A COTSWOLDS HALLOWEEN

Just thought I'd put these 3 images together as a little spooky offering for Halloween!
A scary looking tree at night always makes a location seem haunted, and the creepy one in the top picture was snapped near Harescombe. All that was missing was some bats flying around!
Horror movies used to be given an X certificate but the macabre scene in the middle picture involving Frankenstein in handcuffs, a hangman's gallows and a mutilation, was captured on top of a kids funfair ride in Gloucester!
Being Halloween means it's pumpkin time of course, and the last shot features a field full of them.
This eerie image was taken at Over Farm.
It's as if they're daring you to hollow them out!

WHITE HART INN - BROADOAK

This is The White Hart Inn at Broadoak, which has an array of nautical themed oddments in its grounds.
A ships mast, a mini lighthouse and a ships propeller are some you can see in shot.
It's situated along the Severn on the Forest Of Dean side and Newnham is the town visible in the background.

THE SHIP INN - FRAMILODE

I took these 2 shots of The Ship Inn in Framilode, at different times of the year.
The top one was on a freezing day in winter when the pub sign had frosted cobwebs.
The image under it was on a scorching day in summer when the River Frome had a blanket of algae.

HAW BRIDGE INN

A view of Haw Bridge Inn from the bridge itself, looking down the Severn to Sandhurst Hill in the distance.

THE SEVERN BORE PUB









So after the thrill of surfing a couple of miles on the Severn bore, you can then go and relax with a couple of pints in the Severn Bore.
This pub can be found in Minsterworth.

HERE COMES THE BORE!

Still on the Severn but this time located around the Lower Parting area, this particular windy dusky evening I managed to catch a sequence of shots of the bore passing by.
In the top image you can see on the far side of the wave, 3 guys surfing.
The 2nd shot shows the support dinghy coming into view.
The last picture is the bore passing my position on the river bank.
In fact, I was concentrating so much looking through the camera's viewfinder (this was pre digital gear) that I wasn't paying attention to what was going on around me, and as soon as I clicked photograph #3, I got soaked, because I was standing a bit too close to the edge. That's why there aren't anymore pictures in the sequence!

LLANTHONY WEIR

Back to the Severn again and this time a shot showing Llanthony Weir which is in Gloucester.
This water feature was constructed in the 19th century but the washed up tree trunk the gull is on, looks prehistoric!

RIVER FROME

A view of River Frome from near Fromebridge Mill, which would have been behind me where I was positioned.
To help get your bearings - beyond the trees in the photo over to where the hills are, is where Stroud is.

SWAN GEESE ON THE SEVERN

This was a rare sighting of a bird that isn't normally seen in Britain in the wild.
These are swan geese, and I took the above photos of them when I was out exploring the River Severn area at Sud Meadow one day back in the 90's.
I suppose what made it a once in a blue moon encounter is the fact that the natural habitat of a swan goose is Mongolia!

ANTELOPE SCULPTURE

This rather fine sculpture was in the grounds of the Nature In Art Museum in Wallsworth.
I'm guessing it may be based on a Kudu with the original idea being that it is down at a waterhole having a drink.
However, the pond is hardly noticeable in the photo due to it having overgrown wildly, so now it looks like the antelope is grazing!

CHELTENHAM SCULPTURE

This sculpture featuring a hare & centaur cuddling on a bench, is situated bang in the middle of Cheltenham's main shopping precinct.
You can see in the photo that the artwork was placed close to a shop called "The Natural World", which can be viewed as being a touch ironic I suppose - because a courting couple like this pair here, doesn't look very natural to me!

CHICAGO ROCK CAFE

 

A couple of pictures of the now-defunct Chicago Rock Cafe in Gloucester.
Top one is the main entrance area with the metal guitar on the gate.
Underneath it is the bottom of the garden area at the back of the building where they had this large guitarist sculpture made out of bits of scrap metal.
The cafe closed down a few years ago, but the last time I passed by, the guitarist was still there.

THE BANJO CAFE

I took this picture on a cold & frosty winters day near Putloe/Moreton Valence.
The Banjo Cafe...unpretentious instrument - unpretentious snack bar!

PLANT POT DOORWAY

This cheery doorway display was a shop in Cheltenham that sold plants & pots, and despite all the grit on the floor, it was situated in the town centre.
I don't know what the name of the place was but I do know it is now no longer doing biz.

AUTUMN POND

I liked this little pond feature they had at Highnam Pinetum.
A simple rock and a basic pot gave it a Japanese garden kind of look, even more so with the smattering of autumn maple leaves floating around.

AUTUMN HILLSIDE

This monster tree stood out from the surrounding trees, not only because of its size but its autumn foliage was almost beaming like a beacon!
I got this shot on a hillside near Upton Wood.

AUTUMN LAKE

Weeping willows on any waterside always seem to produce a nice image, and these autumnal ones here at Highnam Court lake were putting on a particularly fine display when I visited to take a few snaps.

AUTUMN CHURCH

This empty little red brick building surrounded by red autumnal shrubbery, was once used as a church.
It has since been demolished to make way for modern housing.
The location was Stoke Orchard.

AUTUMN COTTAGE

The ivy is changing into its autumnal colours on this old stone cottage in Brimpsfield.

AUTUMN AT THE PRIORY

Autumn has just started to kick in at this section of Llanthony Secunda Priory in Gloucester.

RECYCLED BY NATURE

This old derelict barn in a field near Sandhurst has had a makeover by mother nature.
Wild shrubbery has taken over and put it to good use as a giant flower box!

DISUSED RAIL TRACKS - GLOUCESTER

These discontinued rail tracks near Gloucester may no longer be going anywhere, but it doesn't stop the wild plants from continuing on with their progress!

THE 60'S LOOK IN OXFORD

I got a flashback to the 1960's when I stumbled upon this scene in Oxford.
Not only an iconic mini car with a Union Jack painted on top, but if you look more closely across the street on the pavement, you'll see another iconic image from the 60's - it's Jake The Peg!

THE KALEIDOSCOPIC KARRIER

I spotted this colourful van parked in a driveway in Cheltenham.
Behind the psychedelic paintwork is an old Karrier, a vehicle that was most often used around city streets selling food items - ice cream vans, burger vans and so on.
You can see through the windscreen that this one appears to still be kitted out as some kind of food vendor, but I doubt it would be seen going around housing estates selling ice cream - the bodywork work scare kids away!
So my guess is that it may have been doing biz at places like outdoor music festivals and raves.

ENJOYING THE SCENERY!

Most people have viewed the countryside from inside a car, but it's not often you view the countryside actually inside the car!
Just how many decades had this car been rooted to the spot to allow a full sized tree to grow through the middle of it?
Not sure what model it is but it does look it could be from around the 1920's/30's period.
Anyway, the location was somewhere in the Walham area.

THE HUMBER AND THE SEVERN

Here's a very nice 1929 Humber saloon that was on display at Gloucester docks - although, Bugsy Malone was nowhere to be seen!

OLD BUGATTI PUB SIGN

This was how the old Bugatti pub sign looked back in the 90's when I stopped off in Gretton.
Since then, it has been replaced with a more modern image illustrated in black & white.

DEAD WOOD AT FORTHAMPTON

This frazzled looking tree near Forthampton seems as if it has been struck by lightning one time too many judging by the large amount of fallen branches lying around the base of it.

TIE LITTLE PONY

These 2 Shetland ponies were in separate locations but both tied up to a peg to make sure they didn't gallop off into the sunset together.
The black one was on the village green in Frampton On Severn, and the white one was at the side of a main road near Moreton Valence.

RESTING ON THE RIDGE

This cow looks as if it's enjoying a well earned rest after having reached the top of the ridge.
A nice pastoral image, snapped somewhere around the Haresfield Beacon area.

MOOMOO CLUB - WALLSWORTH

This scene got me wondering if the farmer responsible for this cowshed in Wallsworth, was a bit of a prankster.
Whoever it was, it looks like they placed the hay in a spot where none of the cows can reach it to feed.
What a tease!