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Barrington Court

Barrington Court

I drove off to Barrington Court, a National Trust property in Somerset. I had been there three times before, in March 2017 and November 2017. In both of these visits I was able to go inside Barrington Court. In 2020 it the house was closed for conservation work, delayed by the covid pandemic, the project is still ongoing.

I also made a visit in February 2025, Barrington Court was still closed, but I did look around Strode House and the gardens.

On this return visit, the weather was significantly better, and I enjoyed walking around the grounds and gardens, as well as looking around Strode House. 

Barrington Court

An atmospheric fragment of old Somerset; the estate is the vision of Colonel Lyle and his architect James Edwin Forbes. Whilst Court House remains closed for repair, the ground floor of Strode House is open, and there are glorious garden rooms, avenues, and orchards to explore. Installations in the farm buildings tell the stories of key characters and the development of the estate.

Current saving £397.75
One adult £13.00
Parking n/a
Total saving £13.00
Cumulative saving £506.75
Membership cost £96
Net cumulative saving £410.75

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Then and Now Take Two Again – Portishead Marina

This is a regular series of blogs about photographs of the same place taken years apart. I have started to notice is that I have been doing Then and Now photographs unintentionally over the years and have been taking photographs of the same thing or place from the same view or perspective years apart. Now this has come to my attention I have started to intentionally take photographs of the same place.

I took this photograph of Portishead Marina in August 2026 using an iPhone 17 Pro Max.

Here are the other photographs from the same viewpoint and perspective.

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Brixham #50places2026

Last week when we had the partial solar eclipse I wrote about my visit to Brixham back in 1999 to see the total solar eclipse we had in the UK.

Since that visit, I hadn’t actually been back to Brixham, though had visited many other places in that area. Even just back in February I had driven pass the turning for Brixham when I was visiting Coleton Fishacre, a National Trust property.

I decided I did need to visit Brixham again, so taking a day off work, I headed down to Devon. Though it was a weekday, you guessed it, I still had trouble finding a parking space, eventually ending up at the multi-story car park (which had been built in an abandoned quarry). This, though, in the end was quite fortunate, as I left the car park and walked into the harbourside, I remembered that was this was exactly where I had stopped my car twenty seven years ago to see the total solar eclipse.

I had a lovely time in Brixham, as I had found somewhere to park, I could walk along the Brixham Breakwater, around the harbour, and then end up at Rockfish for lunch.

Certainly I don’t think I will leave it so long before I visit again.

I was pleased to have reached my fifty places in 2025 for my #50places2025 series of blog posts. This year I am planning to do something similar with a new hashtag, #50places2026 and it will be the same rules. Each time I visit a place I will post a blog post and some photographs. I can’t repeat places, and in an extra twist I can’t use the fifty places I visited in 2025 in the list as well (though I anticipate visiting some of those places again).