Winter into Spring around Harewood
It seems that Spring has finally arrived! After one of the longest winters in recent years it appears that temperatures have started to rise, the daffodils are in flower, and there are definite signs of Spring as I walk around the local countryside.
I thought it might be quite interesting to show some of the changes we can expect to see over the next few weeks. There is a walk I have taken quite a few times around the Harewood Estate. It has a variety of landscape photography opportunities, including parkland, woodland and broader landscape views. I took photos around this walk a few years ago for a magazine article. These photos were taken at the end of Spring, when the trees had freshly opened leaves. I printed off some low resolution reference shots, and tried to find the same locations in early April this year, when there was little evidence of Spring in the air, or the landscape.
The map below shows the walk route:
Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors
This is a pretty good winter walk as most (but not all) of the route is on relatively dry or metalled estate roads. The exception is the last leg through woodland, where some sections can be rather muddy.
My first comparison point was the carriage drive laid out by Capability Brown, which gives a succession of fantastic views across to Harewood House. The dramatic impact of the spring growth, and differences in the quality of light are clearly visible in the image below:
The walled drive of Church lane, which forms part of the third side of the square shape of this walk is pleasant to walk through, and also makes an attractive photographic subject, with the receding lines of the road and walls complemented by the varying colours of the trees and moss covered walls. Again, the view changes dramatically through the seasons. This view in particular would, I think, make an attractive Autumn picture as well, so it is on my list for a further return visit.
I have include the images above images, together with a couple of other comparison shots in the following short video. Click on the image below to watch the video on YouTube:
