Weston-super-Mare in Pictures: October, November, & December 2018

Time to look back at my seaside snaps from the final quarter of 2018!

This autumn was full of glorious colour: always such a treat, but particularly on days of sunshine and blue skies.

I spent a lot of sunny afternoons walking around town scouting for nice-looking leaves, and then essentially stalking them: including them in my routes as often as possible until they faded and dropped.

I particularly enjoyed this fabulous door + gate + climber combo...
 

 

... and I literally gasped when I turned a corner and found this beauty. 

The previous year, as the nights drew in, I made it a habit to build my schedule around the sunset as much as possible. I timed my trips into town so I'd be walking back along the beach as the light faded, and spent a lot of time gazing at the pastel tints of the sky and filling up my camera roll with (largely terrible) sunset snaps.

I didn't do as much of that this time round, sadly, but the few beach sunsets I did enjoy were pretty magical.

As ever, I've continued to keep my eye out for interesting shapes and textures. I particularly loved this tree...

... and this gleaming seaweed... 

... and this patched-up garage door.

 

Oh, and I fell in love with a fish and chip shop! Actually going here for fish and chips is on my 2019 Must Do list.

I've started walking a lot more lately - both further and more often - and have to admit that I'm getting a little obsessed with walking! This year I've wanted to get out for walks whatever the weather, and in the autumn and winter that means walking in the cold, the rain and through a lot of mud... and upgrading my wardrobe and footwear accordingly.

I'm still walking a lot on the beach and through town, but I'm also spending as much time as possible out in the nature reserves (Uphill, Walborough, and Bleadon Levels). They're so beautiful!

 

 

I'm planning on walking there a lot in 2019, but also trying to get across town more often to walk up Worlebury Hill and through the woods. I walked up the hill late one December afternoon and was rewarded with the most wonderful view:

 

Watching the sunset as I walked back down the hill and homewards was quite delightful!

Then right at the close of the year, I snapped a strong contender for my 2019 Christmas card (haha)...

 ... and encountered a trio of birds who posed for juuuuust long enough for me to take this photo! Very considerate of them.

Here's to lots more walking in 2019!

Click here to catch up on the rest of my seaside photo round-ups, and here to follow along on Instagram.

An Autumn Visit to Arnos Vale: Bristol's Victorian Garden Cemetery

I joined a local hiking group this year, which has been a huge amount of fun. I've organised a few walks in my new seaside hometown, and have gone on several others in and around Bristol (though not nearly as many as I'd have liked!).

It's really nice having a group of people to get out and walk with, and I've found that organising walks (which you're then committed to because other people are coming) is a great way to get myself out of the house and exploring. I've decided to use this as a way of kicking myself into finally visiting places which have been on my "Ooh, I want to go there!" list for ages... and this autumn the first place I've ticked off the list is Arnos Vale Cemetery.

 

It sounds a bit weird to say that I took my hiking group for a walk round a cemetery, but Arnos Vale is somewhere pretty special. Established in 1837, the 45 acre site is really beautiful: a veritable maze of little woodland paths with interesting gravestones and memorials around every corner.

I arrived early to get my bearings before the others arrived and it didn't take me long to get slightly spooked out walking around the site. Okay so the ghost stories I'd been reading that week probably didn't help, but this is an incredibly atmospheric place to explore (particularly on your own, first thing after it opens on a slightly misty autumn morning!).

Later, after the other ladies from the group had headed home (and after we'd had some truly delicious cake from the on-site cafe), I went for another solo wander to take photos and explore some of the smaller paths we'd missed out when following the main discovery trail.

The trail map is available via the website or as a free leaflet from the gift shop - where you can also buy self-guided trail leaflets that tell you more about the history of the cemetary, some of the people buried here, and the symbolism used in gravestones and memorials.

"What did you do on Saturday, Laura?"
"Oh, I walked around a cemetery and thought about death! It was great!"

I'm already trying to work out when I can fit in a return visit.

Autumn at Kew: Glorious Glasshouses

It's time for another installment of OH MY GOSH KEW GARDENS IS SO LOVELY, YOU GUYS!!!

On my autumn visit to Kew I went for a long walk around the gardens admiring all the autumn colour and texture, and ooohing over the many magnificent trees.

I also spent lots of time in Kew's glasshouses, because they're a) lovely and warm to visit on chilly autumn/winter days and b) totally awesome. 

The green lushness of the Palm House is always a treat, and visiting during the quieter months of autumn means you get to enjoy it with fewer people around. Sit on empty benches. Soak up the quiet and the magnificence around you.

I absolutely cannot get enough of all the dramatic shapes in this place...

... and the interplay between the strict lines of the architecture and the soft wildness of the planting.

Being able to get up high and look down on all this lushness also never gets old! If I lived locally to this place I would come and sketch here aaaaall the time.

The Palm House might be forever fabulous but my unexpected highlight of the day turned out to be the Waterlily House.

I've blogged about this petite glasshouse before (it's a delight!), and knew it was a lovely little place to visit... but what really charmed me on this visit was the misty, slightly over-grown, slightly fading, autumnal vibe it had.

The same space as in the summer, but with a totally different mood! So good.

Catch up on all my posts about Kew Gardens.

View my travel archive for lots more posts about my days out in London and around the UK.

Exploring Oxford: Jesus & Queen's

I think it's high time I shared some more snaps of lovely Oxford!

First up: Jesus, aka Jesus College in the University of Oxford of Queen Elizabeth's Foundation, was founded in 1571 and is the only Elizabethan College in Oxford.

 

 

 

I visited Jesus for free during the annual Oxford Open Doors festival (as you may have gathered from my Oxford posts, I'm a big fan of Oxford Open Doors), but you normally have to pay to visit.

 

Founded to educate future clergymen, and has a great history of being attended and run by Welshmen - though apparently there are no records of how much Welsh was spoken in college: "Official college records were mainly written in Latin; while the College statutes, effective from 1622, forbade public conversation, in class, hall and even the quadrangles, in any language but Latin, Greek or Hebrew."

 

I most associate Jesus College with the novel Gaudy Night by Dorothy L Sayers - in which there's a subplot where a young man from Jesus becomes smitten with the main character, Harriet Vane. His name is not Jones, but another character refers to him as "Mr Jones of Jesus" which makes so much more sense now oh my goodness ("Who are you calling a bloody Welshman", snarled the young man, much exasperated "My name's Pomfret")

The college still has strong connections to Wales, and lots of Welsh students. You can find lots more info about the history of the College here, and take a virtual tour here.

Queen's, aka The Queen's College is a few centuries older than Jesus. You might think from the name that it had been renamed after Queen Elizabeth I during her reign, but in fact it was founded as Queen's in 1341, in honour of Queen Philippa (wife of King Edward III).

 

All the medieval buildings at Queen's were replaced in the 1700s, so the whole college is now Baroque in style and extremely grand. Just as Jesus was filled with Welsh students, so Queen's was filled with students from the North-West of England.

 

 

 

Apparently it's the fifth-wealthiest college in the University! Queen's is free to visit, but usually only by appointment as part of a tour group, so I was really glad to get a chance to look round during Oxford Open Doors.

 

You can learn more about the history of Queen's College and its architecture here, or take a virtual tour here (the tour even includes a typical student bedroom... though sadly an unoccupied one!).

Want to explore some more of Oxford's beautiful buildings? Click here to read all my posts about the city, or click here to browse my entire travel archive.