This morning we awoke to the sun coming through the bedroom window - we face east! The sky was cloudless and it looked like it was going to be a nice day. As we were eating breakfast, we had the TV on looking out for a weather forecast, and what we were told was today would be warm and sunny at 20 degrees C, tomorrow would be the same at around 19 degrees C, the rest of the week being cloudy but dry.
My first task was to figure out what I wanted to do on my Birthday - on Friday - as we had a nice long list of places to visit, and Mathew had already chosen where he wanted to go. It was a little difficult to decide because the place where I really wanted to go for my Birthday was the place I wanted to go straight away because it looked so enjoyable. Eventually I decided that I would be able to wait a whole week, and we decided that today we would go to Scotney Castle and Sissinghurst Castle Gardens.
As it was the furthest of the two, we went to Scotney Castle first. Here there were two houses to see, although we could only go into one of them, as the second house was closed to the public after the end of September, which is unfortunate because we really would have liked to go inside! Still, there was enough to see in the morning at least. We first went into the new house which was designed by Anthony Salvin in Elizabethan style and built in 1837 for Edward Hussey III, who took the “Picturesque” style as his inspiration. Inside the house, it was very nice, lots of wood and not too ornate ceilings (they always irritate me, they’re so fussy!), and I always like the libraries - I was told that there were around 6000 books in the house, which sounds a lot but doesn’t look much (apparently…!), but I often wonder how many of those books would have actually been looked at by the family who lived there. I reckon at least half weren’t even touched, and were just there for show….
Upstairs was quite different. A series of quite small bedrooms which looked as they were when the last family lived there in the 1930s. Everything looked so modern and the rooms were filled with things anyone nowadays would have probably seen belonging to their grandparents, or great grandparents. It was a very odd mix of 1930s décor upstairs and 1840s décor downstairs. I have to say I think I preferred downstairs, because the rest of the house seemed like a very modern, abandoned house!
We left the house and explored the gardens which were full of lots of flowers, and late flowering Dahlias - which must mean that the weather MUST have been mild just lately, because my Dahlias at home are still flowering. The first week of October saw mine with 10 buds each (I have two plants) and both had flowered very successfully since mid August this year. I had no idea these plants flowered quite so much! Plus, these flowers gave me lots of reasons to take photos - I have been making use of my “macro” setting when taking close ups, and I like taking very close photos of interesting and unusual flowers. If a bee happens to be rummaging around in there then it’s a bonus!
Onward around the garden and we came across the very romantic overgrown ruins of the medieval castle and moat, which is the focal point of these gardens. If we had come earlier we would have seen more in the way of rhododendrons and azaleas but the season for those had come and gone. Still, the gardens were nice and it was VERY warm! The ruins were very picturesque and one viewpoint showed them with an almost complete reflection in the water.
We had lunch here, and I was very thankful for mayonnaise not being in every single sandwich, as I went for cheese and home made red onion chutney, which was quite nice, although it was nothing compared to yesterday’s delicious Ploughman’s platter! However, for dessert we both had a scone with jam and clotted cream, which was DIVINE! But so far, English Heritage vs. National Trust catering is currently 1 - 0.5 to English Heritage!
We had a look around the shop in which there were a handful of Christmas items, and I really wanted one of the decorations in the box of 8, but sadly I could not buy just one of the reindeers! We then left to go to Sissinghurst Castle Gardens.
There was no Castle as such, but there was a cute little tower in which we could go to climb to the top and get a good view of the cute looking library and private buildings, and of course the oast houses which were currently being used as a stash for wheelchairs and a temporary exhibition of paintings of the garden by artist John Doyle.
We walked around the garden where more interesting and unusual flowers were on show. Not only that, but there were several small gardens which made up the entire place, including a rose garden, a cottage garden, a “white” garden (yes, you guessed right - white flowers everywhere!), and there was a small moat, a herb garden, and an orchard. There was a lot to see but it was all within a relatively small space - I have been to gardens much larger than this one, but there were just as many flowers in this one.
There was also a “food and beer” fair which we had a quick look around, although we - or rather, Mathew - saw no beer, and I suggested he get some local honey but he didn’t seem interested, which is quite unusual for him! We popped into the national Trust shop where Mathew bought some local ale, and we both had some of their lovely Elderflower Sorbet and sat outside in the sun eating it as the wind slowly picked up a little. We then went back home for a nice cup of tea and a slice of fruit loaf, and later on we had our Sunday roast. MMmMm MMmMm!
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