Thursday 16 August 2012

Holiday Snaps - the last batch


Looking over the village from the plum orchard that backs on to the campsite.  This is a typical view in this area - rolling countryside, woods and hedgerows (a sort of very thick hedge made up of bushes, small trees, climbers, etc that all grows together as natural fencing and wind break.  Just like the Bocage in Normandy that the Allies had to battle through in 1944.  It is hard enough to get through at the best of times, without the added worry that there might be someone waiting to shoot you as you come out the other side!)


The wheat has just been harvested.  Note the discarded boot in the foreground.  Wonder what the story is behind that!


Sunset through a hedgerow.  I had to rush to catch this one, dragging myself through the hedgerow behind our tent, and getting many scratches and stings as I went.  I hope you all appreciate the pain I go through for your entertainment!  :-)


One of several cockerells on the farm, which crow more or less continuously from around 5am to 10pm.  Their house is right by the farmhouse, but luckily they were unaffected by the lightning strike.


Another butterfly - a Red Admiral, reputed to be very common in England but this is the first one I have seen for many years.


The local church.


At first I was puzzled by the way these trees were growing, but I then realised that they are this shape because anything that droops less than about 3 feet from the ground gets trimmed by the sheep!

And that about wraps up my holiday snap posts for this year!  But fear not, I think Mrs RC and I will be going on a bike ride or 2 next week (on leave again!), so you might be in for a few more shots of my local area, if you are good  :-)

9 comments:

Shammickite said...

Those holiday pics of yours are good, makes me homesick for the lovely British green countryside where I grew up! And BTW, that strange plant in the orchard in the previous post is deadly nightshade. And you always kiss when going through a kissing gate, if you have someone to kiss with. If not, a stranger will do!

Rock Chef said...

Shammickite - Deadly nightshade, huh? Good job I only took a photo of it then! I was not taught about kissing at a kissing gate - probably a good thing as we all used to go through one on the way to secondary school! I see you are from Devon - my in-laws lived in Paignton and then just outside Exeter. A nice part of the world!

Abby said...

First of all, I HAD to find out about kissing gates. Serve the same purpose as our "cattle guards" but have a way better name.

I love these vacation snaps. They have such an old countryside feel to them. That tree is so symmetric, yet wide. What is it??

Thanks for taking the stings and scrapes for the good of the readership. Your next mission is to find out the story of the boot.

ShadowRun300 said...

Oh the things you'll do for your blog friends... scratches, stings and a great deal of pain. I, for one, appreciate it! And I promise to be good if you take more pics on your next leave. :)
That tree is awesome looking! And is the church still attended?

Rock Chef said...

Abby - I think the tree is an oak, but am open to correction there. The boot's story? I could make one up for you...

ShadowRun300 - Yes, the church is still in use, even unlocked so you can go in at any time - sadly a rare thing in British churches these days. The grass seems to have gone wild this year, though. Last year it was nicely cut.

agg79 said...

The sign of a good photographer is all the suffering/sacrifices they will go through to get the perfect shot. Nice sunset. Thanks for more pics from the countryside. Love the tree shot - I've seen several oak trees down here with the same pattern but it never clicked with me on what caused it.

Rock Chef said...

Agg79 - I will try not to make the ultimate sacrifice in the search for a great photo! :-)

CiCi said...

You are taking some great pictures. I like the discarded boot photo. I too wonder what that story is. All the photos are super.

terri said...

It all seems so peaceful! What a beautiful place!