Knole National Trust, Kent,

Knole was extended from an earlier manor house in the 15th century and became a royal possession during the Tudor dynasty when Henry VIII's daughter lived and Elizabeth I is also said to have visited. From 1603, Thomas Sackville made it the aristocratic treasure house for the Sackville family, who were prominent and influential in court circles. Over more than 400 years, his descendants rebuilt and then furnished Knole in three further bursts of activity.

Thomas Sackville's Jacobean great house, unlike any surviving English great house apart from Haddon Hall, still looks as it did when Thomas died, having managed "to remain motionless like this since the early 17th century", balanced between growth and decay.

Another Impressive Sunset

A very different sunset to the night before - this time with mackerel clouds covering almost the entire span. I played around with foreground interest (some with on-camera flash) until, reluctantly, had to return home! (First image - stitched panorama; last image in-camera panorama of around 300degrees)

Phone Snaps of Sunset

I should have predicted that it would be a good sunset after all the sunshine and showers today but I only had a phone camera on my evening stroll with the dog. Not great quality but the colours have been fairly faithfully recorded. 

Fungi Hardwick Wood

I walked to our local ancient wood yesterday to see if the recent rain had brought forth any fungi. It is still very dry there (good for walking as the mud can get very deep in the winter!). I found a few very small specimens amongst the moss and photographed with 50mm macro and LED light using stacks of 45 images. Last images is with the 23mm lens and no stack.

Dog's Eye View

Our local village Longstowe has an Annual Dog Show so we took Ted along. He didn't win in the open clas but certainly enjoyed the hay bale jumping. I decided to photograph from down low including owners' legs to get a dog's eye view.

? Hard Winter to Come

It is often stated that an abundance of berries and fruits in the autumn foretell a hard winter. However, despite a wealth of ancient folklore and proverbs linking a good year for berries with a hard winter ahead, there is no evidence that the two are connected. Probably it is a reflection of the statistical chance that these two events will occur in the same year as often as they do not. Certainly this year, in Toft Wood, there is a super harvest of Blackberries, Hawthorn and Apples though the Sloes and Dogwood berries are less evident possibly due to a late spring that favoured the flowering of the former group.

Final Group from Cadwell Park

The third group of vehicles to race at the Classic Motorbike Meet at Cadwell Park were the solo motorbikes - 250 and 500cc. Mostly at Cadwell you are looking down on the bikes but in a few places you can get parallel or even below the bikes.