Bishop Auckland & Auckland Castle~ February 2020 ~ Part 1

Categories: Adventures · Anglo~Saxon · architecture · castles & ruins · Fuji · FujiX-T2 · History · Middle Ages · photography · UncategorizedTags: · · · · 34 Comments

A cold yet sunny day out in February had Sophie and I visiting the newly refurbished castle at Bishop Auckland, so get your ☕️ and 🍪 and we’ll do The History Bit *LONG POST ALERT* There’s 1,134 years to get through, and a lot of Bishops,so this will be a potted history (again) and here we go! In 886 King Alfred (last seen forgiving Uhtred in The Last Kingdom series 4 🙂 )created the See (area of a bishop’s ecclesiastical jurisdiction) of Durham when he gifts “all the lands between the Were and the Tine to Saint Cuthbert, and to…

Howick Gardens ~ February 2020

Categories: Adventures · cemetery · Church · flower · Fuji · FujiX-T2 · gardens · Graves · landscape · nature · photography · snowdrops · stately homes & estates · UncategorizedTags: · · · · · · · · 48 Comments

Sophie and I have visited Howick Gardens a couple of times prior to this post, in October 2015 and July 2017, but there’s something different happening there all year round, and this time we went to see the snowdrops. If you want the history of the gardens it’s in the first link there, if not, on with the pretty pictures! Although it was quite cold, we had a clear blue sky, and the snowdrops were out in force. I had my FujiXT2 + my 16mm fujinon & my helios lens, with me and my Canon EOS 100 FN with a…

St. Wilfred’s Church & Kirkharle ~ Dec 2019 ~Part 2

Categories: Adventures · architecture · Church · Fuji · FujiX-T2 · History · medieval · photographyTags: · · · 37 Comments

Part 1 HERE is where you’ll find the history of the church and Kirkharle. The church itself is quite small but has some interesting features. Stones with mason’s marks Windows with reticulated tracery (the stonework fills the head of the arch with repeated forms creating the appearance of a net-like pattern- wiki) which you can see at in this shot of the interior taken from the entrance. The font of course, which we originally came looking for, originally from All Saints church in Newcastle, it dates from late 15th or early 16th century, and was installed at St.Wilfreds by George…

Crook House & Gardens~Nov 2019~part 2

Categories: Adventures · architecture · autumn · Fuji · FujiX-T2 · gardens · History · medieval · nature · photography · stately homes & estates · UncategorizedTags: · · · 37 Comments

Part 1 HERE In spite of the weather being meh, we had a wander around the gardens. Not many flowers at that time of year, but nice to see some garden features,foliage & berries. So, a nice day out, the pictures as always are embiggenable with a click, and there are more photo’s of Crook House HERE Stay home, stay well, stay frosty and stay tooned for our next adventure!

Crook House & Gardens~ November 2019

Categories: Adventures · Anglo~Saxon · architecture · FujiX-T2 · Georgian era · History · medieval · photography · stately homes & estates · UncategorizedTags: · · · · · · · 42 Comments

On a rather miserable showery day, Sophie and I went off to Framwellgate in County Durham, to visit Crook Hall. As always, I will edumacate you firstly with…. The History Bit ☕️ 🍪 Crook Hall was built around 1217 and is one of the oldest inhabited houses in Durham City. The oldest part is an open hall, built in sandstone and with a Welsh slate roof. In the 17th Century the hall was extended forming a Jacobean manor house, and in the 18th Century a large brick Georgian house was appended to the Jacobean part. A fair hotchpotch that. Originally…

Tynemouth Castle & Priory ~ November 2019

Categories: Adventures · Anglo~Saxon · castles & ruins · Church · Fuji · FujiX-T2 · Graves · History · landscape · medieval · Middle Ages · photography · UncategorizedTags: · · · · · · · · 46 Comments

A cold but sunny day had Sophie and I opt for a short outing nearby to Tynemouth Priory. Get your cuppa ready, here comes The History Bit. *Long post alert* skimmers and those of you with short attention spans should move right along to the pictures 🙂 Firstly, as fabulous as I am, condensing 2000 years of convoluted Northumbrian history in one blog post is not an easy task, so bear with me and a potted version will have to suffice. The Priory stands on a headland known by ancient Britains as Pen Bal Crag, the literal translation of that…

Wynyard Gardens – October 2019 – part 2

Categories: Adventures · autumn · flower · Fuji · FujiX-T2 · gardens · photography · stately homes & estates · UncategorizedTags: · · · · 33 Comments

Part 1 HERE On the way back through the woods, we came across a few interesting bits and bobs. lots of mushrooms everywhere We got back to the formal gardens, no roses as it was late in the year, but a few bits of autumn colour. For more pictures there’s a full album HERE Sophie and I hoped to return here in spring and see the rose garden, but as the corona virus is taking hold in the country now as I write, I’m not sure if that will happen. Stay tooned though, still some more adventures to do!

Wynyard Gardens ~ October 2019

Categories: Adventures · autumn · Fuji · FujiX-T2 · gardens · History · landscape · nature · photography · stately homes & estates · UncategorizedTags: · · · · 37 Comments

Sophie and I decided to visit Wynyard Gardens even though the flower season was over, we thought we’d do a recce and return in spring if we thought it worthwhile. The gardens are part of the Wynyard Hall estate, currently owned by Sir John Hall, a North East property developer ( and life president of Newcastle United Football Club). We only saw the hall from a distance as it is a very nice hotel now, but the gardens are open to the public all year round. The history bit . ( Cup of tea time 🙂 ) We’ll begin by…

Preston Tower ~ Part 2 ~ Oct 2019

Categories: Adventures · architecture · autumn · castles & ruins · Fuji · FujiX-T2 · History · landscape · photography · UncategorizedTags: · · · 30 Comments

Part 1 HERE As well as the tower, there is a house and some other buildings we had a look at. The first house on the site was unfortunately burned down in 1781. The estate was then bought by Edmund Craster, who built the house you can see above, in 1802. In 1861 AJ Baker Creswell bought the house for his son Henry, who added an east wing and moved the front door to the north side in 1830, and when GG Baker Cresswell inherited the house he added an entrance hall in 1915. The Baker Cresswells have a long…