So, Monday - I unilaterally decided we should visit Standen, and once everyone had got up, and dressed, and had breakfast, it was mid-morning. Husband and I were ready for lunch when we arrived around, so, having toiled up the hill from the car park to 'Goose Green' we headed straight for the food. Good plan - we beat the rush. I recommend the spiced carrot and orange soup - just a suggestion of orange and spice to make the flavours interesting.
We wandered round the garden first - the heatwave precluded any type of energetic activity. I took this picture to remind me to cut back my lavender plants when I got home. Those daisies - I love those little daisies. They grow in all the crevices of the stone walls in Cornwall and remind me of all our summers there visiting my parents.
No idea what this shrub is, but I'd like to get one. There was a pink version too.
The path lead upwards and onwards, luckily through a woodland, to this marvellous bothy with beautiful strained glass in the window by the platform bed. I might have liked a few plain pieces of glass if this was my bothy and I lived there,
because this would have been the view...
when I saw the view point from further back in the trees I immediately remembered the viewpoints from a country park we visited in Ontario, back in November 2016; here's a picture from the blog post;
The 'Bruce Trail ran through the park and there were a couple of viewpoints, where you could see across the land to the lake.
Back to the cafe for ice cream and drinks of water, and then round the house itself. There was a William Morris exhibition; the house was furnished throughout wit William Morris designs when it was built and the rooms are full of original papers, carpets, tapestries and embroideries. I only took two pictures.
In every room there were a couple of chairs with little embroidered cushions like these;
One of the volunteers is a skilled textile artist and made all the cushions, each with a different motif taken from a Morris design. Superb.
Here's the other picture;
another Broadwood piano, this time fitted into an Arts and Crafts cabinet with enamelled lily-flower panels. Honestly. First a sofa-table piano in Ham House, and now this.
There was also a Dolmetsch clavichord in the morning room, decorated with pre-Raphaelite painting on the case. I didn't take a picture; it all looked too 'kitsch'. There. I've said it!
They had the daisies for sale in the shop! Hurray! We bought two, and put them in the raised bed when we got home.
Son went off to his home in the evening; Daughter zoned out on the settee.
Tuesday!
It was the day for Daughter to go home; after a slow and gentle morning, we went to the supermarket for her to do weekly shopping, him to buy our picnic lunch, and me to get some serious planing done in the cafe. Which we all did.
We ate our lunch in a shady corner of Chidham St Mary churchyard, having looked round the church first. I took just a few pictures;
See that stained glass window in the side chapel?
You can make out St Cuthman wheeling his mother along the road in a wheel-barrow. Why? Well, follow this link I used to know the story so goggled (1) it; turns out he was likely to have been born here (Henry VIII's efforts meant that the shrine in Chidham received a proper 'treatment' to stop pilgrims). Reading the wiki post reminded me that I had encountered St Cuthman when I visited St Andrew's church in Steyning some years ago.
There's also The Chidham Patchwork; a detailed map of the village all in patchwork and other sewing.
Onwards; we delivered Daughter and her shopping to her flat, and came home through the heat (we NEEEED to get the non-existent airconditioning in our little car sorted out!).
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