Kirkstall Abbey Park

I took this photo of a corridor of trees in Kirkstall abbey park two days ago.

The day was damp and misty and the trees are beginning to lose some leaves with others changing colour.

On the left of the photo just past the bench is the river Aire which flows past the park. On the other side of the river lies the rugby pitch that can be seen in the foreground from the train on the Airedale line looking towards the abbey ruins in the distance. I see this view from the window of the train every journey into Leeds station.

Morley Literature Festival

I walked by this poster for the upcoming Morley Literature Festival, held 11-17 October 2010 in the small town of Morley, just south of Leeds.

I was visiting an old work colleague who now has a business based in Morley and this poster is adjacent to the pavement near his workplace. I was pleased to notice it for a couple of reasons, one I am a fan of Iain M Banks the writer (I loved his book The Crow Road) and two it is something I am interested in to get some photos for the Leeds Daily Photo.

Some of the writers who will be performing and/or talking are Barbara Taylor Bradford, Iain M Banks, Will Self, John Shuttleworth, Gervase Phinn, Robin Ince, Blake Morrison and Toby Litt.

Any one of these is a good reason to visit Morley in October.

Biker Leeds

Picture of Biker Patriots MC spotted in Leeds city centre.

I saw this biker stopped in the traffic in Leeds city centre recently. I would have got some details but he pulled away shortly after stopping for just a few seconds.

The Patriots MC are The only MC in the United Kingdom operating exclusively for serving and former members of Her Majesty's armed forces

A long time ago I had a bike and as a former member of HM Forces, I guess I would be eligible to join. Their motto is IN FRATRE MEO CONFIDO (In My Brother I Trust), a good one and one I can understand.

Bird Sculpture - Leeds Waterfront

This metal sculpture of a couple of birds in flight can be seen on the Leeds waterfront almost adjacent to Brewery Wharf. They are part of the decoration around the old dock that I have featured over the last couple of days.

Bulrushes on Leeds Waterfront

Following on from the picture of a waterlily in Leeds yesterday here are some bulrushes photographed at the same old dock that is now surrounded by former warehouses converted to apartments.

Bullrush plants part of the sedge family are known in England as bulrush, bullrush, or reedmace and in the US as cattail, punks, or corndog grass, also in New Zealand as raupo.

Water Lily Near Brewery Wharf Leeds

I photographed this pink water lily flower adjacent to Brewery Wharf on the Leeds city waterfront a few weeks back.

I am always surprised what I discover as I wander around the centre of Leeds and perhaps a little further afield.

Harewood House - View From the Terrace

This photo is a view across some of the Harewood estate seen from the terrace at the rear of Harewood House.

I visited the estate a couple of weeks back during the Heritage Open Days. I was stood at about this spot when I saw and photographed some of the red kites that now live on the Harewood estate just a few miles from Leeds.

Organic Fruit Flower and Vegetable show - Saltaire

As part of this last weeks Saltaire Festival the West Yorkshire Organic Group held an Organic Fruit Flower and Vegetable show here in the village.

I love old fashioned fruit varieties, so I was pleased to get a chance to look at some old apple varieties that are not common these days.

In the show 1st place for a dessert apple went to these St Edmund's Pippin apples, grown originally in Bury St Edmund's in Suffolk from before 1875 (also called St Edmund's Russet)



There was one category I would have felt happy to enter and that was the culinary herbs, I have always like herbs and they are such useful plants to have in any sized garden.

Butterfly - Leeds

I saw this butterfly today and could not resist getting a quick photo. I suspect that there will not be many more butterfly days this year.

Saltaire Arts Trail - Open Houses

As part of the Saltaire Arts Trail 2010 this last week several artists in the Victorian village have opened their houses to visitors.

The picture above is a view of one of the rooms in the house of local artist Steve Simpson. Steve like most of the artists taking part in this years Open Houses was also showcasing the work of two other local artists Chris Moss (Sculpture) and Sharon Snaylam (Mixed Media).



I took this photo of Steve in his sitting room at the Open Houses last year. If you are interested in art and want to meet the artists then the Saltaire Arts Trail is just the thing. Also you can get to look around some of these historic old houses that form a part of the World Heritage site that is Saltaire. You can see some of art created by Steve Simpson here.

Next year the Saltaire Arts Trail moves to a new date in May when it becomes a stand alone event and no longer part of the Saltaire Festival.

Cat Bingo at Saltaire Arts Trail

Having discovered cat bingo yesterday on the Saltaire Arts Trail I was keen to try it out today looking around the Victorian village looking out for its resident cats.

I am already acquainted with two of them so how hard could this be? There was a snag though, it rained for quite a bit of the day and was mostly damp for the bits when it was not raining. Cats I have discovered do not like rain and on my journeys around the village on foot today I did not see a single cat.

So in the fine tradition of cookery shows, here above in the photo are two I prepared earlier. In the window can bee seen Snoopy and his chum whose name escapes me looking out of the window of their home in Saltaire. I was sitting in the garden of a friend and these two appeared at the window so I snapped them with my phone.

Saltaire Festival - Peace Artistes

Today I attended the Saltaire Festival here in the village where I live. The day was quite overcast with lots of heavy cloud for much of the day, but there was still lots of fun to be had.

These pictures show a West Yorkshire street band the Peace Artistes who play a lively blend of African, Salsa, Folk and Funk. There are around 15 musician playing percussion, saxes and brass and they play with lots of zest!



Apart from catching the Peace Artistes at the festival I also journeyed along some of the Saltaire Arts Trail, but more of that and Cat Bingo tomorrow.

Saltaire Festival and Arts Trail 2010

Photograph showing woman as Queen of Hearts at Saltaire Festival 2009.

This weekend the 18th and 19th September are the two main days of this years Saltaire Festival with a full programme of events on in the village that lies on the Leeds - Skipton railway. I mention the railway because parking is a problem in the village whilst the festival is on so it is a good means of traveling to Saltaire for the festival. Saltaire is a little over 20 minutes by train from Leeds train station with regular trains daily

Also on in Saltaire this weekend is the final weekend of the Saltaire Arts Trail with the popular Open Houses. Saltaire today is home to many artists in various mediums including photography, textiles, painting and ceramics and on the Arts Trail you can discover some of their work.

Water Feature - Mandela Gardens Leeds

This picture is of one of the water features in the the Mandela Gardens at the edge of Millennium Square in Leeds city centre.

There was snow here in Leeds and indeed across Yorkshire and the north of England when I last took a more general photo of Mandela Gardens. This day it was bright blue sky with just the odd cloud. The other water feature was drained of water which was unusual, quite often the water pumps are not working but I cannot recall seeing it empty before.

Crest in Leeds

I pass this crest on a building in Leeds city centre quite often and I have no idea what is relates to.

It is high up on a wall of a building on the corner of Park Row and Bond Street, opposite the Lloyds bank building. The decoration on it must mean something but I have no idea what. Perhaps it relates to the previous users of this building.

Harewood Estate - Red Admiral

This Red Admiral butterfly was one of several enjoying the last days of summer on the flowers at Harewood House this weekend.

The Heritage Open Day this last Saturday was very popular, because access to the estate was free.

The estate is a popular destination for people who want to see wildlife, but especially for those who want to witness the Red Kites on the estate.

Heritage Open Day - Clock Tower Outside

The building in the above photo is the Art Nouveau clock tower in the Huddersfield suburb of Lindley. The clocktower was designed by Manchester architect Edgar Wood and built of local stone, stands 83 feet high.

Having taken advantage of this weekends Heritage Open Days to explore place that perhaps are rarely if ever open to the public, My friend John and I went to Huddersfield.

I have rarely been to Huddersfield, so nearly everything there is new to me and I find it easy to slip into tourist mode. Although I have lived and worked in Yorkshire for more than 20 years now, I have long since realised, that I will never be a local. But thats OK with me because I sometimes get to see things from a different perspective.

There is a narrow spiral staircase with 69 steps to get to a small room at the top and then access to the clock room is a up a wooden ladder and through a narrow hatch in the ceiling. I have never seen a large clockface (6.5 feet) from the inside before, the clock mechanism is large and built by W Potts and sons of Leeds. Whilst we were in the clock room the mechanism struck the quarter hour quite loudly!

Above the entrance door at the bottom of the tower is an inscription "This
tower was erected by James Nield Sykes Esq JP of Field Head, Lindley, for the
benefit of his native village in 1902."

Heritage Open Day - Clock Tower

Today was the last day of this years Heritage Open Days here in Yorkshire. I managed to get to two different buildings this afternoon and the above photo of a clock face and its mechanism is from one of these.

Oddly the town I got to was not Leeds but there is a Leeds connection, as can be seen in the photo. The clock was made by the Leeds clock makers company W Potts and sons in 1902. The clock-tower thats this clock was built to house is quite tall, ornate and not far from Leeds.

I will reveal all tomorrow.

Heritage Open Day - Harewood Kites Flying

The above photo is of a Red Kite flying high above the Harewood estate not far from Leeds in Yorkshire.

The Red Kite was extinct here in England and Scotland by the late 1800's with only a handful remaining in mid Wales. This was due to persecution by landowners and gamekeepers, who mostly poisoned or shot them.

This large beautiful bird of prey was re-introduced onto the Harewood estate in 1999 and today around the Harewood estate and across Yorkshire there are perhaps 300 birds.

I knew that they were breeding on the estate but did not think that I would see several this afternoon, at one point I counted 9 in the air above and around the house at one time.

The Red Kite has a wingspan just short of 2 metres and has a distinctive forked tail with a reddish brown body and a greyish head. Although it is quite a large bird, it is quite light and mostly lives on small prey, including small rabbits, worms, chicks etc.




The above photograph shows the flag with the arms of the Earl of Harewood flying above Harewood House alongside the flag can be seen a Red Kite.

I and many others had taken advantage of the Heritage Open Days event whereby entry to Harewood House and the estate was free today.

Tomorrow Sunday 12th September there are still quite a few places opening their doors to the public for free across England.

A small selection across West Yorkshire open on Sunday 12th September...

Lindley Clock Tower in Huddersfield
Leeds Grand Theatre and Opera House
Lotherton Hall country house near Leeds
Pontefract Castle
Haworth Masonic Lodge
The Red House, Gomersal near Cleckheaton home of Mary Taylor, lifelong friend of Charlotte Brontë

There is still time to participate in this years Heritage Open Days.

Leeds Heritage Open Days

I took this photo quite a while back and had meant to do this post a few days ago, but got distracted.

Leeds in common with quite a few other towns and cities across England are this weekend involved in the Heritage Open Days event.

It started yesterday but it finishes this Sunday 12 September. The events are a celebration of the architecture and culture of England. Many places and buildings that are either not open to the public or make a charge are opening their doors this weekend free of charge.

Follies, contemporary buildings, churches, factories, tunnels, temples, offices, private homes, industrial sites, castles, town halls there are a large number of different types of place open this weekend.

Here in Leeds there is a booklet available from the Leeds visitor centre at the railway station and I would guess at other places too.

Lotherton Hall country house that I have featured these last few days is open for free this weekend, I think the car park fee still applies £3.60.

There are several other places open in and close to Leeds this weekend including The Leeds Library (not to be confused with the public library on The Headrow) which opens its doors on commercial street on Saturday 11th September: 1000-1600. I became a member after exploring the library for the Leeds Daily Photo.

Lotherton Hall - Chapel

This building might not look much at first glance but it is the chapel on the Lotherton Hall estate near Leeds.

This chapel is Norman and was built long before the current Lotherton Hall, it has some alteration from the 18th century and was restored in 1917. Today the chapel is a listed building being grade II*.

In 1881 the chapel is described...
The chapel is a very ancient building consisting of chancel and nave and has one bell; service is performed in it once a year only, for which the vicar of Sherburn receives £5 13s 4d.

In those days Lotherton was called Lotherton-cum-Aberford and in 1871 the joint population was 486. The word cum being Latin meaning with.

Lotherton Hall - Water Buffalo

This large bronze statue of a water buffalo stands in the garden at Lotherton Hall a country house near Leeds in Yorkshire.

The former owner of the Hall who gifted to the city of Leeds Sir Alvary Gascoigne was a senior diplomat in the east and was also a collector of art. The Hall has a good sized collection of artworks including ceramics and paintings which formed part of the gift.

This nice bronze work of art has lost one of its horns, but apart from that it is I think a lovely addition the the grounds.

I rather blew out the sky on this frame, so I tweaked the photo a little in PS.

Lotherton Hall - The House

This view of Lotherton Hall at Aberford near Leeds in West Yorkshire is from the garden.

I much prefer this view of the house from the garden rather than the front looking towards the entrance.

The house was in the family of and home to Sir Alvary and Lady Sylvia Gascoigne, whose only son Douglas Wilder Gascoigne was killed in action whilst a Captain in the Coldstream Guards in France in 1944 aged 26.

Sir Alvary a wartime soldier and later a diplomat becoming British ambassador to Tokyo and later Moscow inherited the estate in 1937 and on retirement from the diplomatic service lived in the Hall.

Sir Alvary and Lady Gascoigne gave Lotherton and its contents along with an an endowment fund to Leeds city council in 1968.

Today this fine country house is open to the public and there are substantial gardens to walk around also. On the estate is a deer park where you can see fallow and red deer.

I would have photographed the deer but they were a fair way across the park and I would have needed a bigger lens.

Lotherton Hall - Gardens

I visited Lotherton Hall a country house now in the the care of Leeds city council this weekend.

I had not been to Lotherton in many years and took my good friend John on the trip. I was surprised to discover two things about John. Firstly his satnav is worse than useless, when we stopped on the journey to Lotherton at my request to get the hay bale photo from yesterday, his satnav lost the plot and it took us a while to realise it was not plotting the journey. Secondly he appears to not know quite what a wasp looks like.

We were wandering the grounds of the Lotherton estate, there are several gardens and in the one seen in the photo above there fairly standard border plats in flower. On several of the flowers there were quite a few bees gathering pollen, oddly john thought they were wasps. I sometimes forget that I have quite a good general knowledge about nature and the world outside the built up environment where we mostly now live. But, how could anyone not recognize a wasp or indeed a bee.

One thing I would say about the gardens at Lotherton, I did not see a single wasp all day. There were several different types of bee including the ones that John thought were wasps. Whilst I am no expert on the bee varieties here in Yorkshire, I do know that there are more than 200 species of solitary bee to be found here in the UK.

I posted a photo of a bee, which I think is a bumblebee a while back.

Making Hay in Yorkshire

Field outside Leeds with the hay cut and bales left standing.

When I was a boy hay-making meant heavy oblong bales of straw, which were later made into a hay stack. I sometimes helped a neighbour with the baler that would compact the straw into the rectangular bales.

All this was many years ago and today the fields around Leeds mostly have the newer type round bales, that would make the earlier oblong bales seem light by comparison.

I was on my way over to visit Lotherton Hall the former home of the Gascoigne family and is now a museum. I had not visited Lotherton Hall in a long time and it made for a good afternoon out and I shall be posting about that over the next few days.

Cat in a Yorkshire Churchyard

Picture of a cat lying on gravestone in churchyard of a Yorkshire church.

I was in the churchyard of the church of All Saints at Broughton with Elslack to get a photograph or two of this small parish church in rural N Yorkshire. This cat just wanted to play and was very friendly, this place is a hamlet and I guess he does not get to see many visitors.

In the end I took a few more shots than I had thought I might, because I wanted to include the cat in the frame.

This parish is I think one of the smallest in Yorkshire encompassing as it does two small hamlets with less residents now than 200 years ago. However this small Norman church is one of the prettiest churches in Yorkshire and set in a beautiful location with mature beech trees. Today this church is a listed building and rightly Grade I.

Henry VIII and His Court at Royal Armouries Leeds

This was another picture of Henry VIII, this time with a small retinue including princesses Elizabeth and Mary.

I asked Henry (Richard) where he found the two young girls prepared to be princesses, to discover that it was simple, they were his daughters.

I thought they all looked splendid in their finery.

Henry VIII and Leeds Tourist Bus

I could not resist this picture, I had been chatting with Henry VIII (aka Richard) when we passed the Leeds city tourist bus.

Richard works at the royal armouries museum here in Leeds as an interpreter of history and this is his latest incarnation as that well known king from history. I had been visiting the armouries to get some photographs of the The Queen’s Golden Jubilee International Joust.

I have taken the tour on the bus and did discover info about Leeds that I did not know, so I think it is worth the trip around the city.

Lloyds TSB British Weather Photographer of The Year

 

 

Fancy a chance of winning £10,000 or perhaps having one of your photos in a public exhibition for a week and all through your photography?  Lloyds TSB are holding a great competition to find the British weather photographer of the year.  How broad a subject could you want, the British weather....

I have been thinking for the last day or so of the photograph that I have taken that perhaps best shows off our weather.  Say what you like about our climate, it is if nothing else so very changeable.  Sunny and clear in the morning and heavy cloud with downpours a couple of hours later or perhaps the reverse.  If it is one thing the UK is known for it is our weather, we can also as I suspect you perhaps already know discuss it and the possible outlook for the next few weeks, days or even hours.  Failing that we can talk about those far off day back in, was it May when there was barely a cloud in the sky for was it 10 days unbroken?

Having thought about my weather photograph I think the entry I would choose would be one I took near the beginning of the year when unusually we had heavy snow here in Yorkshire.   Commitments permitting I spent around a week looking for photo opportunities involving snow and the landscape that do not come along too often these days.  One afternoon I drove up into the Yorkshire Dales till my car would not grip the ungritted snow on the road any further.  There was heavy snow everywhere, every vista was full of it and only me and my camera , why you might ask?  Because it was there and it reminds me of my far off childhood when heavy snow was not as uncommon as it is today.

Meanwhile back to the competition and the possibility of that £10,000.  The competition is quite simple they want at least one photograph taken in the UK by an amateur photographer with weather as the theme.  There are a few rules, these can be found here on the competition website.

 

I think the above picture of Skipton Woods in the snow will serve as my entry.

 

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