just me perhaps but i would go full manual,low iso,set aperture for your desired depth of field, meter for the outside ,then using the preview facility with histogram adjust shutter so that the highlights are just about to clip this should then only require a shadows lift and a small drop in the highlights using the shadow/highlight adjustment in photoshop or elements to pull it back

thanks for looking and comments, well worth it Gary if you get the chance
thanks Nigel, i think the fisheye came into its element here.
thanks Stuey , re DIY been there ,done that ,burnt the t shirt, does she not realise everything comes to those that wait

thanks for comments, glad they have sparked an interest, next time i go i will join an official tour to learn more about it. i just wandered around on my own this time which was nice. a bonus of them having to open more in the week, to qualify for funding, so visitors are spread over more days = less people to get in the way.

thanks John, i appreciate what you say but it was abandoned and at least this way it provides a remarkable and genuine insight to the design and physical construction of a building of this nature, also providing a "live" subject for people to learn dying skills and put them to use. so in some respects it does have a function and purpose i think.

love the drama of the first one, it almost looks Japanese. the others are excellent also. hoping to get down there this year, only live an hour away and never been. there is also an old pier in Weston-Super Mare as well, Birnbeck Pier but not sure how much is left.

thanks Carl, glad i hung onto my fisheye as well. as i said it has been grade 1 listed in this state to protect it ,just imagine if a developer had got hold of it which probably would have been the end result if it had been finished as the last of the family were two spinsters who could not afford to run it, it was sold to a hospital/hospice who never used it Stroud Council Eventually got the house and an area of land around it, there is also a massive park attached with 5 lakes and a Victorian boat house, all open to the public which National Trust look after. have to go back and do some more detail stuff, like the 6ft bath carved out of a single piece of stone.
the wiki info is very good.

an unfinished Gothic style mansion not far from where i live, that took me 30 yrs to get to see. it is now run by a trust who have had it grade 1 listed in the state it is in so it can never be completed, that way all the construction methods used will be on show for ever. all the work they do is to repair or replace but no new construction, if something like a gargoyle deteriorates a stone mason carves an identical new one, they run courses in traditional stonemasonary. a truly amazing place. a link to the Wiki info on it if you are interested and ever in the Cotswolds:-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodchester_Mansion

The Mansion



Gargoyles



Cellar



Main Staircase with stone sloping vaulted ceiling



Library Door



Abandoned



State of the Art in 1870



As Found ,incomplete note wooden scaffold pole ,arch former and ladder



Top Floor Landing



The Rose Window



this place was abandoned by the workers ,tools ,scaffold etc,etc just downed and left. there are two explanations one the owner ran out of money or two it has a reputation of being haunted and something more sinister drove them away. take your pick.

love the minimilist approach, look good on a white wall

agree with Carl completely, i am in the same situation some lovely woods all around our area yet i cannot for the life of me get the camera to see what i see. well done Nigel

threw 2 in the bin yesterday trying this trick, nothing important thank goodness