Musician Virginia Astley has revealed her other passion in a new book The English River: A journey down the Thames in poems & photographs.
The poetry and the pictures are Virginia’s.
Her home reach with family memories is Cleeve but for the book she has walked the river.
The photographs are a delight as she visits the Thames out of season. How many of us have seen Inglesham Church in the snow or crossed the Cricklade meadows when the fritillaries are out?
She goes from Docklands to Source on days which are wet, sunny or even dull.
It is good to see a neglected Conservancy gate highlighted as few survive.
Virginia likes places alongside the path such as Kelmscott Manor: I shed my shoes, feel the chill of flagstones.
The Foreword is by her relative Pete Townshend of The Who.
The English River: A journey down the Thames in poems & photographs by Virginia Astley (Bloodaxe £12).