Egremont sits in a gap between the Lake District fells and the Irish Sea, and that geography is a gift for photographers. Weather arrives from the coast visibly — you can watch a squall cross the valley — and the hour either side of sunset frequently does something dramatic on the flank of the fells.

The reliable show is autumn through spring, in the two hours before dusk, when low sun comes under the cloud deck and rakes across the fields. On clear winter evenings there is often a ten-minute window when the western fells go amber while everything else is blue — it is brief, and it rewards being outside early rather than driving somewhere grand.

What to do with it: keep the composition simple and let the light be the subject. One tree, one barn, one wall line — and expose for the lit ground, not the sky. If you are shooting towards the sun, your camera will try to darken everything; dial in a stop of positive exposure compensation and check the histogram.

If you would like to learn this properly on the ground, our Composition in the Field day deliberately finishes outdoors in that window. It is the best classroom in England, and we are slightly biased.