Owen Harries Landscape Blog

 This is an image of some Oak Sett paving I photographed on a visit to Blenheim Palace over the summer. There is also an image of a sketch I did to think about how the setts would be constructed and what a typical detail build up for them may be. This is a paving material which I hadn't seen many times before, and would consider using as a different material in my designs in the future where practical. The example I saw at Blenheim Palace had what appears to be a resin or tar pointing in the joints. These are laid wiht end grain visible as it is most durable. The sub base and layers of the construction of these setts would need to be at least slightly permeable as they would otherwise rot.

 On Wednesday 1st October, I went to Alney Island for an initial site visit to take photographs, walk around, and take in what the site currently has to offer. The weather was fine, with the sun shining, and very little rain in recent weeks prior to this visit, meaning a supposedly very wet site in fact seemed very dry! Notable features on the site were a historic Telford bridge, longhorn cattle which are used to sustainably manage the site, strong existing vegetation cover, and a large road and railway running through the site which bring substantial noise with them. Notably, the footbridge to the Gloucester docks from Alney Island was very narrow, and the decomissioned sub-station brownfield sites could be in the way. There is also a very convenient mixed use cycle route through the centre of the site which is a historic railway route which connected to the lock and docks.

 I found the letter A when I rested two pool cues against the wall and noticed the electrical cable surround made the line across. 

 I found the letter C in the chrome surround to the hole on a pool table.

 I found the letter H in the legs of this bar style stool. I could have also photographed rugby posts for this letter.

 I found the letter D in the dubber part of a ping-pong paddle. This might have been a bit of a long shot on my part but I do believe it resebles the letter D.

 I found the letter F in these electrical cable housings in a communal area where I live in Cheltenham.