Chillingham with the Pentax K20D

Chillingham with the Pentax K20D

There are many places in the UK that we feel a close affinity with, be it the Highland and Islands, Dumfries and Galloway, the Kingdom of Fife and, as we move further down into England, Northumbria. From the moment we leave home, travelling North on the M6 until we find the B road that follows Hadrian's Wall and smoothly sweeps Eastwards into Northumbria, there's that wonderful feeling of being totally chilled. That road itself is a delight; long, straight, often very thin on traffic, it may be the longer route but it's much more fun. Northumbria is also a constant delight with empty roads and so many rewarding places to visit.

When we went there in 2010 we were using the first of the Pentax CMOS sensor cameras, the K20D. This offered 14.6MP and the actual camera design was probably one of the best that Pentax have produced. In some ways I prefer it to the K7 and K5 that followed, but the later cameras were better performers. The K20D was no slouch though and, looking back, there are some beautiful images to rediscover.

One real gem of a place to discover iss the incredible Chillingham Castle. We seem to have a pretty full run of the place, full of obscure rooms and nooks and even the roof open to our explorations. The castle is full of oddments, as though the whole is some massive antique store. The icing on the cake of all this anitquity is near the top of the castle beyond a door marked Museum. Someone has a sense of humour I think, but beyond that door are the papers, the books, the history, the Victorian cases of stuffed animals and birds.....truly a wonderful playground. The ground level courtyard also has a torture chamber.....

Let's have a look at some pictures and already I'm wanting to be back there.

Chillingham Castle gardens



Let's enter.....



Main Hall



Main Hall



Main Hall



Stateroom



Stateroom



Stateroom



Tearoom



Paintings abound



Old books and ledgers



Victorian stuffed wildlife



The wider grounds



Broken dreams, discarded bronze statues