Doorway of house, garden in Menton
In a village along the Rivera, where we stopped for lunch. The dog drank for a long, long time, which I guess he would on a warm day when you're that big!
Garden at Menton, created by Lawrence Johnston, the same man who created Hidcote (UK) .
Menton, with a pool and wonderful blue iris.
I just loved the blue of these water irises.
He began with a 1-room shack... and gradually added rooms and levels. He was said to like gardens rather more than people. Apparently he would leave his dinner guests at times (in the wonderful downstairs dining room on the level below) to go out and walk in his garden. Much damaged by war, apparently (the man, that is).
Baroness Ephrussi (nee Rothschild) had this pink & white girly villa and its gardens created early in the 1900s, on Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat on the Riviera.
The Med was full of verry expensive boats on the day we went, gathered for the Grand Prix (Monaco) or the Cannes Film Festival, and possibly the tennis (Nice). High season on the Riviera, apparently.
Look at the blues - no wonder they call it the Cote d'Azure
View of the main garden from the balcony. Every hour, fountains play to music. (well, of course)
Roses everywhere.
Just a few of the many antiquities she like to collect. Apparently her 2 main leisure pursuits (when she wasn't spending money on buying objets d'art, gardening, building) were gambling and horse-racing. She built here because she could go to the casino at Monaco - women weren't permitted into casinos elsewhere in Europe.
A view from her bedroom.
This gives you some idea of how built-up it is all along the Riviera and Cote d'Azure. Very little spare land...
Looking out from Villa Ephrussi.
I loved the 'heart-shaped arches of roses.
Looking back toward the villa from the end of the garden (it's very big).
Different garden, but another view of the Med. This one was just over the border into Italy, la Mortola.
There are both goldfish and turtles in the pond.
This was a glorious long sweeping avenue up the hill.
Nice, early morning market.
I adored the freshness of the produce, and the trouble they took to display the produce.
Lots of smart French men came down in the morning, and bought a bunch of flowers (for their cherie, presumably).
Look at those vegetables.
Just one of the fountains in Nice. After the dry of Australia,it was wonderful to see so much water in public fountains.
Chateau de Gourdon is a perched village, high up in the mountains and on a very, very sheer slope.
The mountain is bare because it's above the snowline.
One of the gardener's two dogs - a sweetie who followed everyone in the vague hope we just might provide something edible. Here he thinks he's spotted a possibility.
This garden didn't exist before, it was made out of nothing, sitting on top of the massive stone arches built underneath to support it. The crags opposite should give you an indication of how steep it is. Goat country!
This gives you an idea of the slightly dizzy effect of looking down.
Campanula, a favourite flower. They were growing out of crevices in the rock, obviously loving the good drainage.
These arches were about 18' high - they hold up that garden in the earlier picture, and were built by men carrying stones up, one by one, up and up the sheer slope. It took years to construct.
Some of our party (Jane Edmanson in the aqua shirt) and the gardener, a lovely man. He spoke virtually no English, which was a challenge.
This is in a small village called St Paul de Vence, known for art and artists.
Looking the other way in St Paul.
St Paul de Vence
Still St Paul - I love the winding stone paths you get in such villages, with the possibilities of new discoveries around each corner.
Deep in Provence, near Anduzes, this chap bought a huge piece of land and planted it with... bamboo. He even had a miniature Cambodian village built in it (I have no idea why). This was his house in the middle of La Bambouserie; ultimately he went bankrupt building pipes to get the water there from the river. Succeeded but at what cost.
La Bambousierie still - the Japanese garden in the middle of it. It was full of incredibly LOUD noisy frogs, all doing their darndest.
Roman ruins in Arles.
Arles again.
On the way to Arles, crossing moutains.
Dry arid country in Provence.
La Noria , a garden in (Provence)
We picked and ate cherries from this tree (and others) in La Noria! A week later we were in Scotland, where the cherries were only just in full blossom.
La Noria - an avenue. There was a lot of modern art in this garden, not much of which I liked.
Drifts of red poppies grow across Provence and into Spain. The farmers probably hate them, I loved them.
A street in Arles.
Another Arles street.
Le Pont du Garde - it's almost impossible to believe how BIG it is... you can get some idea by looking at the people. I'm told they used to drive cards along the lower level (very broad) and ride horses along the upper level - I'm astonished the horses would do it (mine have always refused to go over bridges for eg) but if it was very solid and they could't see how high they were, presumably OK.
The canoe on the river gives a little idea of the immensity of the structure.
C'est magnifique!
Montpellier, France, and another typical street view in a French city. Lots of lovely plane tree or limetree-lined boulevardes.
Sunday morning food market in Montpellier. I'd already had a huge breakfast, but one could get hungry again just looking at the beautiful food and the exquisite displays.
Jo flanked by two other tour members, the Flemings of Flemings' wholesale nursery.
Bigger red poppies.
I know that's the Med, but I don't remember which garden this was...
Jo again
How can you go wrong with a garden when you have the Med as a backdrop? The day we visited was quite misty as a seamist had rolled in and obscured the sea for quite a while. Then it lifted enough to show us more but it's still blurry on the horizon. Which was great, because it gave you this endless, endless sea feeling.
Some of the group making their way down a path in le Jardin Botanique
Misty outlines... the promontory opposite, from the little 'Greek temple' in le Jardin Botanique, Lloret del Mar on the Coasta Brava
One of the focal points at the bottom of the steps, le Jardin Botanique in Lloret del Mar
Le Jardin Botanique in Lloret del Mar had this wonderful vista leading you down toward the bottom... and of course the Med beyond.
Not very good pic (taken from the bus) of the Pyrenees - still lots of snow in mid-May.
Santa Clotilda, my favourite garden, on the Costa Brava in Spain, on the site of an old vineyard. Tranquil, green, restful, full of birdsound and the sound of water, both from fountains and the waves lapping on the coast, far below.
One of the aspects of Santa Clotilda.
A view down steps to the Mediterranean at Santa C.
The blue hasn't quite come out, but it was a wonderful example of mass planting in just one colour: blue pansies framed by an ivy border. Instead of one steep row of steps, they broke it up in smaller flights, giving a much more gradual and attractive aspect.
Our guide at Santa C briefly turned on the sparkly fountains that play on either side of this series of steps, and over the mermaids. (No music though).
Barcelona - Parc Guell.
Detail of a building in Parc Guell.
The Parc is set on the side of a hill, with a great outlook over Barcelona to the sea. You can just see the spires of the Sagrada Familia on the left.
This was early in the morning - it gets absolutely FULL of tourists (like us of course). And underneath this curvy place, with the seats using bits of broken tiles as mosaics, there's a whole other structure.
Just one of the peddlers of tourist crap. You want earrings, necklaces, scarves, bags, or other junk? You can buy it all.
Gaudi clearly spent a lot of time closely observing nature... the 'legs' of this structurfe resemble a giant lizard.
This is what it looks like inside.
This 'market' area is underneath the mosaic tiled top bit.
Jo in front of the 'market'.
I think this is one of the last times I saw my sunglasses. Wonder where I managed to leave them?
The Sagrada Familia was quite overwhelming. Huge. Full of people. And SO much to look at it, it was impossible to get more than a few impressions in the time we had.
I loved seeing this sketch inside, and then seeing it 'realised' outside.
Here's the realisation of that picture we saw earlier.
Inside the Sagrada Familia.
Our Barcelona guide Josef (wonderful man!) told us the Catalans like to do this dance. There was a band playing (it was a public holiday).
They dance in a circle, bags in the middle so they can keep an eye on them, I guess (we had a lot of warnings about the bagsnatchers & pickpockets in Barcelona). Old and young, middleaged and not so, men and women, they just make a circle.
Anyone can join in - while I watched, a woman put her bag in the middle and joined the circle. One person has the 'counting' role and calls the count, everyone else follows. I could have watched it for ages.
That's our lovely guide Josef, pointing out some of the bullet holes in the wall from the time of the Civil War. Many children at school in this square were killed by bullets.
A street in the old part of Barcelona.
They found some Roman columns when doing some building work.
A man waiting for trade at the bottom of La Rambla.
Plaza Reial. I sat here for quite a while after a long walk down La Rambla, sipping sangria and watching the people.
Plaza Reial. It's just off La Rambla, a lovely large square that's quiet and filled with restaurants in the evening. Jo and I ate dinner here.
Gaudi again: Casa Batllo. He designed this for a wealthy man and his family. It made me want to be wealthy enough to buy it and live in it!
Loved the way there wasn't a straight line in the place, it all curved sinuously and kind of wrapped itself around you. And just glorious rich wood everywhere.
This is the outside of the 3rd floor or so, with an outside terrace.
View from the terrace upwards.
This is the central well for light and air. The wooden slats (eg, open at bottom of the picture) were designed to be used to let in more/less air and to adjust heat/cool.
Topmost floor, just for servants doing laundry etc. Gaudi came up with this arch (it has a special name, but I've forgotten it). How fascinating that a man in the early 19C was designing things of such beauty in an area used only by servants - most didn't!
On the roof.
The light well again, but lower down - the blue colours are deeper at the bottom, and get paler at the top.
Parc del Laberint, in Barcelona.
There's a few brave tour members in the labyrinth (yes, there was one) trying to find their way out.
Felt sorry for the young woman in the picture - she generously offered to take a photo of the group (that's us ont he steps)... but then lots of people put their cameras on the wall behind her! She ended up being stuck with taking at least 8 different photos on different cameras, poor soul.
More Parc del Laberint.
Parc del Laberint still - lovely shades of green.
Perth, Scotland, on the River Tay. This is the view from my hotel room.
This bridge over the Tay was designed by Smeaton, the man who designed the Eddystone Lighthouse, and a son of Scotland. (There's a lot of famous Scots we discovered in Glasgow). The Tay has the largest volume of water in the UK, we're told - and when it floods, it had a tendency to take the bridge with it! On both sides of the river are the graves of ferrymen, when there was no bridge & the only way to cross was by ferry.
Very old historic cottage in Perth, about 5 mins from our hotel along cobblestoned streets.
Note the cherry trees blooming. A week or so ago we were eating them at La Noria!
Scone Castle.
Avenue at the Castle.
Branklyn Gardens in Perth - growing Himalayan Poppies as though they were easy. Groan.
OK, I just love blue flowers.
Not everyone wanted to walk around gardens the whole time :-)
Glendoick Gardens, on a hillside outside Perth. A planthunters garden, the current owner's father had travelled far and wide to China and beyond, hunting out and bringing back rare plants and growing them on his estate. Which takes a good hour to walk around.
Redwoods at Glendoick. Actually, it was pouring rain and I was sheltering from it.
One could almost get tired of rhododendrons, we saw so many in Scotland.
An organic garden near Stirling - this is one 1/2 of the couple who own it. He was almost upstaged by the dog behind him putting on a 'play with me' turn
magnificent avenue of pleached hornbeams - I have no idea how much effort it takes to keep them looking magificent
Glasgow, just outside our hotel in George Square.
Jane Edmanson outside the Cathedral place with some of the tour.
The street light has the 4 symbols of Glasgow
Glasgow Cathedral.
I would have liked to visit this 'Peoples' Palace' which is a social history museum, but it was closed due to industrial action. They have among other things, Billy Connolly's banana boots.
Pollock House, Glasgow, built by a very wealthy family. They haven't yet planted out the beds between the hedges!
Linn Gardens, owned by a passionate gardener and retired (I think) academic. Very keen on plants, not so keen on house maintenance.
Just one of the many elements of the gardens at Linn.
The loch outside Linn. It's not quite as cold as it looks.
Posted outside the Council Chambers in Glasgow.
Interior of the council house. It's quite magnificent inside.
Edinburgh.
The 'Royal Mile' - the road between Edinburgh Castle at the top of the hill, and Holyrood Palace at the other end. The flat Jo and I stayed in was just off the Royal Mile.
This is where they do the Military Tattoo. Right now, these are all sightseers - it was a quiet day.
Why do people complain about the weather? You can see the sunny skies, and all the way to the Firth of Forth.
That's Jo in the red shirt...
OK, I cannot resist horses.
The Great Hall, with its magnificent oak beam roof.
I think this chap encapsulates the reaction: the hall was so big, and so wonderful, and so full of things to look at.
View of the Castle from over the other side, the day we went to the Art Gallery.
Greyfriars Bobby was a Skye Terrier who became known in 19th-century Edinburgh after reportedly spending 14 years guarding the grave of his owner
This is the churchyard where Bobby's master was buried. Obviously a nice quiet spot for lunch for office workers, or perhaps from the uni nearby.
I think this is the original Arthur's Seat. People were walking up it to go to the top. Jo and I waved them on with gusto.
Holyrood. I was trying to catch the electric jug the leading soldier has in his right hand - gun in left. They were being redeployed 'south' after a stint in Edinburgh.
York - ancient church.
Inside the church. This is one of very few that still have the old wooden pews. These were supposed to protect you against draughts, and perhaps give you a quiet place to doze off in.
York Minster cathedral in the background.
One of the winding streets, except they are all called gates in York, while gates are called bars. Go figure.
King's Manor originally built to house the abbots of St Mary's Abbey, York. When the abbey was dissolved in 1539, Henry VIII made it the seat of the Council of the North. It's now owned by York city, and leased to the university.
York. I walked past this in a park everyday, on my way to/from my B&B. It doesn't bear imagining what was lost in the dissolution of the monasteries...
York Minster. That woman was a voluntary guide, who took a small group of us around and told us great stories - quite delightful.
My B&B was 5 mins from this river. Apparently it used to be 3 times as wide once.
Another old street, sorry gate, in York.
That's one of the old city gates - I mean Bars. You could only get into the city by going through one of the 4 Bars, as there were walls all around the city.
Just up behind this Bar, you could get onto the walls.
I walked 3/4 the way around York on the old walls, orginally built by the Romans and have been well restored and maintained.
View of York Minster from on top of the wall.
Guildhall in York, built in mid 14oos. one of the very, very few in existence. This is where the guilds met, transacted business and so forth.
My pics don't do it justice (not enough light inside) but the structure was quite magificent. Loved the oak beams.
One of the stained glass windows in the Guildhall, no doubt showing men bring the fruits of their labours back to York.
The other window. Which is virtually recognisable York today, as the river, a bridge and the houses next to it.
Stone Cross, Kent. Brodie and Pippin (I think - or is it the other way around) just keeping an eye on things. That's one of the three 'family picture boards' on the right, showing Katrina and Rob's lovely girls.
Ightham Mote - a moated medieval manor house deep in the heart of Sussex. Glorious.
Ighthm has the distinction (among many others) of having the only Grade 1 listed dog kennel. It's big enough for at least 2 Great Danes, but was apparently built for one. This is the central courtyard.
The only way into Ightham Mote - after all, what's the point of having a moat if you don't have a single entrance? Presumably they used to close those doors...and feel secure.
These were just the servants' quarters. (Just.) The holes up on the right would have been for doves.
Julia at the South of England Agricultural Show. We learned about all kinds of sheep I didn't even know existed!
They were getting this superb horse ready for the large horses event.
Some of the contestants. One gathers they have to have historic turnouts, and get marked on them, & their costumes, as well as the horse, the tack and their handling.
Doesn't really do it justic - it was actually a wonderful parade of all the prizewinners in all categories. I needed a video camera almost!
Julia at Rye.
Every house in the street had a unique name. This one says 'The House With Two Front Doors".
More Rye - cobblestoned streets. Wonderfully 'tourist attractive'.
Just sorting a few things out while we wait for lunch.
This is where we had lunch - note it's sunny, in the lee of the castle. When Rye was one of the Cinque Portes, presumably the castle was important for defences.
We climbed all of the way up to the very top of the church, which was higher than the castle. Went up past all the big bells (9 old old bells I think they had, and a very informative display on bellringing which we spent quite a while on), and then up more stairs, and finally a ladder, and eventually out on to the very top of the church.
That's Romney Marsh in the background - the flat bit in the distance.
Loved the patterns in the red tiles on the roofs. And what lovely roofs they are.
After the thin ladder, this staircase wasn't so bad going down. But yes, it IS as steep as it looks. And despite frequent 'mind your head' signs, I still caught it a couple of times.
Just as well I didn't have too many French pastries... this part was seriously narrow. Yet the bellringers will do this at least twice or more often a week, once for practice, then Sundays of course.
We drove through Winchelsea after Rye - another quite gorgeous village, though all on the flat, with much wider streets. Seriously full of lovely houses, lots of stone, and dripping with roses in full bloom.
At Stone Cross: Pippin and a rather pregnant Brodie - I've been completely won over by Border Terriers.
Peter recording the event.
Hard work. They'd already spent days digging the foundations to make it ready. Being 'helped' at times with a few of the puppies when they were out.
