Sewing and a visit.

The last two days have been fun. On Wednesday I copied out a pattern for some summer trousers, got them cut out and I've almsot finished them. Just the waist band and the hems to do. As this was a new pattern I was using I needed to make some adjustments to make them fit me perfectly. Adjusting patterns always takes a little time especially if there isn't anyone to help with feedback particularly with trying to view the back of the garment. Having two long mirrows does help. I also did some reading in between and a little gardening. At the end of the day I prepped my machine for a trip to the spa. By the end of the day I had a pair of trousers that were very incomplete.  These will get finished at the beginning of next week as I have plans and committments .

On Thursday I needed to drop my sewing machine to the repair shop. The repair man is authorised by Brother to work on their machines unlike the man who told me he was and who did a service on it at the beginning of the year. Unfortunately he hadn't passed the training for my model of machine. Anyway it's all water under the bridge and I felt happy leaving my machine at the new shop. 

John and I got  back in the car having droped my machine and set the satnav for Wakehurst Place. Kew Gardens, the National Botanical Gardens has a wild botanical garden in Sussex (Wakehurst Place) which also houses the Millenium Seed Bank. We visited a few years ago, well when I say a few years ago I actually mean 24 years ago and we have been meaning to visit again during that time. The drive was easy and enjoyable. We decided to get coffee and a bite to eat before we looked round the garden. 

Heading out from the cafe we checked out the map to decide where to go.

We decided to follow the path on the left and go to the lake at the top of the map. There were some beautiful trees and views on the way. This tree is a weeping sequoia, I like its slender trunk

This tree was so tall, I only had my phone with me so had to keep stepping back to get all its height in shot. A couple of young children thought it was the Faraway Tree (Enid Blyton) and wanted to climb to the clouds and see what world was at the top.

The grass was completely parched and there were notices telling us that they don't water the grass but prioritise the botanical plants to water.

We went close to the stables and mansion but carried on to the outer path. I didn't read the notice that would have told me who these characters were. 

There currently are 4 Henry Moore  sculptures in the garden. This was the first one we came across. This one is called Relief No 1.

As we were walking we had been climbing . Soon we could look down on a small pond feed from a water fall. There wasn't much water flowing but by the side of the pond everything was slightly greener.

I was having fun enjoying the shapes and colours  and the blossom.

Walking further up the hill we were on a level with the tree tops from lower in the valley.

Whilst walking we came across the labyrinth, laid out using bricks. we decided to stop and find our way to the middle. Although it didn't cover a huge amount of ground there were a lot of loops twisting back on themselves. It took us 15 minutes to get to the middle. As we were leaving a family arrived and we had to explain the labyrinth to them. The children were excited to follow the brick path.

Looking back down the path we had walked up we saw this side path which looked intersting but we decided to continue on to the lake.

I thought at first this was two trees but I'm assured it's one tree with a lot of trunks.

At this point we had reached the Wetlands Boardwalk. We met several of the staff who had come to check the water level and they told us that normally at this time of year there is a lot more water and it usually covers the main area. Unfortunately there has been no or very little rain in the South East of England since late June.

As we walked along the boardwalk there were flowering plants due to the small stream running through. The stream usually covers more area.

There were a couple of mallard chicks swimming around. I completely forgot to take a photo of the ducks on Westwood Lake. We walked back along the Humalayan Glade and from there made our way towards the Mansion. We decided we didn't have time to go into the house if we wanted tea and cake. You have to get your prioitise right when out and about!

We spotted another Henry Moore sculpture off to the left of the house so we went and had a look. In fact there were two. The first on is titled Reclining figure.

The second is called Mother and child: Block seat.

Somewhere in the garden there is a fourth scilpture but we didn't find it. We'll hunt for that when we next visit.

Thursday's visit was a lot of fun and we need to visit Wakehurst again. They had a great variety of seeds and plants on sale and Iplan on buying some new plants for your garden. 

Take care

Lyndsey