John hosts this weeks challenge. His original challenge post can be found here – Lens-Artists Challenge #394—History Through the Lens.

As quite often happens with the challenges, they coincide with real life. We happened to be visiting my in-laws in Bournemouth, UK this weekend. We all enjoy a good hike so yesterday they’d planned a circular walking route for us, starting in the small Dorset village of Tolpuddle. The home of the Tolpuddle Martyrs.

Briefly – The Tolpuddle Martyrs were six 19th-century Dorset farm labourers. George and James Loveless, James Brine, James Hammett, Thomas and John Standfield. All were sentenced to seven years’ transportation to Australia in 1834. Arrested for swearing secret oaths while forming a friendly society to protest wage cuts, their harsh punishment sparked mass protests, shaping the early British trade union movement. Their full story can be found here – The Torpuddle Martyrs

John created the challenge based on his love of travelling and photographing historic sites. A common combination from the challenge posts I’ve read so far. I’m no different. We visit a lot of historic sites, home and abroad, but the Bay of Abandoned Hotels at Kupari, Croatia really made an impression on me. Again, this one was down to my brother in law, David, who’d researched the Dubrovnik area prior to us all visiting there in 2017.

Here’s a quick AI generated summary of Kupari – The “Bay of Abandoned Hotels” in Kupari, Croatia, is a derelict 1960s luxury military resort 10km from Dubrovnik, destroyed by shelling and looting during the early 1990s Croatian War of Independence. Formerly used by Yugoslav elite, these gutted, graffiti-strewn concrete structures are now a popular “urbex” spot with scenic beaches.

We took a taxi from Dubrovnik to Kupari and spent a day on the beach and wandering around the hotels. It’s a haunting, but fascinating place to visit. If you’re ever in the area it’s well worth a trip out to the bay. You can find lots more info in relation to the resort on the web. Here’s a few images from our visit.

Before I sign off I’ll leave you with this image, taken on our walk yesterday. It has absolutely nothing to do with the challenge, I just thought it was funny. A cow posing in full Kiss makeup 🙂

Thank you to John for hosting this weeks challenge. I look forward to reading through this weeks responses.

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All images: ©Stephen Hyde 2007-2025 – All rights reserved.