When we headed up to Ford & Etal I was hoping to catch some of the change in seasons, and the splashes of autumn colour starting to hit the landscape. Sadly, we were probably two, maybe even three weeks early for peak colour. The villages themselves however did not disappoint in terms of photography subjects. Whilst we did do a walk through the area, it was the villages that were the star of the show. As such, I’ll not really focus on the walking route itself today, but instead signpost the page for the local walks from the Ford & Etal Website:

https://www.ford-and-etal.co.uk/attractions/walking/

We parked up in Ford, roughly ///coveted.onlookers.lashed on what3words.

Much of the village, as with the little post office here, is very picturesque and post card worthy. It is attached to the side of house with signage to indicate it was a Bed & Breakfast. I imagine it would be a fabulous place to wake up, especially as the seasons change. Not only is a beautiful village, but it sits a stones throw from the Cheviot Hills, meaning you are a short hop from dozens of Northumberlands best walks. (well, best in my opinion anyway!)

There is are a couple of zoomed out versions of this image in the galley at the bottom of the page.

I loved the building above. It was embracing autumn, with the tree’s surrounding it. It was almost analogous in its palette, blending in its orange stone and red tile to the trees. I imagine this would only grow more intense as autumn deepens.

Normally as well I hate getting modern cars in my photos like this (there are a couple of awkward crops coming up that demonstrate trying to remove cars) but I think the hue of the Range Rover (evoque?) actually suits the scene well, giving a complimentary colour to the otherwise overwhelmingly autumn tones.

Lady Waterford’s hall is a gallery covered in a large Pre-Raphaelite murals. Whilst my wife and I enjoyed the art, our little ones enjoyed hunting lego animals that had been hidden throughout the hall. The got so excited to find them. It really goes to show, sometimes with children it really can be the little things that make all the difference.

The image itself was taken from this angle so that the statue base could block cars along the road that lead from the hall up towards the old forge building. The forge itself has an image in the gallery at the bottom of the page. It is the building with the horseshoe door. It again is at and awkward crop for half the building to remove cars from the frame.

I think with the above image, I was drawn towards the colour of the tree before I’d even noticed the church. With autumn still not in full swing it is still only the odd tree that packs this much of a punch of colour. Discovering it hid a church behind it was just a bonus.

In contrast to the previous image, this one was intended to be all about the church. Unfortunately when coming around to capture the little bell tower, the hills behind became less prominent. I still like the image though, even if it shows a more rolling landscape surrounding it.

Possibly somewhat ironically, given the commentary on previous images about cropping out cars, this is quite possibly my favourite image of the day. I think having a car that is old enough to be a classic makes a lot of difference. It makes the photograph that much more timeless. Personally speaking, I find there is also something so much more aesthetically pleasing about older cars that seems to have been lost in recent years as the motivations behind the designs has changed.

This image was taken peaking over the hedge of the Lavender Tea Rooms in Etal. I have always been one for a cheese scone with lashings of butter, rather than a sweet scone with jam and cream. The tea rooms here did not disappoint. The scone was the best I’ve had in a long time. They also serve a scone flavoured with their namesake flower, lavender which my wife very much enjoyed.

The Black Bull is the only thatched pub in Northumberland, and serves locally brewed ale from the Cheviot Brewery.

Have I even been on a photo walk if I don’t come away with a photo of an old farm building filled with character? This one is sat on a hill near to the ford at Etal, framed by a tree.

I liked how the above house stood proud of it’s surrounding foliage and caught the light (albeit flat light from an overcast sky). I took it from two angles, and couldnt decide which to make more prominent. This version won out for me because the sky looked moodier, and the colour in the foliage felt more timely for the season. The other image is in the gallery below.

Whilst I did take a couple of variation of this image, there was something about the imperfection of the blur with the birds that I actually found quite satisfying. This was one of a bracketed set, from normal exposure, on the under exposed version the birds were sharp, and I also have versions without the birds at all. I can’t quite put my finger on why I liked this one better to be honest. Maybe it’s just the implication of movement…

There is a further selection of images below in a gallery format from our wander around the picturesque villages of Ford & Etal.

If you would like to see more of my landscape work, moving forward most of the images will be here in blog format, but I will notify of new entries on my Instagram page for landscapes - @photog.righ

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