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Metapontum was an important city of Magna Graecia, situated on the gulf of Tarentum, founded by Achaean settlers perhaps around 700 BC. There is not much left from the Greek times, this Hera temple being the best preserved example. It is of the Doric order, but most likely of later date than the two famous Hera temples of Paestum south of Naples. Best on black.

Not really, but after the warmest year in Switzerland in recorded history, we're now experiencing the coldest winter in 30 years, so we try to protect our tender shrubs and trees as well as we can. These here are three Camellias sasanqua, about 2 meters tall. Fortunately, garden centers here offer a choice of frost protection covers. When trees are taller than, say, 2,50 meters, protection gets difficult, if not impossible, so often you can only protect the trunk, as we do with our Lagerstroemia. On the other hand, older trees are usually less prone to frost damage than younger ones, so we keep our fingers crossed. Picture taken at the beginning of February 2012.

An ancient forest with ferns and mossy rocks caught our eye when hiking round Crummock Water, Cumbria, in October 2009. Best on black.

The builder, and possibly its designer, of this neat 9-room villa was the engineer and entrepreneur Robert Thom, who bought the property in 1830. Thom's main achievement on the Isle of Bute was to provide parts of it with water - there's still a reservoir named after him. The house, now owned by The Landmark Trust, is surrounded by a vast landscape park, which, however, is no longer properly maintained. The house can be rented for holiday.

The interior of this 9-room villa, built by the engineer and entrepreneur Robert Thom in the 1830s and now owned by The Landmark Trust, has retained much of its original substance and atmosphere.