English villages

Paging Paul Hilton!  Paul, where are you??

I just went thru some of Paul's pics, and I'll bet this village of Lacock is as charming as they come. 

Picture by Paul Hilton

Wow, I just noticed this in the slide show across the top of the page.  Very charming village.  In Wales, I believe.

Picture by chris williams

No it wasn't a festival.  The title of the picture is "Film Making at Lacock."  So they must have been filming one of those period pieces we all love so much.  Is that Mr. Darcy on the carriage?  lol

Hi Diana and Ruth; you're right Ruth, they were filming  Tom Brown's School Days and on the coach is Tom Brown on his way to school in Rugby, I believe.  Written by novelist Thomas Hughes, born in the village of Uffington, Oxfordshire.

Villages--I think Windsor is a bit too big to count as a village, though it once was. But, there is a village that is a city and that's St David's in Wales, granted city status by virtue of it having a cathedral and thus the smallest city in Britain. It was Henry VIII who initiated the idea that towns with cathedrals could henceforth call themselves cities, though today, that's no longer a requirement, but does explain why such places as Winchester, Salisbury, Coventry, York, for example, are cities, and not towns.

Thats what i love to drive around and see the Villages, I will have to make notes of these you guys are talking about. great pictures to Paul,

 BTW, Paul are you a professional photographer?

Interesting question Debbie and flattered you should ask. I'm a photo enthusiast that spends a lot of time and money on my hobby. Though having said that, over the years, my photos have been published in various national magazines, brochures, newspapers for example, and do the very occasional wedding for friends.  In the main, cameras/lenses used are Nikon's professional ones. I've had the occasional commisions for work from multi-national companies.

Though started out many years ago working at a London studio, I don't have formal qualifications as such, though spend a lot of time studying the work of various European and American professional photographers to try to emulate what they have done; there's a lot of talented people out there. Perhaps when I retire in the next few years, I'll consider going full time, but at the moment, it's just a past time for me I enjoy.

Thanks for all the great info, Paul.  We visited the town of Lismore in County Waterford in Ireland.  I've posted some of my pics of Lismore Castle here.  A few months after we got back from our trip over there, we were watching "Northanger Abbey, and when they showed the exteriors, I said, "Hey, I know that place."  And sure enough, it was filmed at Lismore Castle.  That was kind of exciting, to tune in to one of those great British period pieces and there's a place you've visited.

Here's one of the shots.  It's a charming village too, albeit in Ireland.  I guess it's more of a town than a village.

Picture by Ruth Gregory