Lavender Fields of Kent

Lavender fields in Kent

This photograph was taken on a trip to a lavender festival in Kent. Yes, you heard me correctly. A festival of lavender. Definitely one of the more obscure annual jamborees I've attaneded, and I speak as one who's been to the Ely Eel Festival not just once but twice.

The lavender festival offered all kind of purple-flowered fun. There were a wide selection of lavender-based foods to try, including (but not limited to) jams, pickles, ice cream, cakes, cheeses and sausages. Some were definitely leaning to the "weird" rather than the "delicious" end of the food spectrum, but as Heston Blumenthal would (probably) tell you, no-one ever got anywhere by keeping herbaceous plants out of the jampot.

Outside of the kitchen, there were other lavender-themed delights on offer as well, like soaps, perfumes, little pillows stuffed with lavender, massage oil and more. But the best part was the fields and fields of lavender plants, which were absolutely gorgeous, smelled amazing and were crammed with bees. You should know by now that I love taking photographs of bees anyway, but I have to say I think they look best against a purple background. possibly because I think everything looks best against a purple background. I love purple.

The Mermaid Inn

The Mermaid Inn

After my gap year travels were over, I went with my family on a summer holiday to Wittersham, in Kent. This is a photograph I took in Rye, another nearby town of the Mermaid Inn pub (see the silhouette of its sign?). I can't remember if we even went in the pub, but I do recall darting back to take a picture as the sun was setting and my family were heading off up the road.

Island Paradise

Sunset over an island in Fiji

Another old photograph from my gap year travels, this time from Fiji. One of the most relaxed days we spent on our travels was on this Fijian island; we were taken out there one morning by boat and then got to spend the whole day on a little island, lounging on the beach, snorkelling with amazingly brightly-coloured fish (and I saw two cuttlefish! Probably sepia latimanus, the broadclub cuttlefish, which is very common on coral reefs) and even doing a spot of sea kayaking which proved rather more strenuous than we had anticipated.

Fiji is totally beautiful and you should go there. Although, take insane amounts of insect repellant because I was eaten alive by mosquitos and managed to snag a spider bite that made my foot swell up like a pufferfish into the bargain.

Queenstown, NZ

By Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown, New Zealand

And we're back to our regular every-other-day photography service! I've been kicking myself lately because there's been a few times when I've been out and about and seen opportunities for some really interesting photos...and I haven't had my camera with me. Fail! But along with a new resolution to try to carry a camera with me more often, that's also inspired me to dig out some old pictures from before I started this blog. This one, as with several upcoming photographs, was taken on my old camera which was nowhere like as good as my current one. For a fairly reasonably-priced non-DSLR camera, my current one is great, but my previous one was not as good - but it would be a shame to let all the nice pictures I've taken on it languish on my hard drive, so I'm posting them anyway.

This photograph was taken on my gap year, when I was staying at a youth hostel by the shore of Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown, on New Zealand's South Island. I was there in May/June 2007, right as the winter season was beginning. Queenstown's a big spot for adventure tourism; me and the friend I was travelling with wanted to go hang-gliding, but the weather wasn't good enough. But we did manage a trip to an ice bar, a cruise around the incredibly beautiful Milford Sound and a speed boat trip.

Oh, and a canyon swing, which was terrifying. I refused to go bungee jumping, because I can't think of anything worse that doesn't involve actual bodily dismemberment. But we wanted to do something adventurous, and as hang-gliding was off, we settled on the canyon swing as a good alternative. I thought I could probably cope better with falling off a cliff if I was at least the right way up.

What the hell is a canyon swing? I hear you cry. Well, in this case it's a platform 360ft (109m, if you're feeling metric) above the Shotover River. You stand on said platform, after being tied into a harness, and then you jump off it, freefalling for 60m and then the "swing" aspect kicks in and you're transformed into a giant pendulum swinging wildly back and forth above the river. If you're a complete mentalist - like my friend - you can mix it up by, say, tipping yourself backwards off the platform while tied to a plastic chair. If like me you're terrified of heights, you can just jump off, though I should warn you that a split second after doing so you will be genuinely convinced that you've just accidentally committed suicide.

Mineral or Vegetable?

Brief break from my zoo pictures with a quick return to the snowy days of February. Fret not: more animals coming soon!

The Miscreant

Escaped Pelican at London Zoo

In my last post, I mentioned that when I visited the Penguin Beach at London Zoo there were two naughty Eastern White Pelicans who sneaked into the penguin enclosure; here's a picture of one of them. Apparently the pond that the pelicans usually live in had frozen over, so they were moved to temporary accomodation next to the penguins, from which they promptly escaped, climbed onto the roof of a shed by the penguin beach, and proceeded to jump over and flap across to the pool.

Various keepers were on hand to herd the mischevious pelicans back to their temporary home, and they were both recaptured fairly quickly! It was highly entertaining though, I must admit.

Snowy Gates

Not as wonky as my previous offering, happily! If you look closely you can see the nubbins of snowmen that appeared to have been decapitated by the time I got there.

Filaments and Fronds

I believe this is a picture of some Old Man's Beard a.k.a.clematis vitalba although I'm not actually sure. But the delicate little fronds and filaments make an interesting picture when they shine in the light of a setting sun.

Sunlit Holly

I like this picture because of the way the edges of the holly leaf seem to glow in the sunlight. Also, it reminds me of Christmas. Ah, if only I had two weeks off work to sit around eating delicious starchy foods more often. Once a year just isn't enough.

Natural Decor

Out for a wander one day, I came across this plant, which had twined itself around a rather hideous chain link fence and then sprouted some nice red berries, greatly improving the look of the thing. It was rather as though nature had decided to put up its own Christmas decorations, albeit rather late.

White Bobble

Some kind of cool white berry type thing that I discovered on a recent walk in the wintertime. The wind was blowing like the blazes while I was trying to take this damn picture, but I got there in the end. If only I knew what kind of plant it was, I would share said information!

Incidentally, this is my one hundredth post on this blog! That is quite a few. How exciting :D

Campsight

When we arrived at our campsite in Cornwall this summer, this was the view over the fields at the back. Sadly it didn't stay quite as sunny for the entire duration of our stay. One evening it was raining so hard that we drove from our tent to the sinks to brush our teeth...

Monet

It's hard to look at this and not be reminded of a Monet. Apparently you can actually visit his garden at Giverny in France, the site of the famous bridge and waterlilies. Interestingly, Monet suffered from cataracts towards the end of his life, which may have been reflected in his paintings, which at the time they were affecting his vision had a redder hue than previously; after he underwent surgery to remove the cataracts in 1923, the hue of his paintings changed again, and he was possibly able to see further into the ultraviolet spectrum than is normal - he even repainted some of his earlier works to give them a bluer hue. Intriguing!

Red Earth

Another picture from my holiday in Devon, to show how bright red the cliffs by the railway are.

One of the fun things we did on holiday was to go visit one of my relatives and her husband who live near Dartmoor in a gorgeous house. They were really welcoming and lovely and served an absolutely incredible cream tea (and anyone who knows me knows I love cream teas immensely), with teeny delicious sandwiches and cute little scones with two kinds of jam, real clotted cream and an incredible slab of cake covered in strawberries. I made an absolute pig of myself.

But moving away from the food aspect of things, we also had fun discussing star signs and I resolved that on my return I would look up what I'm supposed to be like (I'm a Cancerian). Apparently Cancerians are the "least clear cut" of all the star signs. Negative traits according to this site include: untidy, sulky, devious, moody, inclined to self-pity, inferiority complex, brood on insults (very often imagined), easily flattered, tactless and difficult, often change their opinions and loyalties, lack stability, easily corrupted and (my favourite) can make successful confidence tricksters.

You have been warned.

Cairn

Another photograph of my summer holiay in Cornwall; there was a whole herd of cairns scattered across this beach. I don't know who built them or why, but it looked very picturesque.

In a not-unrelated note, my word of the day is tumulus, a "mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves". Purely because it sounds good. Also known as a barrow, a less awesome word which greatly confused me as a ten-year-old reading Lord of the Rings for the first time. Near the beginning of the book there's a bit which involves much unexciting messing around in/near barrows, and as I had only come across the word in the context of a wheelbarrow (and was too lazy to go get a dictionary), it caused me a great deal of confusion.

Vanishing Point

Originally this was supposed to be a photograph just of the water but given how wonky it came out, I feel it works much better upside-down - it's an interesting optical illusion. Taken at the lovely Trevarno Gardens in Cornwall, which is definitely worth a visit.

All at Sea

Believe it or not, these fisherfolk were only metres from the train station at Dawlish. It's right on the beach. I took the photograph while standing on the platform waiting for a train to arrive.

Making a Splash

This picture took a few tries to get right! Fortunately my mother was very good at warning me when a big wave was coming, while I tried to hold the camera as steady as possible. The end result is surprisingly un-wonky, I feel.

You could probably guess it's another picture from my holiday in Devon. We had a couple of days of really summery weather, but I only actually made it into the sea once, and even then only for a paddle in the very late afternoon. However, I did eat copious amounts of ice cream and jam my last two-pences into a shove-penny machine, which on the scale of seaside experiences is practically equivalent to full immersion.

The thing about seaside towns is that they get eerily quiet at night. Even the funfair, which for me is a late night activity, was silent and dark by 9 o'clock, and the restaurants in the town where we stayed were... variable. On walking in to one of them we were informed that there was only one menu because all the others had been stolen (?). My dad was asked if he wanted his beer chilled or room temperature. He said room temperature. They only had chilled. When it came time to pay we waited for ages, despite being the only people in there, and the old man who ran the place kept giving my dad's credit card nervous looks as it lay on the table. He finally scuttled forwards, holding the chip & pin machine... only to scurry straight into the kitchen. His wife eventually emerged to explain that she was the only one who could work it.*

*Incidentally, the food was extremely tasty, but that's not the point.

Diversify

What an odd-looking flower. OH WAIT.

Yes ladies and gentlemen, for your viewing delectation it's... a picture of a landscape! With sunshine and everything.  Taken from the top of Langstone Rock at Dawlish Warren in Devon, on my holidays. A very nice coastal path runs along the edge of the beach, and my very intrepid mother and I* couldn't resist the chance to climb up the Rock, despite our impractical footwear.

It's only a shame that you can't see how red the cliffs are; even the sand is actually quite dark there. The route of the old South Devon Railway follows the coast very closely; it's very picturesque, gliding out by saltwater marshes and past beaches. The history of the line is interestingtoo; built in the mid-nineteenth century, it was originally conceived as an atmospheric railway with the trains powered by the use of vaccuum pumps. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was the brainchild of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who (in addition to having possibly my favourite name ever) was fond of making cool stuff. Also he wore a top hat. So I think we can concede that he was pretty much a legend and it was not his fault that rats ate his vaccuum tubing.**

*Note grammar.
**Not a euphemism. Euch.

Lost in Thought

Another picture from the trip to Castle Howard. I promise I'll stop going on about it now, but I really did like the statuary there. This is another one from the Temple of the Four Winds.