Project 52: Week 30 - The Greenhouse

As the BBC's photo prompts are taking a summer holiday I decided to give my big DSLR camera a break too and play around with my little compact. I tend to neglect it a bit these days, even though it lives in my bag and comes most places with me, mainly because it's so much easier to take photos on my phone because I can share them instantly online.

It's a shame because my little Canon compact is wonderfully portable and because it's older and didn't cost as much as my big camera I'm happier taking it to places where it might get a bit damp or grubby. Plus it fits easily into the back pocket of my jeans so I don't have to worry about carrying it around with all the other associated gear in a big bag.

I decided that for my photos this week I'd like to take some photos in the Greenhouse on the estate where we live. It's a massive structure filled with tropical plants and can be pretty humid in there with lots of moisture in the air at times so I've avoided taking my fancy camera in there. I don't feel quite so worried about my little camera as it's survived trips in there before, so I stuck it in my pocket and took it with me. This week instead of just one photo, I have a selection.

That's the Greenhouse. We drive past it every day on the way in and out of the estate and it's surrounded by beautiful gardens. That gate is as tall as I am and I have to stretch to get it open and closed. We'd walked Tara here and as we didn't think she'd be allowed into the Greenhouse I left Mr Click and Trouble at the gate while I toddled off to the Greenhouse.

It's a bit like the tropical biome at the Eden Project but on a miniature scale. The path follows round the building in a figure of eight shape and in places the plants grow across the path so you have to push past them like you're in a jungle or something. There's also a little pond as well with some pretty big fish. They weren't too keen on having their pictures taken though.

Plus there's lots of interesting plants as well. I'm rereading the first Harry Potter book at the moment (preparation for my next OU course) and I couldn't help but think of the Herbology classes. I'm not particularly green-fingered so I couldn't tell you what any of these plants were but they're all pretty interesting and eye-catching. It's also lovely and peaceful walking around the Greenhouse.

The plants in there also have a way of making you feel really small. At one point I looked up and realised that the leaves above my head were probably a lot taller than me!

There's really nothing in the above picture that gives an idea of scale, but trust me when I say that these leaves are probably approaching about six foot in length.

Since we've got the map of walks where dogs are allowed around the estate I'm hoping to take some more photos of places where we've not been for a while. We just have to hope that we have some nice dry weather for the next few weeks.