The year in reverse, vol. III: Snelsmore Common

Ferns on turn on Snelsmore Common

A quick mid-week post to use up those old photos. At the moment, as this island is covered in fog, drizzle and heavy rain and the sun doesn't seem to come up at all any more I am astonished at the light in those pictures. I went for a Sunday stroll on nearby Snelsmore Common on 21 October 2018. This time I didn't see the ponies though I heard them from afar. I hadn't been to the Common for quite a while (the last time must have been in 2013, see the post here) and it seemed so much more grown over than before. My favourite bench seems to be gone.

Much love,
Qaroline

The year in reverse, vol. II: Furzey Gardens

Autumn-flowering camellia in Furzey Gardens

I visited Furzey Gardens again on 27 October 2018, to show it to one of my friends. Looking at the photos today it amazes me how colourful the leaves were now that most of them have fallen in late November. Because I have been to this garden so often didn't post these pictures before, as I am not very keen on repeating myself - but this time we noticed a beautiful autumn-flowering camellia, and the vibrant pink blooms seemed surprisingly summery.

Further installments will follow!

Much love,

Qaroline

Roadtrip: Arundel, Worthing and Petworth

Worthing Pier

I am back from my short November roadtrip and managed to squeeze quite a lot into two days. While passing Arundel on my way back from Rye last year I had thought that the city looked very interesting, with the prominent castle and cathedral and had planned to go back there and explore.

I arrived early in the morning and went up to Arundel Park, then had some coffee in the town centre and waited for everything to open. The park is very hilly and later in the day I decided to take a shortcut over one of the steep meadows to get back on the same level as the cathedral. Managed to cut my hand on some barbed wire and arrived back in town out of breath, decidedly sweaty and bleeding a fair bit ... after visiting the cathedral and St Nicholas (pix below) I drove on to Worthing, checked into my hotel and walked around some more, including a visit to the Worthing Museum and Art Gallery, which has some very interesting exhibitions on at the moment. I loved 'A Leaf on a Sea Breeze', the touring exhibition of artefacts from 'an idiosyncratic folk museum in the fictitious village of Leasingstede' (as it is described on the website), created by Jane Williams. Because I had just wandered into the exhibition space without really knowing what I would see, the quirky artwork, and the stories behind the artefacts, were a wonderful surprise.

Over night the weather changed from grey and drizzly to crisp and breezy and early in the morning I went out onto the empty pier of Worthing, had more coffee and afterwards plonked myself down in on one of the shelters on the promenade and just soaked up the sun, while listening to the waves.

I had sort of planned to go home via Chichester but after Arundel I was a bit 'churched out' and decided to go to Petworth instead. Some of the house is closed for winter but the park is well worth a visit (including the pond that Turner made quite a few sketches of) and the house has a large collection of Turner's works, some of which were on display in the North Gallery.

Over the next days/weeks I am going to put up the other pictures in batches, all the way back to Spring!

Much love,
Qaroline

One of the lodges in Arundel Park

View over Arundel Park, early in the morning

Arundel Castle

On the other side of Arundel Park

A cormorant in the Park

Mosses and ferns in the Park

The 'There But Not There' installation in Arundel Cathedral. Each transparent silhouette represents a victim of the First World War. The cathedral was built during Victorian times.

St Nicholas in Arundel, 14th century

 

The Dome, a cinema first opened 1911 - I saw the second part of Fantastical Beasts although I hadn't seen the first one - just wanted to get inside ...

 

Early in the morning

Seafront in Worthing - a crisp November day - the Dome in the middle

Loved this little shelter

Too much sun reflecting off the waves ...

Someone feeding the gulls near the pier

The Ionic Temple in Petworth Park

More yellow leaves in Petworth Park

Died off, sun-bleached hydrangeas in Petworth Park

In the North Gallery, Petworth

Petworth - it was quite difficult getting a picture without any people in it, there was quite a lot of activity on this sunny Saturday

Hamish thinks I am being weird right now.

The year in reverse, vol. I: Batsford Arboretum

Because I have been so bad at keeping track through the year, I am planning to upload a series of posts going back to Spring 2018. I can't really believe how fast this year has been running away from me and in the meantime the pile of pictures got bigger and bigger. The weird thing was that I didn't visit many new places this year and it felt a bit pointless to post pictures of my re-visits that look so similar to pictures in previous posts. But of course, there were a few highlights (more to come).

Now that the days are getting darker and darker its hard not to resent spending the working week indoors and I have tried to get outside as much as possible, especially on Saturdays, to make the most of the light. I will also take a few days off next week and go to the seaside again - I think I have done this for the last 4 years now and it has become a tradition. Last year I went to Rye, this time I am not venturing quite so far (again, more to come).

Today a friend and I visited Batsford Arboretum in Moreton-in-Marsh. The day started out with a blue sky. Some people might think of November as predominantly GREY but my November colours are the almost turquoisy blue of a cold morning and the bright yellow of the last leaves clinging to the trees against it. I was fortunate enough to find these colours today; however, at midday we were surprised by a proper autumn deluge and had to find shelter to avoid getting totally soaked. But soon after the sun broke through the clouds and sparkled on the bamboo leaves and Japanese maples.

Much love,

Qaroline