RETURN TO THE YURT

This weekend, Anne and I along with family returned to the spot in Leicester where Anne and I got married. 

Onsite is a great yurt and shepherds hut (this is where we stayed on our wedding night :) we decided it would be great to return to this spot and thought it would be good to do it in the winter, so we could enjoy a big open fire to cook our burgers, warm the yurt via the large log burner and also experience the fire heated outdoor hot tub in the cold weather.

We all had a great time and I am pretty sure we will return again soon.

AUTUMN VIEWS FROM THE HOUSE

Its on days like this that make me appreciate the view from our house. Autumn brings such striking colours, especially against a dark sky once the rain has passed.

HONEYMOON

We have had an exciting Honeymoon in the Brecon Beacons, based near Crickhowell we have been exploring the hills and surroundings by foot and mountain bike. A really beautiful part of the world.

OUR WEDDING

We wanted to keep our wedding simple, down to earth and personal. Anne did the organising over the last 12 months and we both put a lot of effort into creating all aspects of the big day and to make sure it had the personal touch. We even spent the day before setting everything up!

Luckily the weather gods were on our side and the weather was warm, dry and sunny but not too hot!

I think its fair to say that everybody had a wonderful day and the atmosphere was utterly relaxed. I think that weddings come with an awful lot of pressure and the fact that we did exactly what we wanted to do made it relaxed and special. It was 100% the perfect day!

Here are just a few snaps.

BURNING SKIES

Just a quick couple of shots of beautifully lit clouds this evening as the sun was setting. 

WILD FLOWER GARDEN

We have had great fun with the new garden this spring & summer and this being our first garden a really steep learning curve! We did a lot of work to clear a large area of waste rock from the corner of the garden and being our first summer we decided to try and keep it simple and planted a good selection of wild flower seeds. The weather has been really mixed, but the results are beautiful. Lots of colour against a mingled green background with new flowers popping up daily. The insects and butterflies seem very happy as well! 

ON THE ROAD

A long and interesting work trip covering lake, loch and sea. From Scotland to Northumberland to the Midlands. Lots of video captured, a few pics and a lot of driving in-between.

SUN, STORMS AND A TWISTED LAND ROVER

A superb trip working with a client in the Lake District and in Leicestershire. Accompanied by a Twisted Land Rover Defender T80 as part of the shoot, a real beast of a machine. If you haven't heard of Twisted, look them up, this wasn't your average Defender!

The weather was fantastic apart from the stormy showers on the last two days. Heading back across the reservoir in a small speedboat with a thundercloud flashing above is not fun in the slightest and luckily we made it back, very wet but glad to make it from under the storm. So it's on with the editing for this one.

 

 

 

 

 

THE RIVER HIPPER

Before jumping into the car yesterday, I thought I would pop my head over the wall to see if I could see any fish life within the beautiful little river that runs through our village. The stretch is not at all wide and very shallow in parts but due to the rocks it's a vocal little river and you can even hear it in our garden as it runs off into the distance. I was pretty shocked and pleasantly surprised to see a good number of brown trout actively feeding on a hatch of flies. I popped back later in the day with my camera to try and capture them taking the flies off the surface. I managed a few decent shots but these little fish are lightning quick and very picky of what they eat so timing is incredibly difficult! I think I will continue to make use of this opportunity on my doorstep to get the shot I want. It's a matter of patience! Some of the brownies were a decent size but all the larger fish kept to the shadows and only the much smaller specimens were happy to feed out in the direct sunlight. The best part of it all was even though this is in the middle of the village, the river is incredibly clean with no litter visible on the river bed, for me this is a great testament to our little village.