Weald and Downland Open Air Museum

This is the rather primitive dwelling of the 'charcoal burner'. Not a job which appeals to me ...

The Weald and Downland Museum, at Singleton in West Sussex is an extraordinary and magical place. Set high up on the South Downs, the drive to the museum is glorious, passing Goodwood Motor Racing Circuit and Goodwood Racecourse, climbing steeply until we reached our destination in a small valley. It has become a closely guarded haven of buildings - the traditional homes and workplaces of villages which have been rescued from destruction and brought to Singleton to be cherished and preserved for generations to come. The buildings range from the tiny dwellings of the late 13th century, to 19th century examples from the Victorian era. The museum is a charity and is entirely dependent upon visitor income, voluntary effort and its Friends group. It was gratifying to see all the car parks completely full when we arrived just after lunch, as Sussex residents we are proud to have such a remarkable heritage site in our county. And I was proud to photograph it - with all the associated difficulties of very low light (the interiors were literally dark, I couldn't even see my camera at times) and cramped quarters. Supplementary light and a tripod were no-gos for this one, so I had to employ my best slow-shutter-hand-holding technique. Noise is a given in these situations, but I think I'm unusual in that I don't mind a bit of noise, in fact I feel it adds to the atmosphere of some of the shots (it's also very rare for me to sharpen any of my images). A wide aperture is a must in dim conditions (especially when the camera is unsupported) so I also had to forgo some depth of field. I hope the shots give you an idea of how life must have been in centuries gone by, and how very lucky we are to have all the comforts we enjoy in the 21st Century. Find the museum here.

A Victorian Toll Cottage:

This is how its inhabitants would have lived:

Find our main site here.

Uppark

I think we had the best skies of the year today, made even deeper and more dramatic by the addition of a circular polarizer on my most-used outdoor lens, the 24-105L. Uppark is of course grand, but it's not too imposing, and I imagine it was pretty trendy for its day. I think its location is one of the finest of any property of its kind. Find it here.

Finally getting a chance to shoot this place has been fantastic, the drive along the Hampshire/Sussex border is idyllic in itself. Nestling high on the South Downs, Uppark is one of the gems of the National Trust, and its remote location just outside the village of South Harting makes it all the more special. Sitting on the sweeping, perfect lawns (of which there are acres) the view is captivating, and strangely silent. It seems that wherever we are these days there is always the background hum of something, but at Uppark we heard nothing more than the cries of the Buzzards enjoying the thermals above the hills, with the shipping traffic of the English Channel in the far distance.

Find our main site here.

Petworth

We popped just down the road to Petworth today, no sense wasting what might be the last day of summer. Petworth is an idyllic Sussex village, packed with antique shops which vary from the quaint to the uber-sophisticated. Petworth House has one of the finest collections of art in the world, approximately 300 paintings and sculptures by the likes of Reynolds, Titian, Turner and Gainsborough. The parkland is vast, wonderful for a long late-summer stroll around the lake. Find Petworth here.

Our main website is here.