My Month of July – 2017 Edition

How is it almost August already? Whenever I compile these monthly updates it makes me think that I’ve been doing a lot of swanning around, but in fact the vast majority of my time has been spent working (keep an eye on my professional blog at rachel-ingram.co.uk for how much I’ve done each month, if you don’t believe me!). I’ve averaged one day a week off this month, but I’ve managed to fill them with interesting things.

An early highlight of the month was visiting the Real Flower Petal Confetti field near Pershore. I could easily fill another blog post with photos, but they’d be very similar to the ones I took last year, so I’ll only include a couple here.

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The field is open for one week each year, and it was even busier this year than last. People come from all over the country to see it – photographers especially. The sea of delphiniums in different shades really is a spectacular and almost ethereal sight.

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This year there was also a Union Jack made from carefully planted flowers, though this needs to be seen from the air to be appreciated. Luckily, we have a plane :). Lee took this on one of his flights with a student.

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This was a lovely view of the Malvern Hills on the same day as the flower field.

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Also that day, we called in at Nympsfield Gliding Club…

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…and its nearby lookout point, where there is also an ancient long barrow. It was these poppies that caught my eye though.

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On the subject of flowers, another place in the Cotswolds that’s really worth visiting this time of year is the lavender field at Snowshill.

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Cotswold Lavender is hugely popular and there are tourists arriving by the coachload, but it’s surprisingly easy to get a patch of lavender field to oneself for photo opportunities.

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I’ll try to do a post with more lavender photos at some point. If you decide to visit, don’t miss a wander around the village itself. It really is the perfect Cotswolds village (fans of Bridget Jones may recognise this scene).

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The Snowshill Arms – the two-gabled building you can see beyond the churchyard in this photo – is a great place for lunch, too.

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I had a solo flight in the beloved Robin late one afternoon – it really is a great way to clear your head and de-stress – and I flew over the lavender fields to see what they look like from the air. Not as impressive as from the ground, but interesting nonetheless.

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Here’s one of Broadway Tower from the same flight…

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…and one of me…

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…and one of the Robin. :)

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My helicopter training continues and I have somehow managed to clock up 15 hours – a third of the way to the total hours needed for a licence and just five more until I’ll be allowed to fly solo, as and when I’m ready. Flying solo feels a pretty terrifying prospect right now, but I know I’m getting closer to it because this month I have managed to take off, fly a complete circuit and land, including handling all aspects of the flight such as radio and checks, without my instructor saying anything. This is a big step forward, so I’m pleased with how it’s going. I’ve mostly been flying the teeny tiny R22…

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…but I also got to fly the R44 again this month, and one of the airfield plane spotters, Gavin, sent me these amazing photos. My instructor and I thought it was funny how serious we both look!

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I also found this awesome photo on Flickr.

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A couple of weeks ago I took the train down to London for the day to see my sister and we had a lovely day mooching around Piccadilly. We had lunch at the Duck and Waffle, where the menu is described as “duck driven” but with a “not duck” section too. Then we wandered around Fortnum and Mason and the National Portrait Gallery. I have more pics, so I’ll share them in their own post whenever I get the chance.

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On Saturday I spent the day in glorious Bath with my friend Emma, for her birthday. A local jeweller was running a treasure hunt with prizes worth £10,000, so we did that and then spent the afternoon at the amazing Thermae Bath Spa.

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This was an interesting discovery behind the Pump Room. Despite having been visiting Bath all my life, I didn’t even know it was there, but it was quite magical and had the air of a scene that hasn’t changed for centuries (like many other places in Bath).

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I’ve still been finding time to volunteer at Guide Dogs, and the standout pup this month was this especially cute and snuggly Golden Retriever puppy. Those little paws!

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In other news, I have a new dress, pictured here before a meal at Wildwood in Stratford. You probably can’t see it here, but the dress has hot air balloons and the Parisian skyline on it. I can never resist hot air balloons.

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I’ll leave you with this photo of a spectacular sunset from the other day.

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