Celestial Chook moments

One for Downton Abbey fans. Pictures from visit to Highclere Castle taken last August. It was lovely walking in the meadows below the castle. It felt like being in a different era, so peaceful. Just the rustle of the grasses blowing in the wind.

Looking out at the March rain prompted me to review some of the photos I took last year. I realised that I hadn’t posted my pics from visit to Charleston, East Sussex last August. I hope you enjoy the bright cheeriness of the Dahlias as we wait for good weather to arrive.

Final selection of pics from our Christmas getaway to Gran Canaria. We always hire a car (a little one) so that we can explore different places. The south of the island tends to be a bit drier, but as you go over the top and over to the north, the vegetation becomes lush and green at this time of year (December). This is the first time we have seen the almond trees in blossom.

No visit to Gran Canaria is complete without a visit to the kiosk in San Telmo Park, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. I have to have at least one Cafe Leche y Leche (a Cafe Cortado with a layer of condensed milk at the bottom). Always a treat to sit outside sipping coffee in the sun on a day in December.

Photos from my Christmas holiday in Gran Canaria. These are panoramics taken with my iPhone.

I am missing the presence of the Olympic flame, especially since I seemed to be stalked by the Olympic torch relay in Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Kent and Sussex. So I’ve drawn it should you, like me, want to see it before the athletics starts next week.

I love Bodiam Castle. It’s a proper castle with a moat, ramparts, portcullis and everything. It has the stature you would expect of a castle.

I also love walking the paths through the fields around Bodiam. The views are beautiful and tranquil. I keep a picture of this landscape in my the back of my mind at all times just in case I need to escape, figuratively speaking, to a peaceful sanctuary. (If you see me looking into the middle distance, this is where I am… then again, I might just be being vacant.)

If you’re not into the big, in-your-face type of castle, then I can highly recommend something a little smaller: Scotney Castle. This is a beautiful gem-like fortress. While much smaller than Bodiam, it does still have that all-essential castle feature: a moat… with lily pads.

If Great Dixter is my all time “number one garden in the world”, then the gardens at nearby Pashley Manor come a very, very close second. They have the abundance and variety of planting as Great Dixter, but always very cleanly manicured.

I’m never normally a big fan of sculpture trails in gardens, but they have a really nice collection. All sit very naturally within the framework of the garden.

OK, I fess up, I also think they do a great lunch! The layout of the salads and cakes is as elegant and well turned out as their borders.

Have just come back from a lovely holiday in East Sussex, staying in a little weatherboarded cottage in the village of Northiam. This was just a few minutes down the road from, in my opinion, the very best of English gardens: Great Dixter.

When we made our pilgrimages (we had to go twice) we weren’t disappointed at all by the abundance and abandon of the amazing planting at Great Dixer. It carries on Christopher Lloyd’s tradition of bold and beautiful flowers and striking combinations of colour.

Even the blackberry flowers have Great Dixter magic. They are a gorgeous pinky-purple - the same colour as their blackberry icecream ;-)

Astrantia Major is my plant of the month. It’s growing vigorously in our garden, and I’m seeing it everywhere I go.