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Clevedon Court

For Christmas I got a National Trust membership. It’s being a few years since I was last a member, but now looking forward to visiting new places and going back to places we have been to before.

Back in 2016 I did start to keep a note of how much we saved with the membership, but looking back over the blog, I never kept up to date with that, but with this membership I am intending to blog about the visits we do this year and the savings we made.

Clevedon Court has a limited opening season and isn’t open every day, so having the time and coinciding with Clevedon Court being open, we popped over for a visit.

Clevedon Court

Clevedon Court is an outstanding 14th-century manor house with an 18th-century terraced garden. Purchased by Abraham Elton in 1709, this remarkable survivor from the medieval period has been the ancestral home of the Elton family ever since.

Current saving £90.85

Two Adult Tickets £20.00

Parking n/a

Total Saving £20.00

Membership cost £133.80

Cumulative saving £110.85

This is quite a small property compared to other National Trust properties that you can visit. Continue reading “Clevedon Court”

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Kedleston Hall

For Christmas I got a National Trust membership. It’s being a few years since I was last a member, but now looking forward to visiting new places and going back to places we have been to before.

Back in 2016 I did start to keep a note of how much we saved with the membership, but looking back over the blog, I never kept up to date with that, but with this membership I am intending to blog about the visits we do this year and the savings we made.

I stopped at Kedleston Hall for lunch on my way to Leeds.

Kedleston Hall

Kedleston Hall is one of the finest and most complete examples of an 18th-century show-palace and parkland in Britain. Step inside and discover the Curzon family’s collection of fine art, furniture, and Asian objects.

Current saving £75.85

Adult Ticket £15.00

Parking n/a

Total Saving £15.00

Membership cost £133.80

Cumulative saving £90.85

There is a long drive up to the house. Continue reading “Kedleston Hall”

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Then and Now Take Two – Trinity Lane, Cambridge

This is a regular series of blogs about photographs of the same place taken years apart. I quite like those Then and Now comparison photographs that you see in books or on the Twitter or Facebook.  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 grew up in Cambridge, but moved away when I went to university in York. I remember rarely visiting the University of Cambridge as a youngster, why would I? However I did do some specialist maths classes at Trinity College, so would walk down Trinity Lane.

So on a recent visit to Cambridge I knew I had to take a photograph I knew I had taken before.

This is a photograph of Trinity Lane taken in April 2023 with an iPhone 13.

Trinity Lane

This photograph was taken in July 2022 with an iPhone 13.

This was taken in the middle of the day in bright sunshine.

I stayed over in Cambridge back in January 2020 I took this photograph of Trinity Lane.

I took this with an iPhone 8 in late afternoon I did edit and enhance the image with Snapseed, but the iPhone was able to deal with the low light  conditions so much better.

It was back in March 2009 when I was at a JISC RSC Eastern event in Cambridge I did take the time the day before to walk around the town and took this photograph of Trinity Lane.

It was taken in the early evening with a Sony DSC-W53 camera, which to be honest struggled with the low light conditions.

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Cambridge

I was attending a conference in Cambridge, and having arrived, I took a walk around the heart of the city centre.

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Portishead Marina

It was a nice sunny day, so we headed to Portishead to have a walk around the marina (and probably stop for a coffee).

It had been a while since we were last there, looking back across my old photographs, it was August 2020.

Though my first visit to the marina was only in July 2020. I had been to the Waitrose in the area a fair few times (before the branch in Weston opened), but had never noticed or even being to the marina area.

The original docks closed in 1992 and the area underwent regeneration. It is now very different to the power stations that dominated the area before then.

We walked up to the pier end of the marina.

On our recent trip, the sun was shining, but it wasn’t as warm as it might be with a chilly wind blowing in from the sea.

There are a really variety of boats and yachts in the marina.

We stopped for coffee and croissant at Mokoko Coffee and Bakery.

There are a few information signs around the marina which shows how it use to look in the 1970s and 1980s.

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Then and Now Take Two – Cabot Circus

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.

Back at Cabot Circus this week (April 2023) I took this photograph.

Cabot Circus

I have taken photographs of this view before. This photograph was taken not long after Cabot Circus had opened. The shopping centre had opened on 25th September 2008, this photograph was taken on the 21st October 2008.

Going through my collection I also had taken this similar photo on the 4th July 2016.

I took this photograph on December 8th 2019. I was on my way to do a pick up from the Vue Cinema, so I took a photograph of the festive Cabot Circus. I also wrote about it back then as well.

This photograph was taken on the 26th November 2022.

It would appear others also like this view.

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Cars on Marine Parade

So let’s be frank about this, I really don’t know that much about classic cars, however I have thought in the past it would be nice to own an old classic motor.

These photographs were taken at a car event in Weston-super-Mare today, I can guess what some of them are, but please add a comment if you are more confident than me in what they are (and correct me if I got it wrong as well).

1. Dodge ?

2. Pontiac?

3. Pontiac Firebird

4. Ford Consul

5. Vauxhall

6. Mini Clubman

7. Mini Pickup

8. Jaguar

9. ?

10. ?

11. ?

12. MG

13. ?

14. Morris Minor Police Car

15. Triumph Herald

16. Volkswagen Beetle

17. ?

18. Ford Torino “Starsky and Hutch”

19. Hot Rod ??

More photographs of classic cars.

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I didn’t go to Tyntesfield

For Christmas I got a National Trust membership. It’s being a few years since I was last a member, but now looking forward to visiting new places and going back to places we have been to before.

Back in 2016 I did start to keep a note of how much we saved with the membership, but looking back over the blog, I never kept up to date with that, but with this membership I am intending to blog about the visits we do this year and the savings we made.

I didn’t actually go to Tyntesfield, but my daughter used our membership to visit with a friend’s family.

Tyntesfield

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

Current saving £67.35

Child Ticket £8.50

Parking n/a

Total Saving £8.50

Membership cost £133.80

Cumulative saving £75.85

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Then and Now Take Two – Liverpool Big Wheel

This is a regular series of blogs about photographs of the same place taken years apart. I quite like those Then and Now comparison photographs that you see in books or on the Twitter or Facebook.  The first of the posts in this series was of a council building in Manchester.

I was in Liverpool recently, and I reflected I have been to Liverpool quite a few times, not as many as Manchester or London, but certainly a fair few times. What I did feel though was that I wasn’t as familiar with Liverpool as I was with parts of Manchester and London. I think part of that reason is I was last in Liverpool in August 2019 staying close to the University of Liverpool. I also went to the ALT Conference in Liverpool two years earlier in September 2017, again this was up by the university campus.

Back in February 2015 we were on holiday in the North-West and we spent a day visiting Liverpool, spending time around the Albert Dock and visiting the Museum of Liverpool. I took this photograph of the big wheel one evening. It was taken with an iPhone 6 Plus.

So when I was in Liverpool for a conference in the Royal Albert Dock area, I went back to the Museum of Liverpool to take this photograph with an iPhone 13, obviously I took this photo during the day and not in the evening.

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Visiting Chirk Castle

For Christmas I got a National Trust membership. It’s being a few years since I was last a member, but now looking forward to visiting new places and going back to places we have been to before.

Back in 2016 I did start to keep a note of how much we saved with the membership, but looking back over the blog, I never kept up to date with that, but with this membership I am intending to blog about the visits we do this year and the savings we made.

Chirk Castle

A 13th-century Marcher castle, that from 1595 became the home of the Myddelton family for over 400 years.

Current saving £52.35

One adult £15.00

Parking free

Total Saving £15.00

Membership cost £133.80

Cumulative saving £67.35

There is a lovely view as you drive to the car park. Continue reading “Visiting Chirk Castle”