Easeful gardens

Booked my ticket to fly over to Guernsey next week for two days. I am going to attend and read at the Pens & Lens event organised by the newly formed Guernsey Arts Commission. Very much looking forward to this. Got a package of material through in the invite, which all looked rather spiffy, and included one of my poems too which was pretty pleasing.

In the afternoon, Lorraine collected me to drive off to the village of Southease near Lewes. This is the point where Matty Kate and I started our walk last weekend, and home to Matt's family. The village was having an open gardens weekend. So as well as the open gardens, tea and home made cakes were served overlooking the village green and the 1,000 year old round-towered church.

We spent a happy afternoon lurking in these beautiful country gardens. One in particular called Corner Cottage was a wonderful maze of tiny paths, and leafy tunnels of burgeoning and dense growths of aromatic roses and many other plants including what Lorraine said was mock orange. I've never been in a garden where my nose was assailed by so many heavenly smells. Unfortunately Corner Cottage was hard to photograph because of the dense planting.

Below a flavour of the lovely gardens of Southease.