Baddesley Clinton (NT)
FE 24-105mm F4 G OSS - 70mm - 1/160 - f/11 - ISO 800
Baddesley Clinton is a local National Trust site for us, and we have visited it many times over the past few years. It has been lovely to see it change over this time, and the different views it gives us with the seasons. The main attraction, for me, is the fact that this house has a moat. A real, wet, moat. I can’t be alone when drawing castles as a child; they just had to have a few staples. A portcullis, some turrets, a tower or two, and a moat. The wet kind. So it pains me to say I have yet to capture a photo of said moat that I like. Until then, there are many other aspects I have captured that I would love to delve into.
One of my favourite views of this house is into the courtyard from the other side of said moat. The doors (don’t get me started), the windows (also, don’t), and the Ivy, paired with the white and black paint and red brick, just mwah, chef’s kiss.
Shed
I like the colour of the roof of this little, rough-hewn shed in the garden. Just on the corner of the orchard, with the tiny door, I like the leading lines of the fence, the border of the tree, and the hint of the house roof in the background—a relatively simple image with the blue sky contrasting with the rusty roof colour.
FE 24-105mm F4 G OSS - 48mm - 1/250 - f/9.0 - ISO 800
Frames
This view of the house is one I tend to enjoy more in real life than in the image. Whilst I think it has worked out, using the trees and fence as a frame can be a challenge as the house isn’t quite central in the composition, and I had a little trouble getting a crop I was happy with. The sunlight played a good role here, allowing me to play with the contrast and capture the feeling of being in the little wood, stumbling across this house. This image doesn’t give away the true size of the house either, which leaves more to be discovered as you get closer.
FE 24-105mm F4 G OSS - 105mm - 1/250 - f/9.0 - ISO 800
FE 24-105mm F4 G OSS - 38mm - 1/125 - f/14 - ISO 400
The gardens had a lot going on when we visited back in April this year. The sunshine was at a premium, the Tulips were out, giving a great splash of colour with many vegetables in full growth mode. This image allows me to capture a variety of what the garden has to offer, with the path leading your eye through each patch. The eagle eyes would see the tree growing into the greenhouse in the rear; a closer image is in the gallery.
Dew drops
Not sure what this plant is, but it has a lovely green hue and is covered in hair-like fibres, which have managed to capture the available moisture, unsure if said moisture is from the dew or if it was watered recently, but the crop allows us to admire the spiral of the leaves. With the small flowers in the top right reminding us that this plant is amongst others in a bed somewhere, even if it is their close-up.
FE 24-105mm F4 G OSS - 105mm - 1/100 - f/7.1 - ISO 100
Make it stand out
This is a great close-up of the inner working parts of a Tulip, showing us the stamen and pistil like arrows stuck in the target of the sepals and petals. This image works well with the 1x1 crop and looks clean and crisp. I thought the overall look might have been a result of overusing the denoise feature in Lightroom; however, after reviewing, it turns out this was pretty much as it was captured, with a little adjustment to bring out the inner workings with a little more clarity.
FE 24-105mm F4 G OSS - 105mm - 1/125 - f/11 - ISO 4000
Hotel
Bug hotels such as these are found in a lot of places and are generally encouraged for most gardens and small spaces in urban areas as a place for bugs to make a home. This one caught my eye with the fresh blossoming vine snaking past, not quite up to the next tether on the wall. Some harsher light to deal with here, but the vegetation gives it the depth it would otherwise have lacked. I do need to figure out why I can’t level a photo correctly, though, either in the field or in post; it’s as if I see the world on an angle, and I’m not impressed that I have looked at these images multiple times before publishing, only to see it now on another monitor. Something to try harder with in the future.
FE 24-105mm F4 G OSS - 105mm - 1/125 - f/11 - ISO 100
Covered-up sticky-out bits
A prevalent theme in most of my outings is that I like roof shapes, chimneys, etc, then I try to find something to cover them up a bit and frame them somehow. There might be a more socially acceptable term for this, but for now, I’ll stick with this. The sky played ball on the day, with a little cloud for interest, and the blue working off the orange of the brickwork.
FE 24-105mm F4 G OSS - 105mm - 1/125 - f/14 - ISO 400
Fancy stable
The more I experience National Trust houses, the more fancy stables appear to be, this one with stained glass and a weather vane. This lovely example was framed with the available tree blossom, repeated further into the frame in front of the wall, and the clouds giving a little interest in the sky, overall giving a good sense of depth and room for the subject to breathe.
FE 24-105mm F4 G OSS - 105mm - 1/100 - f/13 - ISO 160
These are a nice collection of photos from the day that tells a little story of our time there. My partner and I have struck an accord whilst I take shots like these, where she will find a bench and read whilst I take my time taking these photos, and when ready, we move on to the next section, find another bench and repeat the process, giving us both time to share our passions in the same space, whilst enjoying the gardens and surroundings in our own way.
It turns out we revisited Baddesley Clinton later this year, where I managed to get a few more detailed shots of the house and some different perspectives of the place, which will be posted once they are edited. It is a privilege to be able to visit and revisit these places throughout the year, something both my partner and I value, getting the most out of our membership with the family, although some days, it’s just for the cream tea.
The gallery can be found here.
FE 24-105mm F4 G OSS - 94mm - 1/100 - f/13 - ISO 100
