Tag Archives: hampshire

Wherwell Looks Like a Postcard

Since moving to Hampshire, one thing that has struck me repeatedly is just how picturesque all of the villages in the area are. It feels like every place is a combination of thatched cottages, a pond, a little church and probably a nice-looking pub. When you say it that way, it doesn’t sound too bad. Nancy had found a local walk that seemed like it might be interesting, so we decided to try it out.

It started out in a village called Wherwell. Wherwell does its very best to fit in with the profile that I outlined above. The pub is currently being refurbished and there is a river instead of a pond but otherwise, it ticks all of the cuteness boxes. Here are some images of the village from our stroll. It is a linear village, so everything is pretty much along the one road and that means you have to be conscious of vehicles coming through.

The Lambs Might Be Bigger but They Are Still Cute

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Our visit to the rare breeds farm included some not very rare breeds too. They had a bunch of lambs in one of the barns. These lambs were clearly a little older than some of the others I have photographed through the spring, and they were growing quickly. This hadn’t impacted on how cute they were, though. Adult sheep are not the cutest of the animals out there but, like many creatures, the youngest ones are just cute. From a photography point of view, I appreciated that these have not yet been marked up with ownership markings. They look more ideal as a result.

Interesting Hull Shape on the Pilot Boat

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I don’t know the proper term for it, but it is very common these days for large ships to have a bulbous extension to the bow just below the waterline. The first time I ever saw one was when, as a small kid, I had a kit of the QEII, but they are everywhere at this point. However, I haven’t really thought of them as a thing for small boats. While heading across the Solent, a pilot boat came zipping past us. Not only did it have such a hull shape, this one looked a little different to the average. I wonder how significant the benefits are and whether they are worth it for a vessel like this.

The Wheat Is Getting Ripe

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There is a field near our house that I often walk by. When I first moved here, the field had been ploughed, and I wondered what the crop might be. Now it is clearly a field of wheat. As I recently strolled along the edge of the field, it was interesting to see how the middle of the crop was turning golden while sections along the edge or near some of the vehicle tracks were still green. I imagine that they will soon be turning golden too but something about their location had delayed them compared to everything else.

Cygnets at the Pub on Friday Evening

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Friday evening and we headed to The Willow Tree, a pub in Winchester. The river runs either side of the pub and the garden narrows to a point as the river comes back together. While there are plenty of birds around, it isn’t often that you see anything swimming in the river. The occasional duck perhaps. We were quite surprised, therefore, to see a family of swans come swimming up towards us. The adults had four cygnets with them. They would go off exploring but then, one of the adults would make a few low noises and you’d see the cygnets head straight back to their parents. I figured video was more fun for this so that is what you have below.

Washing the Posh Boat

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As the ferry was leaving Portsmouth for the Isle of Wight, I saw this small boat moored up at the marina. Clearly some people like to have larger boats than I have chosen to get! No idea who it belongs to or whether it is one that you charter for events. Either way, as we pulled away, I realised that there were a couple of crew members suspended on the side of the boat cleaning things up. Clearly a nicer time to do this when in port rather than underway. I hope they got everything looking spiffy before the boss showed up!

Roses Almost at Their Peak

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We took a trip to Mottisfont to see the rose garden. At this time of year, it is supposed to be at its best, so we made the short trip there one Sunday. We weren’t the only ones, which was no surprise. Even early in the day, the overflow car park was in use. As it turned out, we were all a bit late. The blooms had peaked early this year which, given how warm the spring has been is probably not hard to understand.

Even though the peak might have passed, there were still ample flowers to see, and they didn’t look too shabby. Getting shots of the larger garden with so many people in it wasn’t really going to be easy. Instead, I figured it was just a case of minimising the significance of the people where possible. Then you can go for some of the close ups of the individual roses. So many people were taking tons of photos with their phones. I wonder how many of them will ever be looked at let alone shared.

Cobwebs With Morning Dew

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If you look at an empty field, you might be forgiven for thinking that there was not much alive out there. However, the ground is teeming with life. What more of an indication of how much is passing through do you need than the huge number of spider webs that are on the grass. That many spiders must have a lot of food to catch and that means even more that doesn’t get caught. Anyway, early in the morning, the dew does a great job of showing the cobwebs up. This was a local field near our house as I took an early stroll before work.

Highland Cattle Make for Good Merch

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Chris and Sam asked Nancy and me to join them on a visit to a local farm that has some rare breeds. Part of the collection was some highland cattle. These things are great looking animals. They were looking pretty inactive while we were there so just sitting in the field chewing the cud. However, that is not going to stop a good sales opportunity. The gift shop had more highland cattle related items than I would have imagined possible. Clearly they know what stuff sells well and a fluffy cow with long horns is going to do the trick.

Hampshire Police’s Helicopter

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Late one afternoon, while getting ready to leave the Bournemouth Aviation Museum, I saw a helicopter flying some pattern work across at the airport. Given that it was painted black, I assumed it was a police helicopter. I took some distant shots of it and then continued with wrapping up my museum visit. When I was done, they were still flying around the pattern, and I figured I would head to the other side to see if a better shot would be possible.

As it turned out, they were flying almost over the road on the other side of the runway. I ended up shooting almost straight up which was not the ideal angle. Still, it was a chance to shoot slightly different shots than I might have normally gone for. As it turned out, they landed after this approach, so I had only just got there in time. After running on the ground for a while, they departed off to the east.