I’ve had fun over the Christmas holidays—I had a lot of leave to use up, so have been off for three weeks, and have managed to travel a fair bit within the (east of the) UK. I thought I’d pick the most interesting photographs from my phone (excluding Christmas itself) and write a few sentences about each, to help the holidays stick in my mind.


Sunrise in Norbiton

Everyone had a good sunrise picture on 11 December, but I like the garish effect made by the houses in this one, taken from Kay’s parents’ house in south-west London. This was slightly before my holiday proper, but I’m crowbarring it in on the basis that we went to a festive concert at St Martin-in-the-Fields that weekend.

Sheffield city centre at night

I stayed in Sheffield before Christmas as a base for a day walking in the Peak District. This is the view from a memorial to the victims of the cholera epidemic of 1832, not far from the famous Park Hill flats.

Ladybower Reservoir

A colleague who lives locally recommended that we walk near Ladybower Reservoir; it was beautiful and very easy to get to by train from Sheffield city centre. Here’s one of the less beautiful but perhaps interesting views, of one of the ‘plug holes’.

Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Back up to Yorkshire after Christmas to spend a wonderfully restorative New Year’s Eve with two friends. I’m not a fan of the Damien Hirst sculptures in this one of Yorkshire Sculpture Park, but I picked it because I like the depth and the scattered groups of wanderers.

Wothorpe Towers

Kay and I came across this bizarre ruin (pretty drastically cropped) while walking around waiting for a train from Stamford, Lincs. back to Ely. It’s called Wothorpe Towers and is now a private house in its own right, but used to be attached to the nearby Burghley House.

Welney Wash

The train from Ely to Peterborough goes past Welney Wash, an area of farmland in between two artificial drainage channels that is sometimes allowed to flood to protect the surrounding Fenland villages. This photo isn’t as striking as a sunset one I posted on Twitter, but gives a good sense of the size of the thing!

Ely Cathedral at dusk

One of the benefits of the winter months is that I’m more likely to be out and about at dusk, and I currently live next to Ely Cathedral, so it’s easy to catch moments like this, showing the roof of the Lady Chapel through its clear windows.