A tale of 2 gardens . . . .
Firstly, we revisited Stowe Gardens as it must be two years since our last visit and we were hoping for the autumn colours, but there wasn’t much showing so we both tried a few black and white shots and some abstracts (arty)!
We even got an alternative Abbey Road shot – a family of 4 obliging swans crossing the road!
It was still an enjoyable day out, with lovely coffee and cake at the end, but a little frustrating at the same time.
To continue the search for the autumn colours, and with a decent weather forecast for Monday, Ian decided to head off for Stourhead Gardens and this proved more successful – I’ll leave him to take up the story . . .
The plan was to arrive early and stop off in Mere for breakfast but the town/village was dead and there was nothing available so I drove on to Stourhead to recce the area.
This proved a good move as I was able to get in to the gardens before it officially opened – as had several other photographers – and try out a couple of test shots. It was a frosty morning and there was mist on the lake so I was hoping to get a couple of decent black and white pics (they have still to be processed so I’m not too sure whether they were successful).
As the morning progressed, the sun started to light up the far side of the lake and show just how good this place could be, if you time your visit right – it was still fairly quiet and I was able to get a few shots that I was happy with before making my way to the Spreadeagle Inn for breakfast (expensive, but very nice).
It was now starting to get a bit busier (don’t these people have jobs to go to! :o)), but I decided to walk the opposite way around the lake to see if I’d missed anything worth photographing – another lesson learned, as I had overlooked a couple of views and I would have kicked myself if I'd missed them.
Having exhausted the opportunities, and with it now being very busy, I decided it was time to head off home – I’d been there for 5 hours and walked 6 miles so was more than a little weary, but it was well worth the trip.
