Bryansford, The Mountains of Mourne

Bryansford, The Mountains of Mourne
Farmhouse Cottage with a View - Bryansford, Mourne Mountains

Bryansford is an idylic country setting, just about 10 minutes drive from the County Down coastal town of Newcastle. Perfect for taking photos of the wonders that are the Mourne Mountains, including Tollymore Forest. We stayed in a lovely farm cottage owned by Alexandra and Eric on the outskirts of the village. Very friendly hosts and we'll certainly be back.

It was a perfect winter getaway - a 200 year old cottage building that had been lovingly restored with lots of warmth and character. I couldn't resist taking some photos of the building, inside and out - especially the roaring fire. The cottage is part of a working farm which just added to the enjoyment of our weekend there.

The photos of the inside were taken at night, and aside from some dimmed downed LED lights wrapped around the wooden beams of the open-planned space, the light from the fire just needed a slow shutter-speed (1/80) and a wide open aperture (f1.8). A perfect winter evening scene - warm and cosy.

The horses were the stars of the show however and were more than happy to pose for photos near the gate in the yard. Lovely animals.

On the night we arrived, it was a clear sky - perfect for doing night time photography too. It was my first attempt at doing so. I tried a 30 second shutter speed with an narrow aperture of f22. You can tell by the `grainy' look of the images that the ISO setting was quite high - it was set to 'auto'. As a first attempt at night time photography, I was pretty happy - a great learning experience.