Location: Howick Hall gardens

Howick Hall Gardens in North Northumberland is a great place for photographing flowers, plants, and trees. Howick was the home of the 2nd Earl Grey, who was Prime Minister of the UK from 1830 to 1834, gave his name to Earl Grey tea, and is commemorated by a statue on top of a gigantic column at the top of Grey Street in Newcastle upon Tyne. (See a previous blog post for the view from the top of Grey’s Monument).

Only the gardens are open to the public, the house being private except for a tea room. Howick Hall is much less well known than National Trust properties in Northumberland, such as Cragside and Wallington, and as a result is relatively quiet, which helps with photography !

The gardens are closed in the winter (my November visit was just before closure) and only open in the afternoons, so I advise you to check with their website  before visiting. There is an admission charge but compared to competitors it’s not too high.

If you want to make a full day of photography, there’s loads of opportunities on the coast nearby; the closest spot being Rumbling Kern which has some great rock features.

I’ve split the images into groups from three different visits, to give an idea of the features that you might encounter at different times of year. Click on any image to view the set as a slideshow.

May 2013 – Mamiya RZ67 with Fuji Provia 400X and Kodak Portra 400

Rhodedendron

Gardener at work

Spring meadow

Summer Snowflakes (Leucojum aestivum)

Through the bushes

November 2012 -Mamiya RZ67 with Fuji Velvia 50 and Kodak Portra 400

In the Japanese Garden

July 2012 – 35mm Fuji Sensia 100

These were taken with the £5 camera body blogged about here.

Tree bark

Giant rhubarb

And here’s a pinhole image with the Holga WPC120 camera and Kodak Portra 400 film:

Birch

Finally, a reminder that there are some mono images from the inside of Howick Church in the previous blog entry.