Abandoned cottages at Langholme Manor
Saturday morning. Sheffield was bathed in gorgeous sunshine and there wasn't a cloud in the blue winter sky. Our garden was still sheathed in frost.
Shirley went off to her aquarobics session at a nearby gym but not until after I had let her know that I was planning to drive over to Misterton in north Nottinghamshire to take some pictures and walk four or five miles. She said she would join me on the drive over if I could wait till eleven thirty. Several of her blood relations live in Misterton, including three cousins, so it was a good opportunity to spend time with them.
When we drove east from Sheffield we soon hit a bank of fog in the valley of The River Rother. Then we were through it and back into sunshine but when we reached Bawtry there was more fog. Roadside vegetation, hedges and trees were all coated in thick hoar frost. Up above teasing sunshine kept threatening to break through the murk.
I deposited Shirley at "The Rookery" which is where her cousin Margaret lives with her husband Steve and then I drove straight off towards the flat carr land to the west of the village down single track lanes. "What the hell are we doing here ?" asked Clint as we bumped along into the mist which was as still as a scene in a holiday postcard. Unmoving.
I was out and about for three hours before returning to "The Rookery". The fog never did truly lift but I rather enjoyed the country excursion which produced some interesting images. Of course Shirley enjoyed her afternoon of conversation, tea and biscuits with Margaret, Jenny, Karen and a couple of other family members.
It was getting dark when we left "The Rookery" but I didn't see any rooks. Clothed in mist all day, it turns out that Misterton is well named
By The River Idle
That last photo is incredible. Simply incredible. You're very talented, Neil.
ReplyDeleteIf you take enough photos and learn to see you will occasionally come up with a real gem. Thank you Jennifer.
DeleteMiss Jennifer is correct.
ReplyDeleteIncroyable !
Mood Music for Misterton. YouTube.
*Khatia Buniatishvilic. Erik Satie : Gymnopedie No 1.*
*Bill Evans - Time Remembered Live@Munch Museum, Oslo, Norway.*
*Bill Evans - My Foolish Heart.*
I went off and listened to "Time Remembered". Most beautiful and as you suggest very appropriate for such an afternoon in the parish of Misterton.
DeleteBill Evans never recovered from the suicide of his elder brother.
DeleteHis brother was a music teacher and his absence was a terrible loss.
Evans always paid tribute to the great black pianists who came before him.
Bud Powell, who suffered brain damage from a cop's truncheon, was one.
With his classical training Evans wanted to make his own contribution to jazz piano.
He took a year off to improve his technique, that pause between notes.
Glenn Gould was a friend and I think they played together.
Over the years Evans played at Ronnie Scott's in London.
Someone saw Evans near the end, playing in a crummy bar in Vancouver.
Dave Brubeck's wife invented the idea of college jazz.
So Brubeck's quartet played at college fraternities all across America.
Bill Evans was never that lucky, another undervalued jazz genius.
That is some heavy for. It looks cold.
ReplyDeleteIs "for" the Canadian word for "frost"?
DeleteCold, muddy and misty. Nice day for it. The abandoned house looks so so lonely.
ReplyDeleteYou and R could stay in those cottages when you come to England. I understand the rent is very cheap indeed.
DeleteYou got some very moody photos which are always nice to get. The hoar frost is so beautiful. Jack calls is fuzzy snow; he just noticed it for the first time this past week.
ReplyDeleteFuzzy snow sounds better than hoar frost which could be confused with whore frost.
DeleteI love hoar frost, but not the temperature that produces it, Brrr! It seems you both had a wonderful afternoon.
ReplyDeleteHoar frost doesn't happen too often and I imagine NEVER in Adelaide?
DeleteGreat photos. Those cottages look a bit spooky!
ReplyDeleteIn the filtered sunshine above a sea of frosty vegetation... it seemed that way to me too.
DeleteWonderfully eerie scenes in the mist.
ReplyDeleteJudith stumbled along the frosty track when out of the mist there rose up the chilling figure of the notorious robber, Sir Yorkshire Pudding.
Delete"Wheer's tha think tha's goin' lass?" he growled.
Excellent photos, as always, YP. Easy to see why those cottages were abandoned - such a bleak landscape.
ReplyDeleteAgree with Jennifer - that last photo is superb. Have you thought of entering the BBC "Images of the week"?
No. I have never thought of that. I am happy enough to just share my images with blog buddies like yourself and Jennifer.
DeleteFantastic pictures, all of them. The last one is a masterpiece, and the first two speak of loneliness in a very touching way.
ReplyDelete"Loneliness"? I had not thought of that until you said it. You are of course right.
Delete"By the light of the silvery moon". Super River (Eric) Idle photo.
ReplyDeleteThey say that Eric Idle was lazy.
DeleteThat abandoned Cottage is Magnificent, I'd live in a Home like that and bring it back to Life.
ReplyDeleteIt is actually two cottages Bohemian. Maybe you could knock through and turn it into a country mansion
DeleteThe photos, especially the last one, are stunning.
ReplyDeleteJust like the photographer.
DeleteAs everyone has agreed, that last picture is astounding. I really wish you would print and frame it.
ReplyDeleteThat picture does seem kind of special - even I can admit that in spite of my innate humility.
DeleteThose pictures capture the mood of the weather beautifully. That sad looking boarded up house is similar to the old deserted farm ruins on top of the moors we have here.
ReplyDeleteI love the melancholic mystery of houses like that. I think of the children who lay awake at night listening to the wind and of the mothers who pegged out the washing and of the fathers who came home tired and hungry. Their names are almost forgotten.
DeleteAmazing photos, thanks for taking us along
ReplyDeleteThe companionship boosts me.
DeleteI wouldn't go out for a hike in cold, foggy weather but you sure make it look like I should, Neil. Lovely photos.
ReplyDeleteIt was a good experience. Different from usual.
DeleteYou did get some great foggy photos! I think I read that this was supposed to be a dangerous fog -- I don't know if they meant in terms of visibility or what. (It wasn't toxic, was it?)
ReplyDeleteI believe it was just a question of visibility. I had my headlights on.
DeleteI just heard those hounds again, bellowing over the moors.
ReplyDeleteAnd they are bellowing - "Bruce! We are gonna get ya dude! Woof!"
DeleteWow! The pictures are amazing!! Especially the final one. Happy for you two having a nice drive together even tho Clint was bitchin' the whole day!
ReplyDeleteMostly Clint bitches when I am driving. When Shirley is in the car he keeps quiet.
DeleteAlthough I love hiking in the stillness of fog and the beauty it provides for photography, I am a bit nervous when I am doing so in a place I've never been before. I one got turned around and with no sun to guide me, didn't think I would ever make it back to my car. But dumb luck prevailed and I finally stumbled upon a landmark I recognized to guide me back.
ReplyDelete