Built in 1650, Wimpole Hall is a neo-classical building and is Grade I listed. The estate itself is Grade I listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. Owned by the Chicheley family for 250 years the house passed through a number of familys before passing into ownership by The National Trust. As the National Trust are now opening up access to their properties we were able to book a visit there a few days ago. I took it as an opportunity to do some photography using one of my 35mm SLR film cameras.
Film: Ilford FP4 rated at 125asa. Developed in Ilford ID11 diluted1+1 for 11 minutes @20degC.
Scanned to digital using a Plustek 8100 scanner.
Wimpole Hall.Wimpole Hall.Wimpole Hall.Wimpole Hall.Wimpole Hall. The rear of the house.
Wimpole Hall. The rear of the house.Wimpole Hall. Walking across the parkland at the rear of the house toward the Folly.
The park was “naturalised” by Capability Brown. The North Park is particularly attractive with its belts of woodland, gentle rolling hills with individual trees and clumps of trees. The central feature of the North Park is the Gothic Tower known as The Folly and the restored lakes in the valley below.
The folly is designed to resemble the ruins of a medieval castle. It was built on the grounds of Wimpole Hall in the mid-1770s
The bridge known as the Chinese Bridge.
Single-arch timber bridges were often called ‘Chinese’ in the eighteenth century, probably because they were reminiscent of the bridges shown on Chinese porcelain, lacquer, silk and wallpaper. It was designed by Lancelot Brown and was rebuilt in the mid 20th century.
The lake.Norfolk Horn sheep.
Wimpole Farm is one of the UK’s largest rare breed centres and they play a key role in conserving rare and traditional breeds of livestock.
Each year on my birthday month I tend to go somewhere for a short city break. This year I chose Istanbul in Turkey. It seemed like too good an offer to pass over with 6 nights including flights and transfers from the airport for a little over £400.
The journey from Sabiha Gokcen International Airport, 30 miles South-East of Istanbul, to our hotel in Istanbul took around 1 1/2 hours including our driver getting into a scrap at a busy junction with a yellow cab driver. The timely arrival of a policeman on a motorbike broke up the two characters rolling around on a bonnet of the yellow cab throwing punches at each other. Fortunately the policeman didn’t arrest the cabbies and cart them off so we could continue our journey.
Eminonu where the boats depart along the Bosphorous
With all it’s mix of cultures and the changes throughout the ages to it’s architecture I thought it would be an interesting place to visit, and I wasn’t disappointed.
The area known as the Hippodrome, once a gigantic stadium which stood at the heart of the Byzantine city of Constantinople. It is now an elongated garden and an area where people can promenade.
Istanbul wasn’t at that time showing any cases of the virus but we were scanned at the airport when we arrived by a thermal camera which should show anyone with a temperature.
Across the Hippodrome with the German Fountain. Built to commemorate the visit of the German Emperor Wilhelm II visit.
Formerly known as Byzantium and Constantinople and with over 15 million inhabitants, the city stands in a position between Europe and Asia. The city is split by the Bosphorous Strait which connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara. As the only sea route between the oil-rich Black Sea and the Mediterranean, the Bosphorus is one of the busiest waterways in the world.
Strolling up the street from the Hipodrome to our hotel at the end of the day.
We had a small but very comfortable hotel, The Hotel Perula, just a few minutes walk up a street from the Hipodrome and ideally located for all the tourist attractions.
Located in the Hippodrome is the Egyptian Obelisk which was built in 1500 BC and stood outside Luxor. It was brought to Constantinople by the Emperor Constantine.
We spent the rest of the first day on a short walk around the Hippodrome and the surroundings to get our bearings.
Day 2 – March 6th.
we decided to visit firstly the underground water reservoir called the Basilica Cistern followed by the two local mosques. The Basilica Cistern dates from the reign of Justinian in the 6th century. It consists of a vast underground cavern used to store the water which runs down from the nearby mountains in the vast underground where the roof is held up by 336 columns, each over 8 metres tall.
The inside of the Basilica Cistern.
Following our visit to the Cistern we firstly visited the Haghia Sophia mosque, then Suleymaniye, commonly known as the Blue Mosque.
There were plenty of people posing for shots with the Haghia Sophia in the background. A selfie on the run!Another view of the German Fountain.One of the many cats in Istanbul.Roasted chestnuts and sweetcorn.Haghia Sophia mosque.
After wandering round the Hippodrome we vsited the Haghia Sophia mosque. The security here at the entrance is very stringent and I had my mini tripod taken from me. I should have had it in my bag rather than attached to the camera.
Interior of Haghia Sophia.Interior of Haghia Sophia.Interior of Haghia Sophia.Interior of Haghia Sophia
The interior of Haghia Sophia was a little disappointing as they are obviously doing some serious refurbishment and there is a lot of scaffolding up but then at over 1,400 years old I guess it’s not surprising.
Our second visit was to Suleymaniye mosque, commonly known as the Blue Mosque.
A view of the blue mosque from the Hippodrome.Interior of the blue mosque.
Built between 1609 and 1616 the blue mosque is known as such because of it’s blue iznik tiling on the interior. As the Haghia Sophia, this mosque is a little disappointing as it has quite a lot of restoration going on. I think I still managed to get some good shots using my fisheye lens.
Interior of the blue mosque. The amount of scaffolding on the right hand side and the rectangular covering of the columns is a little disappointing.
From evidence in the north wall, the parish church of St Peter’s originated in the late 12th or early 13th century. The windows and glass reflect the history of the church and its time.
HISTORY: The nave is late C11 or very early C12 in origin. The chancel is of uncertain medieval date, but may be late C12 or early C13. The nave was lengthened to the west and possibly widened to the south in the C15, when the bell turret was also built. The south porch is also of this date, and the nave roof may be contemporary. The chancel was party rebuilt in 1850, and the church was further restored in 1883-4 by Frederic Chancellor (1825-1918), a well known church architect who worked widely in Essex and was mayor of Chelmsford seven times from 1888.
King at 9 years old and dead by age 19. Tutankhamun’s body laid at rest until discovered by Howard Carter 3000 years later. So why is this Pharaoh so important? it’s because so far his tomb is the only one so far to be unearthed with so many of it’s riches intact including the solid gold coffin of the Pharaoh containing his mummified remains.
On Thursday members of Thorley U3A visited the exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery in London. The exhibition commemorates the 100th anniversary of the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb, and is the final chance to see these glittering world heritage artefacts before they return to Egypt forever.
The exhibition explores the life of King Tutankhamun through more than 150 of the pieces found in tomb – more than 60 of which are travelling outside of Egypt for the first time.
Wooden ,painted box which held different cuts of meat. Meant to sustain the Pharaoh on his journey to the Afterlife. To keep these foods fresh until the end of time, the Egyptians mummified them—slowly drying them with salt, bandaging them and covering the bundle with resins—much as they would a human body.Red wooden semicircular box and lid inlaid with ebony and ivory with cartouches of Tutankahamun.Gilded wooden ‘Ostrich Hunt’ fan. The inscription on the stick says that Tutankhamun hunted ostriches in the desert near Heliopolis and provided feathers for this fan.
Gilded wooden statue of Ptah. Ptah wears a cobalt blue glass skullcap. In Egyptian mythology Ptah is the god of craftsmen and architects. The three hieroglyphs on his sceptre are: ankh (life), the djed pillar (stability), and the was sign (sovereingnty).
Nicks Pics 