Broadstairs

2016 has been dismissed as a bad vintage by some, thanks to Brexit, Trump and a large number of celebrity deaths.

But behind the camera, another year has passed with a great deal of photographs to show for it. I’ve picked out 16 that seem to have stood out from the pack, reflecting a year of travel to Abu Dhabi and Sri Lanka.

The foreign adventures were curtailed as I set about the task of leaving London and setting up home further north. There were some photo excursions along the way, including a blistering summer’s day in Broadstairs – and finally capturing the sumptuous staircase in an old London furniture store.

2017 looks likely to be filled with new northern adventures in and around Manchester, with some travel thrown in. Thank you for another year of visits, appreciation and support – a Happy New Year to you and yours.

Click first image to view the best of 2016

Take an English seaside town on a holiday weekend. The gods are smiling and the sun is shining. In fact, it’s blazing hot. Broadstairs on the Kent coast has all the traditional elements – commanding Victorian buildings, sandy bays filled with deck chairs and windbreaks, a plethora of beach huts. Throw in a fish and chip lunch at a pub, an ice-cream sundae at an old-fashioned cafe and a touch of sunburn, and you have a day of memories. It was the same for the throngs who joined us that day, bringing so many people into this pen portrait of British life by the sea.