The entire North Downs way has been walked with Google’s street camera equipment and will be the first long distance footpath to be covered this way. “We’re putting the best of the British countryside where it’s never been before – on Google maps,” said Peter Morris, the North Downs Way trail manager. From 17 March, when the North Downs Way goes live, the national trails will start appearing on Google Street View. The Cleveland Way will be next. This means that you will be able to
Read more →Having signed a publishing contract with Oxbow Books, I now have the pleasant task of actually producing the book content before the autumn deadline. I have started assembling images into a book of 90-odd pages, which I do using the BonusPrint software for producing photo books. This is a very exciting stage, as you see things start to come together into another beautiful publication, and it is also interesting finding out which images I end up selecting. The publisher wants more text than in Chiltern Landscapes
Read more →[singlepic id=527 w=320 h=240 float=left] Tuesday was the only day in this week of a mild October when the weather forecast was good, so I cleared the diary and drove southward under grey skies, negotiating some deep puddles. An hour later, there was intermittent sun as I parked at Burford Bridge, near Dorking. Here, beneath Box Hill, are the stepping stones over the River Mole, which are now 17 concrete steps at regular intervals across the stream that have gained some local notoriety. They form a
Read more →Ancient castles, churches and settlements rub shoulders with high-tech modern architecture: people have lived in this gentle countryside along the River Wey for a very long time. Roaming through this Downs landscape, you encounter living history and remnants of the past at every turn, whilst high tech businesses and fast roads point into the future. So far in my exploration of the North Downs, I have covered most of the northern section, from Guildford in the west to Rochester in the east. I now realise that
Read more →[singlepic id=349 w=320 h=240 float=centre] I love the idea that I can go for a walk somewhere lovely and take photographs, and regard it as work: doing something you love as your occupation is definitely the way to go! But it has been nearly a month since my last North Downs expedition and blog, and the reason for the gap is mostly bad weather: it’s been a soggy, cold May. Even on nice days, the wind tends to come from the north, so rather than beginning
Read more →It’s a bright sunny Sunday, and the spring seems to have really arrived with temperatures high enough to leave the coat at home: what a relief! My next bit of location for research for my proposed North Downs book is Guildford, the County Town of Surrey which sits where the River Wey cuts through the hills. Guildford is a major road and rail interchange so has grown much larger than Dorking, and has it’s own cathedral and university. Guildford also has an 11th century castle which
Read more →Doug Kennedy is seeking a new photography publishing project and started his research in the North Downs at Dorking. He explores the ancient church, the new vineyards and climbs Box Hill to find that spring is late. Will this be the start of a project to end in a new publication?
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