Close to Home
When I look out of my bedroom window in the winter, before the foliage grows, I can get a view of a strip of the North Sea, a tiny tip of the castle turret, and the chimney of this house. It’s about 100m from me as the crow flies, and is one of the most prominent houses to the west of the village of Warkworth.
Old Barns Farm - a grade II listed farmhouse is now on the market, and I was lucky enought to be able to shoot it on a late afternoon recently. These types of property are quite easy to shoot using my flash/ambient technique as they generally have spacious rooms throughout, high ceilings which allow light to distribute beautifully and evenly from bounced flash, and exteriors which can be accessed from all directions.
I shot the exteriors while the weather was playing nicely. The rear of the property had some of those fake, painted windows - a throwback to when the house was built, and properties were subject to the “window tax”. Fake windows are commonplace in the village because of this reason.
Interiors next. The holiday let bit of the house was first - this was just a part of the house at the rear which had been sectioned off to provide accomodation for a family of four, with a small lounge/kitchenette space, bathroom, and two bedrooms upstairs. That was a simple task that took around 20 minutes. Guests were due that afternoon, so I was speedy.
The main house was spread out over 3 floors with the reception rooms and kitchen/diner on the ground floor. The natural light was used to do most of the work, with a flash pop or two to keep the colours accurate. The first floor contained the main bedrooms - all big, bright, and simply furnished.
On the top floor was a landing which acted as the owners’ study, a bedroom, and the masterpiece in the third room - a grown-up model railway complete with tunnels, bridges, landscapes, and a central island accessible by climbing underneath the whole thing. It had a control panel with knobs and sliders for speed, and lights etc. It’s included with the house!
This is up for £1.1 million, and will be snapped up shortly I reckon. Get in there quick.
