Zen blossom

More pretty blossom, this time an early flowering azalea. It has a bit of a Japanese look to it, I think.

Let's pretend to be a castle

The Wentworth Castle estate holds a number of monuments and structures, including this sham castle known as Stainborough Castle, on the highest point of the grounds. Finished in 1731, it was built by Thomas Wentworth as a ruined folly and inscribed 'Rebuilt in 1730'. It originally had four towers, named after his four children. Now only two remain. You can climb a (mercifully sturdy, steel) spiral staircase to the top and the views from up there are lovely.

And right at the top, there's a dragon!

It's all rather nice and I could well imagine the household gathering there for picnics and fun, much as visitors do now. You can almost hear the laughter of those four children.

Lenten rose

Another personal favourite, the hellebore, is known as the Christmas or Lenten rose, flowering as they do in late winter/early spring. They come in a variety of colours, from purples and pinks to white and even astonishing pale green flowers. The 'petals' are actually sepals and the spiky bits in the middle are the modified petals or nectaries. They are low growing plants and like dappled shade under shrubs and trees. Many of them droop their heads shyly and are hard to photograph but this one smiled at me.

Camellia

The beginning of March was, I suppose, a bit of a silly time to visit a garden. Nature has hardly begun to stir from winter dormancy - though I do like to see the structure and shape of trees without their leaves. Nevertheless there were a few hints of spring around, with snowdrops and pretty little pink and white cyclamen nestled under the trees. Wentworth Castle Gardens holds National Collections of rhododendrons, camellias and magnolias - meaning that in a few weeks there will be spectacular blossom to see. (I might go back!) I spotted this one early flowering camellia. They are such delicate blossoms and flower so early that they are nearly always browned and burned by frost. This beautiful bloom was, however, pretty well perfect.

The Blackamoor

This Georgian lead sundial depicting a slave, The Blackamoor, sits in the conservatory at Wentworth Castle Gardens. It was a popular subject for sculpture in the gardens of grand mansions, initially because of the wealth generated by the slave trade. Later, these sculptures became a symbol adopted by the abolitionist movement: 'Am I not a man and a brother?' A notice beside this particular sundial said that it had at one time been painted white as a protest, by students from the college. They have recently removed the white paint and restored it to its former colours. Personally, I find it a powerful and moving reminder both of our not-always-glorious history and of the fact that things can change when brave people speak out.

Victorian Conservatory

Perhaps the most celebrated feature of Wentworth Castle Gardens is the newly restored Victorian conservatory. It was featured on a TV programme called 'Restoration', which involved various worthy restoration projects competing for funds in a public vote. It didn't win, but nevertheless eventually enough funds were raised and the once derelict conservatory has been beautifully restored and rebuilt. It was dismantled into over 4000 parts, which were taken off site, stripped, repaired and repainted before being faithfully reconstructed on site again, complete with new glass carefully made to look old and flawed. It reopened in late 2013. It's beautiful.

Ha-ha

There are wonderful views from the park at Wentworth Castle. There is a special, hidden feature: a recessed wall and ditch known as a ha-ha (probably because that describes the surprised reaction experienced when walking out across the lawn, when the feature suddenly becomes visible). These walls and ditches were often used around large country houses. They are designed to allow full appreciation of the view from the house, with no intervening walls or fences, whilst protecting the immediate surroundings from livestock.

Wentworth Castle Gardens

There was a hint of Spring in the air over the weekend, with some warm sunshine despite a stiff, cold wind in more exposed places. I finally managed an expedition, to one of the places that has been on my 'must visit' list for a while...Wentworth Castle Gardens, near Barnsley in South Yorkshire.

It's an interesting place and its mixed use seems increasingly common among our larger heritage estates. The house itself was once the home of the Earls of Strafford. Thomas Wentworth bought the site and an older house in 1711. He dedicated a great deal to rebuilding the house and landscaping the estate, perhaps aggrieved that what he believed was his birthright, the nearby estate of Wentworth Woodhouse, had passed to another relative. The house is not generally open to the public. Nowadays it is run as a residential college - Northern College - for men and women of all ages who, for one reason or another, have no qualifications but are seeking to return to learning.

The wider estate it is set in, Stainborough Park, was at one time beautifully landscaped with carefully planted trees, various follies and monuments and a sinuous lake. The changing fortunes and ownership of the house led to a break up of the estate, and some of the land was decimated by open-cast mining whilst other areas were farmed. In 2002, a trust was formed to restore and preserve what is South Yorkshire's only Grade I listed estate. New trees have been planted, features restored, the lake dredged and the parkland returned to a deer park.

Lost rabbit

This is not mine but.... Has anyone seen a rabbit?  This toy was lost, apparently, on Saturday 8 March somewhere in the vicinity of Salts Mill or the car park. He's 'a classic Pooh rabbit made by Gund, about 25cm tall, brown with a lighter brown tummy'. I do hope somebody has found him and will see this. I saw the appeal on Facebook and I've shared it on there but I know this blog has a good local readership too. If you've found Rabbit, please email me from the profile link.

I can remember when my daughter's beloved Eeyore stuffed toy went missing. She was heartbroken. Thankfully, he eventually turned up... hidden at the bottom of the bed at Nana's house and not at all where we thought we'd lost him! My daughter still has him.

One to print

I've been trawling through my photo library looking for images that are suitable to print. I want them for an exhibition my church photography group will be holding on May Bank Holiday weekend, to coincide with Saltaire's revived and revamped Arts Trail this year. I came across this shot, taken last year in Croatia (in the World Heritage Site of Trogir, to be precise). It's one I'd overlooked at first but some careful work in Lightroom has, I think, brought out the best of it. There's lots of detail there. I think I might get it printed and see how it looks.

I scream for ice cream

The ice-cream boat is back... It must be Spring.

J B Priestley

I haven't had chance to see any of the activity but apparently they have been filming again in Saltaire. It is often used as a location for films and TV dramas. This time it is the BBC commissioning a new production of J B Priestley's most famous play 'An Inspector Calls', a detective thriller set in 1912. Our local newspaper provides more detail here. Salts Mill provided the backdrop for scenes taking place in a mill.

It is quite fitting, as J B Priestley (1894 -1984), novelist, playwright and broadcaster, was born and spent his early life in Bradford and much of his work is set against a Yorkshire backdrop. His statue stands in front of the Media Museum in Bradford, looking out over the city.

Tangle

Life is a tangle at the moment, a perfect storm of tasks to do that are all both urgent and necessary. Some of it is at work, so that I'm working rather longer hours than I normally would  - and some at home. My plan this year was to get a lot of things done that I have had on my mental 'to do' list for ages, and I am achieving that. It's better to do a lot of it at this time of year too, since the weather has not been conducive to getting out on expeditions, even though I could do with stocking up on photos. I took this on my iPhone during a very brisk lunchtime walk. It seems a good image for what was inside my head at the time! Though a brisk walk does help to clear a bit of brain space.

My virtual visitors

February's online photo club challenge was 'Time' and the image had to be in monochrome.

I've long been fascinated by the well-worn steps leading down to Salts Mill. They seem soaked through with countless stories of the people that have clambered up and down them in the 160+ years since they were built. Clogs, boots, shoes, trainers and sandals .... mill workers, their bosses, village residents, visitors and more recently shoppers and tourists have left their mark. I thought the image needed something more to strengthen it and to suggest the passage of time... so I suddenly had the idea to have members of my family 'visit' Saltaire. This is my great-grandfather and my uncle.

Fortress

Another Spiritual Sundays quotation - one of the prayer cards I made for our church Healing Prayer Team.

I took the photo when I was on holiday in Croatia, inside the fortress overlooking Dubrovnik, which was a stronghold of the local resistance during the Balkan wars in the early 1990s.

Ring O'Bells

I think I've only been in this pub once. It's a fairly traditional town pub, on the edge of Shipley town centre, serving a selection of real ales and some unpretentious 'pub food'. It styles itself as a sports pub, which means it has lots of TV screens and gets pretty busy if there is a good football or rugby match on. I think they also have live music sometimes and quizzes and games nights too. Those things all seem necessary these days for a local pub to survive.

It's aptly named, as it is not far from Shipley's parish church, St Paul's. I am sure you could hear the church bells from here.... though actually I'm not even certain the church has any bells! Or if it does, whether they are rung nowadays.

I chiefly notice this pub for the pretty etched glass in its windows, which sparkles in sunlight. Etched glass was popular in Victorian pubs but I wouldn't like to say how old these windows are. The coloured panels above were more popular in the 1930s.

Local history

On the road between Saltaire and Baildon there is a hamlet of old houses called Baildon Green, tucked under the rocky cliffs of Baildon Bank. The area was once quarried for gritstone and clay. There have been dwellings here since medieval times, built on the edge of the Green, an area of common land used for grazing. Most of the existing houses date back to the 18th and 19th century. In the 19th century a small textile mill, Clough's Mill, provided employment. There's a pub too, The Cricketer's Arms (out of shot to the right). The existing pub was built in 1899 but replaced one on the opposite side of the road, now a house. See also here and here.

Hoard

I'm running out of decent photos... I haven't had an outing with my camera for weeks, owing to a combination of bad weather at weekends and being busy with some 'home improvements'. I have had the sliding doors replaced on the wardrobes in my bedroom. The old (very old) ones no longer slid but had to be lifted and coaxed. Now I have smart new ones that swish along at the flick of a finger. I have spent some happy time 'swishing'!

It meant, of course, the moment was opportune to do some clearing out too. I discovered a hitherto unconscious need to squirrel away empty shoe boxes; I must have a dozen of them! I blame my dad for setting me the example of hoarding things that 'might come in useful one day'. Mind you, he lived through the war, when maybe that was more of a virtue than a vice.

I noticed all these plastic trays piled up on the local allotments. I felt sure there was a picture to be had - but I'm not sure I quite found it. I wonder if the allotment holder lived through the war too....

National pride

One of the things that struck me when I visited the USA a couple of years ago was how many national flags one sees.  As well as those flying on public buildings, many private houses, at least in New England where I was, had the Stars and Stripes prominently and proudly displayed. It's a much rarer occurrence here in Britain. You will see public buildings flying the Union Flag on certain memorial days, including the birthdays of members of the Royal family. You see red, white and blue bunting here sometimes but it is unusual to see a private house with a proper flag outside. This one is an exception and, from the frayed edge, the flag appears to have been here a while.

I was interested to read that there is a 'Flag code' in the US, covering how and when the American flag can be used. It is, apparently, prohibited to use it in fashion items: 'The flag should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding or drapery.' (I'm not sure anyone takes any notice.) The Union Jack, on the other hand, has no such restrictions and has been a prominent symbol on clothing and household items since the 1960s and - as any visitor to London will testify - it is hard to see past it on all sorts of souvenirs and memorabilia. A flag outside a house, however, tends to provoke slight unease and suspicions about far-right politics, quite probably without any justification.

Lording it

In the wintry sunshine, Sir Titus Salt's statue presides over the long promenade terrace in Roberts Park, Saltaire. The statue was erected in 1903 to commemorate the centenary of his birth, and the 50th anniversary of the opening of Salts Mill. The plinth has an angora goat on this side and on the other side an alpaca, the two animals from whose fleece the wool baron, Sir Titus, made his fortune.

Tall order

More maintenance going on, this time repairs to the ornate mill chimney of Saltaire's New Mill. It has scaffolding up one side and a scaffold framework at the top. I don't know what they are doing - pointing the stonework possibly? I wouldn't be surprised if they aren't clearing out all the bird droppings from the lantern at the top. Birds obviously roost and possibly even nest in the tower and there are always some flying in and out. I don't suppose it does the structure a lot of good over a long period of time.

St Walburga

The local Catholic church, St Mary and St Walburga, is visible for miles around owing to its tall tower, topped with a statue. I had always assumed the statue (seen here from the back) was the Virgin Mary but I realise now that it might just as likely be Saint Walburga. I didn't know she was a woman.

Walburga or Walpurga is an unusual name. She was born in Devon around 710 AD and educated at a convent school in Wimborne, Dorset, where she then became a nun. She joined her brothers to evangelise in the area known then as Francia, which is now in south-west Germany and she later became abbess of a monastery there, established by her brother. She died in either 777 or 779. She was canonised in 870.

Quite why the Shipley church is dedicated to her, I am not sure. It was built in 1962, on a site that had been occupied by a large Victorian house that was demolished. Some of the stone was used in the new church. The new church replaced an older one nearby that had become too small for its congregation, originally mainly Irish Catholic immigrants but swelled by an influx of refugees from eastern Europe and Italy after the war.

Yellow peril

I suppose these yellow speed camera boxes are a necessary evil in built-up areas, though some people maintain they are merely a means to boost revenue (from fines) for local councils. I'm a fairly careful driver and never intentionally break the speed limit, but I find when you're concentrating on so many things on a busy road that it can be hard sometimes to maintain a steady 30 mph (and even 20 mph in Saltaire and some other residential areas). You tend to learn where the yellow boxes are and take extra care but those mobile video patrols they have are often well-hidden! This was a Saturday afternoon and the drivers heading out from the city centre through Shipley were in little danger of breaking any speed limit. Traffic is almost always queued up along this stretch, due to the many traffic light controlled junctions.

Nisa

Another glimpse of the 'ordinary'....
Nisa could be an acronym for 'Not in Saltaire Actually' - though it is very close! Just across Saltaire Road from 'Bargain Booze' this is a mini-supermarket, selling a wide variety of groceries, drinks, newspapers and seasonal lines - bedding plants in summer, Christmas decorations, fireworks. You can buy a lottery ticket here, get some cash from the ATM (at a price); even, I discovered recently, get parcels delivered here to collect. That's wonderful, as it saves having to wait at home for the delivery or trek into Bradford to collect it from the depot. It's open from 6.30am to 10pm every day - and that includes Christmas Day too! It really lives up to its name as a 'convenience store' and I'm lucky because it is quite close to my home. It has saved the day several times - like when I was baking and opened a tin of golden syrup, only to find it had solidified rather nastily. Does Nisa sell golden syrup - yes they do! Hooray!

The good, the bad and .. the ugly

I tend to try to show Saltaire's 'best face' on my blog - and that isn't difficult because it really is a gem of a place. It is also, however, a living, working community and that inevitably means we have some rather ordinary bits and a smattering of neglected corners. This shop on the main Saltaire Road is just outside the World Heritage Site, in what is called 'the buffer zone'. Had it been in the village itself, I doubt it would have been given planning permission for this garish frontage. It's an off-licence and newsagent and sells a few basic supplies like milk and bread. The shop has been there for a long time but a few years ago it was taken over as a Bargain Booze franchise. So ugly...

Creative Light

I've been a member of Ilkley Camera Club for a couple of years now. It's a very good club with a high standard of work. We've just come joint 7th out of 200 or so clubs across the UK in a national competition. I can't boast that I'm personally doing much to support that standard yet but it's a great place to learn and be inspired.

Every two years the club has an exhibition in Ilkley's Manor House Museum. This year it runs from 14 February to 12 April and its theme is 'Creative Light'. There are over 200 prints and projected images on show. Additionally, as a new venture for this year, objects from the collections of Bradford Museums and Galleries, which play with light in various ways, are displayed alongside club members' photographs of them. There are also some free talks and workshops being offered by club members on Saturdays from 2-3pm.

I was hoping to submit some prints for the exhibition but unfortunately wasn't able to prepare them last autumn, because of needing to be in London supporting my family when my granddaughter was born. However, I did submit a few digital images so hopefully one or more of them will have been chosen for the projected slideshow.

I must stress that the image above is NOT my own work; it is the flyer produced to advertise the exhibition. If you're anywhere near Ilkley I invite you to visit. The exhibition is always well worth seeing and of course Ilkley itself has lots to interest the visitor. My own visits to the exhibitions in the past were what persuaded me that I should join the club. I was always excited by what I saw.

A spoonful of sugar

I was somewhat irked to have to make a special trip to Leeds after work yesterday. I had to get my spectacles repaired. I had managed to lose one of the little plastic bridge bits that enables them to rest comfortably on my nose. (I'm sure there's a proper name for them but I don't know it.) I tried a sort of bodged home-repair but it wasn't very successful. Varifocals have to be set just so or you can't focus through the right bit of the lens and that is important at work, faced with a computer screen all day. Plus they were gouging a sore patch on my nose! Although I thought you could get the bits replaced in any opticians, none of the local shops would agree to do it so I had to take them back to the shop I bought them from. An hour and a half's round trip for a few minutes job.

Anyway, job done, I suffered a packed train journey home in the 'rush hour', trying to quell my increasing hunger and keep a lid on my grumpiness! All was forgiven when I had the chance to photograph the beautiful evening sky as I arrived back in Saltaire. The sun sets, of course, in the west and the western sky didn't look especially interesting but the pink and gold reflected light on the cloudscape to the east behind Salts Mill was very pretty. Once again my iPhone did a creditable job. A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.

Leeds Arena

One of the significant newer buildings in Leeds, the Leeds Arena (actually now called the 'first direct Arena'.... like all these places it has to be sponsored), has been open for about 18 months now. It has a 13000 seater auditorium, built in a fan-shape so that all the seats face the stage and the acoustics are superb. It is designed to host major live music and sport events, comedy and entertainment shows. Already it has played host to Bruce Springsteen, Elton John and a number of other famous names, as well as staging the opening ceremony for the Tour de France last year and the BBC's 'Sports Personality of the Year 2014'. Notable shows this year will include Queen + Adam Lambert, Fleetwood Mac, Farrell Williams and Lionel Richie.

It's tucked away just at the back of the city centre in Leeds, a comfortable walk from all the main shops, restaurants, bars and the rail station so it's easy to get to. I can't see me ever setting foot inside though. Big live shows are not my thing these days (not good for deaf people who wear hearing aids) but I thought I'd have a quick look at the outside. It doesn't strike me as the most exciting building architecturally. Actually it reminds me of an intricately pleated pillbox hat my mum once wore to a wedding in the 1960s!


By the way, I just noticed that this is my 1900th blog post. (Those round numbers are always so satisfying.) Little did I think when I started that blogging would become such an absorbing hobby, nor did I dream I would make so many friends through it. Many thanks to everyone who has dropped in, and especially to all those who have left comments and been so encouraging.

Grand Arcade clock

You may remember a post I did about Potts clocks, some time ago. Well, this is one of them, high up in the roof of the Leeds Grand Arcade. This beautiful animated clock is well over 100 years old. Sadly, for the past 20 years or so, it had been broken and unused. A fund-raising campaign succeeded in getting it partially restored and brought back to life in 2013. The knights strike the bells on the quarter hour and the figures rotate. They still need more donations to complete the full restoration. See here for a video of the clock in action.

Stags

Alongside Clarence Dock in Leeds, a long wall has been painted by various graffiti-artists. I haven't been able to find out much about it. There is quite a variety of styles of wall art and different images along the length. I liked these stags, though I have no idea what their significance is. It is a black and white image, I haven't desaturated it.

Seeing it reminded me that 'the Stags' was the nickname for our local football team in the town where I was brought up. I was told as a child that the first words I learned to say were 'Up the Stags!'... Apparently this feat was due to assiduous coaching by my uncle!

A Sisyphean struggle

There are a number of reflective spheres dotted around the docklands quarter in Leeds so, coming across this one, you tend immediately to think the figure is a real person. Only when you get closer do you see that it is a bronze statue. The sculpture, 'A Reflective Approach', is by Kevin Atherton (b 1959), a renowned artist who studied for a time at Leeds Polytechnic Fine Art department. There is actually a second similar but smaller sphere further back from the dock than this one. The whole artwork is intended to suggest man's struggle with life, a Sisyphean task.

Entered into 'Weekend Reflections' hosted by James.

Clarence Dock

You may remember my pictures of dragon-boat racing taken here at Clarence Dock in Leeds. The scene is considerably more tranquil on a chilly afternoon in February. I liked the way the light was striking the red-brick building in the distance so that it seemed to glow.

Leeds Minster

Leeds Parish Church, known since 2012 as Leeds Minster (an honorary title sometimes bestowed by the Church of England on large parish churches that have an important status), towers over some rather derelict buildings near the old docklands area of the city. There has been a church here for hundreds of years. The present structure was built in 1841 to replace a smaller church that was decayed and not fit for purpose. It was intended 'to express the grace and compassion of God at a time when the surrounding area was a huddled mass of squalid housing and money was scarce'. (One wonders if the poverty-stricken townsfolk appreciated this...)

I ❤ Leeds

Love locks on the footbridge across the River Aire in Leeds city centre.

I haven't been to Leeds since before Christmas. I had a few errands to do there and it was a lovely sunny day so I took my camera. I had a walk along the riverside path to the Royal Armouries museum and back. It was very pleasant, though away from the main shopping streets it all seemed very quiet and a little bit sad somehow. Leeds has spent a lot of money developing the riverside and canalside area, the old docklands, as a leisure and residential hub. There are hundreds of apartments in converted warehouses and new-builds but it still seems a bit dead, at least during the day and at weekends. Maybe it has more of a buzz when offices and bars are open.

Salt Pots

Salt Pots Ceramic Studio has occupied this lovely corner shop on the end of Gordon Terrace in Saltaire for quite a while now. It's a paint your own pottery studio. You choose a piece of pre-fired bisque pottery and let your imagination run riot as you paint it however you like. Then they will glaze and fire it for you, to collect in a week or so. You can stay and paint for as long as you want, as much as you want (a whole tea set if you want!), paying only a small studio fee plus the price of your chosen pieces of pottery.

They do children's parties, at the studio or in your own home, and lots of events for adults: hen parties, baby showers, birthdays, business events, team building. They also make keepsakes: personalised gifts for weddings and special occasions, including prints of babies' hands and feet. It all sounds lots of fun, I think. [Note to self.... why have you never tried this?]

Gordon Terrace was originally built in 1871, towards the end of Saltaire's building programme, as row of substantial houses with small gardens. It was gradually converted to shops in the early 1900s. Formerly no 24, now 97 (the properties were renumbered in 1882) this corner plot at the junction of Saltaire Road and Gordon Terrace started out as Charlesworth's grocers. In the 1930s it became a branch of the Halifax Building Society. More recently it has been a picture framers' and art gallery and then a delicatessen and café.

Snowdrop cascade

Another welcome sign of spring's rebirth, snowdrops are blooming in Saltaire's Roberts Park. Peeping through the dead leaves in a cascade down the rockery, their heads bowed, they look like a procession of penitents.

Salts Mill panorama

An interesting scene, if not exactly a beautiful one. (Worth clicking on to enlarge it.) Salts Mill and Saltaire, nestled in the valley bottom, have escaped most of the recent snow showers. Higher up on the hills and in the more rural valleys, snow still lingers.

A chip off the old block

Can you tell which is me and which is my granddaughter? I do think there is a certain family resemblance....

Lopped

The tree-loppers (see here) are working their way down Victoria Road like a creeping plague. Outside the Victoria Hall, 'War' the lion's sunshade of leafy branches has been removed. The tree trunk will be felled in due course (if it hasn't been already), the pavement repaired and the lion will have to start wearing sunscreen.

Raw garlic

The challenge in my online photo group for January was 'One shot' - we had to take just ONE photo, no practice shots, no choosing the best of a number of pictures taken on an outing, no post-processing.

When I'm out with my camera, I usually go on 'an expedition' and often take quite a lot of photos of whatever takes my fancy. I shoot in RAW (unprocessed even by the camera) and then upload them to the computer and tweak them afterwards - crop, fine-tune the exposure. Sometimes they need very little intervention, sometimes I play around a lot with them, it just depends on my mood.

I decided that I couldn't bear to waste a whole 'expedition' and only take one shot - I love going out with my camera. So I decided I'd try a still life at home, for a change. This is my 'one shot'. I submitted the unprocessed RAW file to my group. However, I have processed the RAW file in the version above by very slightly adjusting the white balance. My camera renders things very cool so the original had a slight blue cast. I like this better.

Lambs' tails

Catkins, like fat little lambs' tails, a welcome sign that Spring will come.

Northcliffe's long walk

Another photo taken in Shipley's Northcliffe park. There was still a covering of snow in the shady spots but there were signs of spring - a few catkins and some bulbs beginning to burst their green shoots out of the soil. I love the tree with the twisted trunk. I think it's a hawthorn, with a wonderfully gnarled quality to it.

The little crooked house

Of the two children's playgrounds in Northcliffe Park, this seems the more imaginative, with plenty of things for climbing up, over, down, inside and through. I rather like the 'little crooked house'. I must remember to bring my granddaughters here sometime. I think they'd like it and it would feed imaginative play as well as giving them a physical workout. It's quite high up so there is a lovely view across the valley too, looking over to the area known as Bolton Woods.