Winter - The Abbey Fields, Kenilworth

It is splendid how the Warwickshire landscape can change so dramatically over winter. No sooner had the leaves fallen from the trees, opening up some interesting views of the castle that had been hidden in summer than November brought the floods. 


The Ford

The rivers swelled and the ford filled until it was level with the raised pavement and impassable for pedestrians as well as cars. 

A torrent poured into the fields where the rushing Finham Brook and the lake merged.



The lake looking to the castle

Fields turned into natural lakes where even the handrails of the bridges were submerged. Trees looked suddenly much shorter, dogs splashed in the new shorelines where a day before they had played ball and swans and ducks swam happily where there was once a path. Further down the fields, the swollen river crept over the tennis courts and flooded the footpath beneath Bridge Street and swept along to the allotments. The sun came out and people flocked to see the amazing changes, many with their cameras.


The dark nights of December were brightened by the switching on of the Christmas lights, first in the town centre and then in the old part of town where a couple of reindeer were in attendance, seemingly unconcerned at the attention they were receiving.



Footpath beside the lake

The water had hardly receded and the brook had just returned to normal when along came the snow, covering everything in a thick white blanket that levelled field, path and mole hill. Tree branches sparkled and a layer of snow settled on the frozen surface of the lake. 



Sledging on the slopes

In scenes reminiscent of Lowry, people, bundled up from the cold,  covered the slopes and lined the tops of the hills; matchstick people against the brilliant white with sledges and toboggans providing so much fun. Everything looked clean and bright, even until well after nightfall.

Now February has arrived and the snows have gone. The fields are returning to a bright green, if still a little muddy. The morning mist shrouds the lake and the two swans glide silently along its surface.  A red plastic sledge lies broken against the river bank and the moles have resumed their own re-landscaping with seemingly fresh vigour.

And soon the Spring will be here and the leaves will appear on the trees ready for summer.

St Nicholas Church, Winter,  2012 -2013

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Spoke too soon.  It’s nearly the first day of Spring and heading towards the end of March with Easter next weekend and everywhere is covered on snow again.  Biting cold winds and white skies.