Help needed in Pretty Photographic locations in the south west of UK

ndwgolf

ndwgolf

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Neil Williams
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Guys
I will be back in the UK at the end of August and plan to stay there for 2 weeks. I am looking for locations in the west country that are scenic kind of like Castle Comb .
I will be starting off in Solihul and driving to Bristol and plan to stop off and shoot Castle Comb on the way. From Bristol we will have 5 more days to explore the west country so I am looking for ideas for a 5 day drive around the west country taking in the lovely countryside (Kind of like what I did in Scotland last year, drive and stop if we see a nice picture then continue on to the next picture). I am happy driving so I don't mind going all the way down to Devon. After this 5 days we will then drive to Scotland and have a week up there with family
Any recommendations for accommodation on the way (on a one night here one night there basis) would also be much appreciated

Neil
 
Why not go all the way and miss out the not so good area and go straight to Cornwall, you know it makes sense!!

** Sit back and wait for reaction from the English **
 
To be fair to what our Cornish cousin says lizard point is breath taking. But they don't have the jurrasic coast ;) I'm in East Devon. Lyme Regis, Charmouth, Westbay (yes where Broad church is filmed), Seaton, Beer, Branscombe, Sidmouth are all nice places for seascapes.

There are some nice placress in North Devon and also you could look up Exmoor. Tbh the south west is a beautiful place and we normally stay in it for our holiday, eg Cornwall or north Devon. No point in traveling miles when you live down here :)
 
stryvya said:
Why not go all the way and miss out the not so good area and go straight to Cornwall, you know it makes sense!!

** Sit back and wait for reaction from the English **
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Skip cornwall and go straight to Pembrokeshire. As beautiful as Cornwall, if not better, without all the tourist.

Plus the last time I looked Cornwall was part of England (although stuck in the 1950's) :D
 
From Solihul - Warwick Castle - good for a day out, You could then go through Stratford upon Avon - Shakespere, Bourton on the water, pretty cotswold village, river running through, that would take you to Cirencester, pretty cotswold market town if you fancied something different - big church, and on route to Castle Coombe.

Avebury - http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/avebury
Ancient stone circle (large) plus outlying interest such as SIlbury hill. Really good visitor centre, cakes, drinks etc and an interesting museum. Good for a couple of hours

Stourhead - http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/stourhead/
Classic english manor house with large landscaped gardens, famous bridge over lake, again good restaurant about 1/2 day to see properly

South coast you've Corfe Castle, Durdle Door, Portalnd Bill then the whole of the Jurassic coast heading to the south west.

Heading down west , there's the 6 stilted beach hut at Burnham on sea, Glastonbury Tor, Bantham beach has some interesting rocks for sunset
or head into cornwall for Tintagel, Padstow is pretty but busy in tourist season, Bedruthan Steps, not forgetting St Michaels mount
 
stryvya said:
Why not go all the way and miss out the not so good area and go straight to Cornwall, you know it makes sense!!

As a fellow Cornishman I have to agree with this. (y)

Some locations to think about, they really need a high tide and a sunny day to be seen at their best. St Just in Roseland Church and the surrounding area, this is the St Just near St Mawes not the one down at Penwith, Gweek, particularly the area around the head of the creek and anywhere around the Helford River.

As Raptor Mike said the general area of The Lizard, particularly Kynance Cove, Gunwalloe and Cadgwith. If you want bleak anywhere on the north coast will do, as you might guess I am a south coast man. ;)
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Plus the last time I looked Cornwall was part of England (although stuck in the 1950's) :D

The Cornish have never argued that Cornwall isn't part of England, just that the Cornish are not English, no more than the Bretons, to whom we are very closely related, are French. Last year, after over 100 years of putting this claim forward, the British government finally agreed that we were right and recognised the Cornish as a distinct ethnic group within the UK.
 
Byker28i said:
Avebury - http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/avebury
Ancient stone circle (large) plus outlying interest such as SIlbury hill. Really good visitor centre, cakes, drinks etc and an interesting museum. Good for a couple of hours
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Make sure you contact me if you do go to Avebury as I only live a few miles from it. The Wiltshire Museum in Devizes is only a few miles from Avebury and well worth a visit if you're in the area. Blounts Court Farm in Potterne is where to stay.
 
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South of Bristol you could head towards North Somerset coast A39 such as Dunster, Lynmouth, on to Clovelly in Devon, then back onto Exmoor.
 
Come on I'm an Essex Boy :-) now living in the South West. And to be Honest most parts around he can be breath taken
 
just a few places offhand. Lynton ( watersmeet.. waterfalls and clifftop railway, plus the steam train just down the road )
tintagel castle . English Heritage so expect to pay a pretty penny to get in or shoot from public road.
Wistmans wood ( devon ) stunning moss covered trees.. amazing shots to be had there. ( check out link below of google images of the place )
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=w...a=X&ei=iiNmVbWQK42S7Ab2y4L4CA&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ
Jurrasic coast as mentioned. Durdle door, Lulworth cove, Portland Bill to name but a few
Clovelly Village.... stunning.
Looe, and Polperro.. beautiful fishing villages.. again stunning.
Pedn Vounder.. stunning beaches to rival any in the world
exmoor and dartmoor... drive , stop shoot , carry on another mile repeat and rinse.. you really cant go far wrong.

i would say for 5 days pick 5 locations on the route as a key location to vist and branch out from each one.
 
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So what I am thinking is this as a template for 8 days.
Day one stay in Solihull with mum for one night
Day two Warwick castle, Bourton on the Water, hotel near Castle Combe ~100 miles day two
Day three early morning Castle Combe shoot then drive to Bristol and stay in Bristol for one night with family
Day four Drive to Bideford along the Exmoor heritage Coast stay in Bideford for one night ~100 miles drive
Day five drive to port Isaac stay the night ~50 miles drive
Day six drive to Lyme regis stay one night ~100 miles
Day seven drive to Avebury stay the night there ~100 miles
Day eight drive back to Solihull and spend the night with mum
Day nine fly back home to Malaysia

Now comes the nitty gritty stuff. What are the must sees along this route?

We plan to do this from the 4th to the 12th September so hopefully all the tourists will be gone and there will still be some nice weather to be had :)

What do you guys think??
 
Dean, if you're local, how about golithia falls. I think I visited them whilst on holiday down there once. Tumbling river woodland walk. Very pretty.
 
Hotel near Castle Coombe, Chippenham will be cheaper. Do you want anything specific or cheap? as the Premier Inn is close, easy to find
http://www.premierinn.com/en/hotel/CHICEP/chippenham
If it wasn't for those dates I'd say come stay with us, for the Castle Coombe/Avebury dates but I'll be in California.

Quite a lot to do in that short time. Eden project on the port Isaac to Lyme Regis trip?
https://www.edenproject.com/
 
What about cheddar gorge?
 
I would be tempted to stay in/near Tintagel rather than carry on to Port Isaac then use the time saved to go through Dartmoor rather than skim over the top of it. The A30 isn't at its best going past the Northern edge! Not sure what the attraction of Castle Combe is unless there's a race meeting there. Not an ugly village but fairly standard Cotswolds fare. Were I doing the whistlestop tour, I'd probably dive down the M5 and spend more time in the SW, possibly dropping across from Avebury to CC if there was time to spare. It's only really a short hop down from Solihull to Bristol and that would gain you a day.
 
not local but in laws just outside taunton and spent alot of time down there over the years. think Jurrasic Coast is going to be a little way off route., so i would amend some locations looking at the route.
,
cheddar gorge/ wookey hole glastonbury, Tor
then on to Lynton/ watersmeet and across top of exmoor taking in the heritage coast
clovelly village.
from clovelly id head down to tintagel
from tintagel across down to Looe and Polperro.taking in golithia falls on route
from there its up across Dartmoorvwhere you can take in WIstmans wood and Buckfast Abbey
from there if time permits you could actually head along to jurrasic coast ( corfe castle and Lulworth cove/ durdle door.)
this would then allow you to head straight up to Stone henge as your last stop before home.
 
Neil, don't forget to factor in the weather :rolleyes: (you've probably been away too long to remember what British Summers are like ;) )
 
Wow loads of great ideas and as I am sure you feel the same it would be nice to see them all but I know what I am like, I tend to like drive a bit then head off down back roads just to see if there is anything interesting to photograph and that always takes up a bunch of time.
Byker I was thinking of budgeting for ~120 quid a night for B&B...... is that feasible?
Nod I went to Castle Combe 18 years ago just after getting married so though it would be nice to take the old lady back there again.......romantic bast$rd :)
Carl the weather is September is the best of the year .....right. I am sure i read that somewhere :) :)
I head back to the rig on Tuesday so will have loads of time while I am out there for the month to fine tune this itinerary.
 
It wouldn't be hard to spend 10 days between Bude and Port Isaac!!! Of course, the light isn't great in North Cornwall during the bulk of the day, although mornings and evenings can be rewarding.

As said, beginning of September is usually good weather - people always tell us that we've missed it when we come back from holiday!
 
you dont mention how many in your party ( you and the wife or are there kids too ) but once you planned your route i would check out booking.com
you can get some great hotel deals sub £100
 
Nod beat me to it - don't take the A30 north of Dartmoor. Turn right at Sourton down to Tavistock. Before you get to Tavistock is Lydford. Lydford Gorge if you have enough time & have had some heavy rain. Off the same side of the main road is Brent Tor with the little church on top. The other side (but well hidden) is the car park from which you can walk down to the river and see Brai Tor topped with Queen Victoria's jubilee cross (the one in my avatar but I can't guarantee the dog will be there). In Tavistock turn left and drive across to either Moretonhampstead or Ashburton. You could also take in Princetown on the way past & Windypost Cross isn't far off that road, although you have to walk to it (images on my Flickr).
 
Becky's falls!
 
Mark twiglet said:
Becky's falls!
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i went becky falls a couple of years ago. total disappointment. area all overgrown with very few decent pathways as you get down and the waterfalls themselves were a rocky covered trickle in most places. certainly nothing to write home about.
Canonteign Falls i think are better ( also entry fee like Becky falls of around £7.50 per adult )
Lydford Gorge with white lady falls and devils caudron ( NT ppropery around the same price of £7.50 ) is another option that may be better.
 
White lady falls and Devils couldron is brilliant
 
Lydford Gorge or Becky Falls are probably not worth going to unless there's been some decent rain. They are both fairly high up their respective rivers, so if there's been a dry spell there won't be enough flow. I haven't been to Becky Falls in many years. I used to walk over there from my parents' place so I could sneak in without paying.............
 
the same for Watermeet. a nice walk to the cafe at the top, several smaller falls before the main ones ( more rapids than falls ) and you have the other things there too ( steam train and cliff top railyway at linton
 
Might be worth popping into Bath for some street shooting and posh nosh.
 
Guys thanks for all the great comments......I have been very busy this last 7 days so not had much time to work on this trip but yesterday I booked our flights and our first two hotels in England (Solihull for two nights to see mum) and Castle Combe for our next night. I will continue to work on this plan over the next few weeks and try and finalise at least where we will be sleeping for the rest of our trip.

Back to Nigeria today so will have plenty of time to get this trip finalised

Later
 
Talking equipment. I originally was going to take my Leica gear but fancy taking my Nikon gear instead as I just miss so many frigging shots with my Leica gear due to no AF and me not getting the rangefinder lined up correctly due to 57 year old eyes. If I take my Nikon gear I will take two bodies, 24mm f1.4 70/200 and 55mm Otus..........what do you think?
Or should I leave the 70/200 home and get a new AF 85mm 1.4 or a 135mm to replace the big heavy 70/200.......thoughts?
 
24-120? A compromise in a couple of areas but very capable. Covers most bases and does allow some separation from backgrounds on FF. MUCH lighter than a 70-200 let alone a 24-70-200 pairing!
 
cant comment on Nikon lenses as the last Nikon i owned was a compact zoom back in the days of film! ( TW 35-70 ) but what you might want to consider is an UWA lens ( 10-20 range ) for some of those huge west county landscapes . ( dartmoor and exmoor plus of course along the coast )
 
I have the 14/24 but it's big and to be honest I much prefer to shoot landscape with either my 55mm Otus or even as much as 90mm and stictch them into a panorama
 
a couple of extra votes from me for glastonbury tor (and in general), cheddar gorge and wooky hole :-)
 
I need somewhere nice to stay for one night between Bristol and Bideford.........any recommendations??
Also need a stoperover between Port Isaac and Lyme Regis
 
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Update;
Solihull Booked
Castle Combe booked
Bristol booked
Need somewhere in-between Bristol and Bideford
Bideford booked
Port Isaac not booked yet
Somewhere in between Port Isaac and Lyme Regis needed
Avebury not booked yet
Solihull Booked
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