THE stark beauty of trees in winter can be enjoyed inside The Dukes gallery as well as in the great outdoors this month and next.

Winter Trees is a photographic exhibition by Chris Walbank which opened yesterday and will run at the Lancaster venue until March 9.

All the images on display are taken within a radius of two fields just outside Garstang, a few minutes’ walk from Chris’s home.

Chris said: “As a child I used to play football there in a summer football league. It was always an experience as usually the farmer had to clear the cattle off the field before we could play. It was one eye on the ball and the other eye on the cow pats!

“Returning back all these years later, the football pitch was lost to a hard frost and I was surrounded by frozen thistles and frozen cow pats. The trees have always immediately stood out to me, even as a child they distracted me from my football and years later, they still stand out, more so in the winter.”

Chris decided to capture these trees on camera during one of the hardest winters for years and the results can be viewed during normal Dukes opening hours.

Box Office: 01524-598500 or online at www.dukes-lancaster.org.