Getting back to normal

Whatever normal is! Decided to ignore the weather and have a few days out. Went to Stansted Park on the Hampshire/Sussex border and whilst I thought the garden was forgettable I did like the Arboretum, it had enormous Fagus sylvatica 'Purpurea' (Purple Beech), from the outside very dark purple leaf but under the tree looking out a beautiful green colour, hundreds of years old I would think.

Tuesday we decided to go east to get the best of the weather and spent the day on the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch railway, it was great fun. They have a museum and spent five years building a model railway which was brilliant, quite an inspiration for anyone wanting to make a model of their masterplan!

The engines are in immaculate condition - this one is called Dr. Syn!

Stopped off in Dungeness and went to see Derek Jarman's garden, the weather was really bleak by now and the garden was very colourful and 'pretty'; I wondered if it was too pretty for the landscape; there is something quite beautiful about the bleakness of the surrounding beach and the wildness of the flowers that have self sown over time. What I did like was the way driftwood and other items had been used as sculpture in the garden.

The tall driftwood mimics the pylons in the background