Day Ten - Smaller is often better
The day started slowly, with a very late night (scheduled maintenance by Blogger set me back an hour) and some heavy, wet weather greeting us before breakfast. We decided to make the best of several locations near which have only received brief notices in early journals. Of course many of the sites once grand are now ruins or completely obliterated from sight, while others have grown in prominence and popularity. The two examples from today's travels include sites mentioned by Gilpin an another more recently made popular as the tourism trade continues to develop and extend its reach into more and more locations. Part of this reach is underwritten by interest in history/heritage and its preservation. Groups like English Heritage, Welsh Heritage, and The National Trust are all concerned with the preservation, promotion, and advancement of historically important and significant properties in the U.K. I can't really speak from authority regarding the whole of tourism or its study, but I can remember the significant impact of David Lowenthal's writings on the subject, especially his work entitled The Past is a Foreign Country on a great deal of my thinking on the subject. One of his premises, is that everything becomes valuable with age, and we regard things only briefly experienced in childhood as almost holy grails of our adult pursuits. Just consider the retro-design craze, especially those classic cars designs.
Okay, enough of the theory. We went to Skenfrith, a village complete with castle, ancient church, and small village with pretty little cottages, each with unique flower gardens. A small place with a big visual impact. I also decided to experiment with compositions, ignoring my ingrained tendency to compose first and think later. I also wanted to avoid skies or purposefully proportioned skies.
It was fun.
The church in Skenfrith, St. Bridget's, provided plenty of exciting new imagery. With some rather obvious harvest references, the church seemd very connected to the local population's life and needs. I felt like I was trying to unraveled coded messages with my eyes and camera.
The castle was pretty much what one would expect, with some nice added buildings which now also seem to be headed into a pleasant decay. A nice new Claude Glass was also managed.
Later we headed towards Monmouth to view the castle where Henry V was born. Gilpin mentions this castle grudgingly in his 1770 tour as a castle once the home to a great King, now a home for "fatting ducks." Today the castle is combined into a two-for-one deal with the Monmouth Regimental Engineers Museum placed well off the main drag in town. New development is underway next door, so the site is even more inconspicuous...although no fat ducks were observed on our visit.
As we left the city we stopped to buy flowers for our hostess and found another color delight inside the shop. This experience, plus our mid-afternoon cream tea & snack were nice respites for the day. We were weary from the late nights and long days. The change of pace was just the ticket to end the week.
Check out Day Ten gallery.
Also, look for a special video edition this weekend. It should provide a few insights into the trip which might not be apparent through the daily texts.
The day started slowly, with a very late night (scheduled maintenance by Blogger set me back an hour) and some heavy, wet weather greeting us before breakfast. We decided to make the best of several locations near which have only received brief notices in early journals. Of course many of the sites once grand are now ruins or completely obliterated from sight, while others have grown in prominence and popularity. The two examples from today's travels include sites mentioned by Gilpin an another more recently made popular as the tourism trade continues to develop and extend its reach into more and more locations. Part of this reach is underwritten by interest in history/heritage and its preservation. Groups like English Heritage, Welsh Heritage, and The National Trust are all concerned with the preservation, promotion, and advancement of historically important and significant properties in the U.K. I can't really speak from authority regarding the whole of tourism or its study, but I can remember the significant impact of David Lowenthal's writings on the subject, especially his work entitled The Past is a Foreign Country on a great deal of my thinking on the subject. One of his premises, is that everything becomes valuable with age, and we regard things only briefly experienced in childhood as almost holy grails of our adult pursuits. Just consider the retro-design craze, especially those classic cars designs.
Okay, enough of the theory. We went to Skenfrith, a village complete with castle, ancient church, and small village with pretty little cottages, each with unique flower gardens. A small place with a big visual impact. I also decided to experiment with compositions, ignoring my ingrained tendency to compose first and think later. I also wanted to avoid skies or purposefully proportioned skies.
It was fun.
The church in Skenfrith, St. Bridget's, provided plenty of exciting new imagery. With some rather obvious harvest references, the church seemd very connected to the local population's life and needs. I felt like I was trying to unraveled coded messages with my eyes and camera.
The castle was pretty much what one would expect, with some nice added buildings which now also seem to be headed into a pleasant decay. A nice new Claude Glass was also managed.
Later we headed towards Monmouth to view the castle where Henry V was born. Gilpin mentions this castle grudgingly in his 1770 tour as a castle once the home to a great King, now a home for "fatting ducks." Today the castle is combined into a two-for-one deal with the Monmouth Regimental Engineers Museum placed well off the main drag in town. New development is underway next door, so the site is even more inconspicuous...although no fat ducks were observed on our visit.
As we left the city we stopped to buy flowers for our hostess and found another color delight inside the shop. This experience, plus our mid-afternoon cream tea & snack were nice respites for the day. We were weary from the late nights and long days. The change of pace was just the ticket to end the week.
Check out Day Ten gallery.
Also, look for a special video edition this weekend. It should provide a few insights into the trip which might not be apparent through the daily texts.
1 Comments:
I wonder why the unidentified castle remains is not open for viewing pleasure? And how has it been this long without someone knowing the history behind the mysterious remains? Just thinking out loud rhetorically.
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