New River, Blue River

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Myddleton House was named after Hugh Myddleton who built the New River, an aqueduct carrying fresh water into London. Over the years its course has changed but originally in 1613 it flowed through here, beneath these iron railings marking an earlier bridge. Continue reading “New River, Blue River”

Frames of reference

Banstead Wood & Mayfield

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In France in early August we’d been too late to see the famous Luberon lavender, but back in England it’s not harvested until September. We went down to Banstead in Surrey to visit Mayfield’s lavender farm. The flowers bloomed in the late August sunshine and the fragrant fields buzzed with intoxicated bees and butterflies and other lavender enthusiasts. Continue reading “Banstead Wood & Mayfield”

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Palais Des Papes

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This was the antithesis of Château la Coste. The Palais des Papes in Avignon is the biggest Gothic palace in the world and the most visited monument in France. It is huge and noisy and crowded. There are signs and notices everywhere telling you where to go, what to look at, what to photograph, what not to photograph. Continue reading “Palais Des Papes”

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Château La Coste

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Château la Coste is a vineyard 15km north of Aix-en-Provence which, since 2004, has become home to a remarkable collection of art and architecture. Signs have been kept to a minimum and the entrance was not immediately obvious, but we eventually found our way to the elegant, new art centre designed by Tadao Ando and emerged alongside Crouching Spider by Louise Bourgeois. Continue reading “Château La Coste”

Frames of reference

Tree Portraits

Leg of Mutton Nature Reserve 2

For the past four years I have been painting portraits of trees in West London woods and nature reserves. The legacy of gardens, parks and woodlands found in London creates an urban environment with an unrivaled relationship to nature that cannot be equaled. Continue reading “Tree Portraits”

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Tree Of Heaven (Slight Return)

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Early one morning driving to work, lamenting the loss of our tree-of-heaven (it was the morning the tree feller was coming back to poison the shoots that were springing up all over our yard), I began to notice previously overlooked trees-of-heaven by the roadside. I’d not realised there were so many. Now I was seeing them everywhere. It seemed like an epidemic. Continue reading “Tree Of Heaven (Slight Return)”

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