Rock

This photograph was taken at Crickley Hill Country Park at the end of last year. I used the macro setting to get a really good close-up shot of this large boulder that was in the carpark. I really like the pattern in the stone, hope you like it too. Nothing more to say, I just fancied posting something a bit different.

I Spy With My Little Eye...

...something beginning with G.C.H.Q.

This photo is taken from Crickley Hill looking towards the West side of Cheltenham. The big round building, to the right of the middle of the picture, is the Government Communications Headquarters (click on the picture for a larger image). GCHQ carry out intelligence and security work answering to the Foreign Office and working in tandem with MI5 and MI6. The building is known by Cheltonians as 'The Doughnut', as its round and has a hole in the middle! And that hole is large enough to fit the Royal Albert Hall inside.
GCHQ came to Cheltenham in 1952 and occupied two sites, the one shown at Benhall, and one at Oakley, on the other side of town. Many local people say that there was an underground tunnel that linked these two sites, but as GCHQ's work is secret we'll never know. In 1999 it was decided by the government to merge the two sites into one and Benhall was chosen for the new building. The doughnut cost about £330 million with the actual cost, including a 30 year service contract, being £1.2 billion. At the time of construction it was the largest single development in Europe, taking 3 years to complete, with the 6,000 strong workforce moving in September 2003 and completing the move by the summer of 2004.

On the security fence that surrounds the perimeter of GCHQ it clearly says 'No Photography', so this could be as close as you get to photograph the building without being taken in as a threat to national security!

Branching Out

These Beech trees were taken in the woods at Crickley Hill Country Park. The park is on the edge of the Cotswold Hills and over looks the Vale of Gloucester. The park is a mixture of Woodland (natural and man aided), Grassland, and steep Limestone hillside. The park has many trails for walkers and includes a visitors centre and archaeological site. The site has been excavated over the past 25 years and the remains of a hillfort have been revealed, with the fort and related buildings being marked out with coloured posts. To get a better view of this area there is a raised viewing platform with details of what is believed to have once been on Crickley Hill. As well as all this the park is home to around 200 species of wildflower and 34 different types of butterfly. Not bad for a walk around the top of an old hill!