In the grounds of Ickworth House

Ickworth House is just outside Bury St Edmunds (of which more later.)  The estate is a classic English landscaped park, originally designed by Capability Brown.  The centrepiece of the estate however looks just about anything but English - except in its eccentricity!

The rotunda behind the tree is the centrepiece of a two-winged quasi Georgian "house", built on an enormous scale so that the Earl of Bristol (who was also Bishop of Derry, but spent most of his time collecting art in Continental Europe) would have an appropriate building to showcase his art collection.  Things never work out as planned, though, and much of it was confiscated by Napoleon.

The immediate surroundings of the house are more Italianate than British, based largely on structural trees and shrubs rather than displays of flowers.

The tree collection is very striking: exotic conifers and cedars predominate, and the general effect is extremely impressive.

The estate also contains a magnificent walled garden, which has been converted into a vineyard.

In many ways this is a much more conventional layout, though the vineyard is relatively recent  The brick used is a particularly attractive shade of warm red.  Part of the walled garden is let out as allotments to local residents.  Currently the National Trust, who own the estate, are engaged on a large programme of tree planting, which will enhance the parkland views, and are also considering whether or not to re-instate, at least partly, the old Victorian kitchen garden which used to occupy the walled area, using the planting books which have been preserved with the rest of the estate documentation.
The outside wall of the garden contains a summerhouse, which overlooks a small ornamental lake.

Ickworth is a wonderful place for a visit, no matter whether you are interested in the art (the collection includes works by Gainsborough and Titian) or the grounds, which offer very varied walks (well waymarked!)

March in October

One of the best things about being somewhere you don't really know well is the way in which serendipity plays a part in what you see.
Whilst in Cambridge we stumbled on the town of March, which was originally a place we were simply going to pass through, but which turned out to be really interesting, even if one of its major attractions turned out to be closed (and we wouldn't have had time to do it justice even had it been open)

March lies on the River Nene, one of the rivers which meander through the Fens on their way to the North Sea (although it meets the Great Ouse first!)  The first picture is of the Town Hall beautifully reflected in the river.

At one end of Broad Street is the fountain erected to celebrate the coronation of George V.

The fountain is very striking: cast iron, and supplied by the Saracen Foundry from Possilpark, Glasgow.  The Saracen Foundry specialised in ornamental cast iron work, although much of what they made has been lost over the last century - the Second World War in particular, with the necessity to reclaim cast iron for the war effort, made great inroads into the monuments that they had supplied.  In the heyday of the British Empire Saracen Foundry products were sold to many cities round the world.  The fountains often follow a fairly standard design - octagonal, and as in this case localised by the addition of relevant shields.  One of the shields in March shows a white stork, which is a little unexpected as even then the bird was really a rare visitor rather than a breeding species in the UK.

A tale of two lighthouses

The head of the Clyde Estuary is marked by two lighthouses.  The more famous one is just south of Gourock, at Cloch Point.

This is the Cloch lighthouse, taken from the Dunoon to Gourock ferry (which takes a much closer course to the eastern shore than on the outward journey.)  The Cloch was built in 1797, designed by Thomas Smith and his son-in-law Robert Stevenson, who became one of the world's greatest lighthouse designers - the Bell Rock is probably his most famous design. Thomas Smith, however, was the first lighthouse designer in the family - he was the first engineer of the Northern Lighthouse Trust, having made his name designing innovative reflectors for the lighting of the New Town in Edinburgh.  Most of the work on the Cloch was done by Thomas Smith.
The light is opposite the Gantocks, a particularly nasty rocky ledge just off Dunoon, and was originally intended to warn ships off them.  Perhaps the Cloch was best known for the foghorn, which was compared to the sound of a cow in acute distress!  It's now a private house, and the light in the tower has been replaced by one on a pole.  The light is fully automated.
During both World Wars there was a coastal battery located here, and the terracing for the guns became the starting point for the caravan park which can be seen behind the lighthouse. The Inner Clyde was protected by an anti submarine boom which ran from the Cloch to Dunoon, coming ashore just below the statue of Highland Mary
The Gantocks now have their own light - properly just a beacon, which dates in its current form from 1898.

The Gantocks are completely submerged at high tide.

Highland Mary

The statue of Mary Campbell (better known as "Burns' Highland Mary") stands overlooking the harbour of Dunoon.  She's looking down the Clyde, either towards Ayrshire or along the route that the ship would take to the West Indies.  The best known version of the story is that she was Burns'one true love, with whom he intended to emigrate to the West Indies, but who died of typhus before they could arrange a passage. There are other versions, which tell a story which is less to Burns' credit.
Whatever the truth of the matter, the story inspired a fine statue.  Mary Campbell was indeed born in Dunoon, but appears to have moved with her parents early on in her life, so the location is a little fanciful.

The detailing of the bronze work, down to the braiding and knots on the shawl, is quite remarkable, especially considering the exposed location and the date of 1896 for its creation by David Watson Stevenson, who also did much work for the Wallace Monument. The blue bar is part of the ferry terminal, and in the background, on the far side of the Clyde estuary, is the Cloch lighthouse. More about the Cloch later.

Kleine Möwe...

Just along the coast from Anstruther and Pittenweem is the small town of Elie.  Rather than images of the town itself today I have two picture of seabirds which were taken at high tide.  The Forth Estuary is an internationally important breeding and wintering location for many species, but the first picture is on one of the more familiar species.

Herring gulls are among the most common of the birds that can be seen off the coast.  The picture was taken from the harbour wall looking into the small bay formed by a small promontory, which is in the background.  The tide is not usually high enough to cover the all the rocky outcrops on the foreshore, and birds use them as refuges.
The second picture, though is of a much rarer species.  The sandwich tern breeds on some of the islands in the estuary, and the one below is just moulting into adult plumage before embarking on the migration to the South Atlantic.

It's found a very small perch.

"Gin ye sud come tae Ainster fair..."

Just along the Fife coast from Pittenweem is Anstruther (pronounced Ainster, as in the song.)  Technically it's two towns in one!

Unlike Pittenweem, though, the harbour (which is really in Anstruther Easter) is much less a working harbour and has a large area for pleasure craft of various sizes. It's a typical Fife town, with the kirk dominating the town when seen from the harbour wall, and pantiled shops and houses on the waterfront (including one of the best chip shops in Scotland!)
The town is also the location of the Scottish Fisheries Museum, and there are a number of historic craft dotted around the harbour as well.

Just to the west of the harbour, across the Dreel Burn, is the smaller town of Anstruther Wester.  The Dreel Burn is not much of a barrier nowadays, but the story is told of the beggarwoman (or possibly a fishwife) who carried a traveller across only to find that the traveller was King James V, roaming the country in his disguise as the "Gaberlunzie Man".  You can still cross by stepping stones, if you wish,

"Lights will guide you home..."

St Mary's lighthouse is one of the major landmarks of the Northumbrian coast.

It is located just to the north of Whitley Bay, reached by a causeway that is flooded at high tide - you can just see the start of the causeway in the picture.  The history of the light goes back many centuries before the current building (which is no longer maintained by Trinity House.)  The original light was maintained by monks.  It's not known when they first settled the island, but the first extant records go back to 1090, when Tynemouth Priory was reconstituted by the Norman Earl of Northumbria, Robert de Mowbray, as a cell of the Abbey of St Alban's. Shortly after that a chapel dedicated to St Helen was built on the site, and the monks kept a candle burning to warn ships of the dangers.  This became known as a "St Mary's Light", and in its turn this gave its name to the bay and the island.
The current building dates from 1898, and was intended to replace the Tynemouth lighthouse, which had been in service since 1664, and was located within Tynemouth Castle.  It was required partly because the light from the Tynemouth light was often obscured by smoke, but more urgently because the War Office wished to improve the defences of the Tyne Estuary: this was after all at the start of the naval rivalry between Britain and Germany which was one of the causes of the Great War.
The current Tynemouth lighthouse sits at the end of the northern jetty that protects the entrance to the Tyne: the earlier one was on the headland above the defences in the background.

On one of his visits to the North of England JMW Turner made sketches of the old castle with the lighthouse on the headland, which later became both a painting (in Blackburn Art Gallery) and was copied as an.engraving: as you can see the priory ruins haven't changed much since his time.

"every fisher laddie's dream..."

Pittenweem Jo was immortalised in the song by John Watt, and although the herring gutters have gone the harbour remains the main fishing harbour in the East Neuk.  The harbour is a classic Fife fishing harbour, extended several times in past centuries (although at least in part to cope with coal transport,) but unlike others it's clear that this is still a working harbour with the emphasis on fish.  Many towns in Fife and the Lothians rely on the "Pittenweem fish van" bringing fresh fish almost to the door, and the fish market (the large building behind the fishing boats) is still a busy place when the ships come in.

Despite its modern appearance the market building dates back over 200 years, but has been kept up to date with each new technological innovation.
The views along the coast are usually stunning.  The day we visited was quite misty, and the effects were magical.

Emerging from the mist behind the cliffs at the end of the "West Braes" are firstly the St Monans windmill, then the church at St Monans, and then more faintly the houses of Elie.  The windmill was built by the Sir John Anstruther to draw water from the sea into the salt pans - like many Fife land owning families their wealth was founded on coal and salt.  It was Sir John who paid for the extension to the harbour, on the condition that his ships had priority over other traffic.  Sir John also had a wagonway constructed to link the salt pans and the coal mines directly to the harbour.  Coal and salt production were closely linked - it took 8 tons of coal to produce a ton of salt. Production in the coal mines stopped in the early 19th century, partly due to a fire in the mine in 1794 which disrupted production, and partly due to changes in the tax regime which made salt production less economically viable.

The houses along the West Shore could almost be the epitome of the Fife fishing village - crow stepped gables, red pantiles, and outside stairs.
There's much more to Pittenweem than the harbour and the fishing, though, but that will have to wait for another day (and a different selection of photographs!)

"You might wake up some morning..."

Perhaps you need to be of a certain age to remember the song I've used for the title of this (you can find the original here (Bob Lind's "Elusive Butterfly") but it came to mind as I was trying to photograph these elusive Red Admirals at Kellie Castle.

They were feeding on a clump of Hemp Agrimony - there wasn't much else in the garden that would attract them, and although the weather was both warm and still, they were extremely nervous and reluctant to settle for any length of time.
Kellie Castle is near Pittenweem, in Fife, and is one of the jewels of the National Trust for Scotland.  Many houses of the same date were unsympathetically restored in Victorian times, but the restoration of Kellie Castle was carried out by the Lorimer family, and has preserved the best of the old whilst adding new touches. The interior has a wonderful mural by Phoebe Anna Traquair in the drawing room.  The garden is a decorative kitchen garden, with a lot of heritage (and local) varieties of fruit and vegetables, including White Melrose apples as bred by the monks at Melrose Abbey, and the produce is on sale at the castle, as well as being used in the excellent cafe. Kellie Castle is well worth a visit; it feels as if the family have just popped out and might be back at any moment, and the friendly and knowledgeable local guides add to the pleasures of the house.
We were very lucky with both the weather and the light, as this last picture demonstrates.