It never ceases to amaze me how many garden treasures there are within a few 
miles of my home.  I also feel a sense of guilt when someone points out 
another one that I was unaware of, but must have driven past hundreds of 
times in my pursuit of a good day out and a few photos.  And Cherkley Court 
near Leatherhead is yet another one that was brought to my attention last 
month.

Home to the first Lord Beaverbrook, the famous newspaper magnate who bought 
it on the recommendation of Rudyard Kipling and his wife, the gardens are 
open to the public at certain times of year ... sadly closed between the end 
of September and the beginning of April ... 
http://www.cherkleycourt.com/home.htm

The gardens are beautifully maintained with an accent on old traditional 
bedding plants, which to my eye produce a much more calming influence 
compared to the geometric regimes found in so many formal gardens nowadays. 
It was like walking back in time.

Well worth a visit when they reopen next year if only for the outstanding 
views of unspoilt countryside, and in the meantime, here's a gallery of 
photos I took during my visit in late September ...

http://www.pbase.com/davecq/cherk


-- 
Dave (Sgt. Pepper)       Epsom, England
     My photo galleries at  http://www.pbase.com/davecq
    "I will not tolerate intolerance ... Doh!!"

Dave (Sgt. Pepper) wrote:
> It never ceases to amaze me how many garden treasures there are within a 
> few miles of my home.  I also feel a sense of guilt when someone points 
> out another one that I was unaware of, but must have driven past 
> hundreds of times in my pursuit of a good day out and a few photos.  And 
> Cherkley Court near Leatherhead is yet another one that was brought to 
> my attention last month.
> 
> Home to the first Lord Beaverbrook, the famous newspaper magnate who 
> bought it on the recommendation of Rudyard Kipling and his wife, the 
> gardens are open to the public at certain times of year ... sadly closed 
> between the end of September and the beginning of April ... 
> http://www.cherkleycourt.com/home.htm
> 
> The gardens are beautifully maintained with an accent on old traditional 
> bedding plants, which to my eye produce a much more calming influence 
> compared to the geometric regimes found in so many formal gardens 
> nowadays. It was like walking back in time.
> 
> Well worth a visit when they reopen next year if only for the 
> outstanding views of unspoilt countryside, and in the meantime, here's a 
> gallery of photos I took during my visit in late September ...
> 
> http://www.pbase.com/davecq/cherk
> 
> 

I must admit that I knew it was there from walking round 'Little 
Switzerland' a few years back. But I did not know it was open to the public.
Nice place & excellent photos.

-- 
Tony the Dragon

"Tony Dragon"  wrote in message 
news:QeKdnQ867fcO3WvVnZ2dnUVZ8q2dnZ2d@bt.com...
>
> I must admit that I knew it was there from walking round 'Little 
> Switzerland' a few years back. But I did not know it was open to the 
> public.
> Nice place

I only found out about it after my wife's friend arranged for them to meet 
for a coffee there.    The house itself isn't open to the public except by 
special arrangement, but they do have wedding parties there, so presumably 
part of the house gets opened for such occasions.

> & excellent photos.

Thanks very much Tony.

-- 
Dave (Sgt. Pepper)       Epsom, England
     My photo galleries at  http://www.pbase.com/davecq
    "I will not tolerate intolerance ... Doh!!"

< snip >
>
> I must admit that I knew it was there from walking round 'Little 
> Switzerland' a few years back. But I did not know it was open to the 
> public.
> Nice place & excellent photos.
>
> -- 
> Tony the Dragon

Absolutely . . . great pics . . . . though makes me wonder, given our 
summer, when you must have taken them :-)

CD

"Chris D"  wrote in message 
news:7-adnSrKJewbsGrVnZ2dnUVZ8sGdnZ2d@giganews.com...
>
> Absolutely . . . great pics . . . . though makes me wonder, given our 
> summer, when you must have taken them :-)
>
> CD

Thanks very much Chris.  Well I can tell you it was Thursday 25th September 
as confirmed by the camera's exif data.   But I know what you mean ... this 
summer has been dire and the days when I have felt like taking the camera 
out have been few and far between.  That particular day was delightful, very 
warm, slight breeze to keep it comfortable, and just the right amount of 
fluffy cloud to add interest to the sky.  I'm hoping for a great many more 
days like that next summer.

-- 
Dave (Sgt. Pepper)       Epsom, England
     My photo galleries at  http://www.pbase.com/davecq
    "I will not tolerate intolerance ... Doh!!"

"Dave (Sgt. Pepper)"  wrote in message 
news:uL6dndn91bXpomrVnZ2dnUVZ8rednZ2d@giganews.com...
>
> "Chris D"  wrote in message 
> news:7-adnSrKJewbsGrVnZ2dnUVZ8sGdnZ2d@giganews.com...
>>
>> Absolutely . . . great pics . . . . though makes me wonder, given our 
>> summer, when you must have taken them :-)
>>
>> CD
>
> Thanks very much Chris.  Well I can tell you it was Thursday 25th 
> September as confirmed by the camera's exif data.   But I know what you 
> mean ... this summer has been dire and the days when I have felt like 
> taking the camera out have been few and far between.  That particular day 
> was delightful, very warm, slight breeze to keep it comfortable, and just 
> the right amount of fluffy cloud to add interest to the sky.  I'm hoping 
> for a great many more days like that next summer.
>
> -- 
> Dave (Sgt. Pepper)       Epsom, England
>     My photo galleries at  http://www.pbase.com/davecq
>    "I will not tolerate intolerance ... Doh!!"
>
>

Yuk, what a dump!

> "Dave (Sgt. Pepper)"  wrote in message 
> news:uL6dndn91bXpomrVnZ2dnUVZ8rednZ2d@giganews.com...
>>
>> "Chris D"  wrote in message 
>> news:7-adnSrKJewbsGrVnZ2dnUVZ8sGdnZ2d@giganews.com...
>>>
>>> Absolutely . . . great pics . . . . though makes me wonder, given our 
>>> summer, when you must have taken them :-)
>>>
>>> CD

Congratulations Dave on your delightful collection of photos of Cherkley 
Court.

Although I live "next door" at Mickleham and have known of the Beaverbrook 
estate for sixty years, I must admit to not having visited since it opened 
to the public - I shall make sure to remedy that mext year now that you have 
"whetted my appetite".

Regards,

Laurie. 


-----------------
www.Newsgroup-Binaries.com - *Completion*Retention*Speed*
Access your favorite newsgroups from home or on the road
-----------------

"Laurie Bridges"  wrote in message 
news:48ff6b37$0$7441$8d2e0cab@news.newsgroup-binaries.com...
>
> Congratulations Dave on your delightful collection of photos of Cherkley 
> Court.
>
> Although I live "next door" at Mickleham and have known of the Beaverbrook 
> estate for sixty years, I must admit to not having visited since it opened 
> to the public - I shall make sure to remedy that mext year now that you 
> have "whetted my appetite".
>
> Regards,
>
> Laurie.

Very pleased you enjoyed them Laurie, thank you.  I shall certainly be 
making a return visit after they reopen next April ... I'm looking forward 
to seeing the gardens again, but with Spring colours.

-- 
Dave (Sgt. Pepper)       Epsom, England
     My photo galleries at  http://www.pbase.com/davecq
    "I will not tolerate intolerance ... Doh!!"

Dave (Sgt. Pepper) expressed precisely :
> It never ceases to amaze me how many garden treasures there are within a few 
> miles of my home.  I also feel a sense of guilt when someone points out 
> another one that I was unaware of, but must have driven past hundreds of 
> times in my pursuit of a good day out and a few photos.  And Cherkley Court 
> near Leatherhead is yet another one that was brought to my attention last 
> month.
>
> Home to the first Lord Beaverbrook, the famous newspaper magnate who bought 
> it on the recommendation of Rudyard Kipling and his wife, the gardens are 
> open to the public at certain times of year ... sadly closed between the end 
> of September and the beginning of April ... 
> http://www.cherkleycourt.com/home.htm
>
> The gardens are beautifully maintained with an accent on old traditional 
> bedding plants, which to my eye produce a much more calming influence 
> compared to the geometric regimes found in so many formal gardens nowadays. 
> It was like walking back in time.
>
> Well worth a visit when they reopen next year if only for the outstanding 
> views of unspoilt countryside, and in the meantime, here's a gallery of 
> photos I took during my visit in late September ...
>
> http://www.pbase.com/davecq/cherk

Thanks for the pics and info Dave, will definitely pay a visit.

Do you use a 200 iso as a standard setting? (Not that I'm that 
technical).

B.

"BrianE"  wrote in message 
news:mn.ba3e7d8aef6ba9bd.88848@nojunkplease.co.uk...
>
> Thanks for the pics and info Dave, will definitely pay a visit.
>
> Do you use a 200 iso as a standard setting? (Not that I'm that technical).
>
> B.


Cheers Brian.  The gardens will be open again at the beginning of next 
April.

Regarding the ISO setting, the camera I used for this shoot is the Nikon D3 
full-frame digital SLR which has a native base ISO of 200.  However, it has 
an auto-ISO facility which I leave turned on all the time.  Using this, I 
can program the camera that I don't want to shoot at less than say 1/125th 
second whenever possible to prevent camera shake, and I can program in the 
highest ISO I want it to make use of, my choice being ISO 3200 (but it can 
go higher albeit at the expense of grainier photos).

Then I manually set the aperture, e.g. f 8, for each shot to achieve the 
depth of field I want.  The beauty of the auto-ISO is that if I'm shooting 
in full sun, the camera will stay at the native 200 ISO, but if I encounter 
a dark situation, like the shots in the unlit shell grotto, the ISO will 
automatically increase to whatever is needed to compensate and keep the 
shutter speed at a minimum of 1/125th second.  If it's really dark, like in 
photo 52 of the shell grotto, and the camera has reached 3200 ISO but there 
is still not enough light to get a good exposure, only then will the camera 
start dropping the shutter speed below my preferred minimum of 1/125th 
second.  So photo 52 was actually shot at 1/80th second at 3200 ISO (both 
settings automatically adjusted by the camera) and at f 8 which was my 
over-riding manual setting for that particular shot.

It's a clever system and keeps the shutter speed up even in low light 
conditions, leaving me to concentrate on composition and depth of field.

-- 
Dave (Sgt. Pepper)       Epsom, England
     My photo galleries at  http://www.pbase.com/davecq
    "I will not tolerate intolerance ... Doh!!"