Didn't We Have a Luverly Time, The Day We Went to Bath.

We set off early and arrived at Laycock.  The girls, me Suzy and Ruth, had been thrown around like rag dolls on a white knuckle ride in Eric's Renault. Upholding my reputation for empty seat pictures here's our first point of call.  We resisted the urge for a pint and had a coffee.

Laycock Abbey was an amazing place and had been the location for alot of the Harry Potter films.  Steve said he didn't like the cloisters because 'They repeat on me'

We toured the rooms and Steve (nutter magent) was able to take advantage of the extremely knowledgeable room stewards and also got told off for flashing.

Laycock Abbey was the home of William Fox Talbot, one of the early photographic pioneers. The museum was well worth a visit with lots of old pictures and equipment on display.


















Talbot engaged in photographic experiments beginning in early 1834 and the picture below shows Eric giving him a hand in those early days.

Inflatable Tree

The more you learn about photography, the more tips and tricks you absorb.  It's a well known fact that many photographers carry with them, as part of their kit, an inflatable tree.  Some carry inflatable sheep, cows and round bales so that they can artistically arrange them in a landscape to best effect.  They can then say 'It's better to get it right in camera than in Photoshop afterwards'  You often need a chain saw as well, which is much easier than the clone tool in may ways although does make abit more mess invariably.

The bales take a bit of blowing up.......





Dungeness

The landscape of Dungeness must be about as far removed from the landscape of the Midlands as it is possible to get. Breathtakingly beautiful and strangely bleak, one corner all tattoos and 99s other places quite desolate.

I'd read and seen pictures of the garden at Dungeness created by the late Derek Jarman (31 January 1942 – 19 February 1994), I wasn't sure if it still existed or whether I'd be able to find it if did. 

Without exception, everyone I've mentioned this trip to has said, 'I used to work/ live/ holiday/have a relative in or near Dungeness'.  I'd never been before and I wasn't disappointed. The shingle spit stretches into the sea, the Nuclear Power Station sits ominously next to wooden shacks. The new lighthouse was built because the power station hid the old one, massive pylons stretch into the distance and there sits a Prospect Cottage.

A small, black. wooden shack with yellow painted windows in a shingle garden with no apparent boundaries. Something so 'right' about the place and we garble on about 'Spirit of Place' and all that. Imagine transporting it to anywhere else and how it wouldn't work, but here it sat comfortably as an old hat.

I enjoy company and I enjoy being alone. Having the luxury of time and no fixed agenda was bliss.  Having a camera and calling yourself a photographer allows you wander around pointlessly enjoying the scene in a similar way to going fishing.  You probably won't catch anything but having a purpose gives you the excuse to stare at the sea just watching waves.

 Wooden boats left abandoned after being hauled ashore for the last time with power station in the background.

An unearthly place.

Billy No Mates Goes to Kent

I was feeling particularly good last week, and decided to tick a few more boxes on the list of things I've been wanting to do.  I'd just finished a big garden design project and decided to escape to Kent for a few days.  Paul and Saffy were invited but if they have to stand still while I take a photo for more than 3 minutes, Saffy starts eating grass and Paul Simpson rolls in fox poo.



Great Dixter
First on the list was Great Dixter, which is run as a charitable trust since the death of its owner Christopher Lloyd in 2006.  He is famed for his bold planting and clashing colours. Most of the original garden design was by Lutyens and there are meadow areas, overflowing mixed borders and topiary.



I really liked this garden and it certainly lived up to expectations. It was probably more compact than I'd expected.  A while back I'd been to a talk by Head Gardener Fergus Garrett and his enthusiasm was infectious.

There were lots of special little areas and I don't think my photography really did them justice, I was using a circular polariser but the sky was not very helpful.  It must be a tourist hot spot as well and there were a lot of visitors making the narrow paths rather tortuous. There's always someone wearing a red anorak in your background where ever you go!







For me the garden was all the more enjoyable for it not being a National Trust Property. Don't get me wrong, I've a lot to thank the NT for and they do make a good job of looking after their properties, but this independent garden was refreshing.

I had a good wander round until the German tourists got the better of me.  Returning to the car, I saw Fergus shovelling soil into a gas fired soil sterilizer which closely resembled a dragon trapped in a potting shed, one hard working head gardener.

It will definitely be a garden to revisit, maybe earlier in the year.

Some amazing planting and combinations.



And some lovely quiet bits.  Trying to keep my reputation for empty chair photos!



I tootled on down to Hythe on the coast and found the Best Western Stade Court Hotel, then set off on my main mission to find whether the Derek Jarman garden on the beach at Dungeness still existed.