Withy Hill Landscape

I was in Sutton Coldfield again last Thursday on family business, and had a leisurely journey back in the evening. This is a typical Warwickshire/West Midlands scene, taken from Withy Hill Road, just north of Sutton Coldfield.

I avoided my normal routes in order to travel on unseen roads across the West Midlands, Worcestershire and the Cotswolds, making several stops on the way. The first of these was at Tanworth-in-Arden which has a delightful church (where Nick Drake is buried) and Green. As I was photographing a tree in front of Ivy House, a health spa, a beautician came out to ask if I was photographing the spa and I later saw she was peeping out of the door in the picture.

I wanted to explore the River Avon west of Stratford a little, so my next stop was Bidford-on-Avon for a stroll along the riverside. It was once an ancient ford (Byda's Ford) until a bridge was built in the early C15th on the Ryknild Street Roman road there. It was demolished by Charles I in 1644 during his retreat from Worcester but has been rebuilt and repaired several times. I count a day lost that does not include an encounter with swans, so Bidford saved the day on that score.

At that point I instructed Jane, the sat-nav, to choose the shortest route home from there and she played a blinder. I was treated to a breathtaking evening tour across the Cotswolds on little unclassified winding roads through undulating hills and valleys, through Willersey and Broadway, and embracing Snowshill Rd, Temple Guiting, Notgrove and many tiny hamlets before rejoining the Fosse Way a little way north of Northleach.

Backblip:
Wednesday 16 May 2012: Garden Art At Avebury Manor (posted 25.5.2012)

L.
22.5.2012

Blip #716
Consecutive Blip #031
Day #785

Alternatives:
Time On The Green (Tanworth-in-Arden)
Bidford-on-Avon
Willersey Church
Notgrove Landscape

Lenses: Pentax 17-70mm, Sigma 70-300mm

Landscape series

One year ago: Black Dog Hill