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Dennis looking down a fretboard to make sure it's straight.

Ukulele Dennis at the Waterloo Ukulele Fun Festival

ByJulia

In August 2017, the Liver Hotel in Waterloo, Liverpool, put on the Waterloo Ukulele Fun Festival – or ‘WUFF’, to go by its rather fun acronym.

The Liver is a family-friendly pub with a really great garden of decent size. It used to be a bowling green, but in recent times it’s been converted to a proper pub garden. It now comes complete with children’s play equipment and wonderfully oversized table umbrellas to shelter you in even the wettest weather.

The festival was, unsurprisingly, a day of ukulele-based music. It featured acts from individual musicians to ukulele orchestras, packing out the small stage and spilling out onto the grass. There were a few other attractions, such as henna tattoos, face painting and raffles. The place was packed and it was an utterly fun day.

Looking up the Eye from the base.

A view from the Liverpool Eye

ByJulia

The summer holidays can be both a blessing and a curse for those with young children. Whilst we get to spend some wonderful, unadulterated time with our precious offspring, the weeks can end up stretching ahead, seemingly endlessly, and we find ourselves searching for fun days out.

This summer, we whiled-away a day being tourists in our city: we went to the Albert Docks. We explored the waterside village full of fairground rides and eateries. We lunched and took in art and culture at the Tate Liverpool. We wandered around the Albert Dock for a while. Then, we finished up by having a ride on the Liverpool Eye.

Looking across the Great Bath from the walkway around the top. There are lots of visitors at both upper and lower levels

Visiting the Roman Baths: the good and the bad

ByJulia

The Roman Baths is the jewel in the crown of the city of Bath. Built on geothermal underground springs, the baths are filled with water that comes out of the ground at 46°C,

The Celts were the first people to build shrine at the site, which they dedicated to the goddess Sulis.

When the Romans invaded Britain in the first century AD under the Emperor Claudius, they renamed the settlement Aquae Sulis, identifying Sulis with the Roman goddess Minerva, and built their own temple and baths complex at the springs.

A man with his young son in the World Museum Egyptian galleries. They're in front of a large photo of the temple at Abu Simbel. The boy is dressed up in a pharaoh's costume and is looking up at his daddy, who's doing an Egyptian dance

Opening day at the new Egyptian galleries, World Museum

ByJulia

On 28 April 2017, the World Museum in Liverpool opened its newly refurbished Egyptian galleries, after nearly two years of work. Being an Egyptophile, I was, of course, at the museum for when the doors opened at 10.00.

Although I wanted to get some photos of the gallery itself to share on my Egyptology blog, I wanted to do a bit of documentary work too. It’s been a few weeks since I’ve had the chance to indulge in a bit of street-style photography.

Looking down into the Liverpool One shopping centre. There's lots of people with umbrellas and bags

Street photography on a rainy day at Liverpool One

ByJulia

I do love spending a bit of time wandering, documenting life around me. There are so many ways in which people and places can be interesting, and different ways in which I, as a photographer, can capture life.

I like going out in different weather conditions and times of year to see how places change. I also use different lenses, such as my wide-angle lens – where you have to get close to your subject – and my trusty 35 mm (53 mm equivalent). This makes me think more carefully about how I go about using the camera, as well as making me use my legs, too.

One lens I hadn’t taken out around the street, however, is my 50 mm (75 mm equivalent) macro lens. I was interested to see how it fared being put to use out and about, rather than on a tripod, up close-and-personal with small things.

A boy sitting on top of a rocky outcrop, sitting side on to the camera. In the distance a wind farm can be seen out at sea

A New Year’s Day walk on West Kirby beach

ByJulia

New Year’s Day can be a bit of a non-day for many. For those who aren’t sleeping off a long night or nursing a severe hangover, going out for a walk somewhere can be a great way to blow away the cobwebs and pass some time.

As we were staying at a friend’s house over on the Wirral this New Year, we decided to go for a walk at Red Rocks on West Kirby beach.

Like much of the coast around the region, the beach is flat, sandy and has a large tidal range. West Kirby Beach looks out at the north coast of Wales and Hilbre Island. This stretch of beach has some amazing rocks which are great fun for the children to clamber around on.

A reflection of the colourful Christmas tree on the wet pavement

The Christmas lights and delights of Liverpool

ByJulia

Town centres can be hell in the run up to Christmas for even the most hardened of adventurers. Bad weather, more shoppers than you can shake a stick at and every one on every corner trying to wrench your wallet open.

If you’re not actually shopping, however, it can be really fun to have a wander and see the sights.

This year, Liverpool city centre has gone all-out with German-style markets (fashionable at the moment, I believe), large Christmas trees, a fairground and other such delights. I took my two girls into town late on Saturday afternoon for some Christmassy fun.