Category: Ancient Landscapes

Sunrise at Amlwch

Each May and November, we like to spend a few days on the Welsh island of Anglesey. It’s hard to say what draws us back, year after year, but there is a certain tranquility and peace about the place. The hotel we stay at is a former farm, run by a brother and sister who inherited the place and set about making it one … Read More Sunrise at Amlwch

Water-Circle+Cross (1) Coffee under the old woman’s claife

What’s a claife? Actually a Claife… we’ll get to that. The Silent Eye’s spring workshop (SE23) began in glorious May sunshine, as those attending – our companions – began to arrive and assemble around a triangular picnic table on the quayside at Ferry Nab, a short distance south of Bowness-on-Windermere. Once complete, our happy band of explorers were led down to the ferry point … Read More Water-Circle+Cross (1) Coffee under the old woman’s claife

From Windermere to Sedgwick

We have just needed the Silent Eye’s ‘Water-Circle+Cross’ weekend, which took place a forty minute journey away, on the shores of Lake Windermere, England’s largest lake. The weekend had gone well; better than expected, in fact, and I will be writing up each of the days over the next couple of weeks. Our friend, Dean, had been staying with us and was due to … Read More From Windermere to Sedgwick

A LAP with the Gods

4:30 wake up, 5 a.m. leaving, 5:30 a.m. breakfast, 6 a.m start… It was the final communication before they set off… With 47 miles of gruelling mountain trail ahead, our intrepid walking companions – John and Angela, launched themselves into the dawn of a beautiful May morning, along with hundreds of other walkers, each determined to pit themselves against an entire circuit of all … Read More A LAP with the Gods

#Phoetry – Stone Fortress Mind

Beneath the skies of blue that ache with white-kissed beauty Beside the meadows’ deeper green that brightens every day Beyond the water’s vastness blown by breezes on a million waves She waits for him to end his stone-faced exile. #Phoetry is a hashtag amalgamation of the words Photography and Poetry, a form of visual and poetic communication. ©Stephen Tanham 2023 Stephen Tanham is a … Read More #Phoetry – Stone Fortress Mind

Following the curves of the Kent

The sky was blue and windswept. The clouds had a definite formation to them. They were pointing at the nearest part of the coast, their central blue line line exactly mirroring the River Kent, whose last two miles curve through Levens Park, ancestral home of the Bagot Family. We are fortunate in the village of Sedgwick to have two points of access to Levens … Read More Following the curves of the Kent

The hidden Birdhouse Meadows

It’s largely unvisited by people passing this way en-route to busy Ambleside – just a mile up the road. I’ve been coming to the Lake District most of my life, and we now live on its southern edge, yet, until two weeks ago, I had never heard of the small triangle of land between the ancient Roman Fort and the Rivers Brathay and Rothay, … Read More The hidden Birdhouse Meadows

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A Rite of Spring Green

As dwellers on the southern edge of the English Lake District, we are very conscious of the seasons. The dawning of what I call ‘the real Spring’ is a feeling rather than an exact date. It is triggered by the sight of a certain shade of green in the local forest’s foliage. I couldn’t define that green; simply state that it has a ‘voice’ … Read More A Rite of Spring Green

Treachery and Morecambe Bay

The treachery of Morecambe Bay has been well-documented throughout its history. Volatile, unpredictable and downright dangerous are words often used to describe it by those in the know. A ‘sister’ resort to Blackpool, forty miles to the South – Morecambe has managed to cling to a little of its former Victorian glamour partly due to such iconic buildings as the renowned Art Deco Midland … Read More Treachery and Morecambe Bay

Scaling the Heights

As a child, I remember asking the local vicar, “Where is God?” He looked at me, a little startled, and said, “God is everywhere!” I looked around, not meaning to mock him, but he took it that way. My simplistic feeling was that God was in the high places, open, accepting and taking things are they were. My family were Rosicrucians and it was … Read More Scaling the Heights

A most unlikely castle…

James Dawson had an eye for a view. In 1840, he stood on the spot from which the photo below was taken. and decided to buy it. His advisors explained that he couldn’t buy all of that, but could have the land down to Lake Windermere, on which he could more or less do what he wanted… planning control were not expected along for … Read More A most unlikely castle…

Bench March

There’s something about March that is difficult to define… It’s a classically liminal month. Not quite the end of winter; not quite the start of the spring. You can be knee deep in mud yet standing next to a clump of glorious crocuses. When you get a good photograph, it’s to be celebrated … as they can be few and far between. This shot … Read More Bench March