Bonus Photo March 26th, 2018

Danesfield House

Anyone who watched the fascinating Colin & Ewan McGregor RAF AT 100 programme on the BBC last night will have seen RAF Medmenham mentioned, and the vital role it played in gathering intelligence during World War 2 at its Danesfield House base. Now a hotel and spa, it's literally a couple of minutes up the road from me at work. 

I first went there in the mid 1980s just after I started work with Dad, as back then we delivered some carrier bags to Carnation Foods, who had taken over the house from the RAF in 1977. Although I drive past it pretty much every day, I think I have only been in there a couple of times since, going back over 10 years ago, when the hotel was thinking about having some up market paper bags. The RAF programme triggered a spark of curiosity in me, so I popped in today and took this photo of the place.

November 1st, 2017 - Photo 305 of 365

Noel & Prince

Prince had a special treat today as Noel came along for our lunchtime walk in the fields at work in Medmenham, so there was definitely an extra bounce in his step. The continuing mild weather made it absolutely lovely, and not even a close shave with two snappy dogs off their leads could spoil it. 

October 9th, 2017 - Photo 282 of 365

Berks & Bucks

A view at lunchtime. I am standing on the hills around work at Medmenham in Buckinghamshire, and looking across towards Remenham and Hurley in Berkshire. In fact the River Thames goes right across this picture, though hidden by the trees. The A4155 that connects Henley and Marlow is in the foreground. But mostly it's just a great scene, and a lovely part of the world to go to work in when you can see and appreciate views like this during the lunch break.

July 7th, 2017 - Photo 188 of 365

River Thames at Medmenham

This is one of my favourite local views where The River Thames runs through Medmenham, which is halfway between Marlow and Henley on the A4155, where my business has been based since the end of 1999. On a day like today the view is absolutely stunning. At the end of Ferry Lane, in Medmenham, is the old ferry crossing, which ceased operation after the Second World War. Today, the road still runs into the river. To the left are the gardens of Medmenham Abbey, which is now a private house not open to the public.  

January 24th, 2017 - Photo 24 of 365

Winter in Medmenham

I have a favourite place to stop to give the dogs a pit stop just a few hundreds yards from work along the A4155. It's the site of a former water research company and the land is now up for sale. The gates are locked, which conveniently allows me to park up for a few minutes. It was another crisp sunny morning today and, having put the dogs back in the van, I took this photo. I always like using trees to give a photo something extra and this one came out well, especially once I had converted it to black and white.

January 16th, 2017 - Photo 16 of 365

Stables near work in Medmenham

Another day of miserable wet weather, although with it being a work day I am glad that at least its been quite mild. I had to deliver some heavy duty bin liners to a stable close to work in Medmenham today, and looking at the horses in the field brought back a few memories of Mum who had a life-long passion for horses. In recent times while she was recovering from surgery we would often go to see her horse, Shimara, in her field and today's scene was not too dissimilar. Sadly Mum and Shimara passed away within a couple of months of each other last year.

January 9th, 2017 - Photo 9 of 365

Traditional phone box in Medmenham

You don't see many traditional red phone boxes around these days. But in the village of Medmenham where I work this phone box remains and in working order by the looks of it. Like most people in possession of a mobile phone I no longer need to use them, but it wasn't so long ago that I would frequently stop and use them to call Dad back at work when I was out driving.

January 4th, 2017 - Photo 4 of 365

A door at work!

The business moved to Westfield Farm in Medmenham 16 years ago. Throughout that time the small makeshift office has not had a door! Dad made a makeshift screen out of reinforced polythene that has done a sterling job, but as we head into the heart of another winter I decided that it was time to bite the bullet and make the office a bit more bearable and shut out the cold.. 

Being a farm unit and north facing, the sun does hit the unit at all during the daytime. Great during summer for keeping cool, but pretty horrible during winter. It is often much warmer outside the unit than inside, even on days where the temperature barely rises above freezing outside. I wear thermals on cold days but ultimately it is just freezing cold and not very pleasant most of the time. These days I also have the two dogs to consider and with Storm's recent lymphoma diagnosis I had to make the office warmer so she could continue to come into work.  She's much happier at work and I am much happier with the dogs for company.

So my brother's mate Chris has spent the last 24 hours turning the entrance into the office into something more permanent, and more importantly a very cosy little room that will make things so much more pleasant over the winter months.

I didn't think I would be taking any photos of plain doors this year during the 365 project, so it just goes to show you never know where this photographic challenge may take you each day. It's worth looking at the photo next to the door which was taken in 1976 when Dad had started up the business. A bit of record breaking going on there..

January 3rd, 2017 - Photo 3 of 365

A4155 close to Medmenham

Today was the first day back at work after the Christmas break. It was a bitterly cold morning with a heavy frost under clear skies. As I approached work at Medmenham, between Marlow and Henley,along the A4155 there were the first signs of the sunrise giving me a good opportunity to get the camera out. There is a conveniently roadside lay-by which allowed me to capture this great scene of the sun coming up behind this large solitary tree. I would usually wait for any passing cars to go past before I take photographs, but in this photo I actually thought the lights of the car approaching me adding a little something to the picture.