Today saw the first hard frost of the winter, and a beautful sunny morning in Northumberland National Park. This Christmas card shows the Tarset valley, near Greenhaugh, and a similarly fine frosty day with bright sunshine. The Northumberland Winter range of Christmas cards are supplied in packs of ten cards, and there are over forty designs to choose from.
This calendar is the ideal size for mailing to friends and family. The size is a 23 x23 cm, so it fits within the 25 cm width dimension for the Royal Mail’s ‘large letter’ rate, and is therefore is very economical to send by post. There is a full page date grid and a full page image for each month of the year. For 2017, the images include the Northumberland National Park, North Tyne valley, Simonside Hills, Hadrian’s Wall, Bamburgh Castle, Breamish valley, Alnwick Castle, and Rumbling Kern. The calendar is available at many retail outlets across the north east of England, and can be ordered online from this website.
November is a wonderful month, a turning point between the colourful days of autumn and the increasing darkness of winter. This year the autumn seems to have been very long and gradual, with the colours lingering much later than normal, and not too much wind. I always enjoy selecting images for the Seasons of Northumberland calendar every year, and November is an especially rich month for photography, with the a climax of autumn colour occurring in the first week of November and the last week of October in this part of the world. The North Tyne valley in Northumberland National Park has many scattered woodlands with a range of native species such as oak, birch and larch, as well as plantations of conifers. For details of woodlands, soft overcast light is ideal, as this kind of underrated photographic light is perfect for good colour saturation and the recording of detail. This image was made of medium format 6 x 7 cm transparency film in the pre-digital era, not all that long ago. It shows a beautiful maple tree at Sidwood near Greenhaugh in the Tarset valley, with the glorious colour of maple leaves contrasting with the subdued background of greys and greens. This image appears in the 2016 calendar.
Very cold weather is now something of a rarity, and I don’t often get the chance to photograph real winter conditions with snow, ice and frost, even in the uplands of Northumberland. A few years ago, a couple of exceptionally cold winters meant that ice crystals or ‘frost flowers’ often appeared overnight on the window pane of an entrance door to an unheated porch. With an outside temperature of minus 10 degrees C, and sometimes as low as minus 20, glass surfaces such as unheated windows, or car windscreens can be transformed by beautiful natural wonders, and the intricate patterns of ice crystals. The first card of ice crystals I published was very popular, so I’m hoping that this new card will also be enjoyed. Meanwhile, I am very much hoping for some cold weather, hard frosts, and some sunny, wintery days, especially after last year’s exceptionally wet winter when the rain never seemed to stop.
In the notelet card range, the Northumberland Coast is the most popular, perhaps reflecting everyone’s love of the sea sdie. These are ideal cards for everyday use – a thank you, an invitation, a hort message to a friend or family member. The Northumberland Coast cards come in a pack of eight cards depicting the beautiful North Sea coast of Northumberland, with its spectacular castles and beaches: Bamburgh Castle, Dunstanburgh Castle, Holy Island of Lindisfarne, Farne Islands, puffins, St Mary’s Island, sea pinks, and Druridge Bay.
The autumn season this year has been magnificent. A long, sunny spell of weather, followed by some colder days, and not much wind, has kept the leaves on the trees for longer than normal, and the colours seem to have peaked a few days later than average. Northumberland National Park often looks at its best late in the year when the low angled sun catches the gold, yellow and warm brown colours of the hills, and the wooded valleys are filled with autumn colour. This image shows the dazzling colours of a bright November day in the Tarset valley near Greenhaugh and Bellingham.
The new cards have been printed this week for the Northumberland Winter Christmas card range and are arriving from the printers tomorrow, ready for despatch next week. You can order the cards from this website today, and they will be delivered as soon as possible.
Hexham, Northumberland, winter evening
Here is an autumn view for the Seasons of Northumberland calendar 2017, showing the rich autumn colours at Donkleywood in the North Tyne valley, in the heart of Northumberland National Park. The North Tyne river flows from the Scottish border into Kielder Water, and then on towards Bellingham and Wark, to join the South Tyne near Hexham. The valley is also a buffer zone for the endangered red squirrel, which is threatened by the advance of American grey squirrels. Kielder Forest is a stronghold for red squirrels, which thrive in the coniferous trees across this vast area.
Several new designs have been printed this week for the Northumberland Winter Christmas card range. You can order the cards from this website today, and they will be despatched as soon as possible later this week.
Snowy woodland, Northumberland National Park
The year has passed quickly and already the Christmas buying has started. Producers have to start planning Christmas months ahead, even though my personal Christmas plans are left until December. However, there are some new Christmas designs available, in the Northumberland Winter series, as well as the favourite subjetcs of Hadrian’s Wall, the Northumberland Coast, Northumberland National Park, and the castles, woodlands, rivers and hills of Northumberland. All the designs are available to buy online from this website, and I will be delighted to supply these cards for you to send Christmas greetings to your friends and family, whether here at home, or across the world.
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