Day/evening trips from London

tintin

tintin

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Barnaby Jaco Skinner
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Hi all,

So I live and work in London and can't drive, never needed to and probably never will if I can help it but I'm finding the streets of London a little tiresome these days (photography wise) so want to venture out of the big smoke and get some landscape practise in.

So does anyone know of some good places I could go? I'm looking to use public transport and I have my Brompton if a little travel is required at the other end. All suggestions are welcome and a link to said location on Google maps would be awesome :thumbs:

Btw I'm originally from Brighton and have done that city to death ;)

Thanks for your help in advance.

Barney
 
Train out from Waterloo to the South West Coast/new forest? be there in two hours?
 
Brighton springs to mind. Less than an hour away and seascape and landscape opportunities.

Have you been to Beachy Head?
 
St Albans is a short trip from St Pancras International.

Has a nice Cathedral, park, Roman Museum and remains and a nice market square and church. Fishpool lane has lots of old houses and pubs.

Centre of town is about 10 min walk from station.

I have some photos on HERE and there was a TP meet last year

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=151025

with some of the photos taken towards the end of the thread.

HTH

David
 
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Bit further afield... Cambridge. Around an hour from Kings X, station 10 mins from town, nice town centre, loads of wonderful and stunning colleges and buildings. To be honest, I dont go round there much myself as I am in town every week and just never get round to it, but a few I have...

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You should also stay on the train for 15 mins beyond Cambridge to get to Ely :D
 
+1 for Cambridge and Ely..

Cambridge is nice for the city, university colleges, river etc.. but I prefer Ely with the Cathdedral (opt for Gift Aid and your entry pass is valid all year, go to the gift shop and pay £2 if you want to use a tripod), the river and the fields/fens around are only a short walk from the station. If you take the train to Ely come out of the station and turn right (apparently away from the town) cross under the railway and then take the path to the left along the river into town. A very pleasant walk.

With an early start you could easily have several hours in York from King's Cross.

There used to be guides to days out by train.. might be worth a flick through a secondhand bookshop.
 
Ely Cathedral is free on a Sunday too.
It's worth paying the guide, (John, lovely old boy) a £5, he'll take you up to have a play on the roof, as well as telling you some history. Often you'll be the only person and it'll be a one to one tour.

There's always something goin g on in Ely too. Brass band on the Jubilee Gardens every Saturday in Summer, Tai Chi every Sunday. As well as loads of public events: Eel Day, Etheldreda Day, Apple Day, Aqua Fest, etc.

The Babylon Gallery on the river normally has a photographic exhibition on. Next door is Waterside antiques, full of curiosities, and old cameras.

Have I convinced you yet?! :lol:
 
tintin said:
What's the deal with tripods, do they rent them out?
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No.. the £2 is just for a little sticker saying "Photo pass" and being allowed to use your own tripod.. a lot of cathedrals aren't keen on tripods (at least one prohibits photography completely) but Ely just asks for a contribution. Best to go mid-week in the afternoon in my experience, it's quieter outside of the main holiday periods and you'll usually find three or four other 'togs with tripods working their way around inside the cathedral.

I must get back to Ely sometime soon myself.


If you stay on the train even longer.. King's Cross to King's Lynn is about 2 hours and there's a regular bus service along the coast to Hunstanton.. aka "north Norfolk's dirty little secret" as it was described at the weekend in the Guardian.
 
Why not get the Oxford tube coach from Victoria and spend the day in Oxford?
 
Photodiva said:
Why not get the Oxford tube coach from Victoria and spend the day in Oxford?
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I've been to Oxford a few times already so fancy somewhere else, although I do like Oxford and am planning a trip back there early next year when it hopefully snows. Last time I visitied we went up on to the castle roof which was fun, not much room though and I didn't have my tripod :(
 
There are a lot of places in Wiltshire that would give some great Landscape opps. Pop the Brompton in the bag and you can have your choice of hills, downs, canals, standing stones etc. etc. Salisbury, Trowbridge, Westbury, Bradford on Avon could be starting points for some further research - you can cycle from Trowbridge or Bradford on Avon to Bath on the cycle track without any great exertion . Great Bedwyn station is close to the Savernake forest in one direction and several downs in the other. http://www.walkingclub.org.uk/os_explorer_map/157-marlborough-savernake-forest.shtml might help with some ideas.

Depending on the budget I have found that some out of season short hops on cheapo airlines to the more obscure European cities is often cheaper than a return train ticket into and out of London in the UK; particuarly if you book well enough in advance.

Enjoy getting out and about.
 
Ali said:
There are a lot of places in Wiltshire that would give some great Landscape opps. Pop the Brompton in the bag and you can have your choice of hills, downs, canals, standing stones etc. etc. Salisbury, Trowbridge, Westbury, Bradford on Avon could be starting points for some further research - you can cycle from Trowbridge or Bradford on Avon to Bath on the cycle track without any great exertion . Great Bedwyn station is close to the Savernake forest in one direction and several downs in the other. http://www.walkingclub.org.uk/os_explorer_map/157-marlborough-savernake-forest.shtml might help with some ideas.

Depending on the budget I have found that some out of season short hops on cheapo airlines to the more obscure European cities is often cheaper than a return train ticket into and out of London in the UK; particuarly if you book well enough in advance.

Enjoy getting out and about.
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Thanks for the advice and info :thumbs: Coincidently I recently cycled from London to Bristol and we passed through most of those places! Really lovely countryside but didn't have time to stop however a trip back with my Brompton might be in order. I particularly like the ride from Lockeridge Dene > Alton > Devizes... cant remember the name of the Downs though, began with a P maybe?
 
fabs said:
If you like landscapes, get the train from Euston to Berkhamsted (about half an hour) and then cycle to Ashridge. It really comes into it's own once Autumn sets in, a sea of stunning colour.
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That's what I'm talking about, specifics :) So maybe a Sunday jaunt on the bike sometime in October you think? Or would that be a little to late...
 
Don't follow the heard - be unique. You can get to Slough in about 1/2 an hour from London.
 
Victoria to Egham (half an hour), then half an hour walk (less if cycling) to Windsor Great Park? Haven't been to the Park myself yet but that and Virginia waters look very promising for some photo ops.:)
 
Virginia water is a beautiful place, most of berkshire is nice too (you might want a push bike to get around though)
 
Any specific places round Virginia Water? Going to Royal Holloway for a year so will be based right next to it. :)
 
tintin said:
Thanks for the advice and info :thumbs: Coincidently I recently cycled from London to Bristol and we passed through most of those places! Really lovely countryside but didn't have time to stop however a trip back with my Brompton might be in order. I particularly like the ride from Lockeridge Dene > Alton > Devizes... cant remember the name of the Downs though, began with a P maybe?
Click to expand...

That might be Porton Down - infamous site of the big bad testing sites!!!
 
Waterloo to Windsor in about an hour. You can go to Windsor & Eton Riverside - or central, the tickets are baout he same price. Central takes you straigh into the centre of the town (obviously) and when you come out of the station you're right at the bottom of the castle with a windy cobbled road up to the entrance.

Riverside will put you near the big wheel and some great boating type shots in summer.
 
As the advert on the tube clearly shows... "Wales, a million miles and two hours away".

You can then see places like this...

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Bushy Park....

website

landscape, lakes, waterbirds, Deer.

or

Hampton court

website

Lovely gardens, buildings, water

Both in Walking distance of each other

Train to Teddington or Hampton court

Nice bridge and river Thames
 
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