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Early this morning I walked around the garden to survey the elemental damage. The review of the situation was actually encouraging.
The nicotiana and agapanthus staked up a couple of days ago have perked up;
as have the white gladioli,
and the surviving Priscillas
in the New Bed.
When we arrived, the clematis Campaniflora in the front garden rambled over all the other plants, including numerous brambles. We cut it down drastically. It has set off again and is now, the tiniest such bloom we have, dancing with abandon.
The Hot lips salvias are similarly enticing.
The gauras, and heucheras have just bent gracefully with the wind.
This clematis at the top of the Agriframes arch, an unnamed bargain from Lidl, has proved sturdy enough.
On the strength of that pleasant surprise, we enjoyed a drive around the forest. We didn’t visit Buckler’s Hard, which featured on 12th January 2013,
but peeped through the fence at others who were doing so as we drove past.
St Leonard’s Grange is one of the fifteen barns that once served Beaulieu Abbey. There is not much of it left at Beaulieu St Leonard’s. Just one and a half gable ends and one and a half walls. At 300 ft long and more than 50 ft wide it was one of the largest in Europe.
Here are part of the roofs of a newer building.
I found some nearby farm buildings equally photogenic.
Further on past Sowley, we ventured down a dead end road called Tanner’s Lane. This led straight to a shingle beach we couldn’t drive onto because this is what it was:
These were the salt marshes we had seen from the cruise boat out of Lymington Marina,
which was, in turn, even in the hazy sunlight, visible from here;
as was Hurst Castle,
and The Needles, demonstrating that the castle is on the nearest mainland point to the island.
An empty boat bobbed among the buoys.
Here is yet another view of the Isle of Wight and The Needles, for the delight of Mary Tang.
We will shortly leave for Barry and Vicki’s home in Poole. We are to try out the Isan Thai restaurant in Parkstone Road. Anyone who wishes to be informed about our gastronomical investigation must defer their gratification until tomorrow.