High Above the Malverns: Zoom Captures a Golden Weekend
Zoom takes to the skies above Berrends Farm, revealing our weekend camp, golden Worcestershire fields and the magnificent Malvern Hills from an entirely new perspective.
Some weekends are remembered through stories. Others are preserved in photographs. This one deserved both. With Fiona and two of her boys joining me at Berrends Farm, we were surrounded by open fields, winding tracks, mature woodland and the unmistakable outline of the Malvern Hills. From ground level it was wonderfully peaceful. Once Zoom, my DJI Mini 4 Pro, climbed into the sky, the entire landscape revealed itself.
A farm hidden in the landscape
From directly above, Berrends Farm appears almost tucked away from the rest of the world. Narrow lanes cut between hedgerows, trees form natural boundaries around the pitches and the buildings sit among huge expanses of sun-scorched fields.
Cars, campervans and tents become tiny splashes of colour within a much larger rural patchwork. It is a view that simply cannot be appreciated from the ground: every track, field and hedgerow suddenly becomes part of one enormous composition.
Welcome to Camp Nix
One of my favourite frames from the flight is the straight-down view of our pitch. Vanilla, the white car and the grey shelter create a brilliant contrast against the dry summer grass. Torque, my orange Scott e-bike, can even be spotted resting near the trees—another member of the Nix adventure fleet making an appearance.
From this height, the camp looks like our own tiny expedition base. It captures everything I enjoy about travelling this way: arriving somewhere beautiful, setting up home for the weekend and heading out to explore on foot, on two wheels or, in this case, from the sky.
Sometimes the best adventures are about finding the right place, sharing it with the right people and seeing it all from a completely new angle.
Zoom goes vertical
The tall portrait images gave me a completely different way to photograph the farm. Instead of concentrating on a traditional wide horizon, the camera follows the long entrance track through the landscape, pulling the eye from the buildings and campsite towards the far end of the farm.
Trees throw long shadows across the fields, hedgerows form deep green borders and the scorched farmland creates a warm golden background. From above it almost resembles a hand-drawn map—only with considerably better parking.
The Malverns on the horizon
The panorama was the moment the true scale of the location became apparent. Beyond the farm lies an immense patchwork of harvested fields, wooded areas and ancient hedgerows, stretching all the way towards the Malvern Hills.
Deep greens surround great expanses of gold beneath a blue sky scattered with broken white cloud. The Malverns rise gently on the horizon, giving the scene both depth and distance—the sort of countryside that makes you keep looking to discover what lies beyond the next field.
A weekend seen differently
Loading ride…
Drone photography has an extraordinary ability to transform a familiar place. A campsite becomes a tiny settlement, a farm track becomes the spine of a landscape, and ordinary hedgerows form bold geometric patterns across the countryside.
Zoom captured more than a record of where we stayed. These images preserve the atmosphere of a brilliant weekend with Fiona and the boys: the sunshine, the open countryside, our camp beneath the trees and the freedom of having the Malverns waiting beyond the horizon. This one was a keeper.