First time

My first visit to Chelsea Flower Show yesterday with my good Aussie friend Sandie.  We had such fun, discovering many similar loves/loathes, catching up with our news and sometimes looking at flowers!  Sadly, we did not have the place to ourselves.

At times it was difficult to get anywhere near the gardens, especially the small courtyards.  But we got some small peeks, our reward for patience and persistence in weedling our way to the front of the crowd from time to time.

But all the gardens have been well recorded elsewhere, so instead of posting photos of those, I'll stick with a few images which took my fancy when I uploaded them all.  Others can be found on my Flickr page.

We both loved this stand and I'm now trying to work out how to find a place for a ruin in our garden.

Somehow, I didn't imagine that corners of a show garden might look like this - remarkably like home.

I'm not sure if this gentleman had the easiest or the most challenging role in the show.  I'm not sure I could have stood still all day.

The queue for the Ladies loo was extremely long but moved surprisingly fast.  Not only that, but they were immaculate, offered lovely soap and handcream and friendly staff.  Excellent.

The Grand Pavilion was huge - far larger than I imagined, whereas the show itself was somewhat smaller than I'd thought.

I loved this calm, creamy white display created by Zita Elze

and though I expected to see all kinds of flowers out of season, this display of daffodils was somehow particularly extraordinary.

Not to mention hyacinths in May - I wonder how they bred the one with a little face?

We had a lovely, lovely day and were on our best behaviour the whole time, unlike another couple of ladies who appear to have been put in the naughty corner

 

 Never mind.  At least they've got a pretty view!

Thank you Sandie (and John) for a marvellous day.  We had such fun.

Home from the North

We've just got back from a lovely weekend up in Yorkshire, where "home" was The Pheasant, in Harome, near Helmsley.

We'd had the idea to stay at The Star, so we could sample the delights of Andrew Pern's cooking but though we secured a dinner reservation, all accommodation was fully booked.  Our timing was spot on, however, for the Perns had just taken over The Pheasant Hotel, just along the way in Harome.  The refurbishment was underway and so we reserved our room trusting all would be complete by the time we arrived.  As a result, not only did we get to enjoy dinner at The Star, there was the added bonus of an altogether different (but equally exciting) dining experience at The Pheasant.  Wow.  Are we going to have to watch those calories this week to make up for it!

We spent Saturday in Whitby, where we pottered about, peered into jewellers windows surveying the jet and generally enjoyed the fresh air.

I love this coast, especially on a day like this, when the tide is out and hardly a soul is brave enough to wander onto the sand.  After a walk around the Abbey ruins, we drove on to Robin Hoods Bay and then to Ravenscar taking the opportunity to walk up and down all those steps to build up an appetite!

Yesterday, Sunday, we walked the first part of the Cleveland Way, from Helmsley to Rievaulx Abbey.  We were lucky with the weather and stayed dry into the afternoon, when we drove on to Mount Grace Priory, though once or twice, the clouds looked threateningly dark.

Today, we made our way home again with a bit of treasure in our bag.

Calorie counting begins (again) tomorrow.

We meet, we eat...

We met Mary in London yesterday, spending time catching up with her in her "swapped" home in Bayswater before inevitably, going off to eat.  Sharing a meal in interesting surroundings in such great company is always a pleasure and as our tastes are remarkably similar the limited time we get to spend together is often around a table.

Onto lunch then at Fifteen.  It's awkwardly situated in a part of London which doesn't feature on our agenda generally, but Mary recommended it from a previous visit and we were only too pleased to give it a whirl.  Always up for a lunch invitation, so was Edward.

We were not disappointed!  Though the upstairs trattoria was noisy and every table packed, our table downstairs in the dining room was a little quieter.  But it was fun to have a drink in the clatter and chatter first and watch the immense boards of charcuterie go out from the kitchen - we must return and try some of that before long too.

No starched linen tablecloths here - the place is as unstuffy as one might expect - but the service and quality of the food was topnotch and we were delighted with all our choices.  Everything was tasty and well presented - not in the least bit twee or "designed" but simple and robust.  With a strong seasonal slant to the menu, we loved the rhubarby influence from the cocktails through to desserts.  Great!

The theatre last night was fun and we enjoyed the play with only one or two minor reservations. It was good to see a full theatre, too.  But a couple of reviews have hit the spot in commenting that it's a somewhat slight production - light on numbers, we felt - and lacked some of the ooomph we expected.  But some of the more drawn out parts of the film were dispensed with (no American scenes) and the condensed version of the story was more successfully told as a result.

This morning, we started the day with breakfast at the Wolseley - after all that "viennoiserie", birchermuesli, crepes, eggs benedict and full English breakfasts (not all eaten by the same person, I hasten to add) we drove home.

Will there be spare calories for chocolate?!

A day at the races

Ladies Day at the Cheltenham Gold Cup Meeting was always going to be an elegant affair, especially since there was a large WI presence!  To celebrate Gloucestershire WI's 90th anniversary, the event had a strong GFWI focus and every reason to get dressed up and have a good time!

There was a rich diversity of outfits on this chilly March morning.  And not everyone was a WI member - I haven't seen this lady at a meeting, anyway.

There was a surprising amount of shopping opportunities, mostly tweed but colourful silks too.

From time to time, someone worthy of high security was accompanied through the crowd - in this case Lord Vestey.  We were amused by the security cordon formed by these burly chaps holding hands as if they were about to dance the Circassian Circle.

I think the chap on the right must have been on duty a long time and was in need of a break, don't you?

There was entertainment

 study of the form and high finance

and such a happy atmosphere.

Good to see a Royal lady was there to oversee the occasion and share the fun.

Yes, of course there were horses, too.  But sorry, you'll have to go somewhere else to see them I'm afraid!

to Babylon, Byzantium and back home

I've been in London, primarily for a conference at the Hotel Russell, from where I had a view of a most intriguing building which turned out to be nothing at all what I expected it to be, although it does have an interesting history.

Whilst there, the news from home regarding snow and ice was not encouraging.  It had been the plan that Mark would drive up on Friday, for a meeting of his own, so I'd stay an extra night and take the opportunity to visit an exhibition or two.  But Gloucestershire was said to be under a foot or more of heavy snow and our plans were thrown into confusion.  On Friday morning, Mark made the split second decision to set off early and catch the 7am train and as luck would have it, he got out before the worst snow fell.

Unbelievably, that train arrived on time and we met as I finished my breakfast on Friday morning.

It had been our plan to visit the British Museum to see the Babylon  exhibition but we'd been unlucky as it was sold out.  This time, however, the weather was in our favour as we took the shortcut across the square as the museum opened and not only did we walk straight in but had the place almost to ourselves.

Though I'd seen some of the exhibits in their home in Berlin, I had forgotten how beautifully preserved many of them are.  We were staggered by the intricacy of the cuneiform characters and the richness of the colour in the glazed reliefs from the processional way.  I also loved the design of the exhibit - the "gold leaf" panels with cut out lettering, the contrast dark blue typeface on the soft gold background.  Excellent all round we thought.

The contrast of old and new in this building always impresses, too. 

After a spot of shopping and a fruitless search for something  to wear to the races next month, we met our friend Tra outside the Royal Academy to visit Byzantium and another visual feast.  A little more crowded than Babylon, but still easy to see the details and to marvel at the sophistication of the workmanship - hard to believe that some of these beautiful things were more than two thousand years old.  Sadly, the chandelier at the entrance to the exhibition was way too big for home!

My favourite was the Mummy panel from the first century.  Such a realistic portrait, so contemporary in feel it was hard to imagine that this had been painted in such a different age.  Love it.

We'd booked an early supper at The Wolseley and walked over, spotting this fun window display in Fortnum and Mason's on the way.  Edward met us at the restaurant and we had a great time catching up with Tra's news and doing a bit of star spotting....Melvyn Bragg and Bill Nighy amongst other familiar faces whose names we couldn't place.

Stayed another night at the Russell, with somewhat contrasting artwork to that which we'd seen earlier in the day - these are illuminated panels set into the wall, which, I suspect, will not have quite the shelf life of the Mummy panel...

Then home on Saturday morning.  A Challenge.  Engineering work on the line  meant a bus from Reading to Swindon and a rather longer journey than anticipated.  A short stop in Waitrose where the crowds and the panic buying made it feel like Christmas Eve all over again and finally home, around 1pm.

 The snow is still here.