Succulents on the terrace

You’ll know I’m rather partial to a succulent or two, and so having been relatively ‘starved’ of ogling other people’s succulents when I saw these perched on the wall overlooking the main lawn at Standen, it didn’t take me long to be standing in front of them.

And I wasn’t disappointed.

I mean, who could be disappointed with the dusky grey pink variety above or the pink, orange and yellow flowers of the one below.

And that large rosette. Pure heaven. Though my succulents tend to do this, and migrate to the edge of the pot. I’m glad that that is usual behaviour, however frustrating that may be.

But I think the one that stole the show was this pretty, pale pink flower. How delicate, and how exquisite. And even better it let my iPhone capture its detail - always a winner for me.

That was quite an unexpected succulent fix, but one that I didn’t realise I would enjoy quite as much as I did.

Sunshine and rain

There’s been a fair bit of both recently here. Yesterday, full on rain. Today, full on sunshine. We had a day off today and so we made use of the sun beds, which when it was 35 degrees last week we didn’t get a chance to use, well there were plenty of chances, but we both would have melted.

The weather the past few days reminded me of our visit to Hyde Hall back in June (though I’m not sure how it was so far away as June!). That day we had all the weather the same day. I drove through, and as it turned out, ahead of torrential rain, experienced it when it caught us up followed by the most glorious sunshine.

But that also brought the opportunity for some raindrop pictures, and while the weather is forecast for extreme wind tomorrow (thanks Ellen), let’s first enjoy the raindrops on petals.

They’re exquisite. Nature is exquisite. I’m just glad that my iPhone was ready and able to capture them

The ruins at Nymans and a peek inside the house

I’ve already shared some photos of the foggy garden on our visit to Nymans last month, but there was more to our visit than this. And even though we weren’t there too long - it was pretty chilly - I did get a chance to admire the ruins and pop into the house for a warm up, which is where I spotted my new room crush. The fog does give the ruins a slightly ethereal quality.

The green bushes and the terracotta pots though.

I was smitten before I even saw the topiary.

It’s quite a view isn’t it, and it’s all the detail. The symmetry, the details on the benches. And the dovecote, in the walled garden.

This is definitely a garden I want to visit when the weather’s better. But the advantage of visiting on a chillier day was that the fire was lit in the house, not the ruins, and it was lovely and toasty. It was, like many of the National Trust properties, beautifully presented and in such a way that you could easily imagine it being yours, even just for a moment.

The upstairs though was quite different. It served as an exhibition space, but what caught my eye was this lighting above the stairwell. It has a modern feel, but wasn’t out of place in the house.

And then, with a turn of the corner we were back to the more historic. Who wouldn’t love hinges like that?