Portmeirion Again

We took a return trip to Portmeirion this year- we went last August, but the weather was a wee bit manky. Making the most of the heat-wave summer, we went back for a picnic and a walk.

It was as lovely as last time, and we got some cracking pictures around the place to use for upcoming projects.

 

His Lordship's Railway; The Hornby Collectors Club

One by Ben for Hornby today, another piece in the Collectors Club.

The inspiration was this, the Wressle private railway out Hull way. Ruston and Hornsby 48ds and a couple of wagons, and two wagons; a perfect real-life micro layout.

I'll be posting more about this on the model-making blog, as usual, but for now on here, just a few photographs.

These were shot in  the house, but with natural light at least; the backdrop is a printed sheet, which doesn't half make a difference to the final pictures compared to some of the earlier pictures I've done for the club.

Hopefully the layout will be appearing in the Micro Model Railway Despatch later in the year too.

 

The Railway Children

At the end of August, we attended the performance of "The Railway Children" at Oxenhope, on the Worth Valley Railway. This was running as part of the Bradford City of Culture Celebrations; one of the few things we've engaged with, sadly, but then there hasn't been a lot that stood out to us on the program of events.

The trip started with a special from Keighley...

...up to Oxenhope.

The conversion of the Display Shed into the venue was stunning, and some superb bits of set-staging and design work.

We obeyed the instruction not to photograph anything during the show of course, this is just before...

And the end. The money-shot, as it were, with the L&Y tender loco starring.

Then back to Keighley in the dark. We're no theatre critics, and in-depth analysis of the play is a bit beyond this blog, but from the point of view of being fans of the film, this play was spectacular. Funny, emotional, brilliantly acted and wonderfully-staged. We had a great time here, and so glad we managed to snag tickets for one of the final performances.

There'll be a follow-up post too, as we had the station to ourselves once the rest of the public had gone (Amy's dad was stewarding the service, so we hung about to help him, which meant an unrivalled opportunity to photograph the place in the dark).

 

Erdigg

 

During mid-August we made a short visit, on a very hot day, to Erdigg.

This is a preserved stately home near Wrexham- to be honest, we were looking for somewhere old, stone, and cool to lurk in during a VERY hot day.

Nice and dark in there, and atmospheric. Younger Child was shooting reference pictures for a project they've got on the go, we just took a few pics on the phones and let them get on with it.

Out into the grounds, lurking wherever possible in the shade.

Some lovely old glass-houses and cold frames in the walled garden.

And unusual plants- this razor-edged specimen caught the attention!

For a variety of reasons we didn't spend as much time there as it perhaps deserved, but we've family in the area so a return visit is a probability. 

Southport Botanic Gardens

A new venue for us; we have family out Southport-way, and Amy went along with some of them to one of their favourite haunts, the Southport Botanic Gardens.

Some lovely ferns and greenery in around the rock gardens.

As fern growers ourselves, there was a lot to envy here!

A very interesting and photogenic location- it'd be nice to return for another visit, maybe to try some creative photography with sunlight coming in through that glass roof.

 

A bit of railway photography on the Ffestiniog

We've only had a couple of trips to Wales this year, and our usual pilgrimages to the Ffestiniog haven't featured much photography (as we're generally herding our little Nephew around- he's train mad, and lovely, but it's hard to snap pics whilst he's belting around shouting "hello!" at the engines).

Porthmadog Harbour, and an appearance by "Prince" and "Palmerston". Sadly this is the only pic I managed of "Prince" in the new-old green livery, which is something I'd wanted to photograph. Maybe next year.

"Linda" in the sidings.

Up to Tanybwlch, sans-children but with lots and lots of lovely hot drinks from the excellent station cafe. "James Spooner"...

...and "David Lloyd George".

Final shot, "James Spooner" in the sunshine.

 

Barmouth Bridge

Whilst over in Wales for a holiday and some project work, we nipped down to Barmouth (Middle Child had just passed one of her exams, so we treated her with a trip to Fudgeridoo, the excellent sweet shop on the main street).

Of course it wouldn't be a trip out without some railway photography...

Trying to make the most of the 158s' in nice weather and scenery- these stalwarts are due to be phased out soon, so it seemed worth the bother of photographing them.

Over the bridge.

A photo angle to try at some point... maybe next holiday.