Quilliam Brothers - Tea House

The Quilliam Brothers Tea House is the only one of its kind, located in Newcastle. The outside of the building is beautifully crafted architecture with their name written in shinning gold on the door. They offer every type of tea which is always perfectly brewed with love and adoring eyes. They don't only do tea, they also offer coffee, hot chocolate, cakes, breakfast, music, art and film showings. It's the perfect place to be. 

After being outside in the freezing cold we were hit by the warm, friendly and loving atmosphere inside. The staff kindly let us take photos around the tea house, upstairs and downstairs. Everywhere is full of vintage decor which needs to be captured. 

As you walk in you can see their baked goods on the counter from scones to pastries or from peanut butter brownies to orange cake. 

The tea house offers over 60 different lose leaf teas kept in lovely individual vintage tins each uniquely named. I also took this opportunity to get a Polaroid of the tins, hoping the bold stenciled font would stand out. 

 There is seating available both up and downstairs and are both as good as each other. The seating ranges from chairs, stools and cushions on the floor which also adds to the vintage style of this extraordinary tea house.  

Once sat down the lovely staff handed us their crafted book of teas, pages and pages of every kind. 

Even though I am not a tea drinker, the coffee from here is the best I have ever had. The lattes come with artistic images which is always a photo in itself. 

As well as just drinking tea, there are games such as Scrabble available or plugs for your laptops or phones, offering you the chance to bring your personality to this creative place. 

 The tea house is open from the early morning till late at night. From downstairs you can go into the cinema room where they hold small events, film nights, music and more. The stalls are old fashioned with each seat number still on. 

The walls are covered in unique art work which is also available to buy if you want to take it home. 

After finishing our drinks we went back upstairs to get our final photos. On display they have lose blended teas available to buy or beautiful ceramic pots.  

If you're ever in Newcastle I would highly recommend visiting this tea house, even if its just to say hello, the staff are very welcoming and happy to help. If you want to find out more or contact them their website is // www.quilliambrothers.com // they are also on social media. 

Thank you again for reading, any tips or comments would be appreciated thank you, 

JJx

High And Low Force 24-01-15

My parents kindly offered to drive me to High and Low Force in Teesdale, Durham. 

We pulled over half way through our journey and I ran out in the freezing wind to take a picture over the hills of Weardale. There were stormy clouds but we were lucky enough to get the blue sky with the sun light. After a few hours in the car, we had arrived. 

// Rich Green And Pale Grey //

 After parking the car and walking down the path, this was our first view of High Force. I took this photo on my 18-55mm lens because I wanted to get the colours of orange and brown showing next to the waterfall. This is one of the most spectacular waterfalls in England. 

The place was very damp but there was nature in every corner with the spectacular rich dark greens and water droplets. I couldn't stop myself from taking photos.

Finally we got down to the bottom and it was time to set up my tripod. My plan was to hopefully get some slow shutter speeds of the waterfall, similar to my Jesmond Dene photos. It took longer to get the perfect shot, because it was just too light and they came out over exposed.

IOS 100 // Shutter Speed 3.2 // EF75-300mm f/4-5.6 // Aperture 32 

IOS 100 // Shutter Speed 2 // EF75-300mm f/4-5.6 // Aperture 40

// Water Droplets //

// Look Deep Into Nature, And Then You Will Understand Everything Better //

For this photo (with the rocks in the foreground), I still tried to use a slow shutter speed for the waterfall. This time I only had the shutter speed on for a second which worked the best.  

 Walking back up the path we came across this little stream down the hill, I then again tested my shutter speed. Even though we did come to see High Force this was one of my favourite photos so far.

 We then got back in the car and traveled down the road to see Low Force, which is a series of small waterfalls. 

// The Sun Always Rises //

 Even though I only live 1 hour 30 minutes away I would recommend visiting Teesdale and the waterfalls. It has a beautiful landscape with little villages in every place, it is also full of walks, hills, and sheep. Or if your more adventurous, we saw people white water rafting down the river which also looked amazing. 

// The Storm Coming In //

Thank you for reading my blog, it means a lot to me. Any comments, shares or follows would be highly appreciated. This time I concentrated more on the photos then the writing any tips would be very helpful or feel free to tell me if you prefer more writing. Thank you again,

JJx

Ouseburn Culvert 17-01-15

 Going inside the Ouseburn culvert was a great experience, all 2150ft of it. (but we didn't walk all of it). We started our journey at Ilford Road Metro and stopped off to visit the car park on top of John Lewis in Newcastle for some great views.

// Sunshine Rainbow //

Rooftops are the best thing to explore in cities, just looking over everything is incredible. The John Lewis car park is easy to get to with a beautiful views in every direction. You can see far into the distance as well as immediately down below.

// Just Being Really High Up //

// Focus On Other Things //

The Ouseburn Tunnel is a place that not many people know exists. It runs underneath parts of Newcastle and has been there for years and is large enough for people to walk in.  Knowing that people have walked here in the past and knowing that its just you here now is a spectacular feeling. You are walking underneath the city with people and life carrying on above you. There is no natural light in the tunnel so we were walking into a mysterious darkness.   

Walking further in the tunnel, whilst listening to the river flowing through the city, we came across a metal structure creating an archway. 

// Archway To Darkness //

Inside, every single part of the walls that were reachable were covered in graffiti, some which was amazing. The majority of the graffiti were just tags but we occasionally came across messages that made us stop and think. Since the tunnel was mainly the colours grey and black the graffiti brightened up the tunnel creating a diverse pallet of colour.  

// Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost //

When we walked further in, we would come across a structure that had been repeated creating a pattern, this included small tunnels leading off or blocks of stone on the walls. 

// Best Moments Happen When They Are Unplanned //

We headed back out after a couple of hours. Once outside, we found some scaffolding which was  good to get photographs with the night time background.

// Abyss //

Thank you so much again for reading my blog, leaving comments or sharing it round would mean a lot. I would advise bringing a few torches with you because it is pitch black.You can get guided tours in the culvert at the Victoria Tunnel which is equipped with lights. Thank you to @liam_c1999 and http://labelblog.tumblr.com/ for taking me and being in my pictures, you should check these guys out. Sorry my photography isn't that great but i only had enough light with my little flash on my canon. 

JJx

I do not want to encourage trespassing, please be safe and careful.