This is my house, just before we moved into it. The photo was probably taken in 1995.
I’ve almost forgotten what grass looks like. What the sun looks like. What frickin’ daylight looks like. Europe is currently the land of eternal twilight. Admittedly, I wake up around 2pm so I’m not doing myself any favours, but the cloud coverage is so thick, so ever-present, so OPPRESSIVE that it just stays DARK. The only patch of sunlight was a few days ago — you saw the photo of me and my sister right? — and the photos I’m sharing with you today are a few hours after that, just before sunset (though when isn’t it sunset in the Arctic Circle of England…?)
These photos are from all around my estate. I don’t think I’ve really showed you where I live before, other than my immediate garden. I live in the coach house of a Victorian estate. The estate itself totals about 300 acres (150 hectares?) — small fry by American standards I guess, but quite big here in the UK. There’s a manor (photo below), and a farmhouse (no photos, but it’s not as pretty as the manor anyway), and a bunch of smaller lodges and ancillary buildings.
[So, this is where I had a power cut yesterday... now I'm going to continue!]
If you look at the photo above, that middle section is ‘new’. Originally there would’ve just been an arch there. The brown/red bit is cobbles — they extend behind the house too. Lords and ladies would’ve left their coach and horses behind the house (there are iron hoops on the wall to tie horses to), and then walked up to the manor, probably through the orchard (which is on the corner of our land). I live on the left side, in the oldest part of the house (the right side is extended and modified).
Behind the camera is the swimming pool (which I think I’ve shown you?), and way off to the left is the formal garden (which I recently used for 52 weeks).
Anyway, have a look through these photos. I’ve made a few notes where necessary! Incidentally, it’s finally starting to thaw. And it’s only one and a half months until Spring!! .. ..
I’m not sure if this is my new favourite landscape… or if the next one is…
This is the one I ‘leaked’ exclusively to Facebook. It’s a lot prettier here on the blog without Facebook’s shitty JPEG compression though. Look at the PINKS.
If you’re trying to get your bearings, my house is to the left of this frame, and the farm is to the right (a long way away)
sebastian
Jan 12, 2010
Ahhh I’m completely confused. I have two identical blog entries.
Bah.
izzie
Jan 12, 2010
gorgeous sweetie. especially like the second snowy one. the word forcing itself to the front of my awareness is ‘majestic’.
its weird seeing the retro picture of your house, made me think about where you were before, its all coming back to me.
sebastian
Jan 12, 2010
I have a photo of me, aged 12, in a tie-dye t-shirt striking some kind of weird pose below the ‘SOLD’ sign of our old house. I may have to scan it in.
Majestic is a good word. I won’t argue with that
Sara Strand
Jan 12, 2010
Wow. Um, when can I move in? I cook and I clean. I’ll even do laundry not matter how gross it is.
sebastian
Jan 12, 2010
Are you looking to be a hand maiden, slave, or mail-order bride?
Nyx
Jan 12, 2010
Very lovely! I’m with Sara – I wanna move in! It’s gorgeous!
Love the picture (third from the last) with the four trees and manor in the background. The lighting in it is impeccable. I also like the last photo (reverse tree) – for the same reason – this one’s my favorite
There’s something nice about the way the colors of sunset play off of snow.
sebastian
Jan 12, 2010
Ya, I got a bit lucky on the light in the main manor photo. You can see in in the last photo that the manor isn’t actually THAT red — just a trick of the setting sun.
The snow on the tree in the last photo is divine indeed. Makes me wish the tree was all alone, or at least a little less cluttered… ah well
Melissa
Jan 12, 2010
More manor photos! Does your family own the whole estate, or what? And I have to agree that the final picture is my favorite too.
a!kO
Jan 12, 2010
wow! I gotta say I bet Europe never seen so much snow – but it looks beautiful! The pictures are just exquisite!
And the pinks! Did you take it during sunset? I miss snow…the pictures makes me wish I am in England now :P.
It’s really picture perfect…good for Christmas cards
The second and third last are my fave! The last one is pretty cool too…
Rachel Cotterill
Jan 12, 2010
Gorgeous. I especially love the first of the snow ones, with that leaning tree, and the one with the bright red house (even if it’s not really that colour!).
Is the manor still a single house, or has it been converted to flats?
sebastian
Jan 13, 2010
I can try to take some more photos of the manor. There’s quite a few different facades, and a huge Victorian conservatory thing which is quite photogenic. I’ll see what I can do!
It’s converted I’m afraid, Rachel
Not flats — just into 2 or 3 houses. Still has the high ceilings and windows, original fixtures, etc! It’s still a very grand house.
It’s still QUITE red. It is red brick after all! It’s somewhere in between those two photos
If you look at the first tree photo Aiko, you can see the sun. It’s not quite sunset (about 3:30pm I think), but almost. I still can’t get over the greens/blues in the snow. I keep checking my lens to see if there’s dirt or something, but it really was that colour in the shade… pretty neat.
the girl in stiletto
Jan 13, 2010
i freaking love the photo with the red looking house with bright blue sky (the 3rd from the bottom)
sebastian
Jan 13, 2010
The sky in that photo, and the last, is awesome, I agree!
Candace
Jan 13, 2010
I like the second photo! But the last one is also awesome. Gorgeous!
Connie
Jan 18, 2010
Beautiful photos! We haven’t lived in a snowy area in many years – so it’s much easier to ‘forget’ about the cold, dark, wet, slushy, shoveling, scraping parts of it all and really get into drooling over the prettiness.
sebastian
Jan 18, 2010
Thanks, both of you