For the second time now I had left behind the beautiful land and seascapes of Dorset to start a new work contract.  This time I was moving to east England, Stevenage in Hertfordshire.

Knebworth Park

Its never easy starting a new job after a long break.  For the first week I just stayed in a hotel.  My first walk was actually to Knebworth house just with my compact camera.  But not really get anything exceptional.

But here is one for the record and to put a pin on the map. Even on a dull day in March a better photo would have included the herd of deer with Knebworth house in the background and more zoom.

Barton Hills

Checking google maps, there was a big green patch not far from Stevenage so the first weekend I took a drive there and parked up in Barton Le Clay.  Then made my way up the Barton Hills.

Checking OS Maps online, the area around the Barton Hills certainly has a lot of interest and I intended to explore more of this area over the coming weeks.

The Barton hills in Bedfordshire are the extreme northern end of the Chiltern hills.  Another dull day, windy up the top, but tried to make the most of it.  My legs needed the exercise after a week sat in an office.

Adding a graduated filter darkened the sky and made it look more dramatic.  The hikers in the distance give a sense of scale.  The Barton hills are a dramatic range of chalk downland but look well trodden close to Luton.  To get a good landscape shot in the right light,  would need to keep coming back for a month dawn and dusk.

I needed to get some landscape shots though, my first in Bedfordshire.  During the process lost one of the screws on my tripod.  With the windy weather I switched to handholding and using the telephoto end of my lens to try and capture some intimate shots.

East Of England Landscape Photography

So stay tuned for more shots from the east of England as I explore more of the area including the Chilterns and maybe some ventures to the Suffolk and the east coast.