Sun, sand… and seashells.
This picture postcard is from the Kent seaside town of Whitstable. Three shells basking in the sunshine, beneath a piercing blue sky. But this view conceals the November chill and a stormy sea just metres away.
My day trip was perfect for photographs, and I’ll share more of them in the coming days.
The sun struggles to break through a leaden October sky. I’ve made my escape from London and am staying with my family in Essex, eastern England. My mother comes up with the bright idea of hopping across the border into Suffolk to visit Constable Country, associated with English landscape painter John Constable.
He is most famous for The Hay Wain, which forever captures Flatford Mill and its rural beauty. This place sits by the tranquil River Stour, freshly turned fields, shapely trees and views across to the village of Dedham and its church. Autumnal leaves add to the picture.
This place is a world away from London and a tonic even in the chill of October. As usual, I often dropped back from Mum and Dermot – who had also escaped the capital – and they are the figures in this woodland path capture, tinged with the pleasant monochrome of memory.
