dhoti

Next it was off to Totland where we noticed that this sky above the land was much bluer than the sky above the sea, which was still a bit misty

and there was a fabulous view of the evening sun on the old lifeboat house with the gulls wheeling around it

It was good to be back and breathe in the spring sea air! And just in case you are way too young to have heard this

A Cornish Interlude - Thoughts on the Nature of Beauty

“A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul”

— Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

This week's post is part of a brave blogging link-up that's part of Liv Lane's How To Build a Blog You Truly Love e-course. As a participant, I was challenged to step outside my comfort zone and share something with you that felt especially brave.

This is a problem for me as I have just returned from a magical weekend in Cornwall where we went for the weekend to celebrate our fortieth wedding anniversary with friends who were celebrating their fortieth on the same day.

Everything about the weekend was fantastic. The weather was fabulous (sitting out on the terrace in a swimsuit in Cornwall in October!), the hotel as near to perfection as I could ever have imagined and I feel full to the brim with joy and love at the wonderful weekend I experienced.

We have not stayed at many expensive hotels over our 40 years of marriage and I fully realise how lucky I am to have spent a weekend in this wonderful place of both natural and man made beauty. This has lead me to ponder on the nature of beauty itself and the different types of beauty that fill me with joy.

Natural beauty is perhaps the easiest place to start. The hotel had direct views over the beach at Mawgan Porth and the view from our bedroom was just stunning, with the light changing at different times of the day.

The net curtains in the bedroom took on the colour of the sunset and turned from a pale gold into a vivid orange

The design brief of the hotel was 'to create a unique and sustainable building that blends with and enhances the local environment, utilising the spectacular cliff-top location and views to construct a feeling of space and light.' This it has surely achieved. I have not taken photos of the outside of the building as it blends in with the environment rather than standing out as an architectural statement. it is rather the interior and the outdoor landscaped areas which stun with their beauty. The fusion of the hotel with its environment is evident throughout but I loved the outdoor natural swimming pool and the path down to the beach.

One of the things I enjoyed most about the hotel was that there was not one jarring note throughout the place (even the rubbish bins were attractive) and that everything was designed to be brilliantly functional. The chairs were comfortable, the balconies slanted to catch the sun (not always easy on the north coast) the lighting design amazing - I could go on - and all of these areas looked absolutely stunning as well! I'm not sure how beautiful I think things are if they look nice but don't perform the function they were intended to effectively. Something that looks beautiful and is well designed is a joy in all ways.

Another feature of the hotel were the works of art, some of which belonged to the owners and some of which were for sale. My favourite was this angel but there were plenty to choose from.

Most spectacular was the beauty of light and space, whether looking out to nature or in to the building

There are of course other types of beauty than the visual. The beauty of celebrating our 37 year friendship with our co-travellers (we are godparents to each other's children) and of the forty years of love and companionship that we have had as a couple.

I 'm not really sure how much this qualifies as a brave post, but it is what is in my heart this week. I hope you have enjoyed sharing our celebration weekend.

““Youth is happy because it has the capacity to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.” ”

— Franz Kafka

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.​

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