Merton College fields autumn 2018

Merton College fields autumn 2018

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Merton in mid-winter

Merton College in mid winter

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A large beech tree in Oxford University Parks.

Quite an atmospheric tree.

November is grey, cold and dark, but a bit of late autumn colour gives a splash of colour.

This is Magdalen Bridge over the River Cherwell. It looks like the ducks are going to go for a punt!

Magdalen Tower. The pink Nerines offer a dash of un-autumnal colour.

The pure white bark of the Himalayan Birch

Magdalen Tower through the trees.

Late sunlight gleaming through the branches.

The gunnery leaves have been folded over the more delicate root-stock – symbolic of the garden’s winter shut-down.

Pink Nerines close-up.

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Magdalen Tower.

“Lasting peace must begin within the depths of the individual, and from there spread in ever-widening circles as a dynamic force for world change.”

– Sri Chinmoy

A local dog walker gets to meet the run.

At the Oxford Union.

Runner past souvenirs of Oxford.

Inspector Morse is just around the corner.

The dreaming spires and dreaming cranes of Oxford.

There will be fuller report at

• Peace Run

Bodleian Library. Sunlight through the arch.

Radcliffe Camera and All Soul’s from Queens College

Visiting Queen’s College. A view through the arches on a murky February afternoon.

Corridor. Although it was a grey day, it looks quite light from this vantage point. Posterboard on right.

I visit Oxford colleges to put up posters for our meditation classes. It is an enjoyable experience because I get to see these views of Oxford Colleges

Worcester College in early Autumn

Trinity College looking towards Broad Street. This was a misty January morning. Posterboard on left.

Sunlight through Magdalen College

Another view of Magdalen College.

Another view of Trinity College 

Queens College on a sunny day.

The Botanic Gardens on a very cold winter day.

Another shot from Queens in late summer.

Queens College

Merton College Chapel.

Merton College courtyard.

Christ Church looking towards Corpus Christi.

The Bodleian

The Bodleian looking towards the New Bodleian.

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Oxford in December. Late afternoon sun gives a hint of late autumn.

Flight

The bridge to the other side.

River Thames and the last leaves of the year.

Giant leaves used as insulation for tender plants surviving the freezing weather.

Stream by Christ Church Meadow.

Architecture of grass, stems, trees and buildings.

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We are currently postering for some upcoming meditation classes for the Sri Chinmoy Centre.

I put up posters in the Oxford colleges, which is a great job, though I often get distracted from pinning posters on poster boards and take a few photos of the College grounds.

This is Worcester College in the heart of Oxford, though in parts you feel you could be in the countryside.

You wouldn’t guess that 150 m to the left is a chronic traffic jam.

There is a certain monastic feel to the college buildings, which I feel is evocative of something. Though with the arrival of fresh faced freshers for the first week of term, the monastic feeling is somewhat dissipated!

Early Autumn. Wonderful light

A formal garden, beautiful buildings and an informal garden with the feeling of being in a wood. Everything within a few acres.

Late Autumn colour.

Going to university colleges reminds me a little of my own university days. There is a tinge of nostalgia. I often remember how very different life was in a pre-digital age. Though in some respects the fundamentals haven’t change. This is a short essay on the influence of social media.

I love these daises which grow in wildflower verges by the side of many roads.

May is also the month when we hold Sri Chinmoy Races at Cutteslowe Park, north Oxford. It is a great time to be in the park, which has quite a few areas of natural wildlife flowers.

Late flowering Apple Blossom on Marston road.

May is also exam season. In mid / late May, you see many students cycling and walking to exams with different colour carnations – pink is in the middle of exams. Red for last exam, white for first exam. I’m so glad Oxford kept the tradition of sub-fusc. I’m also very glad my days of doing exams are over!.

Lilac flowers spilling over from New College onto Queens Lane. That is All Souls in the background.

Another view of New College lilac bushes. This road is closed to traffic, so it is a real haven for cyclists and walkers.

Late May is eights week in Oxford. The Oxford colleges compete in rowing races on the River Thames. The college club-houses are behind.

Another view of the River Thames.

It’s not always bright sun in May. In fact, you often get very heavy rain, which leads to localised flooding. This is a cycle path near University Parks.

Trees in Oxford Castle Mound

Trinity College

Trinity College gardens has its own post

May is also Bluebell season.

Late Daffodils (as long as not eaten by slugs)

Back garden in May.

This is my local park – Horse Chestnut covered path.

A traditional May Day Event Morris Dancers on May 1st. This was early in the morning after a long night of revellery.

Every year, I get more joy from Oxford in May; there is even a danger one day I may try and write a poem.

Instead, I will share a poem written by J.R.R. Tolkien about Oxford in 1911.

From the many-willow’d margin of the immemorial Thames,
Standing in a vale outcarven in a world-forgotten day,
There is dimly seen uprising through the greenly veiled stems,
Many-mansion’d, tower-crowned in its dreamy robe of grey,
All the city by the fording: aged in the lives of men,
Proudly wrapt in mystic mem’ry overpassing human ken.

J.R.R. Tolkien (1911)

I don’t know if he wrote in May, but it is interesting to see the imagery which would later end up in his classic ‘Lord of the Rings’

The great Copper Beech with a sea of daffodils underneath.

The river Cherwell borders the gardens of Lady Margaret Hall. The river Cherwell is a major tributary to the River Thames or “Isis”

The Cherwell often breaches its banks. These willow trees don’t mind.

This is another part of the college, a bed of daffodils and snowdrops near the border of Oxford University Parks.

The great Beech tree and the Fellows Garden behind.

More daffodils.

The willows don’t mind the flooding.

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Contemplative spot if you don’t mind getting your feet wet.

The great trees mirrored in the river.

The River Cherwell. and a garden bench. It is one of the best gardens in Oxford, there is a real sense you are in the countryside. When walking around the gardens, I can’t help but think of children’s classics like The Wind in the Willows, Alice in Wonderland and others.

Lady Margaret Hall personal trivia

Lady Margaret Hall was founded in 1878 as an all women college of the University of Oxford. It started to accept men in 1979.

The motto of the college is “Souvent me Souviens“, an Old French phrase meaning “I remember often”. I never knew what this meant until today when I looked it up 20 years after first arriving.

I studied PPE at LMH from 1995 to 1999.

After leaving LMH, with a 2:1 in PPE, I worked for a year as a gardener in LMH, so often like to revisit and see the borders I once dug and weeded. Many of the trees look the same, it’s hard to notice 20 years growth.

In 2003, my guru Sri Chinmoy visited Lady Margaret Hall to meet many Oxford University professors in the gardens at LMH.

The gardens were in great shape. I once weeded that border behind. The yellow Verbascum is a great flower.

View from Sheldonian Coppola

The Bodleian. Shooting into the sun.

Close up of Bridge of Sighs and New College.

Bridge of Sighs and Hertford College.

January light.

Blackwells and Trinity College to the north.

Balliol to the left and Trinity College.

St Mary’s and Radcliffe Camera.