Whatever happened to me?

Does it get any better than this?

Part 2 - Great Dixter!

[Joe Binetti with Great Dixter's peacock topiaries]

Well, we saw a lot of beautiful gardens during the past week, but the last one was probably a favorite for me. It was very personal, colorful and whimsical. I even had a moment near the sunken garden, when on a lesser used path above the pond, I felt like I connected in some way with Mr. Lloyd himself. I know that sounds weird, but it was the oddest first person feeling of being slightly irritated that the gardening staff had not kept the bushes next to that upper path better trimmed. They were grabbing at my clothing as I brushed past. The feelings were not my own... I was thrilled to be anywhere in Great Dixter... grabby branches or not! :-)

First some information on Great Dixter and a couple of "stolen" pictures of Christopher Lloyd (not my property and probably from a couple of his book jackets... he was a prolific and delightful author). He lived on this property his whole life, but had passed away three years prior to our visit. He owned several dachshunds and after one of them died, he had someone lay a stone mosaic of the dog into a patio near the house. You'll see part of that later. It was impossible to get it all into one picture without being in the upper parts of the house or on a very tall ladder... which we did not have at the time. I'm not sure which room would have looked out onto that patio, but it might have been his bedroom. That would be interesting to check out... I believe they have floor plans of the house on the Great Dixter website.

A Tudor house with a famous twentieth century Arts and Crafts garden. Great Dixter was bought in 1910 by Nathaniel Lloyd, author of books on brickwork and topiary, and was restored by Edwin Lutyens. Nathaniel designed the framework of the garden and it was planted with great flair by his son, Christopher Lloyd, author of many good books on plants and planting. Christopher Lloyd was born at Great Dixter and left the estate to The Great Dixter Trust on his death in 2006. The garden reflects the interests of its creators.

It was love at first sight when I spied this old thatched roof barn near the car park. We were there in the afternoon, so the lighting was pretty good for most of the pictures. I did a second walk around of the place to take some of them again, since it seemed to improve during the time of our visit. Christopher Lloyd had an eclectic garden taste and loved color. He also was very tolerant of volunteer plants, and would leave quite a few of them in odd places where they would pop up on their own. While stunning, his whole garden has a lack of pretense and often a sense of humor and whimsy (in a light-handed sort of way). It's delightful to walk through it.

Both gardens on our last day had these wonderful oast houses. The next few pictures were taken near the patio where the mosaic had been created. The colorful grouping in the corner was all contrived with potted plants. At a glance it looked like a bed, but it was all container plantings, which could be swapped out when past their prime. They were really eye-popping and the group couldn't take enough photos in this spot! (The third picture in this group was taken by Joe Binetti.)

Sherri and I walked around together on the first round. She was good enough to pose in a few photos for me. I thought she made the plants look nicer. :-) She'd probably hate that I'm dropping them in here. ;-)

The Long Border... beautiful... but...

If any one of us had actually turned around... we might have seen THIS (next two photos)! =:o I should have reviewed one of his books before the trip and I might have realized this gorgeous photo op was one to look for. Here we all were... in blissful ignorance, like a herd of cattle... walking away from the house and doubling back into a shrubby area where this view was no longer obvious. I looked at Joe Binetti's photos to see if he'd noticed this and I don't think he did either. Maybe someone else in the group caught this vantage point. These two photos were lifted from the web... the first from an English news site and the other from a fellow named, Don Hyatt... who visited Great Dixter (during an early summer time frame, guessing from the flowers in bloom)...

Well... getting back to the trees instead of the forest... here are a couple more shots from the Long Border, before we doubled back toward the house on a different path.

When you see these little "peacocks" you know you're in Great Dixter. I still think they look more like squirrels, but maybe they've morphed a bit over decades of clipping. ;-) That's Joe Binetti in the photo... getting to be in one instead of taking it. He took pictures for the group while on the trip and burned copies of them to share later. I made copies of my photos also and in addition gave everyone a DVD of the photos in a slideshow with sound clips from the trip behind them (like a movie). I don't know if anyone has pulled that out to watch it, but maybe eventually they'll stumble upon it and shove it into the DVD player if they own one. I would have loved to see more photos from other people who took them but most of them were not familiar with duplicating digital photos via computer. A couple brought their albums to a reunion meeting and in the little time we had, it was great seeing the different angles and subjects people will catch while on the same trip. It's fascinating. If we'd have gathered the best of the best from everyone's photos and put them together, it would have been gorgeous.

These are on a small tree/tall shrub in the euonymous family (to the right of where Joe Binetti is standing). They really perk up the autumn garden and echo some of the tones of the Virginia Creeper, which has scaled the roof of the house.

Many of our group went into the house to see the interiors and learn its history. This pretty display was inside the porch area. I opted to continue walking in the garden to get more pictures... and just experience the garden all by myself. I was a little turned-around but felt more at home in this garden than some.

Right about here is where I encountered a nice Australian couple as they breezed in before the garden closed. We stood on the front walkway and chatted for a few minutes... about traveling, England, etc. They were incredibly warm and friendly folks. They were staying in the Rye area and just wandered in while driving to see the countryside. They said when they traveled, they usually went for about a month and liked to stay in one area for up to a week... renting their own car and just poking around at their leisure. The other thing I recall them talking about is that they had managed to make lifelong friends while on trips... hitting it off with someone during a week in a place and staying in touch after the fact. I thought that was really neat. I don't recall their names and didn't get a picture when we chatted... they were in a hurry to be off and see what they could. I recommended the high points and pointed in the direction I thought they were. ;-) Later, we crossed paths at the gift shop and as they hurriedly left, I quickly snapped a photo of them going out the door. Not the most flattering angle... but I wanted to remember them later and any picture was better than none. ;-)

We're moving through the plant nursery area and toward the gift shop. Of course, while in the gift shop, I had to photograph someone's homemade soaps.

There go the Aussies! It was a pleasure to meet them. :-)

The next four were from Joe's photos. I managed to completely miss the gardens near the barn. He got some beautiful shots there. Mimi is extremely photogenic... I like this first one of her. I think she probably wanted something like this to work into her slide presentations or correspondence. She does a lot of public speaking on various garden topics.

I've looped back to the coach/car park since it was nearing the time of our departure. This is the coach we used during our time in London. A situation came up when quite a few of the group were missing in action. They were still in the house on the tour. Mimi went in to let them know we needed to leave and the docent refused to release them early. ;-) So... we waited a little bit for them. They all raved about how great she (the docent) was and thoroughly enjoyed their tour, so no one held a grudge against her for making us a little late on our return to London (well... maybe Amanda... I don't know). ;-) We still managed to get to our farewell dinner on time.

In the second picture Mimi is explaining to Amanda that we are going to be slightly delayed. Amanda was in a pretty amicable mood after spending time with friends while we were touring the garden. You can see her chatting with them in the first picture.

I just can't get enough of this old barn and woodpile.

We've come back into London in preparation for our farewell dinner and packing up for the airport the next day. Here are a couple of shots as we crossed the River Thames... and you can see the London Eye, Palace of Westminster and the Tower of Big Ben.

As we drove through the city on our way to the hotel, we passed the restaurant where we were booked for dinner ("The Albert"). Amanda explained to us that this building had managed to survive the Blitz during WWII when all around it was leveled. It is surrounded by towering high rise buildings now... a little microcosm of a former time. I just barely caught a poor photo through the window as the coach made a left hand turn!

The Albert Pub And Restaurant

This extraordinary pub was built in 1864 and endured both the Blitz and redevelopment in the sixties. The Albert in all its grand Victorian architecture stands tall and proud amongst all its more modern neighbours. Originally this site was for a pub called the Bluecoat Boy, but later changed hands and the pub was named in honour of Queen Victoria`s husband, the Prince Albert.

The style of the bar is typical of the Victorian era. From its etched cut glass windows, which in times gone by were to hide what was going on inside from children`s eyes to its heavy, mahogany hard wood bar. A large ornate clock is mounted above the bar telling you just how late you are and how time flys when you are having a good time.

In the centre of the large, open plan lower bar is a main staircase which leads to the first floor carvery restaurant displays portraits of British Prime Ministers who have visited the pub, The pub is also popular with tourists, professionals, locals and chelsea pensioners.

As I recall, we were bushed after such a long day and tons of walking. We managed to pull ourselves together and get spiffed up for this last special night. During dinner, Mimi asked each of us to share our favorite garden or part of the trip. I think my high point of the whole week was the walk up Old Calton Hill in Edinburgh, Scotland... and I think my roommate really enjoyed that also. Quite a few folks fell in love with Chesters Walled Garden. Picking a favorite garden is almost like attempting to pick a favorite child. I liked the private gardens best (Chesters Walled Garden, Sissinghurst and Great Dixter)... but Sudeley Castle was pretty special too.

This restaurant had a "carvery" upstairs and we walked through the line there and could have any meat we wanted. There were huge roasted chunks of all kinds and each "station" had a young man armed with a sharp knife. I think I got pork... they had turkey, beef and pork... think I'm forgetting one. Carvery's are popular there. I'm not a big meat eater so was more interested in the other parts of the meal. I think I had my second Yorkshire pudding here... only this one was almost on the edge of burnt. They are more like a meat flavored popover than a pudding. Not at all what one would expect. Before we left, Mimi gave us all a little gift she'd purchased earlier in the week. They were cute little notepads with a floral motif on the front cover. I used mine on the last morning to make notes of where we'd gone each day and little bits I wanted to remember. I never kept a journal like I'd planned and gave my nice quality but empty journal to Angie. She travels more than I and was more likely to write in it. I hope she was able to put it to use when she made a subsequent trip to South Africa.

Well... it's now Saturday morning... our last few hours in London. Angie was going to leave early and catch the train to her brother's and I wanted to get up and be ready to help her get her luggage to the station. I don't know if I was all that much help, but it was nice to make the walk with her and bid her farewell. After that, I continued on to the old Bromptom Cemetery to take a few pictures. We'd driven past and it kind of called to me. ;-) The following photos are from that area and back down to our hotel. I wish I'd gotten a shot of the little shop where I loaded up on chocolate. =:o It was painted bright green in front and had a Russian or Polish clerk behind the counter. You saw that everywhere in London... well in England at large. They have a heavy influx of people coming from those countries and there seem to be a lot of them working at the hotels and restaurants. Our waitresses at The Albert spoke very little English.

I smile when I think of the chocolate buying exercise... I was torn between two brands and a couple of fellows in there for a morning paper cast their votes. The one came from behind me and picked up a gold wrapped Cadbury bar... one with caramel (I forgot the name). He told me I need to get some of those and he was right. They were delicious! :-) I was explaining my ridiculous chocolate buying to the clerk (must have looked odd) and telling her how the chocolate there tastes so much better than American chocolate ... many were for my kids,etc. (And of course, the more chatty fellow thought that was "a likely story.") She said she understood that and had experienced something similar with Pepsi. British Pepsi is apparently better than what they had in her native country.

Well... I've stashed the heavy bag of chocolate in my room and have come down to join the group for breakfast. It's sad to be going, but kind of exciting to know I'll be seeing and talking to family soon. My cell phone was getting lonely. ;-)

Joe Binetti snapped this at Heathrow. I'd just taken a couple of photos and was putting my camera away. That's the same shirt I wore the day before but it was chosen because it was the coolest thing I had on the trip (not cool looking... just comfy). I knew it would get "close" on the plane and it's a long trip!

We've taken off at last!

Sherri and I sat in the same row and lucked out in that there were only two people there. So... we had an empty seat between us. I laugh when I see this picture because we spent a bunch of time trying to coordinate our movies (The Proposal with Sandra Bullock)... so we could watch the same thing at the same time and talk about it. That was quite a fiasco and just when you thought you had it just right... one of them would go offline and have to be started over again. They had a huge menu of movies one could watch. Since I took quite a few trips to the "loo" (this is British Airways, after all)... I noticed one fellow watched movies the whole way... 9 hours of movie watching with no sleeping at all. I slept very little but nodded off a few times.

I can't tell you for sure where these places are (I once thought I knew)... but in here you'll see Great Britain, Iceland, Greenland, the eastern part of Canada. I need to figure out which mountain that huge one is toward the end... before the last photo of clouds.

Sherri was good enough to snap some of the window pictures, since she was closer. I took a break from that to capture my "Great Dixter scratch." My arm got snagged on a rose bush while we were in the exotic garden and that scratch was worn with pride until it healed. ;-)