garden – Page 5 – Simon Hendy Photography

Abbey House Gardens

25/09/201308/04/2015 By shendyNo Comments

Sunday was the last of this year's clothes-optional day at Abbey House Gardens in Malmesbury. Not the best of days, but at least it was reasonably warm. The gardens perhaps weren't at their spring/summer peak but it was still good enough to get some decent shots, with some particularly good roses. The photos are completely work safe! ...

Hidcote

15/09/201308/04/2015 By shendyNo Comments

The last trip of the week off was to Hidcote in Gloucestershire. SWMBO had never been been, while I last went over 10 years ago - having been a few times as a child. The lily pond is part of a family legend - from the time that The Brother managed to fall into it... The "bathing pool" had great photographic potential, if I'd had a step-ladder. The water was gently rotating, and a long exposure of the whole pool would have worked wonderfully with the circular blur....

Bristol University Botanic Garden

08/09/201308/04/2015 By shendyNo Comments

Having a few days off, we decided to visit some local bits and pieces that we've not managed to get to in the 17 years I've been in Bristol. First up was the Bristol University Botanic Garden in Stoke Bishop. The gardens are well worth a visit, especially at only £3 a head, as there is a lot to see, including some tropical hothouses. I actually had a bit of success taking photos of some dragonflies - not quite as horribly blurred as some previous attempts - and also my best effort at a flying bee. I also dug out the panoramic pinhole camera, with some success. It's worth mentioning that I got the film processed at Asda - £2 processing only and he did the job in the 25 minutes it took us to do some shopping....

Brockworth Court

28/08/201308/04/2015 By shendyNo Comments

Towards the end of July, we went to another garden - this was another National Garden Scheme place, Brockworth Court. And yes, it was another clothes-optional visit. Again, a lovely garden in brilliant weather. ...

Au naturel

28/08/201308/04/2015 By shendyNo Comments

Back in July I went on my first naturist holiday - a week's camping down in Cornwall. Each year British Naturism organise "Nudefest", taking over a decent sized campsite (Newperran, near Perranporth) and making it naturist for the week. I've only ever camped for a night or two so was a little apprehensive about it - until it transpired that it would be in the middle of a heatwave. Over the course of the week, we had complete wall-to-wall sunshine from dawn to dusk, every day - just a bit of fog on the last morning. Of course, that meant it was damn hot - so hot that a bottle of wine I had in the tent spontaneously popped it's cork after a couple of days. Fortunately it was stood upright so there wasn't any spillage. It was a write-off though. And yes, that much sun did mean a serious risk of sunburn - you needed protection from about 7:30 in the...