Late last year, I poked and prodded around the back yard, replanting or redoing some of the surviving bulbs in the pots that haven't bloomed in previous years. I'm discovering that if you plant bulbs of anything EXCEPT daffodils, you need to disturb the ground they're in or they don't come up again... or perhaps I just need to pull more weeds so they don't deprive the bulbs of sunlight >.>
Anyway, because I messed about with the pots last year, I now have tulips this year! I love the colour swirl in this one. I also wanted to get used to using the new camera, two enjoyable things in one go.
Today, the sun was out so I decided to go out with the camera and get cracking with images of local sights and sites that interest me that don't often show up in the tour books. This part of Essex got well hammered by the Germans during WWII so there's not a lot left that's 'old and ancient' in the area.
Behold: Hadleigh Castle (pronounce 'had-lee'), built in the 1230s on unstable clay and chalk the castle pretty much had a short life of under 100yrs use and within 40 years of its initial building had to have major refurbishment. The kings and lords that came afterward basically gave up on it and in the 1500s large parts of it that hadn't already tumbled down into ruin were dismantled for building materials, the stone and lead got recycled.
This is some of what remains. You can see the Thames River Estuary in the background.
Part of my reason for returning here is I'm also scouting for potential locations for 'onsite' portrait photography. I'm building a photographic project of 'book covers for stories that never were' and places that I can use as backgrounds for costumed models is desirable. The more I can do in camera, the less I have to deal with on the pc!
On my drive around for photographic locations, I decided to find a near-to-the-road bunker as several of these remain in and around the countryside near the Thames River Estuary. I also was seeking some antique shops and got two for one. This one is within 100 metres of the roadside of a Rettendon furniture antiques shop.
From what I can conclude, many of the bunkers are on private land, so finding one near the road is useful.
What were the bunkers for? The handful I've seen are similar but different and could have been used as observation posts ('to spot the German invasion') or as gun placements to shoot at said German invaders.
Most appear as this one does, constructed of brick and concrete with a patina of lichen and greenery. Most of them are in farmer's fields.
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