Sefton park Palm House #countrykids

 

I may have written about this before. But we have this beautiful victorian palm house near us. It is a favourite visit and has such a lovely history. I think one of the reasons that it has such a lovely feeling is that there is a lot of love gone into this building. It is a grade 2 listed building and was built back in 1896. After being bombed in the war and then re-built a little, it ย fell into disrepair and by the 1980’s was closed to the public as it was deemed unsafe.

In June 1992, a public meeting was held highlighting the dereliction and calling for restoration. A petition was presented to the City Council by what had become the “Save the Palm House” campaign. A public fund raising campaign was established, with a “sponsor a pane” programme generating over ยฃ35,000. This led directly to the conversion of Save the Palm House into a registered charity (Friends of Sefton Park Palm House). The Palm House was partially repaired and reopened in 1993. It was fully restored at a cost of ยฃ3.5 million with Heritage Lottery and European funding and reopened in September 2001.

It is now simply stunning and is often used for events and weddings. It is so pretty and one of my favourite places. One of the things about the people of this city is that they love their city and they will get behind something that is important to them.

The palm house is evidence of that, that is for sure…

I have photographed it SO many different times. One of the first professional jobs i had was in the palm house, in the evening and with not much light. yeah was a baptism of fire. I climbed the little staircase that takes you up to the top of the palm house to try and get an overhead shot. There is a little gallery at the top of the dome. But the ladder started to wobble and got the best of me!! It was an evening ill not forget.

This is one of my shots from that night:

Ha! looking at those images now makes me realise how much i have changed as a photographer. I wont forget that fully grown angel statue and his hairy legs though!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

We often just nip out to the park and the palm house at the end of the day and before the kids went back to school and all the christmas decorations came down we did just that and it was all pretty and lit up with fairy lights and a jaunty little christmas tree in the doorway (that was actually tied down- bit windy i guess!) It was getting very dark as we left the park and i only had my little camera with me and i fiddled with the setting so that i could let in a max amount of light to get the blue in the sky. It could really do with a tripod to be honest because the shutter was slow and really it was beyond a hand hold but they kids were already yelling at me to hurry up…they get quite used to mama dragging her feet and taking lots of shots!!

Then we played a little with some ‘fill-in’ high sync flash techniques….the kids always come back on side when they are in the pictures!! (btw for the photographers out there, this image below is just taken with a entry level DSLR and the little on camera flash that it has!!)

 

Family Farm Holidays Cornwall

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10 Comments

  1. January 11, 2014 / 8:07 am

    I love hearing about places like this, it’s quite inspiring. I love those night shots too, especially without a tripod-still a great image,
    Iona@redpeffer recently posted…Barges, Canals and days outMy Profile

  2. January 11, 2014 / 10:12 am

    Oh it’s just beautiful! I hate to see buildings in dereliction like that so it’s wonderful when a community gets together to restore it to glory. Bet it’s a lovely trip out for all ages too.
    Actually Mummy… recently posted…Project 365 #02: Aldenham Country ParkMy Profile

  3. January 11, 2014 / 10:49 am

    What a fantastic restoration, it would have been a crime to see it derelict. I’m not surprised it’s a favourite as it looks stunning back to it’s full glory. Thanks for linking up and sharing your fab photos with Country Kids.
    Coombe Mill – Fiona recently posted…Country Kids from Coombe MillMy Profile

  4. Over40andamumtoone
    January 11, 2014 / 3:03 pm

    How beautiful, so nice to see something being saved for the future too

  5. January 11, 2014 / 3:50 pm

    How wonderful that everyone fought to have it restored, it is beautiful. As you know my post is a night time one this week, and I tried to use our DSLR and failed miserably, shutter speed too slow, and then flash a bit too harsh etc etc! Then the battery gave up in the cold, so all the photos were taken with my iPhone, I was amazed I got any at all ๐Ÿ™‚ I have to work a bit harder with the DSLR though… That last shot is amazing (night portrait mode?? Says the novice who’s trying to understand the settings!)
    Sara (@mumturnedmom) recently posted…#CountryKids โ€“ Zoo LightsMy Profile

  6. January 11, 2014 / 3:59 pm

    Awesome shot. We like visiting our botanical gardens as it brings the outside in.
    brinabird and son recently posted…The LocalMy Profile

  7. Kriss MacDonald
    January 11, 2014 / 11:30 pm

    First of all – what was the angel with hairy legs doing in the Palm House? (lol) Always good to hear when deserving buildings and places are restored.

  8. Sonia Constant
    January 13, 2014 / 3:50 pm

    That looks like a lot of fun! Loving the angel with hairy legs – is that one of those people statues? I would love to go to this place, looks like a place that you need to take the camera! ๐Ÿ™‚ x

  9. Samantha Fernley
    January 13, 2014 / 6:35 pm

    I really should go for a trip to Sefton Park as my friend lives nearby, looks great. Would be interested to see the Palm House.

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