Author: jamesclay

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Christmas at Tyntesfield

Tyntesfield House

After enjoying my National Trust membership in 2023, I decided I would rejoin the Trust for 2025.

I visited Tyntesfield back in February and again on a lovely sunny day in August. I was back to see Christmas at Tyntesfield.

Back in 2023 I had visited Tyntesfield at Christmas, and had enjoyed the Victorian Christmas themed rooms. The theme this year , though festive, was based around fairy tales and other stories. There was Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Rapunzel, and Alice in Wonderland, to name a few. It was nice, but I think I preferred the Victorian look they did back in 2023.

Tyntesfield

An ornate Victorian Gothic Revival house with extensive garden and parkland, just a stone’s throw from Bristol

Current saving £289.40
One adult £20.00
Parking – £5.00
Total saving £25.00
Cumulative saving £405.60
Membership cost £91.20
Net cumulative saving £314.40

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Then and Now Take Two – Wells Market Place once more

This is a regular series of blogs about photographs of the same place taken years apart. Over the years I have taken this view at Bristol Airport quite a few times, both unintentionally and now intentionally.

I was in Wells for their Christmas Market in December 2025, so I decided I would take the same photograph of the market place again. I used an iPhone 13.

I took this photograph in Wells in August 2002.

It was taken with a Sony Cybershot. On a return visit to Wells in January 2025 I decided I would attempt to take this photograph again using my iPhone 13.

Where as before there were cars parked, on the day I went there was a market (and a lot more people).

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Then and Now Take Two – Wells High Street

This is a regular series of blogs about photographs of the same place taken years apart. Over the years I have taken this view at Bristol Airport quite a few times, both unintentionally and now intentionally.

I was in Wells for their Christmas Market in December 2025, so I decided I would take the same photograph of the High Street again. I used an iPhone 13.

Wells

I took this photograph in Wells in August 2002.

It was taken with a Sony Cybershot.

On a return visit to Wells in January 2025 I decided I would attempt to take this photograph again using my iPhone 13.

Not quite the same angle (and I did need to crop the image).

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Then and Now Take Two – Back to Bristol Airport again this month

This is a regular series of blogs about photographs of the same place taken years apart. Over the years I have taken this view at Bristol Airport quite a few times, both unintentionally and now intentionally. Yes you are correct I took this photograph just a few weeks back.

This was also taken in November 2025 using an iPhone 13.

Bristol Airport

Here are the photographs from over the years taken of the same view.

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Another visit to Hanbury Hall

After enjoying my National Trust membership in 2023, I decided I would rejoin the Trust for 2025. 

I visited Hanbury Hall in 2023 in a flying visit and made a return visit earlier this year in May.

So with time to spare and a lovely sunny day I made a return trip to Hanbury Hall. 

I arrived and parked the car. Having had my membership card scanned I made my way to the house.

I really love the walk up to the house, the impressive entrance and front lawns.

I really enjoyed exploring the house and the murals are a real highlight of the entrance hall and staircase. I also liked the concept of the green room, where you are able to sit and read for a while.

I enjoyed walking around the house, had a nice chat with some of the volunteers. They did say that they have a 1970s and 1980s theme at Christmas reflecting the actual use of the house at that time by the tenants.

I think that means I might make a return visit to Hanbury Hall in December.

After exploring the house, I went to the café, with the intention of having soup and a cheese scone. That didn’t work out, the soup was celeriac, which I don’t really like, and they had no cheese scones. So, I went with the special, which was a BBQ pulled pork bap. I had that with a coffee.

My final plan was to visit the shop and buy a tea towel, realised they didn’t have a shop, so no tea towel this time.

Hanbury Hall

A country retreat in the heart of Worcestershire. The William and Mary-style country house and garden, originally a stage-set for summer parties, offer a glimpse into life at the turn of the 18th century.

Current saving £272.40
One adult £17.00
Parking – Free
Total saving £17.00
Cumulative saving £380.60
Membership cost £91.20
Net cumulative saving £289.40

This is an impressive house and I really enjoyed my visit.

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Then and Now Take Two – Back to Bristol Airport

his is a regular series of blogs about photographs of the same place taken years apart. Over the years I have taken this view at Bristol Airport quite a few times, both unintentionally and now intentionally. I even took one last month….

This was taken in November 2025 using an iPhone 13.

Bristol Airport

Here are the photographs from over the years taken of the same view.

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Didn’t get to Coughton Court

Coughton Court
Photo © Colin Park (cc-by-sa/2.0)

Coughton Court is an imposing Tudor house set in beautiful gardens with a collection of Catholic treasures.

Having read about how the management of Coughton Court was reverting to the Throckmorton family, I had it on my list of places to visit this year. Coughton Court was going to close for the winter (and for free entry for National Trust members) on the 2nd November. My original plan was to visit on the final weekend. However the weather on the Saturday was terrible. When I looked at the weather for Sunday it was much better. However when I got up on Sunday, I thought more about the trip. It would have meant a ninety minute journey up there (and the same back) along with some charging time (the car was low on charge). I also thought that there would be other people like me who would be visiting. Throw in that house entry is by timed ticket (not bookable) and the website said tickets are likely to run out earlier on busy days. I made the decision that I wouldn’t make the trip. I might go next year, but will have to pay for entry.

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Then and Now Take Two – Minehead Water Tower

This is a regular series of blogs about photographs of the same place taken years apart. The first of the posts in this series was of a council building in Manchester. I always thought I should give then and now photographs a go. However what 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 remembered taking this photograph at Minehead Station on the West Somerset Railway many years ago, so on a recent visit to Minehead Station I decided I would try and recreate the shot.

This photograph was taken in March 2005 using a Canon EOS 300D digital SLR camera.

I took the more recent photograph in October 2025 using a Canon EOS R100 digital camera.

No steam in this shot.

 

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Back to Greys Court

Greys Court

I have been to Greys Court before, visiting in May 2023.

Like on my previous visit, inside I was reminded me of my grandparents’ houses and flats. Part of the reason was the furniture in the house was more 1960s and 1970s than the 19th Century. 

There is always that compromise between preservation, conservation and restoration. Some National Trust properties try to restore the house to what it was like in the 19th century, other times as with Greys Court they preserve what it was like when it was passed to the National Trust.

Greys Court

An intimate family home and peaceful estate set in the rolling hills of the Chilterns. This picturesque 16th-century mansion and tranquil gardens were home to the Brunner family until recent years. The house exudes a welcoming atmosphere with a well-stocked kitchen and homely living rooms. The series of walled gardens is a colourful patchwork of interest set amid medieval ruins.

Current saving £254.40
One adult £18.00
Parking – Free
Total saving £18.00
Cumulative saving £363.60
Membership cost £91.20
Net cumulative saving £272.40