Contrast in seasons
In view of the cold weather we are currently experiencing I thought that it would be nice to remember the warmth of the summer sunshine, with a visit to Swanage.
The view from the Victorian pier over looking the bay.
Our favourite beach cafe.
This is the Wellington Clock Tower, it was originally built as a memorial for the Duke of Wellington and was located on the approach to London Bridge in London. The clock never kept good time and as the traffic increased the tower was in the way . It was dismantled and the rubble was given to a Dorset builder to use as ballast to fill the empty ships returning to the Dorset stone mines. It was rebuilt in the more peaceful surroundings of Swanage without the clock!
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| Our daughter looking for fish in the clear water. |
We revisited Swanage a few weekends ago. These pictures are such a contrast to those summer days! I still however find beauty and interest in each season down by the sea.
Our son on a rare visit home - boys will be boys!
There were even some swimmers enjoying the bracing sea - Brr. I think I should have stuck with the summer images, I'm feeling cold again now!
We have had a busy weekend trying to get ahead getting things organised for Christmas and I also made our Christmas pudding using my mother in laws recipe. Have you started thinking about Christmas yet?
Sarah x
It does look very different depending on the season! Summers there must be wonderful, I love the clear look of the water.
ReplyDeleteDear Sarah,
ReplyDeleteSuch a contrast indeed! Swanage looks like a lovely seaside town. I will start decorating for Christmas this weeks. Already got the boxes with vintage decorations from the loft :-)
Have a lovely week!
madelief x
Oh no, I really do need to think about Christmas and especially Islay's birthday which is the 19th! I really don't understand swimming in the sea at this time of year! Loved the Wellington Clock Tower story. Juliex
ReplyDeleteHow chilly Swanage looked compared with the summer pictures!!! My boy's have happy times there at Boys' Brigade camp!! Another place to revisit!! I did my Christmas puds yesterday, also 5 of the 9 cakes are done! Both cake and pud recipes are very old Good Housekeeping ones I have done for years, always pretty tasty and rather alcoholic so why change?!! We don't have a cake for ourselves now, hubby is Diabetic and I'm not that keen, so am going to try a 'Winter Spice cake' this year for my son and I, looks like a spicy sponge!!! Am furiously sewing gifts now!!!
ReplyDeleteYou must be expert making that many Christmas cakes!
DeleteSarah x
How interesting to see the clock tower minus the clock! I haven't had time to even think about Christmas this year but now I'm getting worried as I've usually got it all organised by this late in the year! I really need to try to find some inspiration and get some gifts bought!
ReplyDeleteDearest Sarah, a great post! I have always loved the contrasts of seasons! Sometimes when it is very cold or very hot I like to imagine the contrary! It is very difficult! I love your pictures - and of course, I have been thinking about Christmas! In my thoughts I am preparing since long... what comes true we shall see... Christa
ReplyDeleteI love the bright pop of colour in the summer, but my eye is always drawn to the steel greys and blues of a winter sea. It feels very French Lieutenant's Woman. My Christmas preperations have already begun. I'musually pretty laid back about it all. It happens every year after all!!
ReplyDeleteLeanne xx
The contrast is more than evident but I also like the wintery look of this lovely little town. Beautiful photo of the Wellington Clock Tower . I hope that in Christmas you will have more time to be with the children, especially with your son.
ReplyDeleteHave a happy week Sarah!
We have Thanksgiving on Thursday this week here in the US so I have to wait until after that to decorate for Christmas. I'll wait until all my sons leave so when they come back for Christmas it will be a surprise. It's barely above freezing here in Maryland so your summer picture was appreciated!
ReplyDeleteI love the textures of the cliffs in that first photgraph. And the little straw parasols look Carribean! I am now thinking about Christmas and got the boxes down from the loft today to remind me what I have in the way of wrapping paper etc.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful pictures Sarah. I love this part of the country. John and I are spending a night in Christchurch next Sunday. Not the same area I know, but we used to stay there when our children were small and visited your hunting ground a lot. Love it. Have made my chutneys and cake and in the throes of making tree decorations. Mincemeat next!
ReplyDeletePatricia x
Hope you have a lovely time in Christchurch.
DeleteSarah x
Ooh, I much prefer the summer pictures. That beach cafe looks particularly enticing. Christmas? I've booked the grocery delivery slot but otherwise done not a thing!
ReplyDeleteIt does look rather different at Swanage now than in the summer - although both are beautiful for different reasons. I've begun Christmas things, tomorrow I need to think about cards and feed the christmas cake. Hope you enjoyed the Christmas pudding making! xx
ReplyDeleteSigh.... Thank you for this glimpse of summer! De-light-ful!
ReplyDeleteO, and eh, boys will be boys, that picture put a smile on my face, so recognizable.
Marian
Gorgeous photos! Both seasons make beautiful scenery but the colder months definitely make you feel cool just by looking at them. Personally I prefer colder winter pictures though.
ReplyDeleteI actually favor the wintry sea photos...and my favorite days along our coast is in autumn and winter. I will be thinking of Christmas this weekend...after our Thanksgiving.
ReplyDeleteYour favourite café looks inviting, which one do you go to? It's years since I went to Swanage and then I seem to have missed the good bits, didn't know about the lovely clock tower so I think a visit is on my wish list. I do know that there is a wonderful wool shop there so a visit is a must. We too had swimmers in the sea on the local beach! - without wet suits so it must have been freezing!
ReplyDeleteThe beach cafe is below the Grand Hotel, it looks as if they may be redeveloping this area with new beach huts so sadly it may not be there next year. The tower is at the other end of the bay at Peveril point.
DeleteSarah x
We haven't visited Swanage for a while ... your post has made me want to visit again soon ...
ReplyDeleteYou know I love the beach at any time of the year, lovely photos.
ReplyDeleteHi Sarah,
ReplyDeleteBoth seasons are lovely and what a beautiful place to go and visit and love the old clock tower.
It must be great to have your family come home.
Christmas is not that far away now - I have made a Christmas cake and still plenty to do.
Happy week
Hugs
Carolyn
What a contrast I love the blue skies of the summer ones but the winter ones certainly seem to capture the great British seaside! Christmas? Trying not to think about it- which is pretty easy over here- but then soon I'll have to get organised and then it will be a last minute rush as usual:)
ReplyDeleteMy goodness how rich is your world.
ReplyDeleteTO simply walk along the water, smell the air, go to a café, write about it. YES, this is the life I love. Peace and love to you dearest!
I'm always happy to look at images of summer. I love remembering the warmth! But the sea is always fascinating, in all weathers and seasons - and of course the changes in the light are amazing, too.
ReplyDeleteI've started to think about Christmas with the cake, but that's about it!
Its Christmas so soon? Oh no, I have only just got over the last one!
ReplyDeleteIt was fun seeing the contrast between seasons. I'm like you - seeing those guys in the water made me shiver. Brrr...
ReplyDeleteLove the one of your son best. the sea in winter is so photogenic I think.
ReplyDeleteIt IS getting cold here, too. We are a month away from Christmas, and the frenzy in the shops had begun almost immediately after Halloween. Could there be a more commercialised holiday season?
ReplyDeleteWe are thinking about Thanksgiving here which will be in two days – lots of cooking to do. When my mother passed away before Christmas in 2002 I could not find a plane to get back home from Paris to Georgia before the 25th but was told there was a seat on a flight from London to Atlanta on the 23rd, so I took the train to London on the 22nd. I was not in the Christmas spirit for sure, alone in London for two days. But I went to have a meal at the Crypt under the church St Martin in the Fields in Trafalgar Square. They had a Christmas plum pudding there that was so good that I still remember it and wish I could bake one – but don’t know what was in it. Anyway after the meal as I was walking back up to the sidewalk I was caught up in the crowd and pushed upstairs into the church. I am not a religious person but I did stay in the church because they gave me a Christmas carol sheet and all the people started singing – I joined in and sure felt better when I left.
ReplyDeleteI glad the carols and plum pudding gave you some consolation at such a difficult moment for you. I'm glad you manged to get home in time for Christmas.
DeleteSarah x
All of the seasons have their special merit, but if push came to shove, I would always opt for summer especially late May early June. If the seasons were the same all year round then we would not appreciate the differences, however, roll on the warmer weather!!!
ReplyDeleteYour favourite beach cafe looks very welcoming.
I agree Rosemary, late May and early June is my favourite months too!
ReplyDeleteSarah x
Your images make me feel like I am there. I can feel the air the wind all of it. I just love it !!! Beautiful place to live and I am sure that would be a wonderful place to grow up. Thanks for sharing and have a blessed Thanksgiving my friend.
ReplyDeleteOh Sarah I have not been to Swanage for years ..we had a lovely family holiday there once..Thank you for stirring up some wonderful memories, I have started my Christmas cooking / baking..I love all the traditions
ReplyDeleteThea xx
Oh bring back summer now! I definitely prefer warmer weather...
ReplyDeleteLooks such a gorgeous place. I really do love the seaside, there is nothing at all like it.
ReplyDeleteI have done most of the christmas shopping, cake made (not me though-Tony did it) and various lists compiled.Hopefully I will get the cards written this week and my overseas things posted off.
Swanage looks lovely, and I have never been so it was lovely to see it through your images-beautiful as ever. Yes I'm getting all Christmassy, as you know with the Brixham Christmas event last weekend, and have started buying goodies like chocolate and mince pies, champagne and mulled wine...and some 3 for 2 decorations from M&S!
ReplyDeleteThe water is so clear Sarah :) love the aquamarine color! Glad you could reminisce the summer with a visit here. Have a lovely day :) hugs
ReplyDeleteSwanage looks delightful - another place to put on my list of 'must visit'
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos Sarah, and what a lovely blue sky in your Summer photos. It's very dark and grey here today. I've been busy making things for the various craft fairs we'll be attending over the next couple of weeks to raise funds for the library which means all my personal Christmas plans are on hold.
ReplyDeleteI love Swanage at any time of the year. It is almost like going back in time thirty years. The pace of life is just a bit slower and the scenery is so beautiful.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we could meet up there one day next year?!
It's nice to hear from you - it would be greet to meet you there one day next year.
DeleteSarah x