I am always on the lookout for different places to visit in my locality. Reviewing local tags on Instagram pages highlights the beauty of the surrounding area and reveals a range of places to visit. Recently, I was given the opportunity of selecting a picture for the #igerscoventry #igerswarwickshire Instagram site. A black and white picture of Tysoe Windmill in South Warwickshire caught my eye. This was a place that I had not heard of before and the picture got my vote. Immediately I set about researching the windmill and looking at pictures that other photographers had taken. It looked interesting, and I planned a morning sunrise whilst we were enjoying good September weather.
Getting up early is not so difficult in September but there was the problem with the national fuel shortage. Luckily the 24-hour garage near to us had petrol and I was able to set off. The conditions were initially clear and then when I left the M40 it became very foggy as I travelled through Kineton village. I was excited as the conditions were shaping up to be excellent for the sunrise. I passed through the villages of Tysoe and then saw familiar landmarks from my Google maps research. I found the country lane and parked up the car. The fog was swirling around with the sun occasionally showing through. The Windmill is situated on a high hill. My approach on the public footpath took me up some wooden steps, many of which were broken. I did not see the windmill until I was almost at the top. The fog was still around and a picture of spiders’ webs on the gate with the windmill in the background set the scene. The picture also did well on my social media. Looking back down the hill, the fog was lying in pockets on the landscape. There was that lovely saturation of the sky that happens before the Sun is in the sky. Sunrise was nearly upon me. I followed the footpath around the south side of the hill before entering via a gate onto the hilltop with the Windmill.
The restored windmill has a commanding presence. The structure has weathered brickwork and is rather tubby looking around the middle. It has a wooden box where the Windmill mechanism protrudes away from the sales. I have done a deconstructed view of the windmill showing all my various observations.
Back to the sunrise. It was lovely to see and whilst there were no clouds in the sky to provide any colour variations, the light was still beautiful. I took plenty of pictures which included the long shadows of the trees, spiders’ webs highlighted by the morning moisture and landscapes showing the last remnants of the foggy conditions. There was no one else around bar the cattle in the fields and the crows flying around. Then the sun became much stronger, and the conditions slowly changed. Reluctantly I made my way down the hill and back to the car. There were still a couple more pictures to take before I was back on the road home. Next time I will visit in the evening and see how the sunset shapes up but until then I hope you enjoy these pictures.
