Blaise

Considering we've been in our current house for 6 years or so, it's amazing that we've never been to Blaise - it's about 5 minutes away. Anyway, on Friday afternoon we went for a wander with our neighbour to see what elderberries and blackberries there were - quite a lot as it turned out. There's a whole lot more of the estate that we'll have to go back and look at as we only really touched on one corner, including St Mary's Church. ...
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Jekka’s Herb Farm

On Friday, we went to Jekka's Herb Farm just outside Bristol. The business is generally mail-order only but they open up to the public on a few days each year - there was even a bus full of Dutch people on a garden tour. We've been a few times in the past, and it's an interesting place with a variety of photographic opportunities - and there are always plenty of bees around. ...
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Old Post Office

I read a blog post the other day which mentioned the old Post Office building next to Temple Meads station as being probably the worst welcome to a city in the UK (or something like that). Co-incidentally, we ended up down there the other day as SWMBO wanted to visit the Bristol Wood Recycling Project on Feeder Road. I thought the wood yard might be good for a few photos, but ended up taking some far more interesting ones of the derelict building. I do like punchy, contrasty, black and white photos but found that these worked really well when I made them far more dark and contrasty than I usually do....
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Bristol University Botanic Garden

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....
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