In Kent.. and today the sun shone!!

As I looked out of the window on waking very early this morning, I was greeted with the sight of sunshine!!

After a hearty breakfast we headed off for Bateman's Gardens.  On the way, Pete espied a church he wished to visit so we parked up and went in.  Being a Sunday, many were in the church preparing for the morning's service.  We were greeted by several of those folk and also the vicar had a word of welcome for us.

So our first stop, The Assumption of Blessed Mary and St Nicholas at Etchingham.

and from there we went onto Bateman's, the home of Rudyard Kipling.  I've been to Batemans in the past but some years ago - the gardens have really matured over the years and the Mill was now open.  No grinding today but we could at least have a look around.

On arrival at Bateman's, we had a drink then wandered into the gardens.  The nearby lavender flowers were covered with butterflies - there must have been about 30 of them.  I can only conclude that the unusual warm sunshine had brought them all out - or they must have hatched no long before.  The bees also enjoyed the summer-like warmth.

To get the shot we needed this stance was absolutely necessary ...

We had 'lunch' (I use the term loosely) at Bateman's.. neither of us were feeling that hungry we had a couple of pieces of cake (between us I hasten to add)... Lemon Drizzle and Chocolate.. both excellent.

Our next stop was Bodiam Castle.  somewhere I've never visited and wanted to ... so today...
We were directed to an alternative car park.. the regular one being flooded and unusable.  Additionally there had been a local power cut.  The cafe was not serving hot food or drink but enterprisingly a Bar-B-Que was in operation to compensate.  Well done to all involved at Bodiam!!

  I clambered up to the top of one of the Turrets...

And then we set off.  Pete advised that I was in for a surprise visit somewhere.  Ah I thought, having studied the map, we're off to Smallhythe House.. well we were BUT we detoured to Chapel Down Vineyard en route.  Pete has sung the praises of their wines over the years so.....  We made some purchases (thank you for the Pinot Noir Pete..) so there will be a few extra bottles in my wine rack when we get back :D  And a nice new white to try.

And then onto Smallhythe which was the house of Ellen Terry.  The house is relatively small (by National Trust standards) but very pretty with a lovely cottage garden.  When the house was built the upstairs dividing walls were not built above the load-bearing walls downstairs.  This has resulted in the floors being very 'wavy' and uneven.  We speculated that if we were slightly intoxicated then our 'imbalance' would off-set the 'wavy' floors and it would seem we were walking quite evenly.

and we finished the day with a cuppa and National Trust ice cream sitting in the cottage garden... very nice!!