Spent the day last Monday in Harrogate at a meeting. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon although pretty chilly. Mid afternoon I had a spare hour and went for a walk with my camera. Its a beautiful town.

I have visited a number of times before and usually find my way to Betty’s tea room at some point. Usually with a group of friends or colleagues. Its a great place for breakfast, but this time I had to settle for a coffee with an iPhone for company. Just across the road is the town’s war memorial with fresh wreaths like every town in the country.

This week I had the chance to go to a work event at Belfast City Hall. Everyone I know seems to have been inside the building before but this was my very first time.

As Halloween is over they felt obliged to have a Christmas tree. I restricted myself to the star on the main tree in the central hall visible from the top storey.

Inside and out its a fantastic public building, clad in marble with dramatic sweeping staircases, chandeliers, flags, great ceiling domes and stained glass windows.

All very opulent and very much from another age.

I have thought about getting a few shots of a toadstool recently – seems to be the obvious time of year for it. I had a cooked breakfast yesterday and the mushrooms on the side did not look that picturesque so I resisted taking out my mobile phone camera. This morning on my usual Sunday morning stroll I could only find a single cluster of toadstools anywhere, all around just one tree. Not quite sure just why that should be, there were dozens of other trees around with lots of dying leaves everywhere.

Sir Richard Wallace lived in this house in Lisburn – at least for some of the time. He was the illegitimate son of the 4th Marquess of Hertford but unlike any previous generation he spent some time on his Irish estate. As a result his name which was his mothers maiden name appears repeatedly around Lisburn – Wallace High School (he paid for the original building) and Wallace Park.

There is an impressive Wallace monument as well in the public gardens in front of the house, erected by the people of Lisburn after his death.

Known for his philanthropy these pictures also show an example of a water fountain which he donated to the town – there is another example in Wallace Park. Clean safe water provision in the 1800s, so he must have been interested in public health.
The family are best known for their extensive art collection which can be seen at Hertford House, Manchester Square, London (www.wallacecollection.org)