Let's go to the Birthplace of Photography....well maybe - LACOCK ABBEY!

N.B. Meetup Start time has changed to 11am.

8 years ago was when we last visited this lovely home of photography. LACOCK VILLAGE AND ABBEY are National Trust property and nestle below the Wiltshire hills just south of Chippenham and east of Bath. The birthplace of photography? Well sort of - William Henry Fox Talbot once lived in the abbey and possibly took the first ever negative photograph there from which prints could be produced....(maybe a little earlier Louis Daguerre invented the first photograph - but a positive 'daguerreotype' which could not easily be reproduced).

Parking - Hither Way Carpark ( ///throat.cherubs.dislodge) £5.00 parking fee (NT members free)

So Lacock consists of one extremely pretty British village with old buildings, streets, church, tea room.......and an abbey. There is so much to photograph here - the village itself, the church, the beautiful grounds and gardens surrounding the abbey, the magnificent exterior of the abbey, the greenhouses, the cloisters and the interior, including the famous window where Fox Talbot produced that famous photo. At the entrance is the Fox Talbot Museum - see how he achieved this and new in the museum this year is the Fenton Collection - hundreds of pieces of old camera equipment and 3,500 images, produced by different old photographic techniques - SO MUCH to do - where to start?...............

We'll meetup at 10.30 which will give plenty of time to get there and still leave us lots of time to explore. We'll meet at The Stables cafe (or just outside) (///ribcage.inch.dizziness) which is situated further along the High St into the village at the entrance to the Red Lion Car Park. Alternative parking is also available here but this car park is often full. The village is basically a square of streets - up the High St, right into West St and then right again into Church St, at the end of which is St Cyriac's church and then back tracking and left into East St back to where we started. After this you may fancy another coffee, or I'm going into the museum that is also the pay desk to visit the abbey and grounds. Take a look around the museum and then we'll walk along the driveway which winds to the left and then up to the side of the abbey. The abbey entrance is around the other side, firstly entering the cloisters and then the abbey itself. The exit is at the front and I would then suggest wandering around the many paths in the grounds, wooded areas, fields and walled gardens that will lead us behind the church. There is also a greenhouse near the entrance. So a packed day out - lots of history - and I hope lots of your photos to see!

TIPS:

• Please feel welcome to join us whatever your experience or whatever type of camera you have. The point of the day is to learn from each other how to better our photography and that means how to see a good photograph before you take it.

• Quite a lot of walking so sensible shoes. Also water, hat to keep the sun off your heads and sunscreen.

• For those with interchangeable lenses - wide angle, and a zoom will be useful.

So a great day out do come - it is a superb place - I went in May last year on my own and absolutely loved it.

COSTS: Parking fee: £5 (NT members free), Entrance fee: £21.00 (NT members free) and £5 meetup fee to me please for each member and each guest - cash on day please.

I'll email my phone number to those coming the week before.

Peter