Just a quick picture from the gardens at Chatsworth. An old tree trunk had been sculpted to make a rather cool double sided bench.
Cool Bench
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Tag Archives: travel
Grotto Pond
Exploring the grounds of Chatsworth House took us to places we had not seen on previous visits. Even if you exclude the majority of the estate and just focus on the organized garden areas, there are so many parts to see that it is easy to overlook them. This is why, despite having been to Chatsworth on a number of occasions, this time I saw areas that I had not seen before. One of these was the Grotto Pond.
Because this area is one of the furthest away from the main house, the number of people making their way that far out is pretty small. It is not deserted by any means but it is pretty quiet. This is ideal given how tranquil the setting is. It was very easy to just stand and look. Given how far out in the country you are, there isn’t much background noise so you can let your mind wander…
Kitchen Garden
If you have a big country house, you will be housing a lot of people. No doubt, there will also be times when you will host a large gathering. You need to be able to feed everyone. The estate produces a lot so it will cover many needs but the kitchen also has to have its own garden. Located a short distance from the main house and slightly up the hill, Chatsworth’s kitchen garden is very extensive. It has a lot of space and many different types of food in production.
As with everything else about a place like Chatsworth, function does not override form. The gardens are laid out beautifully and with structure. They are functioning still yet they are a place worthy of visit just for the appearance. Some areas are restricted to keep the visitors from inconveniencing everything too much but much of the space is fully open to wander through. The staff is busy but were willing to talk if you had questions.
Peacock Hotel
The Peak District is a pretty area and, if you are staying in a pretty area, you really need to have a pretty hotel. Nancy searched out a place for us and came up with the Peacock Hotel. This is obviously an old hotel but it is certainly not showing its age (unless you count trying to find power outlets where you want them – there are some things that older places do have a problem with!).
The hotel had a variety of areas that could be used. Aside from the rooms, there was a nice hall area in which you could sit and relax if you wished to. There was also a nice little bar area which you could use ahead of going to the restaurant or in which you could eat from a pretty impressive menu. There was a little nook in the bar which we adopted while we were there.
The outside had a nice garden area that would have been nice to sit out in if the weather had been a bit warmer. The garden actually extended quite a way along the river and a little exploring took you down to some farm fields that were just beyond an old rail bridge that is now disused. I had a nice time exploring some of the gardens prior to heading out for some hiking.
Kirkstone Pass
The Lake District includes a few pretty steep passes to let you get from one valley to another. The route to Ullswater from Windermere takes you over the Kirkstone Pass. It isn’t the steepest pass in the Lakes but it is pretty steep all the same. Definitely not something you want to be stuck behind a slow truck on.
At the top of the pass is the Kirkstone Pass Inn. If you were traversing the pass in awful weather (something that is not that unusual in the Lakes), reaching that Inn would certainly seem to be a very welcome development. On the day we came through, though, the sun was shining and the sky was blue. The light on the hills looked great and the view down to Ullswater was fantastic. The steepness of the descent is something that it is hard to convey in a photograph but the drop was quite something to see. As we started down, there was a turn out that allowed us to stop again and get an even better view on the route down to the valley. It also allowed some of the other traffic to move on. Climbing the hill and dropping down the other side is not terrible for a car but it is fair to say I was happier doing it with a rental car than with my own!
Aira Force
One of the more frustrating elements of photography is trying to convey the sense of scale. In the past I have had the conversation with people visiting Yosemite for the first time that everything they have seen of it in pictures will not prepare them for the scale of the real thing. Wide angle lenses can bring in a lot of the scenery but they also compress it in a way that reduces the impact. This is a lot more of a problem when dealing with something impressive in a confined space. Aira Force is one such example. Located on the north side of Ullswater, Aira Force is a series of waterfalls of differing sizes. There is one particularly large fall that is in a narrow cleft in the rocks.
A set of steep steps take you from the top of the rocks down to where the falls hit the water. Getting everything in a single shot of the falls needs a very wide angle on your lens. The downside of this is that it becomes harder to appreciate exactly what the shot is. You are looking down and the bottom becomes very small in the frame. It is hard to appreciate exactly how impressive the whole thing looks. If you get people in the shot that helps but they can be so small that they aren’t immediately obvious so the effect is diminished.
The falls themselves are great in person. You can walk down on one side, across the bottom and climb up the other side before crossing a bridge that runs over the top of the falls. The view looking down from the top is pretty cool too. You are just away from the edge so there is some detachment from the plunge the water takes. If you continue up the hill, there are further falls that the water undergoes as it comes down the hill. The way the water has cut through the rock results in some twists and turns on its way.
Plenty of people visit the main section of the fall but a lot less seemed bothered to go up the hill and see what else was there. They were the ones making a mistake because the whole thing was a really attractive sight to see.
Lake Windermere
Water speed records need two important elements. A long, straight section of water on which to get up to speed (and stop again) and calm conditions to avoid getting out of control. Windermere is a body of water that fits these criteria and that is why Sir Henry Segrave chose it as the location for his record runs. (Later runs would be carried out by other on Ullswater and Coniston Water.) First thing in the morning, Windermere has the appearance of total tranquility if the weather is nice. While the coast in the UK is publicly accessible by law, lakes are not similarly restricted so the majority of the shore is privately held and not terribly accessible. However, there are some spots where you can visit and we checked the water out as we were heading south. You can also take the ferry across the lake if you want a far closer view!
Olmsted Point
A previous trip across the Tioga Pass had taken me to Olmsted Point and I did post about that here. Nancy hadn’t been before so it was fun showing her the spot for the first time. Like me, she was amazed how many people never left the parking area and discovered the better views after only a short stroll (or what counts as a stroll at that sort of altitude). Even when people are there, you still feel like you have the place to yourself.
Last time I was there, it had been a bit hazy. This time it was a bit clearer which was good. The nice thing about Olmsted Point is that, despite the lengthy road journey from the valley, you are actually very close to the same place and you have a nice perspective on Half Dome. Being there earlier would help from a lighting perspective because things are starting to be a bit backlit but it is still a lovely view.
Traversing the Sierras
The trip to Mammoth meant a drive across Route 108 across the Sierras. This was a road I hadn’t used before. The climb was significant reaching almost 10,000′ at the high point of Senora Pass. Most of the time we were just driving along. However, we did come across a sign for Donnell Lake and thought that might be worth a look and stretching the legs is always welcome on a long driving day.
The lake itself is set down a long way in the valley and the road led to an overlook area. This was just fine. The lake is a really intense color which I guess I would describe as a combination of sky blue and green. It certainly catches the eye. In fact, it had recently caught my eye when I was flying east. I had looked down from a flight at another dammed lake. Just below us at the time I had seen the dam and this greenish lake so it was quite a surprise to find ourselves right by it.
A couple of people were leaving just as we arrived and they were the only souls we saw. The place was ours after that. The location meant you could see where the dam was but couldn’t really get a sense of it. However, the rest of the view was lovely and well worth a stop if you are heading across this way.
Narita
My trip back home departed from Narita Airport. The journey out there was swift so I got there with some time to spare. Narita is one of the airports that still has a viewing terrace. Not only that, they provides holes in the wire fencing to stick your lens through! I wasn’t there for terribly long and it was the afternoon when the sun is pretty much in your face. However, it was a far nicer place to be than sitting at the gate. This was the side of the airport where the US airlines tended to operate so I saw a lot of planes that I can see at home. However, there were some interesting operators departing from the runway on that side of the field that I hadn’t seen before so I sat back and enjoyed the new sights along with the old.
