SO LONG

So after 665 posts and 950 photos uploaded, it's time to call a halt to Cotswolds Cascade.
A reminder for those of you who find the blog after this date is that the photos on display here were all taken during the 1990's & early 2000's period.
As well as views of the countryside, villages, wildlife and so on, there are also lots of inner city shots featuring pubs, cafes, shops and such like, many of which are now no longer on the go - and there are quite a few humorous oddities in amongst them too!
I don't have the cheap camera or the second hand vintage bike I used on these photo sessions anymore, so not only are the images a good record of my trips around the Cotswolds and Severn Valley area, but they also document many scenes that have since disappeared. You'll be able to see too that I did venture way off the beaten track at times, getting into those nooks and crannies tourist buses don't go to!
There is a search box above, so feel free to keep, utilise and pass around any of the pictures you like.
If you want to get in touch, there is a contact email address at the top of the page layout (The Bike Shed tab).
I didn't feel the need to put up a mugshot of myself, but I thought I'd leave you with this enigmatic image of me (well my shadow at least!) which was taken in the late 90's one sunny evening in Sud Meadow.
That's all from me then.
Cheerio.
Curt

END OF THE LINE

These rail track buffers not only signify the end of the line for trains in Gloucester, but it is also the end of the line for Cotswolds Cascade.
This scene above was captured in 1997 incidentally.

TWO TRADITIONAL COTTAGES

Two nice examples of the traditional kind of cottage you find around the Cotswolds area.

The top image is of a Tudor beamed cottage with typical cottage garden, and this one was at a place called Boxbush.

The 2nd image is of a thatched cottage with a typical Cotswolds stone wall surrounding it, and this one was in Brookthorpe.

So because this pair were particularly picturesque, I decided to give them a kind of painterly treatment, and both photos were taken in 1996.

BYGONE BIZ IN CHELTENHAM

The top picture was taken in the early/mid 90's and is of the BayTree cafeteria in Regents Arcade, a cafe that is no longer around.
The picture of Phoenix was taken in the early 2000's and was a shop selling clothing, rugs and jewellery. It hasn't survived either and closed down fairly recently.
The image at the bottom was taken in the mid 90's and also shows a couple of shops that have since disappeared. Sultana, I'm not sure what they were but next door to it was Acanthus, a shop that sold art gear, stationery, crafts and gifts.

GLOUCESTER'S LOST CAFES

A couple of Gloucester cafes that have since bit the dust.
Teapots tearoom has not only disappeared but the exterior Tudor beams on the building have vanished too and it is now a coffee shop called Hedleys.
The Brasseria was a Spanish bistro & wine bar that closed down a few years ago. Now it is a Chinese restaurant called Blossom.
Both pictures were snapped around the early 2000's.

GLOUCESTER'S LOST PUBS

Another 2 Gloucester pubs that are no longer with us.
The Golden Heart closed a couple of years ago but has recently been transformed into The Treddy.
The Windmill shut shop a while ago too and then re-opened as Fever.
Both shots were taken in the early 2000's.

GLOUCESTER'S LOST SHOPS

3 shops that are no longer on the go in Gloucester.
The Art Factory at the top is now a mobile phone shop.
The Pink Planet was the place to go for all your retro gaming.
Final Touches stocked a variety of novelty interior decor.

GLOUCESTER'S LOST ART

None of these artworks exist now - the photos taken in Gloucester between the mid 90's and early 2000's.
The top mural was an ad for the Leisure Centre and featured a variety of activities on offer. Then a short while after the latest leisure centre opened, the mural was white-washed over.
Next up are 2 framed paintings. These were located on a wall behind Debenhams. There were 4 paintings in total, but they were removed a few years ago and now it's back to being just a plain brick wall again.
The jigsaw mural was done around the start of the millennium and it covered an empty building in the city centre. I guess it was a school project as it looks like the kids were given one jigsaw piece each to do their own thing on. The photo shows only a small segment of it, but the entire piece was only on display for a few weeks before it was taken down.
Lastly, the mural depicting a street scene was on a building beside a car park.
This particular artwork has since disappeared and has been replaced with another mural that features a rugby crowd scene.

SAME BUT DIFFERENT

This pair is an example of an image having the same composition - (ie a vertical line cutting through the centre of the picture with a mass at the base) - but consisting of completely different content.
The top photo is a jet and its contrail that flew over the top of a tree in Sud Meadow.
The lower picture is a lamppost located at the back of a cinema in Gloucester.
Both were snapped in the late 90's.

INSIDE & OUTSIDE THE PARK

Two views of the same riverside park in Gloucester - the top one from inside the park and the bottom one from outside the park
Both were snapped in the mid 90's.

TREE TUNNEL

This country road near May Hill had been turned into a shadowy tunnel as a consequence of the trees on either side joining up in the middle.

VARIETY OF FOLIAGE

Although the image at the top is of an insignificant short cut running along the side of a park in Gloucester, I liked the wide variety of trees and bushes that were on display.
As for the 2nd picture, well you could hardly see the house for the amazing variety of trees that were surrounding it.
I even like their striped hedge!
The 2nd image was taken near Boxbush and both photos were snapped in the late 90's.

FUN WITH FOLIAGE

Some examples of clipped trees and bushes that amused me.
The top two were on the streets of Gloucester and although the bushes foliage would normally reach pavement level, someone decided to give them the bonsai treatment and made a pretty good job of it too, giving them the look of oriental trees.
Underneath that pair is a clipped tree that resembles a bell, and this was located in the Elmore area.
The next picture has a really crazy and rather large collection of topiary on display in the back garden of a house in Upleadon. It seems even more amusing when comparing it to the normal vegetable plot in the neighbour's backyard.
The last tree hasn't in fact been clipped but was growing normally in Gloucester, however, to me, it seemed to take on the appearance of Bart Simpson..!!
All shots were taken in the late 90's.

TREE ARTWORK

This is a piece of artwork on the side of a shopping mall in Gloucester, but because it's located quite high up, you don't really see the details of it from pavement level.
So as you can now see the tree is depicted in four seasons, starting on the left with bare branches & robins in snow underneath. Spring is next with cherry blossom and daffodils below. Followed by summer leaves and rabbits, and finally ending with autumn leaves with fallen fruit.
The photo was taken in the late 90's and the tree is still there today.

OLD ADVERTS

This collection of original old advertising signs were mounted on the side of a wall in a Gloucester car park.
From left to right it's - Dunlop, Whitbread, Cruelty To Animals, Bournville, Rowntrees, Dale Forty Pianofortes of Cheltenham, Raleigh and some kind of dental thing in Worcester.
The picture was taken in the mid 90's.

AT THE FRONT AND BACK

This is the front & back of an old Tudor building in Gloucester, the pictures taken in the late 90's.

COTTAGE CHARM

This dainty little cottage was one of the cutest I encountered on my country jaunts - and its location was somewhere around the Upleadon area.

FIELD DETAIL

Not sure what kind of crop it was but the tip of the plant had a magenta coloured glow about it which stood out against the white cow parsley border.
The location of the field was between Cheltenham and Gloucester.

DOWN HATHERLEY WAY

This is the church in Down Hatherley photographed in the late 90's.
What caught my eye more than the building, however, was the lush field of wild plants that was beside it.

COUNTRY CANES

Two fields with two different types of cane, both of which were photographed in the mid 90's.
The top image was taken near Newent and features man-made cane frames ready for growing runner beans, peas or similar.
The lower shot was captured in the Wallsworth area and this field had rows of cane remnants from some type of crop that had been growing.
The building in the background of the Wallsworth picture is the Nature In Art Museum.

CORRUGATED BARNS

These corrugated barns were very similar to each other but were being used for different purposes when I took the photos back in the late 90's.
The top one was in Fromebridge and was being used as a sheep pen.
The picture under it was near Apperley and was being used to store bales of hay.

FROM FROMEBRIDGE

3 shots taken in the late 90's at a place called Fromebridge which basically just consisted of a derelict mill and a couple of houses.
The top one is a view looking along river Frome.
The middle one is a close-up of the mill from across the other side of the river.
The bottom one is of the the small brick bridge.
The mill has since in recent years been turned into a hotel/function rooms kind of place.

SEVERN DETAIL

These 2 scenes caught my eye when wandering around the river Severn on the outskirts of Gloucester.
The top one with the wooden stumps looked like they could have been part of a small bridge crossing in a previous life but have since eroded away through time.
What I liked about the image in the other picture was the willow & wall's reflection making a nice backdrop for the wild flowers in the foreground that were adding a splash of colour to the scene.

CONTRASTING LAKES

These 2 lakes were both snapped in the mid 90's but are in two different kinds of setting.
The top one is Pittville Lake in Cheltenham and is set in a park open to the public.
The lower lake is situated out in the wilds near Walham and is fenced off to the public.

UNKNOWN COURTYARD

I remember stumbling on this narrow courtyard area by accident back in the late 90's when I traipsed along a little alleyway in Cheltenham.
I've no idea who the outdoor furniture belonged to, a pub, hotel or cafe, but the only sign of life when I took the picture were a few white doves flying about the place.