We start the month celebrating Guy Fawkes Night on the 5th, to ending spectacular events such as the Illuminated Bridgwater Carnival in Somerset. Then comes the many Lantern Parades throughout November and December including Burning the Clocks in Brighton, Sussex. December also sees many streets and villages lighting up for Christmas and then we move on through to the New Year Celebrations at the end of 2014, with fireworks, Flaming Tar Barrels, the Fireball Spectacular at Stonehaven, and Hogmany festivities in Scotland. So throughout the next two months there should be a good opportunity to get some great firework photos or to experiment with photographing illuminated events and streets.

Take a look at the following articles of ideas and tips on how to best handle these situations and you will find the following lists a good starting point to find an event near you.

Fire Festivals and Fire Events

Photographing carnivals with lights 

Carnivals and Illuminations

Photographing Street scenes at night 

Where to Photograph Christmas Lights

Photographing fun fairs

No updates or additions this month have been too busy out and about collecting more photos.

Erdigg, nr Wrexham. A National Trust property in North Wales where you can immerse yourself in the life of the Yorke family household in the last cenutry. You enter the house via the laundry and kitchen and find out about life below stairs before venturing through some of the main rooms of upstairs.

Rufford Old Hall, nr Ormskirk, Lancashire. A family home with a Tudor Great Hall, you learn about family life in the 1840's upstairs, whilst downstairs you find out about the last children to live and be educated here in the 1920's.

Blackpool Illuminations, Blackpool, Lancashire. From the end of August to beginning of November each year, Blackpool seafront for 7 miles is festooned with lights and moving illuminated boards.

The Kelpies, Falkirk, Scotland. Shown in the image above. Magnificent site and well worth a visit if you're in the Falkirk area. They are in the process of building a permanent visitor centre. Whilst in the area you could also visit the Falkirk Wheel.  

Linlithgow Palace, Scotland. A ruined 14th century palace, which once was one of the principal residences of the monarchs of Scotland in the 15th and 16th centuries. It is situated on a mound within a beautiful parkland next to a large lake. It was burned out in 1746. This was a surprise as there was quite a lot of the structure still standing, with multiple towers and floors to climb and discover as well as some of it still having it's roof. A labyrinth which took far longer to investigate that we first imagined it would. The town nearby is also of the same style as the Palace so well worth a look around.

Corstorphine Doocot   A large 16th century beehive dovecot with over 1000 nesting boxes complete, and is the only remaining structure of the Corstorphine Castle estate. Corstophine is now on the outskirts of Edinburgh.

Edinburgh Castle, Scotland. Probably the most well known Scottish tourist attraction. There is so much too see here including finding out about the history of the castle and life here over the centuries, there are also a number of military museums, spectacular views over Edinburgh where you can see many of it's other attractions.

Royal Yacht Britannia, The Ocean Terminal, Leith. Here you can combine a visit to a Royal attraction and a bit of retail therapy as access to it is on the second floor of The Ocean Terminal shopping mall. Britannia was the last Royal Yacht to be used by our Royal Family for over 40 years, sailing of 1 million miles around the world. On a visit you get to explore all it's decks with rooms set out as the Royal Family would have used it, but also how the crew lived and worked. Alongside there is also the Royal Barge used to transport them from the yacht to dry land where it couldn't get to port and also The Bloodhound a smaller racing Yacht which has been raced by the Duke of Edinburgh.

Craigmillar Castle, Edinburgh. This is a ruined medieval castle situation 3 miles south-east of Edinburgh City centre. It's earliest structures were built in the 14th century by the Preston family and extended through the 15th and 16th centuries. In 1660 it was sold the Sir John Gilmour and the Gilmour family left in the 18th century when it fell into ruin. Again there is a lot to explore here including being able to get up onto one of the tower roofs, and on a clear day looking back across to Edinburgh Castle on its mound. Now in the care of Historic Scotland.

Our Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh. Next to the Scottish Parliament and Holyrood Palace is a family attraction where you can find out about our earth. You take a 1.5 hour + exploration of halls taking you into space, through the ages to present day, through jungles and more. Experiences are through smell, touch as well as sight with lots of hands on exhibits, moving floors with the volcanoes, cold in the ice exhibit, which has a large block of ice in the middle. At the end there is a half hour 360 degree cinema experience which when we visited was on Super Volancoes.

Robert Smail's Printworks, Inverleithen, Scotland. In the High Street of Inverleithen is a small shop with a big heart behind. It is now run by National Trust for Scotland. You enter through the gift shop and are taken into the small office and a guide tells you about the history of the Smail family and the Victorian printworks which shut up shop in 1986 but had been running for over 100 years. You are then taken past the waterwheel which used to run the machinery and see the machine that printed solid lines onto lined books, up to the typesetting room and here you are able to be a printers apprentice and make up a typeset piece, before being taken back down to the printworks where the original machinery is still working today. The National Trust still run operate the machinery today printing some of their own literature and doing wedding documentation for those who get married in their other properties.