I took the A38 route up and it was a pretty wonderful drive through the Worcestershire countryside. It’s just so rare for me to drive up the country, even a little bit. In fact, this was the third time in an entire year that I’d be out of the South West region, well, if you don’t include my daily commute to Ross-on-Wye that it. I’m not even going to apologise for it really. I like to stay close to home. Me and travelling just don’t get on and besides there so much to see right where I am.
I was kinda hoping that as I was arriving just before 10am that it would be relatively quiet but the car park was chocca. Seems like plenty of other people had hit upon the same idea. But once I was through the entrance and into the park there were only a sprinkling of people here and there. I made my way down the hill to the main house and I have to say, standing at the top of that valley by the church looking down across that vista is pretty darn amazing. The sight across that landscape with the Malvern Hills to the right and Croome Court down to the left is stunning indeed.
I’d actually brought along my own Nikon D40 as well at my Canon to play with a zoom lens alongside my trusty 50mm and I was loving it. I’d forgotten how nice it is to shoot landscape with a wide angle lens and this place definitely warranted it. I wandered around snapping away enjoying the freedom of being there on my own and only feeling a smidge guilty about leaving Luna pup behind.
I made my way down to the house but didn’t fancy going in today, I was happy just to enjoy it from the outside. I wanted a good amount of time to explore the house itself so just bookmarked that for another time. Instead I made my way over to the stream and across the river up to the lakes. As I reached the lake area it suddenly got a lot busier and to my utter delight, the sunshine broke through and beamed it’s lovely golden light down on us. And that light, oh that light, it was splendid. Magic, crystal clear, saturated goodness. The way it played through the trees was an utter delight.
I stayed a little while taking in the atmosphere and enjoying watching the families play but the crowding was starting to bother me so I decided it was time to head on back up. I made me way back on up the hill and to the church, taking a good few long moments to linger once again on that view before ambling back to the car.
