Pen Hill
Red Lights – Pen Hills, Mendip HIlls, Somerset, UK. ID JB_3518
Pen Hill is the Mendip Hills red light district. The mast is nearly 300m tall and sits on the top of a 300m hill in Somerset. It is surrounded by rough grazing and dry-stone walls. Popular as a sledging spot when it snows today the hillside was fenced off with private land signs. As a consequence I had to walk around the edge of the hill on the public footpath.
Barrow Cottage nestles next to the road that passes by just below the top of the hill.
Barrow Cottage – Pen Hill, Mendip Hills, Somerset, UK. ID JB_4098H
If I had not been forced to walk around the edge of the field I would not have discovered the location below. I realised the sun was going to appear over the horizon in the centre of a gap in the trees. With the chance to use an old dry-stone wall to lead your eye into the picture I just had to set up my tripod.
Annoyingly, a lumpy cloud in front of the sun stopped the sun lighting up all the clouds in red.
Sunrise at Pen Hill – Mendip Hills, Somerset, UK. ID JB_3782H
It was cold, very cold. At about minus 4ºC it was about as cold is it gets around
Sunrise at Pen Hill – Mendip Hills, Somerset, UK. ID JB_4041H
Lots of glorious morning light around Barrow Cottage.
Barrow Cottage – Pen Hill, Mendip Hills, Somerset, UK. ID JB_4098H
The dry-stone walls were covered in frost which shone in the golden sunrise light.
Frost on Dry-stone Wall – Pen Hill, Somerset, UK. ID JB_4111
I had a play with photo stacking to get the depth of the wall in focus.
Frost on Dry-stone Wall – Pen Hill, Somerset, UK. ID JB_4131HS
And finally…
It was too cold to hang around for long, but the gorse looked great.
Frost and Gorse – Pen Hill, Mendip Hills, Somerset, UK. ID JB_4138
