pete mcgovern

I woke up at 6.45. There was the first, pretty, trace of light in the sky when I looked out of the window. On impulse I got dressed, and after a NO breakfast cycled to THE HEDGE at the nearby air-base.  This is the site of the UK's operations for drone surveillance and extra-judicial killings. This autumn is my tenth year visiting the site, usually a few times each year.  The routine, as first figured out back in 2015, I go, turn my back on the perimeter fence (a prohibted site for photography) and face instead the flat Lincolnshire landscape - or rather the hedge that runs beside and parallel to the fence. This is my pointless protest.  Only half way there this morning and the sun appeared on the horizon, I was gonna miss that very soft pre-dawn light.  The humidity was super high so everywhere was dripping wet even though there had not been any rain. As anticipated my feet were soaked in 10 seconds. The cycle ride took it out of me and combined with a runny nose and wet feet the

 Sotheby's website

 

Canwick is a tiny village of 300 people that rests on the limestone escarpement south of Lincoln. Sometimes of a summer evening I cycle up there and take a breather at the far end, on the bench positioned beneath plane trees facing the stone mansion of Canwick Hall. It's quite an ascent up Canwick Hill to that village and only achievable by me without having to get off and walk part of the way is when I have all 18 gears working and haven't had a particularly fatiguing day at work prior. It's a very peaceful spot to aim for. From even my modest bit of research I now know that Canwick Hall, along with the surrounding 250-300 acres, was once home to the wealthy Sibthorpe family for over two centuries, from 1730 - 1939. Subsequently the estate was purchased by Jesus College, Oxford and, curiously, a British  resistance  unit was briefly established there, in 1940, with invasion seemingly imminent. While there have been occasional signs that one or two people may have been livi