December 14th – There’s a small stub of driveway or track off Old Park Road in Kings Hill called Kings Hill Field. I think once, it went right across the park to the Darlaston Road, and I suspect it’s the remnant of an old right of way, now curtailed by the lovely Kings Hill Park. There’s a small row of terraces, and the gates to the park; and in the right light, by chance, it looks beautiful.
This is why I love this place.
December 9th – In Darlaston itself, a reminder of the great architecture present in this underrated town. Darlaston Police Station is a beautiful building, more ornate than any police station I’ve seen. It scans foursquare in a quiet, tree-lined side street overlooking Victoria Park.
On this chill winter morning, the low sun through the trees make me stop and take a good look.
If you’ve never visited Darlaston, please do. It’s a wonderful, unassuming place, full of gems like this.
November 3rd – intrigued to note that the Kings Hill Methodist Church in Darlaston is still undergoing extensive work to convert it to flats 12 months after the conversion started. This is clearly no cheap, quick fix – the work has involved relining the roof, with all the tiles removed and replaced, skylights added, and I was pleased to note today all the lead stolen from the front gables had been carefully replaced.
It’s been fascinating to watch this transformation and I’m keen to see the results. What I thought would surely be some bodge has turned out to be respectful, skilled and so far, very sensitive to the original building.
Meanwhile, the metal poppies in the railings of the adjacent park are a wonderful touch, especially at this time of year.
October 6th – Also looking good in the autumn colour is church hill in Wednesbury, taken from Kings Hill Park.
This view of the twin sisters will only improve as the leaves turn further. You can’t not love this.
August 15th – A run into Birmingham in the afternoon on an errand saw me take a route down through Witton Lakes. In the small patch of grass that links Witton to Brookvale Park, a curious thing: a metre-wide, undulating band of wheat and wildflowers has been planted. It’s full of bugs and bees, and poppies and cornflowers proliferate.
It’s a nice thing – and the lakes were as lovely as ever, too.
My compliments to the people who planned and planted it.
August 4th – No idea what’s happened in the last couple of days, but Victoria and Kings Hill parks in Darlaston are alive with fungi. I assume these are field mushrooms – I didn’t want to destroy them to check for sure. They’re a good 3-4 inches across and look healthy. So nice to see the fungi back, even if it does herald autumn…
July 21st – Darlaston’s Kings Hill Park. Cutting through on a morning errand. The place was deserted, but you’re never really quite alone.
I do hope she found what she was looking for…
June 11th – Trying out yet another little camera. I’ve been using the Nikon for a week or so, and have to say I like it very much. The picture quality is excellent, and most of the features are brilliant. I’m on the verge of buying one, but I have concerns: the camera seems a bit fragile compared to the Panasonic, and the user interface is very inflexible. It’s also got some odd autofocus behaviour. But I’m certainly giving the Nikon some thought.
For the next week or so, I have custody of a Sony HX90 – same 30x optical zoom as the Panasonic and Nikon, smaller than both. It feels solid and dense. Initial impressions are the pictures are a little dark, but I’m not sure yet. It’s way more flexible than the Nikon, and the user interface knocks the Panasonic and Nikon into a cocked hat.
As I commuted to and from work on a bright sunny summers day,the photos didn’t seem too bad. It’ll be interesting to see how it pans out.
My thanks to the trusting fool who’s lending me this kit. A real gent. Cheers.
June 6th – A pootle into Birmingham through Sutton Park, down past Witton Lakes and on the canal through Aston. I returned on the canal to Smetwick, then up through the Sandwell Valley and home.
The wind was fearsome and this was a wolf of a day again – but the canals looked fine and it cheered me up no end.
I loved the swan des res on WItton Lakes – a great idea for a safe nesting site!
The geese are really aggressive at the moment. The one that drew blood pecking my ankle really wasn’t messing about – so take care!
March 30th – I keep banging on about this, but it is rather great. On a blowy but beautiful spring morning, I dawdled through Kings Hill Park. With every week of spring it gets that little bit more green, that bit more in bloom.
Today it was gorgeous. Can’t wait until there’s some leaves on those trees. Wherever you are, get into your local parks. Walsall’s people work hard to keep our open spaces looking great. Enjoy them while they’re at their most beautiful.
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