One of the newer colleges of the University of Cambridge, Darwin College nonetheless possesses old buildings, including this beautiful old granary on the banks of the River Cam. An interesting fusion of modern and old buildings, Darwin’s real delight lies in its pretty and secluded riverside gardens. The gardens are separated into alcoves that run […]
The Alma mater of Charles Darwin and John Milton, Christ’s is an established older college in Cambridge. Christ’s was founded in 1505, by a woman, Lady Margaret Beaufort, which makes it something rather special. The Founder Margaret Beaufort was one of the richest women in medieval England, the mother of Henry Tudor (Henry VII), and […]
The day after Easter Monday I took my camera and walked into the city. It was beautiful weather and felt like the first day of summer. I had just been to buy a new backpack for my upcoming trip to Spain. In the shop they just cut off the tags and I didn’t have a […]
While walking in the city yesterday evening, I stumbled across a light show at Senate House. Senate House lies in the old city centre of Cambridge. It stands between King’s and Caius, behind the market place and the University church of Great St Mary’s. The Senate House provides an important function of the University, as […]
I stumbled upon St Bride’s Church when wandering through narrow alleyways between Temple and Fleet Street. It is a church designed by Sir Christopher Wren, architect of St Paul’s. The interior of the church is strikingly beautiful. The floor is made of black and white squares of marble, surrounded by dark panelled wood. There […]
Gonville & Caius College is one of the oldest Cambridge colleges, founded in 1348. Gonville & Caius sundial, Senate House Passage I had been wanting to see the inside of the college for a while, having walked past the outside for years. So I went for a wander around one sunny lunchtime. There was a […]
Trinity Hall is a small, beautiful college, and one of the oldest in Cambridge. Occupying a site beside the river, nestled between Trinity College and Clare College, Trinity Hall is in the heart of the old university area. Its near neighbours include Gonville and Caius College, the University’s Old Schools, Clare College, Trinity College, and […]
Tarr Steps is an ancient packhorse bridge in Exmoor. Made of huge slabs of stone, no-one really knows how old it is, or how it was built, but estimates date back to 1000 BC. The National Park of Exmoor is full of rivers, forest and wildflowers, and spreads across Devon and Somerset. Wild ponies roam the […]
The Tour de France runs through Cambridge this year, on one of the stages of the race that is set in Britain. The Tour started in Yorkshire on Saturday 5th July, and today I went out to see the race as it passed through Cambridgeshire. Stage 3 of the Tour de France 2014 started off […]
A former Benedictine monastery founded in the 7th century, Bath Abbey is an impressive cathedral in the centre of Bath. Its full title is the Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Bath, but is more commonly known as Bath Abbey. Bath Abbey lies close to the Roman Baths, and when walking around […]
We crossed the Millennium Footbridge in twilight as the sun was setting over the river, having walked from St Paul’s Cathedral. The moon was coming out, brightening in the deep blue sky of a summer evening. The lights reflecting on the water were beautiful. We could see down the Thames towards Tower Bridge, with Southwark […]
On a trip to London with my girlfriend, we headed for St Paul’s just before sunset. There are roses of many colours growing up against the cathedral railings. They made for picturesque shots of the cathedral with a cloudless summer sky as background. Slanted evening light fell across the front of St Paul’s as the […]
The caves at Cheddar form an intricate and deep network of caverns hollowed out naturally by the action of water, over millennia. The caves were formed by the chemical reaction between water and limestone, which makes a weak carbonic acid. Rainwater easily erodes this rock, dissolving the limestone. A body known as Cheddar Man was […]
The Mathematical Bridge in Cambridge is famous for its unusual design. Although it appears to be an arch, the bridge is built entirely of straight timbers. Its component pieces are arranged at tangents that create a strong, self-supporting structure when pressure is applied to them all together. Originally built in 1749, it has been rebuilt […]
A couple of summers ago I visited south Cornwall, where we took some beautiful walks along the South West Coast Path. Maintained by the National Trust and spanning 630 miles, the path connects walking trails through Dorset, Devon, Cornwall and Somerset. The coast path follows picturesque and scenic routes along cliff tops and beside beaches […]
The Llechwedd Slate Caverns are an old mining network under the mountains of Snowdonia. The caverns and tunnels are hewn from the solid rock of the mountains. Llechwedd lies in the town of Blaenau Ffestiniog, once the largest town in north Wales after Wrexham, but its population fell with the decline of the slate […]
This is one of my favourite places in Cambridge, the Mill Pond. Here the River Cam splits, meandering around a meadow at the back of Queen’s College and forming a pool beside the Silver Street bridge. From there the river flows on under the bridge, and in the other direction through the Backs, passing alongside […]
For Mothers’ Day we visited fields of rare hyacinths, grown in Waterbeach. The fields north of Cambridge become Fenland, with rich fertile black soil and flat land. This region was marsh, drained and reclaimed during the seventeenth century. It is still low-lying and intersected by rivers and streams, with roads raised up above the level […]
Bath is a picturesque city with famous Georgian architecture and Roman baths. It is a spa city, built on a natural spring. Notable sights of Bath include the Roman baths, Bath Abbey, the Pulteney bridge, the Circus and the Royal Crescent. Here are some photos taken as I wandered around the city. The rotunda design […]
Last weekend I went to a wedding in Kent. The couple are friends of my girlfriend, and it was a lovely occasion that took place in a large country house. After the wedding we had an opportunity to go looking around some of the surrounding villages in Kent, so went out for a drive in […]