Charlecote West Park

                     

With a poorly husband and children at home, I managed to escape for a few hours to Charlecote yesterday.
I don't usually visit on a Saturday but knowing it would probably be my last visit to West Park for awhile, nothing was going to stop me. Rutting season is about to start and this side of the estate will be closed from October. I am really going to miss this walk, it feels a little sad really. I now have to wait patiently for it to open again! Guessing the next time I see this area, it will be covered in frost or snow.

Can you believe my husband tweeted this to Charlecote while I was there yesterday? He thinks he is funny, well he is sometimes :).. '' @Charlecote @lifewithAutism1 is such a history fan that she even left us home alone suffering horribly with just a bowl of gruel each :o) '' ...For those who don't know, my twitter name is 'lifewithautism1'

 Yesterday did not disappoint me, I had 4 beautiful hours at Charlecote, wondering around the grounds, taking in the views with me camera. I have a new lens my husband bought me for my birthday earlier this month and Charlecote is the perfect place to try it out! All those shots I couldn't get before, I can now.

 The photo below show's that all mothers make sure their children have clean ears :)

The Deer's were in full form yesterday which made the day even better. I had jumping deer, hiding deer, very cute looking deer and a couple of lonely buck wondering about getting stuck in trees and even picking apples!

A couple of times while walking up the avenue of trees in West Park, I had the pleasure of enjoying the deer running right in front of me. The photos look like they are jumping, but then I guess if you watch them run, it is a sort of run and jump.
                           

Walking towards the arched gate, there was another small group of deer, I don't think they saw me at first, as I moved quietly forward, they just stayed where they were. Maybe they know me by now :)

 I have learnt with time, moving slowly through West Park is your best chance of getting a nice photo. The seen was beautiful, the arched gate in the background and these little deer just popping out from behind the trees. This cleaning of the ears was happening a lot.
                             

                             

Here they are just watching me but not moving.

As I was walking back around the park, there right in front of me was a beautiful buck, it walked through the long grass and then sat down. He was so close to the people walking around that area and they didn't even know it. 

Unless you actually saw him sit down, you would never have known he was there. The camouflage worked well!

This is the same buck coming out of hiding.

   He is such an amazing animal, all fit and healthy and looking his best for the mating season to start. Here he looks like he is watching all the visitors coming through the gate.

I watched him wonder off into the trees and have a little snack, they so often get their antlers stuck in the branches or wander around with twigs on their head.

                                                                                                                               

Here is one which seemed to be stuck for what felt like ages.

We must not forget the sheep on this estate either, they can be found in both areas of the park from time to time.

                  I think these deer are confused, wrong herd!

This photo made me laugh at the time I took it, all I could see were 3 sheep's bottoms bouncing up and down as they ran down the hill. Well it was funny at the time :) When I got home I really liked the picture, I have never taken a photo from just here before and I was quite pleased with it.

Here is that amazing buck again.

I have added a few more pictures to this blog than I wanted to but I saw so much and could not pick which photos to post and which to not. It really was a wonderful last day in West Park, I couldn't have asked for better. It was such a welcome break for me and fresh air in ample supply, just what the doctor ordered, as my mother always used to say.

I met some lovely people on my walk too, had some nice chats about Charlcote and what they had and hadn't seen. So nice to have a conversation with people outside of my house, a rare thing these days and I even got asked twice, if I worked there hahahah . Guess my feelings for the estate are obvious :) 

This next photo I thought was cute, taken in the apple orchard.

Well I guess it's goodbye to West Park, you have kept me sane and given me the break from normality that has been much needed and much appreciated. 

 But I still have the rest of the estate to explore and Autumn colours are just starting to show by the lake. For now I think my lovely family have given me their bug which I thank them very much for!

Hope you enjoyed my page.

Escapes to catch a Sunset or Sunrise

 One of the nicest parts of the day is watching the Sun rise or the Sun go down for the night, it is a very peaceful part of the day and you never know quite what they will bring for you. I always wait in anticipation to see what will happen, will it be cloudy or clear? what type of clouds will there be?  It makes all the difference and can make the view very different.

I live not far from a reservoir called Draycote Waters, which if you are a keen walker, is a 5 mile hike around the outside, or as I do, a gentle stroll around, taking in what is happening around me. I watch the sailors in their many different boats, the windsurfers speeding across the water, the fishermen casting their lines and the many different wildlife you can see in and around the water.

 




 A pictures of Draycoye water in the daytime.
I went for a walk one Sunday morning and just happened to come up on a race going on. 'The Draycote Dash' and as always had a camera with me :)          
                                     

 I can't take the sunrises at Draycote, I wish I could but it's locked over night and to be honest, there is far too much to do at home at that time of day. We have a busy house. I can escape on the odd occasion for a sunrise at the weekends or at other times that my husband is home. The rest of the time I just except I can't go out, not that I like it, but it's our life and it's how it is.

On occasions one or another of our children will come with me, like I said earlier, it is a very peaceful time of the day. My second son does not like noise very much at all so this is always a good place to be for him. I always feel quite relaxed watching the sun go down, can't explain it, you have to sit and watch it yourself and then you will know.

 What I like about Draycote Waters is that it has so many different views and areas, you could be fooled into thinking it looked like a small beach at one end. A lovely place for taking photos. There is also a wall running down one side of the water where my son likes to sit and take the view in. He likes to watch the sky change after the sun goes down when the deeper colours starting to appear. If you follow the wall down you will come to the section that looks like a beach and just behind the trees there, if you look you can see a field of Alpacas. 

The next 2 photos show you the different in just waiting awhile after sunset and the different selection of colours you can get.  This 1st photo was taken as the Sun goes down

The 2nd photo was taken about 15-20 minutes after the Sun went down. It all gets a little mad on the water too, suddenly from nowhere, birds appear and the water is full of them. It is quite something to see.
                           

 I love the purples and pinks after Sunset but also the burnt orange colour you get as the Sun goes down, it gives a real warm glow to everything and gives you some lovely pictures. Sometimes I just sit, look around and just enjoy the view, peace and beautiful colours.

This photo below is of a young family feeding some ducks, caught in the warm glows from the Sun. I really like this one.

These photos show the real burnt orange colour you get sometimes, deep, rich and always makes a pretty picture.
                           

Now the next photos are of some of the sunrises I have managed to catch on one of my escapes. The first photo was taken as I was waiting for the Sun to show itself. I love the colours in this and Chesterton Windmill makes a lovely silhouette. I have so many pictures of this windmill but at a guess, so do many keen local photographers, it makes a good back drop in the day time too.

                                         
                     This one as you guess, is just as the Sun came up.

A couple of times a year, we visit my Mother who lives on the Norfolk Broads, she has a beach just a mile away from her home. I pop down there early in the morning on occasions while visiting to see what the sky is doing. Sometimes I am lucky, sometimes I am not, sometimes you get a very small gap in the clouds, just enough to see the Sun and sometimes my son likes to become my silhouette :) look at those long arms and legs, I think he is around 6ft 2 now and still growing!
                             

                                 
                   Yes I had a go too.... Well it was too cloudy for anything else :)
                             

                               
       Sea Palling on a better morning with lovely colours of pinks through to lilac
                        

This one was taken on the same day we were jumping in the air...didn't realise I could jump that high!
 We only had a short time to take this photo before the Sun had gone up and behind the clouds, but as you saw earlier, we didn't waste the morning :)

 This is Sea Palling, taken 2 weeks ago on a quick flying visit to my Mother's, we were promised clouds and rain but got this instead. It's a beautiful beach and one of my favourite, one we often visited for walks when we lived nearby.

                             

When I only have a short time to spare, I pop over to Coombe Abbey, it is not to far from where I  live and a great place for a walk in the woods, feeding the ducks and just watching the wildlife. You get many of different birds here.

Coombe Abbey is a nice place to visit, you only have to pay for parking and there are a few things there to do for the different age groups. The main area can get a little busy during Holiday seasons but there are plenty of quieter places to walk if that's what you prefer to do like myself. Around this time of year is a good time to go for a walk in the woods as the trees are changing and you will see all the different types of mushrooms to be found there. Careful though as not all are edible.

                                       
Autumn is lovely time to visit too but maybe that's for another blog as I have some lovely Autumn and frost pictures taken here. Spring, Autumn and Winter are my favourite times at Coombe Abbey, it is quieter, more peaceful and you feel more like you have had a break. We do tend to avoid Summer here but that's just us.

 http://www.coventry.gov.uk/info/2000675/coombe_country_park/498/coombe_country_park


 This photo below was taken on my way back to the car. I call it 'The hound of Coombe Abbey' I think the tree stump next to the larger tree looks a little like a dog. Do you think it does?

           This one was also taken at Coombe Abbey a little further up the path.

                                           

 The next photo has to be my favourite beach of all, this is an old film camera photo taken in the 80's but I still love it. Croyde Bay, also nick named surfers paradise.

  I love this area, I used to live there in the 80's and still have many friends who live in the area. The village is beautiful with thatched cottages and a stream running through the middle of it. In Spring and Summer the flower displays always put the finishing touches to the village. It is one of those villages you could easily sit and paint and maybe one day, I will do just that!
As you move through the village to the beach, you will also find  'Baggy point' which is under National Trust protection.  http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/baggy-point/  Baggy point is a lovely walk and has a great view of Lundy Island and the surrounding coast line.  http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/lundy/ You can follow the coast line along to Putsborough sands, then on across to Woolacombe bay, a walk I often walked on my days off.
Before returning to Croyde, a drink in The Red Barn was always called for, well it's a long way back and I might get thirsty :)
On both beaches, I always liked to find a quiet place close to the rocks and watch the World go by, I lost quite a few hours doing that! It is again, somewhere you can get away from it all as much or as little as you want. A place close to me heart.

 

The next picture was a sneaky picture I took of 2 people walking along the beach just as the sun came down in Wells-next -the-sea, on another short visit to my Mothers place.