Thanks for your comments folks. No sharpening at all Mike, probably the "post-processing". I actually posted them just to see how the processing would be received. (It's a modified LR preset by Sean McCormack, by the way. Three cheers for Lightroom I say!!!)
One reason for the treatment was that there must be thousands of photos of the same scenes in existence, (I saw hundreds being made the day I was there!) and I just felt I wanted to experiment to achieve something different but that would enhance the mood. Perhaps "create" is a more honest word than "enhance" - not perhaps, certainly is, because the scene didn't have any of the mood I've presented.
However, is what I've done wrong in any way? Have I breached any aesthetic or technical high grounds?
I would really like to hear some discussion about how people feel about this.
Bob.