AN UPDATE AT LAST

The driveway at Westwell  Manor

The reflecting pool

one of the many well groomed lawns

Looking down to the Manor House

The beautiful herbacious border

The cafe court yard at Hyde Hall

Brilliant red ivy

Bill and Allie enjoying a coffee at Hyde Hall

The "Sisters" part of the African exhibition

The main square in Brugge

A typical canal scene

One of the many bridges over the canals

Lovely old grand buildings

Typical architecture along the canals

German mass grave-44,00 buried here.Only black or grey stone used .

The Canadian memorial "The Pensive Soldier"

The NZ memorial by the road side

Tyne Cot cemetry.Thousand of NZ soldiers-Known only to God.

The Mennen Gate at Ypres

Ypres-totally rebuilt after the war

Unexploded shells by the roadside

Up=market appartments in London

Looking down the stairwell at Fortnum and Masons

Hello everyone and apologies for the void in blogging.  I have just read the post that the cook did whilst I was away in NZ, and those photos of Lake Como gave me happy memories.  It truly is a beautiful spot and we did love having good friends with us.  Being in the village here is OK, but there is nothing like having people around you who truly know you.

My time back in NZ was pretty busy with my Father's funeral and then making arrangements for my Mother to continue to live on her own.  She is pretty feeble and unstable now as a result of both old age and the grief, but does not want to leave her home.  It was quite surreal being there and dealing with such huge decisions.  We have named  my sister Florence Nightengale and she is doing a splendid job of holding the fort.  However she has renamed herself Florence Nuttingale!!

She is due over here on the 19th Oct, so I am getting very excited to see her.  We have booked a trip to Paris for 2 nights just after she arrives.  We will take the Euro Star over - can you imagine, it is only a 2.15hr journey -  and that way she can see some country side also.

I was pretty whacked after my flight back - so had a few quiet days here at Knightcote continuing with the gardening chores.  Jonnie had done a marvellous job all by himself.  Susie is doing some serious redecorating, so he had extra jobs to do too.  The first thing I noticed was the Autumn feel in the air and change of colour in foliage.  We now know that it has been the driest summer on record so that is contributing to the earlier leaf drop (about 4 weeks) and we can expect brilliant colour.

About a month ago we had to deliver some chairs and trestles across to Susie's friend Thomas.  He was having a family christening at his 'Manor'.  His late wife was a re known English garden designer and has created the most amazing garden at what was her home.  Thomas opens it up as part of the national garden scheme.  It is one of those ones you see in books and think - 'is this for real'.  The house is a huge Georgian Style Manor and the garden consists of lots of garden rooms.  The vegetable patch is a Peter Rabbit Heaven.  I have never seen such huge and abundant celeriac, carrots, leeks, beetroot, lettuce etc.  It was such a treat being able to see it.  Our favourite part was the reflection pool.  This is quite a large oblong shape shallow pool that has been painted with a special black paint that is not for sale any more.  It reflects everything around it like a mirror - just stunning.  His property is quite near the town of Burford which is also to die for gorgeous.  If you want to see an excellent example of a quaint village this has got to be it.  The pub was covered in a selection of climbers and had flowering baskets hanging off the walls - gorgeous cafes and bakeries, galleries and lovely shoe shops etc.

Two weekends ago we spent two nights at Chelmsford with Bill and Ali, my brother and his wife.  We had a great day out with them to Hyde Hall - another of the RHS example gardens.  Essex is the driest region in England, so this garden is an example of what works well in a dry climate.  The had a huge Australian and NZ section (not sure about NZ being dry), but alot of the plants suffered very badly with the severe Winter they had and needed to be replaced.  The outdoor cafe part was just lovely and made my head spin as to how I could create something similar at home-on a smaller scale of course.  (Poor John)  There was a sculpture display of African artists there also with some stunning pieces.

We headed down to Dover after leaving them and crossed over on the ferry to Brugge in Belgium.  We had heard lots of gorgeous reports about Brugge and we were both keen to visit Flanders and some of the war cemetries.  What a gorgeous town - picture post card perfect, very very old, very clean, and very pretty.
Our hotel offered wonderful hospitality and superb breakfasts.  The town is surrounded by a canal and is medieval.  It has lots of squares and gorgeous shops and the best selection of beers you will ever come across.  We had a bash at trying as many as possible.  Some of the pubs have over four hundred types and each brand of beer has its own glass.  Making a selection from the menu  booklet is like reading a shopping on line catalogue.  Belgium is also known for its beautiful lace so there was plenty of outlets for lace linen, lingere, antique wedding veils, cushion covers etc.  They also make the best french fries there.  We have the recipie for the perfect chip and the trick is to double cook them.

One whole day of our stay was taken up with a guided excursion to the Flanders Fields.   Our group consisted of 8, so lovely and small and all commonwealth members.  Our guide gave us a fantastic overview of the war and its locations.  I was stunned to learn that the battles took place in such a confined area and that the front line continued to move back and forwards.  The trench warfare was something new and they were very extensive - quite amazing really.  Menin Gate is an enormous monument with 55,000 names of soldiers who died, but were never found. The last post is played every evening at 8.00p.m. under this gate.  It makes me teary just writing about it.