Recently enjoyed a lovely summer’s day out at Kenyon Hall Farm with Hazel and friends.

Kenyon Hall farm is a great venue for the family if you’re looking for somewhere good to go. It was rather busy when we arrived around lunch time and was something of a struggle getting into the place from the A49 Kenyon Lane, but once in, we managed to park reasonably easily, although one or two other vehicles struggled a bit.

Kenyon Hall farm seems to have invested heavily in making it a family destination. With the chance to pick fruit like strawberries, gooseberries, raspberries, tayberries, and broad beens amongst others. There is also a cafe and shop, and a play area for kids. On a nice day it’s a real country day out. Kenyon lane is also close to junction 22 of the M6, so really easy to get to.

Just a little bit of background about the farm, over 75 years ago my dad at the age of 9 years, used to work on the farm to earn some extra pocket money, he told me local kids were recruited to do potato picking, or spud picking as he calls it, as part of their duties, he used to pinch a few to take home to the family. Remember this was around the time of the second world war, so food supplies were being rationed, and every little bit extra helped the family. He said it was one of the hardest jobs he has ever had to do, “back-breaking” as he describes it. All the kids got time off from school for a couple of weeks to do it, so he didn’t mind. I’m not sure if the present owners are descendants of the family that owned the farm at the time or not, but they might well be. So you can see Kenyon Hall farm has a long history in the local community.

On this particular occasion I took the opportunity to take my new DSLR camera with me for a bit of a play, while Hazel and my friends got stuck into their picking duties, here are some of the shots I took on the day.

The great thing about DSLR cameras is the ability to control depth of field. I love using a shallow depth of field to direct the viewers eye to where I want it to go in a photograph. I got low down to the ground to get some of the shots and used the plants in front of the subject to create a 3 dimensional effect, keeping them out of focus along with the background, and the subject in sharp focus. The viewers eye will always be drawn to the focused part of the image. Shooting with a wide open aperture on a longer focal length zoom will help with getting a shallow depth of field. The aperture here is (f4)

Finding Kenyon Hall Farm

While Hazel and I love going for walks, we habitually drive out of town to do it, often travelling to Bolton to walk around the many reservoirs. But occasionally we walk the old railway lines and footpaths around where we live in Hindley. It’s surprising what beauty you have on your own doorstep. I’ve lived here for 17 years and didn’t know the two ponds below even existed. All these images were taken with an Android Mobile phone camera.

Amberswood

Walmesley park

If you live in the Wigan area check out this hidden gem of a location https://www.miketurnerphotos.co.uk/photos-haigh-viaduct-wigan/

As part of my effort to get fit and lose weight, me and Hazel revisited the MIllennium Walkway for the first time in 6-7 years. It was a 2.5 mile walk from where we parked the car, but well worth the effort.

The Millennium walkway is located where the rivers Sett and Goyt meet, and the power of which has been used by mills for over 200 years. The mills are now largely ruins, although I did notice part of one the mills being used by a local business. It’s a great walk for the family to enjoy, and as unusual a place as you’re likely to come across. Commonly referred to as the “Park under the town”. Directions below.

Torrs Hydro New Mills
Torrs Hydro New Mills Ltd
Market St
New Mills
High Peak, Derbyshire SK22

History

The current St Thomas church on Chapel st. Leigh is the second incarnation of the church built on the site. It was built in 1902 by Messrs. J. Gerrard and Sons, of Swinton. constructed from Accrington red brick, and Runcorn red sandstone (used for doorways, windows, arches, piers and general stonework. It replaced the original church which was consecrated as early as 1840.

Why we were  photographing at st. Thomas church

We had heard through the grapevine that the churches future was under serious threat and may even be demolished if funds could not be found (in excess of £1 million) to carry out urgent maintenance. So we got the kind permission of the priest to access the church to take photos of the inside while it was still in reasonable disrepair and safe enough to do so.

St. Thomas church is something of a forgotten giant, sort of hidden away on chapel street , you can be past it before you notice it’s there. Hidden behind trees but as large as life when you get into the church yard. We had a great few hours snapping lots of photos, with a small sample displayed above. Had to use a wide angled lens for some of the shots as the church is so large you just can’t get it all in with a standard lens without having to go across Chapel street, and then you have the trees blocking your view of the building.

The church is not currently actively used for services as it needs a full rewire and is generally not safe to be used by the general public, such a shame. But we enjoyed our day out there, the sun even came out for us.

 History of Haigh Viaduct

These disused viaducts are located in Douglas Valley and are hidden gems within the Wigan Borough.  Locally known as twenty bridges and thirteen bridges the viaducts used to hold the Wigan to  Widnes and Wigan East Lancashire lines.

Thirteen bridges (or sometimes referred to as seven bridges) is on a branch off the west coast main line. The line branched off at the old Boars Head station and then went on to Adlington.

There are some old black and white photos here that show the viaducts in all their glory.

The viaducts are accessible from Pendlebury Lane, Which is a continuation of Leyland Mill lane from the A49 Wigan Lane.

Time spent at Haigh Viaduct

It was a lovely day when we visited the location and the sun provided some great back lighting for the tree and viaduct in some of the shots. It is a very serine location and should be made more accessible for the general public to enjoy. Currently it is not the easiest place to get to but we had a great few hours walking around and photographing once we got there.