28th August, 2016...Summer's end and Swarthmoor Hall!

(photo from last August end!)

When summer's end is nighing
  And skies at evening cloud,
I muse on change and fortune
  And all the feats I vowed
  When I was young and proud.

So here's an end of roaming
  On eves when autumn nighs:
The ear too fondly listens
  For summer's parting sighs,
  And then the heart replies.

I love that poem by AE Housman....it kind of sums up how we feel at the end of the summer break...all the things we vow to do all year "in the summer holidays" but when it happens, we just kick back and muse...then it's September again!! Back to work for me on Thursday, but the SteveHillman camera has had no such holiday, and after three weddings in a row, is back to another one tomorrow, then three next week, and so it goes on. So...looking for peace and tranquillity on a rare day off, we headed to Swarthmoor Hall, which is getting a pretty good reputation for being a 'gem' of a place in the Low Furness countryside......

...I like that sentiment.....

...and the place really does ooze historical presence...it's so well preserved...

...and the gardens are lovely...

...and a creepy feel to George Fox's bedroom!!!!

Cumbria County Council used to use the conference facilities at the hall for teacher courses and meetings...I remember meeting the fantastic Barry Hymer here on a philosophy course once...the place had a wonderful sense of peace and purpose, that appealed to me back then...it's well worth a visit!

Had to finish with a bit of high tea at Abbey Mill Café though...

...it has a sense of history all of it's own, doesn't it!! Some stunning venues for the SteveHillman camera this week...

he particularly liked the quirky wedding at The Wild Boar...

...but not the puncture he got in HIS beloved Landrover......the rush was on to get it fixed in between weddings and Kwikfit in Barrow were great, so thanks for that lads!! Last words to George Fox today...

17th August, 2016....Welsh Weddings and Wonderful Weather!!

Phew.....we were so luck with the weather this week, when we visited the beautiful county of Powys, and the Shropshire borders, and the countryside was stunning!

We stayed in a quaint and very quiet place called Bishop's Castle...it was so quiet...and the hotel was lovely. It was about as rural as you can get in the UK I guess...no phone signals and not much TV either, but stunning English countryside...

...we do seem to find old buildings and cobbled streets wherever we go!

We did give this estate of 'eco-houses' a second look too....but they were rather out of our price range!!

The SteveHillman camera had been asked to shoot the wedding of a friend of his, at Mellington Hall, which was just across the border into Powys....really secluded and very gothic, and the weather was perfect....funniest sight of the day was the groomsmen in their kilts, playing football in the sunshine, with the barefooted bride taking penalties!!Lovely flowers courtesy of POSH from Barrow too, who was also at the wedding, and kept us very good company, along with Mr POSH!

The Hillmans look quite civilised when not in walking gear, don't they!! We did meet some lovely people, from all over the UK...

....and Frankie liked the look of the 'Cheesecake' wedding cake!

So congratulations to Paul and Helen!! We thought we'd have a little wander down to Furness Abbey this afternoon, after the long car journey.....

...and it was looking ' picture perfect' in the August sunshine...

...back to our scruffy walking gear! Finally feel like I am on holiday from my job...but back to it in a couple of weeks...if you know me, you know I love my job, so that's not a problem!! No let up for the SteveHillman camera though...still got five more weddings to shoot at this tail end of August!!