sussex prairie garden

For anyone living in the Sussex area I would definitely recommend a trip to visit the Sussex Prairie Garden this summer. We went last Sunday and for nature and plant lovers it is such a treat.

The garden has been designed in a naturalistic free flowing style, with interlocking arc shapes mixing areas of open lawn with plant-filled borders. There are loads of little paths that you can follow through the planted areas which I really loved.




I couldn't believe how peaceful the garden is. It's nestled in a quiet bit of the Sussex countryside, so at times all we could hear was the rustle of the wind in the long grasses, and the sound of hundreds of bees hard at work.

Gosh, there were a lot of bees and butterflies! They were loving it.






There are loads of sculptural pieces in amongst all the plants too - and a great eclectic selection of birdhouses at the entrance to the garden. There are a few more photos over on my Flickr page.







We had a good explore, and then treated ourselves to a visit to the teashop before we went home.

The garden is open until the 11th October this year and I'd wholly recommend taking a trip down there. The sooner the better, while there are so many flowers in bloom!

They run a lot of events too, and I'll be heading back for a weekend Shibori, Sashiko and Boro dyeing and embroidery workshop in September. I'm really looking forward to it.

And I'm extra excited about eating my packed lunch in the garden.

caught on film

I finished another camera film a couple of weeks ago. A nice collection of outings and trips away from the late spring and early summer.

A weir along the river from bath // I-spy dogs // Oldland windmill // Goats on Highdown hill // Ben enjoying the boat trip // Community gardens in Stanmer Park // Birdworld // Spring blossom // Ducks in Arundel

lambing

I've been taking a film camera on some of my trips for the last year or so, which I enjoy a lot as it encourages me to be very pretty selective about the photos I take - the 'every photo is important' mentality. I also like the fact that when I get a film developed it tends to include a collection of outings, sometime spanning seasons, with photos cropping up that I've almost forgotten I took.

The only downside is that my photojournalism ends up being several months out of date by the time I have the photos back, which sometimes puts me off sharing them with the world.

I couldn't resist sharing these photos though - look at the little lambs! I took them back in April when Ben and I went to Coombe's farm to see the lambing.

I can't say I 100% enjoyed the whole experience (there was the odd moment when I felt like the sheep might be having a better time if they didn't have 50 adults and children crowded round them) but we got to see two tiny lambs take their very first steps, which was definitely a treat.

They're probably huge by now!

sculptures

A couple of weeks ago I went on an outing with my mum to The Sculpture Park near Farnham.

There was an unbelievable amount to see, with about 600 statues in the woods and water gardens. Almost too much to cram into one visit...