I’ve seen so many images of poppies this year, but there didn’t seem to be any on my way to and from work so, when I heard that the hill near Culworth had a good display I decided to come home a different way last night to see how it looked.
I was lucky – although it was very sunny, the landscape wasn’t washed out because the clouds were very dramatic.
The first image is taken from the top of the hill, looking over towards Edgecote and Chipping Warden.
The second is taken looking towards Byfield and Woodford Halse. As I haven’t yet invested in a stepping ring for my ND grad filters or a polarising filter for my 28-135mm lens, I was struggling to get a balanced exposure so this is an HDR image with +/- 1.5 stops of auto-bracketing. Behind the farm house at the bottom of the hill you can just see the tower at Hellidon, which is approximately 5 miles away by road.
I like to think that this landscape hasn’t changed much over the years – at least since the enclosure system started, although of course the mast would not have been there.
There are lots of landscapes like this in the rolling countryside of Northamptonshire, which may soon be blighted by the arrival of the High Speed rail link which is planned to run right through the south of the county (including yards from a primary school playground). Progress? I think not.
fab skies, let’s hope it doesn’t change over the next century and that HS2 doesn’t materialise